LEF New England is now welcoming applications for Pre-production and Early Development grants through the Moving Image Fund.
A maximum of (6) Pre-production grants of $5,000 each and (6) Early Development grants of $2,500 each will be awarded for the use of:
- research
- travel
- location scouting
- script or storyboard development
- experimentation with shooting picture and sound
- distribution planning
- fundraising
- creating a trailer
- schedule and budget development
- staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise)
Pre-production applications require a current work sample from the project you are proposing for funding. Early Development applications require two past work samples, and current work samples are not accepted.
The Moving Image Fund’s eligibility criteria are:
- Projects must be long format with projected running times of 40 minutes or more.
- Primary creative personnel (director and/or producer) must reside in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont).
- Projects must not be commissioned or work-for-hire, and the director/producer creative team must have creative control of the project.
- Projects with directors or producers enrolled in high school, undergraduate or master’s degree programs at the time of application are ineligible for consideration.
- Multi-channel or installation work will not be considered.
- For prior grantees, a final report on previous LEF grant funding is required.
Still not sure if you’re eligible? Take a look at our FAQ page.
You can also reach out to LEF Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia and LEF Program Director Gen Carmel with any questions.
Deadline to Apply:
Friday, August 21 at 11:59pm
Please review the Moving Image Fund guidelines and take a look at our frequently asked questions. For more instructions, visit LEF’s How to Apply page.
Now that we’ve shifted our Post-production grants timeline to a twice-yearly deadline, prior grantees who have not yet received post-production support for their funded project can now apply through August 21.
Grants will be awarded to projects in the Post-production phase across two cycles during LEF’s 2027 fiscal year. LEF will award up to (3) $25,000 Post-production grants per biannual cycle, totaling (6) Post-production grants per year.
Post-production funds may be used for editing costs, rights, online, sound mix, color correction, transfers, distribution strategy, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise).
To be eligible for Post-production funding, the project must have already been supported by LEF at a previous stage (Early Development, Pre-production, or Production).
Please note that if your project just received a MIF Production grant at the most recent round in May 2026, you will be able to apply at the second Post-production deadline in February 2027 (during the next calendar year).
Not sure if you’re eligible? Take a look at our Guidelines page or FAQ page.
Virtual Info Session
To learn more about the Moving Image Fund, join LEF staff for a virtual info session hosted via Zoom from 3:00pm–4:00pm on Thursday, July 16.
This session will include live captioning (CART). Please let us know by Monday, July 6 at 9am if you’d like to request ASL interpretation (SVI) for this meeting.
