Film Independent, the nonprofit organization that puts on the annual Independent Spirit Awards, offers grants as well as fellowships in their Producer's Lab, Project Involve, HBO Documentary Fellowship and Sloan Fast Track programs. Their collaborative grant with the Kodak company offers recipients film to use in their experimental productions, and the Spirit Award and Sloan Producers Grant offer $25,000 for the development of a film.
Film Independent
9911 West Pico Boulevard, 11th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90035
310-432-1200
filmindependent.org
The Austin Film Society's Texas Filmmakers Production Fund is split into categories, one of them being Experimental Film. The award is for finishing funds on an already begun experimental project.
Austin Film Society
1901 East 51st Street
Austin, TX 78723
512-322-0145
austinfilm.org
The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media focuses on media activism and grassroots organizing by awarding grants from $5,000 to $20,000 for “social issue film and video projects.”
Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media
Funding Exchange
666 Broadway, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012
212-529-5300
fex.org
The Global Film Initiative seeks to increase the amount of experimental films that offer “a variety of cultural perspectives on daily life around the world” made by people displaying an “authentic self-representation” in their work. The institute typically awards twice a year in the winter and summer and gives each applicant $10,000.
The Global Film Initiative
145 Ninth Street, #105
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-934-9500
globalfilm.org
Oppenheimer Cine Rental sponsors experimental filmmakers in Seattle by awarding grants to use their 16 and 35 mm cameras and related equipment. Generally most grant projects are expected to use the camera package awarded for one to two weeks, so prospective applicants should plan their schedules accordingly.
New Filmmaker Equipment Grant Program
Oppenheimer Cine Rental
7400 3rd Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98108
206-467-8666
oppenheimercamera.com
The San Francisco Film Society offers several different grants for “innovative and exceptional” film projects, some amount of which is allocated for area filmmakers. They include the SFFS/Film Arts Foundation Documentary, SFF/KRF Filmmaking and Hearst Screenwriting Grants.
San Francisco Film Society
39 Mesa Street, Suite 110
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA 94129-1025
415-561-5000
sffs.org
New York's Experimental Television Center offers an annual Finishing Funds grant for artists to complete “diverse and innovative projects in film, audio and video” as well as Internet projects.
Experimental Television Center
109 Lower Fairfield Road
Newark Valley, NY 13811
607-687-4341
experimentaltvcenter.org
Cinereach helps fund film projects in the range of $5,000 to $50,000 with a preference for experimental films featuring “good storytelling over didacticism, complexity over traditional duality.”
Cinereach
126 Fifth Avenue, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10011
212-727-3224
cinereach.org
The Creative Capital program eyes artists that “pursue innovation in form and content in...film and video.” According to its website, the organization funded more than $20 million to 325 projects in its first decade. Creative Capital funds projects within multiple disciplines, including film/video, and awards grants on a rotating three-year schedule, awarding film/video project grants one year, performing arts and literature grants the next and supporting existing grantees throughout the third year. Grants are valued at up to $87,000, and the organization provides support and assistance for as long as three to five years.
Creative Capital
65 Bleecker Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10012
212-598-9900
creative-capital.org
Many films are called “experimental” when the driving creative force is a woman, minority or member of the lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgendered (LBGT) community. There are organizations who award grants to make such films less of an anomaly. The Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film, Fund for Women Artists in the West, Fund for Jewish Documentary Filmmaking, Women in Film, Pacific Islanders in Communication, Film Action's Women's Vision Grants, National Black Programming Consortium, Native American Film and Video, The Fledgling Fund, Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Center for Asian American Media Fund and Latino Funding for Independent Producers are just a few.
Experimental films based on factual events, rather than a fictional narrative, are the subject of some documentary grants. The Sundance Documentary Fund, the Anthony Radziwill Documentary Fund, Documentary.org Fiscal Sponsorship Program Scholarship and Documentary Educational Resources are a few such organizations that provide funding to recipients.