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Now Accepting Letters of Inquiry for Projects in Production and Post-production
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Image description: Over a blue background with fluid topographic lines, light blue text announces: Letters of Inquiry for Production & Post-production. Deadline: Friday, January 19. | |
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New England-based directors and producers seeking production and post-production funds for feature-length (40+ min) nonfiction film and video projects are encouraged to apply for LEF's next grant deadline on January 19, 2024.
The Moving Image Fund's Production and Post-production grants have a two-part application process. Filmmakers interested in applying for project support must first submit a letter of inquiry.
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From these initial inquiries, a smaller pool of applicants is notified on Friday, March 1 about whether they are invited to submit a full application. Should the project be invited forward in March, these LOI elements can be updated, as needed, and comprise roughly half of what is required at the Full Application stage.
A maximum of seven (7) grants of $15,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Production phase, and a maximum of four (4) grants of $25,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Post-production phase during LEF’s major grants review. Please note that in order to be eligible for Post-production support, the project for which you are applying must have received previous LEF support.
- Production funds may be used for shooting picture and sound, early stage editing, equipment costs, materials, travel, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise)

- Post-production funds may be used for editing costs, rights, online, sound mix, color correction, transfers and distribution strategy. To be awarded Post-production funding, the project must have already been supported by LEF at a previous stage (Early Development, Pre-production, or Production)
More information about this opportunity is available on the Guidelines and How to Apply pages of LEF's website.
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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 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.

Still not sure if you're eligible? Take a look at our FAQ page.
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All letters of inquiry are due on
Friday, January 19 at 11:59pm
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Virtual Info Session
To learn more about the Moving Image Fund, join LEF staff for a virtual info session hosted via Zoom from 3:00–4:00pm ET on Thursday, December 7.
| This session will include live captioning (CART). Please let us know by Monday, November 27 at 9am if you'd like to request ASL interpretation (SVI) for this meeting. | | | |
LEF Moving Image Fund Grantee News
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Image description: In this still image from ISRAELISM, a person with light skin and tied-up red-brown hair speaking into a megaphone leads dozens of protestors wearing T-shirts that read "Birthright you choose: us or the donors", and holding signs that say "Stop lying to us". Image credit: Jewish Film Institute. | |
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LEF-supported project ISRAELISM (dirs. Erin Axelman, Sam Eilertsen; prods. Daniel Chalfen, Nadia Saah) won the Best Documentary Feature award at Tallgrass Film Festival last month. The film, which is about two young American Jews joining the battle against the old guard over Israel’s centrality in American Judaism, has since been featured on the front page of the Guardian, and will continue its screening tour around the country.
LEF-supported project THE PHILADELPHIA ELEVEN (dir. Margo Guernsey; prods. Guernsey, Nikki Bramley), about a group of women who organized to become Episcopal priests in 1974, won Best Documentary Feature at the 2023 GlobeDocs Film Festival.
Emerson College's Bright Lights Cinema Series will continue through December with screenings including PLAYLAND (dir. Georden West; prods. Russell Sheaffer, Hannah McSwiggen, Danielle Cooper), a LEF-supported project that re-stages Boston's queer past, on December 7. A screening of ISRAELISM has been postponed until February 1.
Prior LEF grantee Angelo Madsen Minax (NORTH BY CURRENT) was awarded a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council for his LEF-supported project, A BODY TO LIVE IN (dir. Minax; prod. Lyle Ravi Kash), which traces the life and work of legendary photographer, performer, and non-binary cultural icon, Fakir Musafar. Creation Grants are awarded to Vermont artists or artist groups in amounts up to $5,000.
Prior LEF grantee Luis ArnÃas (UNDOCUMENTED PLEASURE) was one of three recipients of the 2023 Boston Artadia Awards. The awards were open to Boston-area visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, in order to receive $15,000 in unrestricted funding.
On Thursday, November 30, prior LEF grantee Adam Mazo (DAWNLAND) will take part in a panel conversation at UMass Boston following a free screening of two Upstander Project short films: BOUNTY and WECKUWAPOK.
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Are you a LEF grantee or fellow with news to share about your film? | | | |
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Image Description: Distant mountain peaks and a lush coniferous forest bathed in sunlight.
A Filmmaker Magazine piece from late September, Paradigm Shift: The Current State of Documentary Labs, chronicles the shaky ground on which many development labs and filmmaker support programs have found themselves, subject to the uncertainties of capricious funding sources, emerging programmatic goals, and narrowing distribution possibilities for independent documentaries. The piece, written by Anthony Kaufman, also identifies several industry organizations that are working within the system to maintain and update their filmmaker support programs, as well as those seeking to forge paths to new ones altogether. The landscape of artist support is one that is consistently being remodeled as new and changing needs are addressed to b cultivate the creativity that fuels our industry.
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Upcoming Film Opportunities
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Image Description: Assets 4 Artists Logo | |
Assets 4 Artists Fall Workshops (Fall 2023) | |
Available for free to artists of all disciplines in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Assets for Artists offers an ever-evolving selection of workshops to address the most urgent needs, challenges, and opportunities facing artists in the region. Fall workshop topics include photographing work, sustainable finances, planning, and more.
Learn more
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Goethe-Institut Boston Studio 170 Residency (Deadline: November 17) | |
The Goethe-Institut Boston invites New England creatives from all fields of artistic practice to submit proposals for a Studio 170 Residency in 2024 to realize their proposed projects. Open for all types of formats including installations/exhibitions, performances/actions, artist talks, panel discussions, author readings, film screenings, digital projects, among many other possibilities.
Learn more
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Kindling Fund (Deadline: November 19) | |
The Kindling Fund supports artist-organized projects across the state of Maine that engage audiences and incorporate the visual arts in inventive and meaningful ways. SPACE will distribute $65,000 in artist project grants, with awards ranging from $3,000–$7,000 each.
Learn more
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Getting Real Fellowship (Deadline: November 20) | |
From April 15-18, 2024 IDA will welcome 16 fellows — eight filmmakers and eight industry professionals — to Los Angeles for the biennial Getting Real conference. In addition to covering airfare, lodging, visa assistance, and registration, IDA offers its fellows a communal path through the conference. Fellows will share meals and participate in curated one-on-one meetings with industry delegates.
Learn more
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Image Description: Points North Institute Logo | |
Pretty Wild Fellowship (Deadline: November 20) | |
The Pretty Wild Fellowship at Points North, a partnership with YETI and Little Monster Films, will provide $50,000 in an unrestricted grant and guidance in the development of four cinematic, character-driven short documentary films that shine a light on the beauty, grandeur, and vulnerability of the outdoors through mentorship and two creative retreats in Austin, Texas, and Camden, Maine.
Learn more
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Image Description: Center for Doumentary Studies at Duke University Logo | |
DocX Development Lab (Deadline: November 27) | |
DocX is launching a new Development Lab "Otherwise Histories, Otherwise Futures", to support artists and researchers whose archival practices, documentary art practices and scholarship seek to explore the history and possibility of living, thinking, being and sensing otherwise.
Learn more
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Pacific Islanders in Communications Media Fund (Deadline: November 27)
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The Media Fund is PIC's longest standing funding initiative, which provides funds for single non-fiction projects of half an hour or an hour in length about the indigenous Pacific Islander experience for two critical phases of production: Production and Post-production. Projects applying to the Media Fund must be intended for national public television broadcast, and therefore must be able to enter into a production agreement - this is not your typical grant.
Learn Learn more
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CAAM Fellowship (Deadline: November 30) |
CAAM invites Asian American documentary filmmakers who are directing or producing their current work or are looking to transition into directing or producing to apply to our 2024 CAAM Fellowship Program. The fellowship aims to support and develop Asian American documentary filmmakers by pairing selected Fellows with accomplished professionals, Mentors in the field for 12 months to develop a project and their career in documentary filmmaking.
Learn Learn more
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Solutions Storytelling Project: Latin America (Deadline: December 8) | |
During this year-long program, which runs January through September 2024, 20 regional filmmakers from Latin Americas are paired with 20 inspiring nonprofit organizations, and supported with robust resources, connections, and community to produce a solutions-focused short documentary film that reaches a global audience.
Learn more
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Image Description: Mass Cultural Council Logo | |
MCC Grants for Creative Individuals (Deadline: December 11) | |
Mass Cultural Council is finalizing a new program to equitably support creative expression with $5,000 grants to individuals throughout the Commonwealth. In FY24, MCC expects to award $1.8 million to artists, culture bearers, and creative individuals in all artistic/creative disciplines through this new program.
An info session will be held on December 5.
Learn more
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BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship (Deadline: December 13) | |
The BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship is a 10-month long intensive devoted to supporting documentary filmmakers, especially those who are working on their first or second feature-length project that has at least begun production and can be well into post-production. $10,000 is distributed to each Fellow over the course of the Fellowship (plus additional travel per diems) Professional mentorship and strategy sessions focused on documentary storytelling, career sustainability, fundraising, distribution, and more.
Learn more
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Image Description: ITVS Logo | |
ITVS Short-Form Open Call (Deadline: December 15) | |
Short-Form Open Call is only open to standalone documentary shorts, web series, and vertical video series of any subject will be considered, though we have a special interest in the following topics and closely related themes: Criminal Justice Reform, Democracy/Civics, and/or Environmental Justice. Short-Form Open Call is not a grant. Successful applicants will receive funding in the form of either a development or production agreement that licenses ITVS certain rights in the project during the term of the contract.
Learn more
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DocPitch at DocLands (Deadline: December 15) | |
DOCPITCH is an invitation for North American based filmmakers to submit their unfinished feature (70+ mins) documentary projects currently in early to late stages of production with budgets under $1Million. A jury will select five (5) filmmaking teams to present a verbal pitch to an audience, comprised of invited funders, organization representatives, distributors, broadcasters, and the general public who will select the $45,000 Audience Award. The jury of industry professionals will select the winner of the $40,000 Jury Award. An additional $5,000 award will go to each of the remaining three projects.
Learn more
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Image Description: Transgender Film Center Logo | |
Trailblazer Grant (Deadline: December 18) | |
The Transgender Film Center Trailblazer Grant provides $10,000 in funding for two short films written, directed, or produced by transgender creators. While projects do not need to be explicitly about transgender identity to be eligible, they must be directed, written, or produced by transgender people.
Projects submitted to this fund must be completed within 24 months of receiving funding from the Transgender Film Center.
Learn more
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Image Description: Sundance Institute Logo | |
Documentary Film Producers Track (Deadline: January 10) | |
Applicants to the Documentary Film Producers Track will be considered for the Producers Lab and Fellowship, a yearlong program designed to nurture emerging producers with project-specific support, by invitation only.
Applications open October 25.
Learn more
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Image Description: National Endowment of the Humanities Logo | |
NEH Media Projects Grant (Deadline: January 10) | |
The Media Projects program supports the development, production, and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, documentary films (of any length), and documentary film series that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. Projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship and demonstrate an approach that is thoughtful, balanced, and analytical. Media Projects offers two levels of funding: Development and Production.
Learn more
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Image Description: Vermont Arts Co Logo | |
Artist Development Grant (Deadline: January 30) | |
Artist Development Grants support Vermont artists at all stages of their careers. Grants can fund activities that enhance mastery of an artist’s craft or skills or that increase the viability of an artist’s business. Funding may also support aspects of the creation of new work when the activity allows the grantee to accept a rare and important opportunity.
Applications open November 27.
Learn more
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Thanks for reading and 'til next time,
The LEF New England team
Lyda, Gen, & Matthew
LEF Foundation
PO Box 382066
Cambridge, MA 02238
617.492.5333
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A private family foundation dedicated to the support of contemporary arts, LEF was established in 1985 with offices in Massachusetts and California. The Moving Image Fund was launched in 2001 through the LEF office in Cambridge, MA to support independent film and video artists. Since its inception, the Moving Image Fund has awarded over 450 grants to New England-based independent filmmakers with over $5 million in funding. The goal of LEF New England is to fund the work of independent documentary film and video artists in the region and to broaden recognition and support for their work locally and nationally. It also supports programs that highlight the rich history and ongoing legacy of innovation within New England's independent film community. The overarching goal of LEF New England's philanthropic investment is to help build a sustainable and strong community of support for artists and their work.

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