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Camden International Film Festival
| | Image Description: A graphic reading Points North Presents the 21st Edition Camden International Film Festival 2025, September 11–14, with illusion-like text reading Cinema is a Beacon over a purple gradient background. | | Image Description: Still image from UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG | | The CIFF lineup includes the world premiere of LEF-supported project UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG (dirs. Kaitlyn Schwalje, Alex Wolf Lewis; prods. Rebecca Stern, Justin Levy), about a dedicated, motley crew working day and night to keep Portland, Maine's wastewater treatment plant running, battling aging infrastructure, funding shortfalls, public apathy, PFAS “forever chemicals,” and an unending stream of putrid odors. Read a write-up in The Maine Playweek. | | |
There will be a free community screening of OBSERVER, a film by prior LEF grantee Ian Cheney (BLUESPACE), as well as an outdoor immersive observation experience in Camden Village, inspired by the film.
The Dirigo Docs section of Maine-based stories includes FINAL FRONTIER, a short film by prior LEF grantees Heidi Burkey and Julie Hook (SALT SISTERS).
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LEF/CIFF Fellowship
This year is the eighth iteration of the LEF/CIFF Fellowship, LEF's partnership with Points North Institute to support five New England-based filmmaker teams to attend the festival and connect with other filmmakers and industry leaders through a series of mentor-led project development workshops, networking events, and curated 1:1 meetings.
The 2025 LEF/CIFF Fellows are:
BLOWW
Directed and produced by Emily Yue
A queer feminist wrestling league fights to smash the patriarchy, build community and make rent while trying to keep one of Boston’s iconic subcultures alive.
Burlington, This Is You!
Directed by Myles Jewell and Lauren-Glenn Davitian
Produced by Meghan O’Rourke and Jordan Mitchell
Since 1984, Burlington, Vermont’s Chittenden Community Television (CCTV) has pioneered community media as a platform for activism. Burlington, This Is You! excavates CCTV's 40-year archive, mapping the anatomy of activism. Advocating for social and economic justice, this documentary lays the groundwork for the next generation of media activists.
Dar Marjana
Directed by Lamia Lazrak
Produced by Lisa Yadao, Irene Yadao, and Lamia Lazrak
When Kenza, the owner of a family restaurant in Marrakech, decides she no longer wants to run it, her eldest daughter, Lamia, documents the family as Kenza grapples with letting go. Dar Marjana is a story about legacy, duty, and the supernatural power of a restaurant over a family.
SILVER & earth
Directed and produced by Kathryn Ramey
This film explores the concept of silver from the perspectives of the flora, fauna, and landscapes it has been used to represent.
The Elversphere
Directed by Eli Kao
Produced by Michele Christle
The Elversphere traces the journey of eels from the waters off the coast of Maine to plates in Japan, revealing unexpected human-eel relationships and offering insights into current ecological and societal crises.
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Two prior LEF grantees are 2025 Points North Fellows: John Hulsey (FROM THE LAND) with FUTUREPROOF, and Carolina González Valencia with HOW TO CLEAN A HOUSE WITH 10 EASY STEPS. The Points North Fellowship supports six filmmaking teams as they develop their pitches and
publicly present their documentary features in progress to a panel of funders and distributors at CIFF’s popular Points North Pitch.
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This year will also include some exciting Forum events as well as the Documentary Town Hall on Saturday, September 13, an invitation-only gathering of over 200 filmmakers, funders and industry leaders, will “collectively envision new infrastructure for independent media that serves the public interest,” a particularly timely meeting of minds given the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
We hope to see you in midcoast Maine!
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Moving Image Fund Grantee News
| | Image Descriptions: (left) In this still image from Robb Moss's THE BEND IN THE RIVER, several nude figures stand at a distance on sunny rocks along a river.; (right) In this still image from Ross McElwee's REMAKE, a teenage boy with light skin and dark hair, lit in a warm orange glow from below, looks with one eye through the tines of a fork. | | |
LEF-supported project THE BEND IN THE RIVER (dir. Robb Moss; prods. Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley) will have its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival on August 30. The film is the third installment in a trilogy of personal documentary films about Moss and his longtime friends over fifty years, recontextualizing his old footage and juxtaposing three timeframes to offer a profound, deeply moving portrait of human maturation. You can read an interview with Robb Moss in Documentary Magazine and watch an exclusive clip from the film.
LEF-supported project REMAKE (dir. Ross McElwee; prods. Mark Meatto, McElwee) will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3. The film traces McElwee’s relationship with his son Adrian, and the fragile bond the camera created between them while Adrian was alive, and now that he’s gone.
LEF-supported project SHE CRIED THAT DAY (dir./prod. Amanda Erickson) recently screened at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for "craft, vision, or impact." The film, a story of a sister's love and the spirit, strength and will of Indigenous Women refusing to let their loved ones remain invisible in the eyes of the justice system, premiered earlier this year at Big Sky Documentary Festival.
LEF-supported project DAWNLAND (dirs. Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip; prods. Mazo, N. Bruce Duthu, J.D.) will be screening at the Jamaica Plain Film Festival on September 6, followed by a Q&A. This three day event will feature work by local artists and independent film-makers based in Jamaica Plain and the wider New England area, including features, documentaries, shorts and animations.
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Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) festival (headed by prior LEF grantee Wenhua Shi) is hosting a special retrospective screening of works, Crossing Lines, Films by Raymond Rea—filmmaker, writer, and genre-defier—at the Brattle Theatre on Sunday, September 21 at 2:00 PM. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Rea moderated by LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. | | | |
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Are you a LEF grantee or fellow with news to share about your film? | | | | Image description: Burn, Scar. Courtesy of the filmmaker Hillary Bachelder, via International Documentary Association. A figure with a firefighter helmet and walkie-talkie looks out a smoke-filled pine forest with fires on the ground. | | Since it was announced last month that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) would be shutting down after its defunding by the federal government, the independent documentary landscape has seen a narrowing when it comes to funding streams and distribution agreements provided by public media. Anthony Kaufman's recent piece in Documentary Magazine, Minding the Gaps: How CPB’s Closure Fragments the U.S. Documentary Ecosystem, features the voices of representatives at ITVS, GBH, and Black Public Media, as well as the voices of the filmmakers that these organizations are devising new ways of supporting now that CPB funding is going away. While the percentage of budgets received from the CPB differs for each organization, the need for restructuring is ubiquitous in order to continue doing the work of supporting filmmakers toward completed works that can be seen by wide audiences. “The whole industry has to recalibrate," ITVS President and CEO Carrie Lozano says. "We have to change how we work. Whatever was before—that’s never coming back.” | |
Over the last couple weeks, LEF has been happy to join Media Impact Funders, Grantmakers in the Arts, and International Documentary Association (IDA) as an organizational member to continue being in coalition with others who are committed to imagining and securing pathways for a robust arts and culture landscape. As a regional funder of nonfiction film, we find it meaningful to be part of these larger conversations and initiatives.
In October, LEF Program Director Gen Carmel will be in attendance at the 2025 Grantmakers in the Arts conference, "Building Solidarity, Rooted in Justice," in the Twin Cities. The convening calls on funders, artists, and cultural leaders to "trouble" dominant narratives—holding multiple truths, investing in cultural movements, and challenging revisionist histories.
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Upcoming Film Opportunities
| | Image Description: The FilmStream Collective Graphic with Tubi and Kickstarter Logos | |
Kickstarter x Tubi: FilmStream Collective Fund (Deadline: August 31)
The fund is designed to support filmmakers with final or near-final cuts, helping them cover critical post-production costs such as editing, sound, marketing, and other finish expenses to prepare their films for release. Their final film will then stream on Tubi, providing guaranteed distribution and visibility on a platform where viewers watched more than 10 billion hours in 2024.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Maine Arts Commission Logo | |
Maine Artist Fellowship (Deadline: September 3)
The Maine Artist Fellowship recognizes artistic excellence in the overall career of a Maine artist with an unrestricted $5,000 award and yearlong Networking and other collaborative opportunities.
Learn more
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Berlinale Talents (Deadline: September 3)
Berlinale Talents is the talent development program of the Berlin International Film Festival, with a project development lab, the Berlinale Talents Lab, the Talent Project Market and an onsite Summit with panels, discussions, workshops and networking opportunities during the Berlinale each February.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Vermont Arts Council Logo | |
Artist Development Grants (Deadline: September 7)
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.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Catapult Film Fund Logo | |
Catapult Development Grants (Deadline: September 7)
The Catapult Development Fund provides early-stage support to 15 documentary filmmakers in development with a documentary feature or short with grants of up to $25,000.
Learn more
| | Image Description: MacDowell Logo | |
MacDowell Fellowship (Deadline: September 10)
About 300 artists in seven disciplines are awarded Fellowships each year and the sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. There are no residency fees, and need-based stipends and travel reimbursement grants are available to open the residency to the broadest possible community of artists.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Firelight Media Logo | |
Firelight Fund (Deadline: September 18)
The Fund supports Black, Brown, and Indigenous stories from development through distribution, with a focus on those who are telling urgent stories and using their craft to advance social justice. Open to short documentaries at any stage and feature-length documentaries at production, post-production, or distribution and impact stages, initial grant sizes will range up to $50,000 per project, and the inaugural grant cycle will kick off in the fall of 2025.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Perspective Fund Logo | |
Perspective Fund (Deadline: September 21)
Perspective Fund is excited to launch the Envision Impact Lab (EIL) as a strategic catalyst for field-wide transformation. The Film & Campaign Track is for US-based documentary film teams with completed films or in late-stage production ready to pilot innovative approaches during the distribution and dissemination phases of their projects. This track supports filmmakers implementing experimental impact strategies that push beyond traditional campaign methods.
Learn more
The Perspective Fund also has a rolling deadline to support filmmakers and strategists with funding for production, impact planning and campaigns, and participant compensation.
| | Image Description: BAVC Media Logo | |
BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship (Deadline: September 29)
The MediaMaker Fellowship is an opportunity for non-fiction filmmakers working on their first or second features to spend nine months in a cohort of other filmmakers. In addition to traveling, mentorship, gaining insight into the industry, and strengthening their films together, fellows will also receive $10,000 in unrestricted funding.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Jewish Film Institute Logo | |
JFI Filmmakers in Residence Program (Early bird Deadline: September 29; Final Deadline: October 20)
The JFI Filmmaker Residency provides creative support and professional development for independent documentary filmmakers whose projects expand and evolve the Jewish story. Residents meet virtually throughout the year and convene in person for workshops and more at the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Filmmakers from all communities are encouraged to apply.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Logo | |
RISCA General Operating Support for Artists (Deadline: October 1)
General Operating Support for Artists (GOSA) provides unrestricted three-year $6,000 grants for Rhode Island artists to work toward longer term, self-identified goals in their art practice. Grant funding could support the following: the ability to set aside time to work on art making; art materials; space rental; technology; paying collaborators; research and experimentation; marketing; and documentation; and more.
Learn more
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Assets for Artists Professional Development Workshops
Free online and in-person professional development workshops through September are available to artists of all disciplines in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Artist Communities Alliance Logo | |
Artist Residency Open Calls (Deadline: Rolling)
Artist Communities Alliance (ACA) provides two types of lists to help with the residency search process.
Learn more
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Capacity-Building Opportunites | |
Image Description: AORTA anti-oppression resource and training alliance logo.
Facilitate for Freedom Workshop
AORTA Cooperative's flagship 3-hour online Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals Training lays the groundwork for how anyone facilitating a meeting can make choices that guide the group towards our most liberatory values. Through dynamic storytelling and real meeting examples, this training introduces two of AORTA’s facilitation pedagogy principles: remove barriers to full participation and the practice of principled disagreement. Sliding scale registration is now open for September 29, October 31, and November 18 workshops.
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Image Description: A Bookkeeping Cooperative logo.
Budgeting with Values Workshop Series
A Bookkeeping Cooperative's Cosmos Financial Education For Other Worlds workshop series is designed for participants who want to strengthen their budgeting and finance skills in a way that's aligned with their values. Workshop participants include cooperatives, nonprofits, businesses, fellowship cohorts, and organizing and capacity-building groups. Sliding scale registration is now open for Financial Foundations and Spreadsheets! Basics of Building Budget Templates.
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Image Description: Dartmouth College logo.
Dartmouth College is seeking a Technical Director in the Department of Film and Media Studies.
Learn more about the position.
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Thanks for reading,
The LEF New England team
Lyda, Gen, & Matthew
LEF Foundation
PO Box 382066
Cambridge, MA 02238
617.492.5333
lef-foundation.org
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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 500 grants to New England-based independent filmmakers with over $5.5 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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