2026 KOPKIND/CID FILM SEMINAR AND RETREAT NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS (Deadline: June 1)

Eight filmmakers will be chosen to spend the week of July 19 through July 26 at Treefrog Farm in Guilford, VT, where they will have the opportunity to share their work and support one another. Plan on bringing 30-40 minutes of material (this could be a work-in-progress or something you’ve recently completed) for brainstorming, inspiration, problem solving, and substantial discussion.

Join us for an immersive retreat where you'll recharge your creative energy through our unique approach to "radical relaxation"—featuring exceptional films, outstanding food, and deep conversations about the art, politics, and sheer joy of filmmaking.

The deadline for application is June 1. Click here to apply.

ELLIS-BEAUREGARD DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARD (Deadline: April 16)

The Ellis-Beauregard foundation, together with the Points North Institute, is launching the Ellis-Beauregard Documentary Film Award to support visionary non-fiction filmmakers. EBF will provide one $50,000 award to a documentary project currently in post-production, and Points North will welcome the project to Maine for a creative editing retreat to be timed with the 2026 Camden International Film Festival.

Applications close on April 16. Click here to submit.

CATAPULT DEVELOPMENT GRANT (Deadline: April 20)

The Catapult Development Fund provides early-stage support to documentary filmmakers when funding is hardest to find. In 2026, Catapult will offer fifteen (15) grants of up to $25,000 to filmmakers in development with a documentary feature or short.

Step 1 applications close on April 20. Learn more here.

VALLEYCREATES 2026 CAPACITY-BUILDING GRANTS (Deadline: April 20)

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) is launching its next round of Capacity-Building Grants, funded by CFWM's ValleyCreates program and administered by Assets for Artists. The focus is a capacity-building and sustainability initiative for artists who currently live or have studio space in Franklin, Hampshire, or Hampden counties in Massachusetts. The program pairs a $2,500 grant with coaching, workshops, business/career building, personal financial literacy resources, and artist community-building.

Learn more here.

(EGG)CELERATOR LAB (Final Deadline: April 29)

The (Egg)celerator Lab supports nonfiction filmmakers or filmmaking teams working on their first or second feature-length documentary. In this year-long program, filmmakers receive a $40,000 grant, mentorship with Chicken & Egg Films team members, two creative retreats, tailored industry meetings and funder connections, and peer support from their cohort.

Learn more here.

THE STRIKE - NOMINATED FOR 3 EMMYS AND A PEABODY; BACK FOR FREE ON PBS!

THE STRIKE, directed by JOEBILL MUÑOZ and LUCAS GUILKEY, is nominated for three Emmys and a Peabody Award! The three Emmy categories are: Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary, Outstanding Research: Documentary, Outstanding Sound: Documentary.

With this news, PBS and Independent Lens are re-streaming THE STRIKE for free here. Interested viewers can also catch upcoming screenings on April 23 at Southwestern Community College, San Diego, CA, on May 1 at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and on June 9 in Portland OR. Click here for more details.

THE STRIKE is set against the backdrop of the high-security Pelican Bay prison, designed for mass-scale solitary confinement, often for a decade or more, and with little due process. In 2013, 30,000 incarcerated people went on a hunger strike that spread into a feat of unity across California prisons. The film follows these solitary survivors who fought to abolish indefinite isolation.

Finally, the filmmakers are excited to share that THE STRIKE has been nominated for a Webby for Best Documentary Storytelling. They are up for a Jury Award as well as a People's Voice Award. Vote for THE STRIKE here before April 16!

WATER FOR LIFE / AGUA ES VIDA - RELEASED ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO & VIMEO ON DEMAND; HONDURAN PREMIERE

WATER FOR LIFE / AGUA ES VIDA, produced and directed by WILL PARRINELLO, produced by RICK TEJADA-FLORES, and produced by MARÍA JOSÉ (MAJO) CALDERÓN, was released on Amazon Prime Video and Vimeo On Demand in March. Links to the videos and to the trailer are on the film's LinkTree.

WATER FOR LIFE follows three Indigenous activists, Berta Cáceres, a leader of the Lenca people in Honduras, Francisco Pineda, a subsistence farmer in El Salvador, and Alberto Curamil, an Indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile, as they face death threats and murder to save their precious water resources from mining and hydroelectric projects.

In March, the film had its Honduran premiere in Berta Cáceres' hometown, La Esperanza, at the 10-year commemoration of her assassination. The event was hosted by the Indigenous rights organization COPINH, which Berta founded and is now run by her daughters, and was attended by over 500 people.

The film also screened in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, at an event co-hosted by the film's impact partner, Amnesty International, and by the Spanish Consul General Cultural Attaché; at the Festival de Cine y Derechos Humanos de Vieques, Puerto Rico; at Amnesty International España's 24th annual Write For Rights campaign; at the Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute; and at UCLA's Hammer Museum.

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE - STREAMING ON PBS

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE, directed and produced by SARAH MCLURE, produced by JOSEPH TERRANOVA, and produced by JAMIE BOYLE, had its broadcast and streaming premiere on March 23 and is available to watch for free here on PBS until June 20! The film is also featured as part of PBS' launch on Youtube - click here to watch.

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE follows Lizzie Hershberger, a former Amish woman who breaks the deeply entrenched silence surrounding sexual abuse in her community and ignites an unprecedented movement. Based on groundbreaking reporting by Cosmopolitan and Type Investigations, the film chronicles Hershberger's journey against the backdrop of this historic reckoning, delivering a sobering celebration of resilience in the face of staggering oppression. 

JULIA VINOGRAD: BETWEEN SPIRIT AND STONE - IN-PROGRESS PREVIEW SCREENING

Director KEN PAUL ROSENTHAL presented a 33-minute preview of his in-progress feature documentary, JULIA VINOGRAD: BETWEEN SPIRIT AND STONE at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The screening took place on campus in the historic Kelly Writers House. Prior to the screening, Ken was interviewed for their Modern & Contemporary American Poetry program and PoemTalk podcast.

JULIA VINOGRAD: BETWEEN SPIRIT AND STONE is a cinematic poem about an eccentric and indomitable Berkeley street poet who fought oppression with bubbles instead of bricks, and pushed through multiple disabilities to produce more than seventy volumes of poetry that champion those surviving on society's margins.

LEFT LANE STRAIGHT - WORLD PREMIERE

LEFT LANE STRAIGHT, produced and directed by CAROLINE KAYE and produced by DEANA MORENOFF, had its world premiere at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival in early March. The filmmakers were thrilled to premiere in Greece, where their documentary begins.

LEFT LANE STRAIGHT is a multigenerational documentary in which director Caroline Kaye revisits her family's joyful present to uncover a traumatic past. Filmed over 30 years, the film traces the story of Sephardic Jews from Thrace -nearly erased during WWII- and centers on Carolina Varon, whose wartime escape through occupied Greece reshaped her life and family forever. As the narrative moves from survival to migration, the film examines how identity, memory, and resilience are negotiated across generations. Weaving personal testimony with historical context, LEFT LANE STRAIGHT reveals the emotional cost of survival while illuminating what was preserved, transformed, and rebuilt in the aftermath of displacement.

SHUCKING TRADITION - SCREENING AT IFF BOSTON

SHUCKING TRADITION, directed and produced by DAVID HELFER WELLS, just got into its 20th film festival! The film will be screening at International Film Festival Boston on April 25 and 26. Learn more here.

SHUCKING TRADITION is a short documentary film following a cohort of forward-thinking, hard-working women bringing new energy and perspectives to oyster farming, a New England industry layered with history. They avoid drawing attention to their gender while subtly upending ingrained stereotypes. Balancing challenging work-life dynamics and exhibiting flexibility and a strong work ethic, they have enabled them to prove themselves in this tradition-bound maritime profession.

Check out the trailer here on vimeo.

UNBOWED - PBS PREMIERE IN JANUARY

UNBOWED, produced and directed by MAE GAMMINO, and directed by DAVID HELFER WELLS, premiered on PBS in January!

UNBOWED is a moving and intimate portrait of exiled Gambian journalist Dr. Omar Bah whose life takes a drastic turn when he is resettled in Rhode Island as a refugee. This profoundly life-altering experience catalyzes Omar's life in a remarkable new direction, becoming Activist, Advocate and Leader for Refugee communities.  

Watch the film here on PBS.

UNPACKING GRIEF - UPDATES

GEETA GANDBHIR, executive producer of UNPACKING GRIEF, made history as the first woman to receive two Oscar nominations in the same year—one for Best Feature (THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR) and one for Best Short (THE DEVIL IS BUSY).

UNPACKING GRIEF, also produced and directed by AMELIA HANIBELSZ, and produced by CHERYL FURJANIC, is directly rooted in the AMELIA HANIBELSZ's experience. After her parents passed away, she inherited not just grief but a home overflowing with objects saved by her mother, carrying pieces of their lives. She packed what she could into seventeen boxes, and with them came the weight and the wonder of a family archive: handwritten letters, clothes, photographs, and long-lost home videos. UNPACKING GRIEF is her attempt to make meaning out of these fragments. The film explores grief as a universal condition, messy, uncurated, and often hidden away, and shows how memory, love, humor, and storytelling can help us carry it together.



The filmmakers are excited to announce their third shoot is coming up soon. Please consider supporting UNPACKING GRIEF as it comes to life. Link to donate here.

FATHER FIGURES - GRANT WIN

FATHER FIGURES, produced and directed by EMMA D. MILLER, produced by FLORRIE PRIEST, and produced by COLBY DAY, has received a grant from the Sundance Institute Sandbox Fund! Focused on innovative nonfiction storytelling exploring the link between science and culture, the fund has distributed grants to teams behind films at all stages, from development to post-production, since 2017. Read the announcement here on Deadline.

FATHER FIGURES follows a retired theater director, who begins creating internet videos featuring intimate conversations with his growing collection of ventriloquist dummies, and his daughter, who attempts to repair their relationship by exploring the psychological depths and possibilities of his strange new hobby.

Though the filmmakers are still raising money for finishing funds, they are currently in late stages of the edit and aiming to finish the film this summer. Click here to donate.

WHERE ART MEETS JUSTICE - WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION

Director MARY ANN BRAUBACH has secured worldwide distribution with Gooddocs of her short, educational film WHERE ART MEETS JUSTICE. Licenses can be purchased here.

WHERE ART MEETS JUSTICE features interviews with South African artists William Kentridge, Willie Bester, Marlene Dumas, Hlengiwe Dube, Pitika Ntuli, Sue Williamson, as well as the Handspring Puppeteers and photographer David Goldblatt. The artists contextualize the works with personal accounts of apartheid and post-apartheid history. These conversations with artists and Court Justices offer new life to the Court’s art collection, and inform viewers about the history of the country’s first democratic constitution and Constitutional Court.

FROM RAILS TO TRAILS - UPDATES

FROM RAILS TO TRAILS, directed by DAN PROTESS and produced by PETER HARNIK, continues to get an enthusiastic reception since its release in October 2025. Even though it is freely available on the PBS website and app (click here to watch on PBS), almost 20 different organizations have publicly screened it for in-person showings in front of more than 2,000 people. 

In FROM RAILS TO TRAILS, Edward Norton narrates the story of one of the most unlikely social movements in American history: the struggle to convert thousands of miles of abandoned railroads into trails for cycling and walking. Facing fierce opposition and legal challenges from private property owners, leaders fought to reclaim these corridors for the public, creating a national network of scenic, car-free paths.

The Los Angeles Times review said, "This often moving hour-long documentary is a paean to old-fashioned coalition building and community activism — needed now more than ever." And the Seattle Times called it an "entertaining and historic ride that packs in six decades of activism into 55 minutes."

Theater showings have taken place from Boston to Brownsville, Texas to Elroy, Wisconsin to Seattle.

SPRING OF THE VANISHING - RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCED

SPRING OF THE VANISHING, directed by ANDREW GLAZER, will be available for rental and purchase on iTunes and Amazon Prime April 14. Click here to watch the trailer and preorder.

The film tells the story of how a mother’s search for her missing teenage son uncovers mass murder and a conspiracy of silence on America’s doorstep. US-born Jorge Dominguez and dozens of others of innocent people were killed by a US-trained and armed unit of Mexico's special forces in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The mass killing and cover ups are a cautionary tale about the increasing militarization of the US war on drugs. 

FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE - APRIL THEATRICAL SHOWTIMES

FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE, directed by TRISTAN COOK and produced by BIRGIT GERNBÖCK, will be screening on April 18 at the Little Theatre, Rochester, NY, on April 19 at the Frida Cinema, Santa Ana, CA, and on April 19, 23, 26, 28, and May 6 at Dietrich Theater, Tunkhannock, PA. Past and upcoming showtimes are listed here, with May dates/showtimes for Bronxville, NY to be announced soon.

The film gets its title from what Goethe once said about a string quartet being like "a conversation between four rational people." For the members of the Emerson String Quartet, that conversation is coming to a bittersweet ending as they embark on their final season of a fifty-year history that includes 9 GRAMMY Awards and thousands of concerts.

Interweaving vivid memories of the Emerson Quartet’s past with delicate observations of life on the road in the weeks and days before disbanding, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE explores the group’s difficult decision to walk away from the things that they cherish most in life: the music they play and the friends they hold dear. At once a frank examination of the tyranny of aging and a cri de cœur to pass the torch to a new generation of artists, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE culminates with one final Emerson Quartet performance for the ages, leaving all to ponder what happens to us after the final curtain.

HUMAN SHIELD - WORLD PREMIERE

HUMAN SHIELD, produced and directed by ERIN PERSLEY, and produced by RAJAL PITRODA, will have its world premiere in April at the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Tickets to the April 19 and April 25 screenings can be purchased here.

The film offers an intimate look at abortion clinic escorts who stand between patients and protesters to help ensure people can safely access abortion care. At a moment when abortion access is shifting rapidly across the country, their work has never felt more urgent. The filmmakers made the decision to premiere the film now to begin bringing it into public conversation, especially as we head toward the November midterm elections.

The film also features clinic escorts in Raleigh, where the team began filming in 2019. They are especially excited to share the film with that community, and to host a Q&A grounded in conversation with advocates and escorts doing this work every day.

TONY FOSTER: PAINTING AT THE EDGE - NYC PREMIERE

TONY FOSTER: PAINTING AT THE EDGE, produced and directed by DAVID SCHENDEL and produced by JOE PAVLO, will have its NYC premiere on May 2, 3pm at the Roxy Cinema in Tribeca. This is following several sold out shows at the London World Premiere.

The film follows English artist Tony Foster, who travels mostly on foot, by raft, or by canoe, to paint landscapes in the remotest of areas, often risking his life to bring awareness to climate change and wilderness destruction. He is the only artist to paint Mount Everest from all three sides and nearly died in the process. As an artist he is a bit of an outsider - as an environmentalist, he offers a positive spin on activism. Award winning filmmaker David Schendel follows Tony into the wilderness to find his source of inspiration in this exotically beautiful and timely documentary.

Buy tickets to the film's NYC premiere here.

HOW FAR HOME: VETERANS AFTER VIETNAM & CAMOUFLAGE: VIETNAMESE BRUSH STROKES WITH HISTORY - UPCOMING SCREENING

Award-winning documentary filmmaker and Vietnam Veteran BESTOR CRAM will be screening two of his documentaries at the West Newton Cinema on April 25 at 4pm.

HOW FAR HOME: VETERANS AFTER VIETNAM (1983), directed by BESTOR CRAM, focuses on veterans reconciling memory at the dedication of the Wall, while CAMOUFLAGE: VIETNAMESE BRUSH STROKES WITH HISTORY (2018), directed by BESTOR CRAM and DAVID THOMAS, portrays Vietnamese artists interpreting memory as shaped by war.

Bestor Cram served as a Marine in the Vietnam War and earned the Navy Commendation Medal. He returned home to become a conscientious objector and leader of Vietnam Vets Against the War. After working in the MIT Film Studies Program, he founded Northern Light Productions, which produces media for museums and television. Cram has made over 30 feature documentary film and resides in Newton.

Buy tickets to the screening here.

SALLY! - THIN LINE FEST "BEST CINEMATIC VISION" WINNER

SALLY!, produced and directed by DEBORAH CRAIG, and produced by JÖRG FOCKELE and ONDINE RAREY, just won the jury award for “Best Cinematic Vision” at Thin Line Fest in Denton, TX! This award went to the documentary film that uses the full capabilities of modern tools and techniques to deliver a cinematic experience.

SALLY! brings into focus the life and legacy of Sally Gearheart - a charismatic lesbian-activist, feminist, professor, and fantasy author. A trailblazer in the 1970s and '80s U.S. lesbian feminist movement, Sally is a "hidden figure" deserving more attention: she was a key spokeswoman for an important period of women's history. The film makes clear most of us haven't heard of Sally or her accomplishments largely due to the patriarchal lens through which history is recounted. At the same time, it honestly and unflinchingly examines Sally's contradictions, iconoclasm, and the complex relationship between spokeswomen like her and the movements for social change they champion, which are necessarily collective and layered. Balancing humor, insight, and heart, SALLY! is both a celebration of a radical icon, a meditation on the tensions inherent in revolutionary movements, and a powerful reflection on the lessons her work offers for today's struggles for civil rights, justice, and equality.

SHE WRESTLES - BEST PITCH AWARD

In March, producer LUCILA MOCTEZUMA and director CHARLES FAIRBANKS traveled to Malmö, Sweden to pitch SHE WRESTLES to Scandinavian & greater European Industry at m:brane, an industry forum focused on young audiences. They were honored with the award for Best Pitch, proving that their film and these stories are compelling for audiences far beyond the U.S.! The event was also a wonderful opportunity to meet many potential partners for the eventual release of their film. 

SHE WRESTLES is a film about women's wrestling, now the fastest-growing youth sport around the world. It artfully interweaves remarkable stories of young women in the American heartland who surmount trauma and find joy by embracing the ancient sport of wrestling. Though patriarchal societies have long discouraged women from wrestling, that dam is breaking just in time to give teenage girls a courage-building, deeply embodied, community-based antidote to social media, depression, and our always-online culture.

THE QUILTERS - EMMY AWARD NOMINEE

THE QUILTERS, produced and directed by JENIFER MCSHANE, has been nominated for a 2026 News & Documentary EMMY award in the "Outstanding Short Documentary" category.

THE QUILTERS follows a group of inmates of the South Central Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in rural Missouri, whose goal is to make a personalized birthday quilt for every foster child in the counties surrounding the prison. The fact that a significant number of incarcerated people were once in foster care makes their work particularly meaningful. The film follows the daily life inside the prison sewing room and the progress of several quilts from design through production and into the arms of a foster child. It provides us with a unique opportunity to observe how art can restore an individual’s view of themselves and others.

DIAMOND DIPLOMACY - UPDATES

DIAMOND DIPLOMACY, produced and directed by YURIKO GAMO ROMER, is honored to welcome two new powerhouse voices as Executive Producers: Jacqueline Glover and Mari Nakachi. Jacqueline Glover is currently executive director of the Black Film Project at Harvard and brings years of experience through HBO and ABC News Documentary films. Glover’s projects have received numerous awards, including 10 Emmys and 5 Academy Awards. Mari Nakachi is CEO of Lakeville Production and is the Strategic Advisor to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee for long-form content. She brings a wealth of experience in theater has earned her productions some of the industry’s highest honors, including Tony nominations, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award. 

DIAMOND DIPLOMACY will also be screening at six events: A special screening at the Yakyu, Cooperstown, NY on April 17, the 15th San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase on April 25, the 42nd Los Angeles Asian Film Festival on May 3, CAAMFest 2026 on May 10, CelebrAsian 2026 on May 27, and Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival on May 31.

The film explores the long and complex relationship between the United States and Japan through a shared love of baseball. Using the baseball life of Masanori “Mashi” Murakami (the first Japanese major leaguer) as a touchstone, DIAMOND DIPLOMACY reveals a surprising, obscure and often-controversial duality that has existed throughout this history. Dedication to the game has been tossed between the U.S. and Japan since the opening of Japan to the West in the late 1800s, and mirrors profound shifts in diplomacy and conflict between the two nations.