The IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund is now accepting applications! Production funds are provided to feature-length documentary films taking on in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories and integrating journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. In addition to funds, grantees will receive additional resources and expertise tailored to the needs of the project. Inclusion and diversity, both in terms of the filmmaking team and subject matter, are a priority of the fund.

Firelight Media has announced an open call for the William Greaves Fund‘s second year. Founded in 2020 to support documentary filmmakers from racially and ethnically underrepresented communities, the Fund is designed to address structural challenges filmmakers face after producing their first films so that they are able to continue creating stories focused on underrepresented people and topics.

The call for proposals opens March 15 and runs through May 1, 2021.

Working Films' Impact Kickstart 2021 call for applications is now open! The program offers partnership development, strategic support and at least $25,000 in impact campaign funding to underrepresented documentary directors with feature films that hold great promise to catalyze action and address critical issues of our time.

FWD-Doc in association with Doc Society supported by Netflix presents A Toolkit for Inclusion and Accessibility: Changing the Narrative of Disability in Documentary Film, featuring a case study about Crip Camp (2020) and with a view to best practice, not just compliance.

Download the toolkit here.

THE FAITHFUL, a new film about iconography and what it means to be faithful, by Annie Berman, will be making it’s WORLDWIDE PREMIERE this MARCH 19th! Join us as we watch together, in real-time, on a brand new virtual platform. Stay for the live Q&A with the film’s director and special guests! No geo-blocking, no gatekeepers, no masks (or pants) required. Bring your pod-mates and some popcorn, your questions and some bubbly, as we celebrate the release of a film 20-years in the making. Purchase your tickets now!

Join the conversation on Facebook Instagram Twitter

Director Amy Jenkins’ feature documentary INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTING, will have its online debut with DAFilms, the International VOD platform of DocAlliance. INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTING was chosen as part of a curated program in partnership with eleven documentary film festivals in the Americas, each of whom hand-picked a favorite film from their festival lineup. Festivals include DOXA, whom chose INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTING, and DocsMX, BAFICI, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, SF DocFest, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Frontera Sur, FIDOCS, Transcinema, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and Available Light. A live, online Q&A will be held on Tuesday, March 17th at 1pm ET, and moderated by Kathy Brew, former Programmer for MoMA Doc Fortnight. Visit the program link for details. Films can be viewed individually for a $2.50 fee or viewers can subscribe to DAFilms for $5./mo. https://americas.dafilms.com/film/12727-instructions-on-parting

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS, a tale of music and family divided by borders, will play the Miami Film Festival, March 6-8, 2021. Ticket information and listen to the Q&A with Thom Powers here.

A PROMISE KEPT, directed by Ken Winikur and Ariel Efron, will have its world premiere at this year's SXSW Film Festival in the Virtual Cinema Competition.

A Promise Kept is a gripping virtual reality experience that takes you on a journey back to the notorious Auschwitz killing center with Holocaust Survivor, Fritzie Fritzshall as she fulfills her promise to the 599 women who helped save her life.

Through a generous grant of $125,000, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) has become a Presenting Sponsor of the outreach and engagement campaign for CURED.

The APAF grant has made it possible for producers Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer to launch an ambitious campaign aimed at amplifying the reach and impact of their film in classrooms and communities. Described as “one of the best documentaries of this or any year” by the British Film Institute, which will be showing CURED at the BFI Flare film festival this month, the film tells the story of the activists who challenged psychiatry’s mental illness classification for homosexuality — and won.

Through community-based programs, fellowships, awards and grants, the APAF addresses critical mental health needs and directs resources where they are needed most. All the Foundation’s initiatives focus on one goal: A mentally healthy nation for all. Additional partners are teaming up with the producers to help implement the outreach

campaign for CURED. These include Born Perfect, Trevor Project, SAGE, PFLAG, the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC, and others.

PatchWorks Films is delighted to participate in a lovely collaboration between Women in Film & Video New England, the Boston Latino International Film Festival, and the Walnut Street Synagogue in Chelsea. HAVANA CURVEBALL will screen in a series called "Tikkun Olam/Sanar el Mundo" (Healing the World) with a live Q&A with filmmaker Marcia Jarmel. HAVANA CURVEBALL will be showing on Sunday, March 14th at 4pm ET. Screenings are free but you must RSVP.

LEFT LANE STRAIGHT, directed by Caroline Kaye, has received a 2021 NYSCA grant! The team have begun their edit with the amazing Ann Rose, who comes to the project having just completed back to back Netflix and National Geographic projects. They are excited to have historian Vasilis Ritzaleos laying the groundwork for the their long awaited shoot in Greece - with optimistic hope for safe travel in the near future.

THE WORST THING, one year after winning the Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Snowdance Independent Film Festival in Landsberg, Germany is now available to stream on Amazon Prime and also available on Amazon UK and Amazon Germany! It is also available to rent or purchase on Vimeo worldwide.

Support this self-distributed feature-length documentary by watching and leaving your review on Amazon or on IMDB.

The Kickstarter campaign for SALLY, a documentary about lesbian-feminist icon Sally Gearhart directed by Deborah Craig, will go live on March 7th!

Check out the pre-launch page here, and be sure to support the film once the fundraiser goes live!

In celebration of International Women's Day and International Right to Truth Day, the 54 minute broadcast version of DAWNLAND and DEAR GEORGINA will be available to stream on Wednesday, March 24 at 7pm ET/4pm PT. Register for free here.

Almost 50 years later, Reed, by now an award-winning documentary filmmaker, rediscovered his old film—initiating a new quest, a new search. Thus, Ted returned to Memphis, Clarksdale and the Mississippi Delta. Interviewing blues musicians, entrepreneurs, tourists and historians; filming live music and events at Juke Joint Festival; and searching for where the music came from and where it's going... Reed dove deep. He reconnected with Treadway for the first time in years, reflecting on all that had passed during the past half-century. THE BLUES TRAIL REVISITED is a personal memoir that encompasses the evolution of American music, the upheavals of the Civil Rights movement, the power of memory, and a reflection on the treasures of personal experience, both lost and found.

WALKING CINEMA is wrapping up production on Free & Equal, the location-based audio and augmented-reality documentary in the Sea Island, South Carolina. This project dives into the experiences of African American soldiers during the Civil War and Reconstruction. The story will play out as listeners drive between the sites of The Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. There has been rising interest in the format of outdoor, location-based docs, which are Covid-proof and incorporate the environment and audience interaction into the storytelling.

Jonathan Skurnik’s film BECOMING JOHANNA will be screening at more than 50 PFLAG chapters across the country in honor of Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV). Afterwards, Johanna, Jonathan and experts from PFLAG and Gender Spectrum will host a zoom Q&A and discussion on best practices for allies to trans youth.

HOOKED: A FAMILY'S JOURNEY WITH ADDICTION will be featured at the prestigious Martha's Vineyard Film Festival in March 2021. The film is also being highlighted via a panel discussion at the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, featuring Former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Gary Mendell, CEO of Shatterproof, and Dr. Sharon Levy of Boston Children's Hospital.

Kyle Pyatt, director/producer of RIDE OF THE THUNDERKING, has been invited to pitch at the 2021 American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs.

Ride Of The Thunderking is a non-fiction road trip movie that follows a retired high school teacher turned fireworks salesman on a cross country tour of America's toxic waste dumps, culminating in a fireworks show of his own design at the most infamous site of all.

Elisabeth Möhlmann, director of HAMPIQ WARMI, is excited to have CID as the new fiscal sponsor for the film.

Hampiq Warmi is a film about Mama Irene, a remarkable 84-year-old woman Shaman (healer) from Peru who draws upon indigenous knowledge and traditions in danger of being lost forever. Learn more here.

Learn filmmaking with these in-depth workshops and take advantage of a nearly 40% price cut:

VISUAL AND AURAL STORYTELLING FOR FILMMAKING (March-April 2021, 8 sessions, $550)

Learn the aesthetic and technical skills needed to construct scenes and stories visually and aurally - whatever genre of filmmaking you are interested in.

EDITING THE STORY WITH IMAGE AND SOUND (April-May 2021, 6 sessions, $425)

Learn the principles and techniques of video editing - the backbone of filmmaking. Whatever your interest or desired role in filmmaking, understanding editing is fundamental to your success.

One-on-one training and project mentoring also available. Be in touch to explore the best options for you

Rebecca Fons, Programming Director of The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, and Irish American radio personality Mike Houlihan announced their Call for Entries for their Seventh Annual “Irish American Movie Hooley” at the Gene Siskel Film Center September 24, 25, and 26, 2021.

The festival is looking to discover the next John Ford, Ed Burns, Preston Sturges, John Huston,

or John Patrick Shanley, i.e.; Irish American filmmakers who epitomize Irish American pride, bravado, and legendary storytelling. All work submitted should represent the best of the Irish American experience on screen.

Filmmakers from all over the world are encouraged to visit the website for guidelines as to eligibility and to send in their films.

Check it out here.