AXS FILM FUND GRANT

This program is for creators of color in documentary filmmaking or nonfiction new media who identify as living with a disability.

Each year up to five creators is awarded with grants of up to $10,000 each to assist them in finishing their projects in any stage of production.

Letters of Inquiry are not required. Applicants should submit an application through our portal.

Starting June 2, 2025, our online portal for submission opens. The Application deadline is July 31, 2025. Click here to learn more.

SFFILM DOCUMENTARY FILM FUND

The SFFILM Documentary Film Fund (DFF) supports engaging documentaries in post-production which exhibit compelling stories, intriguing characters, and an original, innovative visual approach. The Documentary Film Fund grants its support to approximately 3-4 projects each year with grants of $10,000 – $15,000. Recipients will also gain access to numerous benefits through the SFFILM Makers artist development program.

The Regular Deadline is Mon, June 23, 2025 (Application Fee $30) and the Final Deadline is Mon, July 7, 2025 (Application Fee $50). Click here to learn more.

EXPAND MASSACHUSETTS STORIES GRANT

This grant offers up to $20,000 for projects that collect, interpret and/or share narratives about the commonwealth, with an emphasis on the voices and experiences that have gone unrecognized, or have been excluded from public conversation. This year, our theme focuses on legacies of the American Revolution.

The deadline for letters of inquiry is June 9th, 2025. Click here to learn more.

WATER FOR LIFE STREAMING ON PBS

WATER FOR LIFE, directed and produced by WILL PARINELLO and produced by RICK TEJADA-FLORES and MARIA JOSE CALDERON, is now Streaming on PBS.org and the PBS app! 

WATER FOR LIFE explores the collision of water rights, Indigenous beliefs, and resource extraction through the lives of three Latin American community leaders. The right to clean water is a global issue—in Latin America it has become a matter of life and death.

Narrated by Mexican actor Diego Luna with the original song Ko (Water) sung by Grammy Award-winning Mexican Mixtec singer Lila Downs and Chilean Mapuche singer-songwriter Daniela Millaleo. 

Produced in Association with Center For Independent Documentary and Latino Public Broadcasting with Major Funding from Ford Foundation /JustFilms.

Watch the trailer!

YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE SCREENINGS

YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE, directed by RAJEE SAMARASINGHE and produced by TABS BREESE, SOLOMON TURNER, MAGGIE CORONA-GOLDSTEIN and DAMANUEL RICHARDSON, screened at the Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) in the program, More Light, Less Shade: FIFF Celebrates Sri Lankan Cinema.

On April 30, it screened on the opening night of Prismatic Ground, and on May 10, the film screened at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAMFest) in San Francisco as a Centerpiece Showcase film with Q&A.

The surreal tale of a spellbound Tamil factory worker who loses her son to a supernatural entity; fusing allegorical fiction and investigative documentary, YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE is a lyrical investigation of missing persons in a small post-war community in northern Sri Lanka, collaboratively enacted by impacted locals.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WING UPDATES

The team behind WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WING, directed and produced by LARISSA LAM and produced by BALDWIN CHIU, was recently awarded a Mississippi Humanities Council document grant.

The WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WING team will be hosting a special AARP Webinar in celebration of AANHPI Heritage Month. Director Larissa Lam and actress and main subject Virginia Wing will be present at this online event on Thursday, May 29 at 3 PM Central Time. Register for free here. 

We are saddened by the recent passing of Patrick Adiarte, pioneering Filipino American actor and dancer, and longtime collaborator of Virginia Wing. His legacy and contributions will be featured in the film.

The team has also recently launched an official website for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WING. Click here to visit the site and learn more.

THE QUILTERS STREAMING ON NETFLIX

THE QUILTERS, produced and directed by JENIFER MCSHANE began streaming on Netflix May 16th! 

Netflix will be making the film available in 191 countries and 32 languages.

THE QUILTERS provides us with a unique opportunity to observe how art can restore an individual’s view of themselves and others. 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.

Watch the trailer here.

RUNA SIMI PREMIERE

RUNA SIMI, directed by AUGUSTO ZEGARRA and produced by CLAUDIA CHAVEZ LAVANO and PALOMA ITURRIAGA, will premiere at Tribeca Film Festival June 5-7 as part of the official competition! Click here to buy tickets and find out more.

RUNA SIMI follows Fernando, a voice actor from Cusco, Peru, who is trying to save his indigenous language from extinction. His dream: to convince the Walt Disney Company to let him dub The Lion King into Quechua, the language of the Incas. His journey to achieve this will make him re-examine his role as a father and an activist, with his 8 year-old son as his essential sidekick.

ONE ANOTHER UPDATES

ONE ANOTHER, directed by AMBER LOVE and produced by ANDREA RABY, is now in post-production! The team has put together a new website with social media links at the bottom where you can follow along as they complete the film!

As three of the filmmaker’s loved ones confront the possible end of intimate friendships, ONE ANOTHER chronicles their efforts to find a way forward. Over multiple years, the film traces the ways that friendships support and shape us as they are broken, tested, and remade.

TEN TIMES BETTER NOW STREAMING

TEN TIMES BETTER, produced and directed by JENNIFER LIN and produced by JON FUNABIKI and CORY STIEG, is now streaming on PBS's American Masters Shorts. Click here to watch.

George Lee was a pioneering Asian dancer who originated a featured role in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker 70 years ago as a teenage immigrant from China. He has been a prodigy, a refugee, an immigrant and a pioneer in the dance world. Now, up until his passing on April 20, 2025, he had been a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas, a humble and beloved figure at the Four Queens Hotel & Casino who worked five days a week.

TEN TIMES BETTER tells George Lee’s uniquely American story of perseverance in the face of hardship, of talent overcoming long odds, and a reminder of the remarkable lives behind the anonymous faces all around us.

DISSIDENTS UPDATES

DISSIDENTS, produced and directed by YI CHEN, had its New England premiere at 2025 Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 2:15 PM at West Newton Cinema. Click here to learn more. 

A story on DISSIDENTS was published in Politico's China Watcher on May 8, 2025. Read it here. 

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In the United States, three Chinese dissidents fight for democracy against a superpower through art, petition, and grassroots organizing. Combining intimate observational footage, rich archival materials and investigative approach, DISSIDENTS uncovers transnational repression by an authoritarian state targeting dissidents who are keeping the democratic flame alive during the darkest hours.

OCEANIA: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER UPDATES 

OCEANIA: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER, directed and produced by NATALIE ZIMMERMAN, had its world premiere last October at the Mill Valley International Film Festival, followed by a US East Coast Premiere at Woodstock Film Festival.

After screening at the Speed Museum Cinema in Louisville, Kentucky last month, the team is about to launch its international tour which will begin at ECOAdor Film Festival in Quito Ecuador, followed by FIFES Cannes (France), Dokumentale Berlin (Germany), and Ischia International Film Festival (Italy). OCEANIA will have its Asia Pacific Premiere at DocEdge Film Festival in New Zealand.

Director, Natalie Zimmerman was honored with Best Female Director at the Frome Climate Film Festival in Somerset County, UK in May.

OCEANIA begins at the center of the planet on a coral atoll – predicted to become uninhabitable by 2030 due to rising sea levels and temperatures brought by climate change. We journey with a mother and her adult son as they struggle to maintain their culture, freedom and independence. In the wake of decades of colonizing encounters, we soon realize our seemingly disparate histories, experiences and fates — are all connected.

NIGHT FIGHT UPDATE

NIGHT FIGHT, produced and directed by KHARY SAEED JONES and produced by KENDRA TAIRA FIELD, was awarded the Karen Schmeer Excellence in Documentary Film Editing Award by the jury at IFFBoston.

NIGHT FIGHT is a hybrid documentary—nonfiction wrapped in fiction—which charts a week in the life of a Black man attempting to step out of the long shadow cast by an act of racial violence perpetrated against him, as a nation seizes and convulses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, counts down to the most consequential election in its history, and bears witness to the police killing of George Floyd.

JAMHURIYAT IS CROWDFUNDING

JAMHURIYAT, directed by NOVITA SINGH and produced by TERRIE SAMUNDRA has begun its crowfunding campaign. The campaign aims to raise $7000 by June 3, 2025. So far, they have raised 43% of their goal. Click here to learn more about the film and contribute.

In a time where democracies worldwide are under threat, JAMHURIYAT is a story of marginalized farmers and labourers, their year long struggle to bring down the most arrogant government in the history of this country to its knees and how that struggle impacts them and their ideas of hope and change.

Click here to watch the trailer.

VESTIBULE UPDATES

VESTIBULE, directed by RILEY HOOPER and produced by CAITLIN MAE BURKE and BRYN SILVERMAN, has been added to the Nonfiction Hotlist.

The team will also be screening a work in progress excerpt of Vestibule at a DCTV Tribeca Mixer on June 10.

VESTIBULE chronicles filmmaker Riley Hooper’s decade-long journey to diagnose, treat, and heal from Vestibulodynia, a vulvar disorder that made intercourse painful. In the film, what begins as a singular mission to have pain-free sex becomes a multi-generational story about sexual health, pleasure, and agency.

PUPPY LOVE – TAILS OF THE CITY NOW ON KICKSTARTER

PUPPY LOVE, directed and produced by LULU MEN and produced by SANJNA SELVA and HSI CHENG is a heartwarming short documentary that explores the transformative bond between dogs and their humans in New York City. From the joy of puppy eyes to the challenges of bonding with reactive dogs and the tenderness of caring for senior pups, our fur babies offer us more than love; they bring us community, teach us patience and compassion, and remind us what it means to be unconditionally loved.

This project uplifts the quiet strength of everyday heroes who open their hearts to animals in need. If you believe in the power of love, dogs, and the bonds that shape us, we invite you to help bring PUPPY LOVE to life.

Click here to support the campaign and follow the journey at @pup.lov3.film.

CURED Streaming on PBS for Pride Month

We’re excited to share that CURED will be featured on the PBS App and PBS.org in honor of Pride Month. This award-winning documentary tells the powerful story of the LGBTQ+ activists who fought to remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental illnesses — a groundbreaking victory in the movement for equality.

• Free Streaming: June 1 – June 14, 2025
• PBS Passport Extended Streaming: June 1 – October 10, 2025
• In-Flight Viewing: Beginning June 1, CURED will also be available on American Airlines

To learn more about CURED, which had its national broadcast premiere on Independent Lens and was directed by PATRICK SAMMON and BENNETT SINGER, click here.

IT'S DOROTHY PREMIERES

IT'S DOROTHY, directed by JEFFREY MCHALE and produced by ARIANA GARFINKEL will have its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, June 7th, 8th, and 9th. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

IT'S DOROTHY will have its West Coast Premiere at Frameline Film Festival on June 26th.

Click here for more information and to buy tickets.

Since her first adventure 125 years ago in L. Frank Baum’s classic, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale has become a touchpoint of American culture worldwide. This joyous film presents an exciting adventure in its own right, expertly weaving Dorothy’s journeys with those of the women that portrayed her from Judy Garland to Diana Ross. Is there anyone who hasn’t sometimes felt a little bit of Dorothy within?

DESIRE LINES UPDATES

The Sundance award winning hybrid documentary, DESIRE LINES, produced and directed by JULES ROSSKAM, will finally be available on digital VOD starting June 25th! Find it on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, YouTube, and Gathr. You will be able to pre-order the film soon! To celebrate the digital release, the team will be hosting three in-person screenings during the month of June in Portland, OR, Philadelphia, PA, and Northampton, MA. Sign up for the newsletter to get exclusive deals and discounts on upcoming screenings, including VOD. The film is also available for educational screenings and licenses through Collective Eye Films. Add this historic film to your library's collection today!

It’s an open secret among transgender men: after coming out as trans, many of us develop an attraction for other men. DESIRE LINES is a feature-length essay film exploring what’s at stake for everyone when our sexual desires lead to feelings of social and political precarity.