Image Description: Golden text reads HAPPY HOLIDAYS over snow-covered fir tree branches. | | |
LEF will be closed for the holidays from
Tuesday, DECEMBER 23 until Monday, JANUARY 5
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Greetings from LEF New England,
We're wishing happy holidays to all in our network, both here in New England and beyond. We hope the new year brings a continuation of the efforts that have connected us this year through thinking creatively and collectively.
Here at LEF, we're reflecting on this year as another spent uplifting the work of independent filmmakers in the region with the help of peer reviewers and our many partners in the field. It has been important for LEF from the beginning to nurture a community of makers over time, and with each year that passes this intention becomes both more realized and more constant.
Thank you to everyone who makes our work worth doing. We look forward to seeing you in 2026.
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In 2025, the LEF Moving Image Fund grant program awarded $322,500 in funding to 25 feature nonfiction projects by New England-based directors and producers:
Through LEF New England's ongoing collaborations with the Flaherty, Points North Institute, the Harvard Film Study Center, and Salem Film Fest, we supported 12 New England-based filmmaking teams with cohort-based creative development opportunitiess in 2025:
| | | | In the new year, this newsletter will continue to be a place for us to share exciting updates about MIF grantees and fellows, and to notify New England's growing community of filmmakers about other support opportunities. Please share it far and wide! | |
Image Description: Over a swirling, scalloped blue-green pattern, text reads: Production and Post-production Letters of Inquiry, Apply by January 16. | | |
Submit an LOI!
And as a reminder, all letters of inquiry for projects in production and post-production are due on Friday, January 16 at 11:59pm.
You can find more information and watch a recording of our latest virtual info session on the How to Apply page of LEF's website. Learn more about eligibility on our Guidelines and FAQ pages.
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Opportunities for New England Filmmakers
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Image Description: Silhouetted figures in a train car point cameras out the windows toward a large body of sparkling water.
Applications for the 2026-27 Harvard Film Study Center-LEF Foundation Fellowship are now open to Boston-area nonfiction filmmakers who are not affiliated with Harvard. One filmmaker per academic year receives a $15,000 grant (jointly funded by the Film Study Center at Harvard University and the LEF Foundation), access to FSC’s pool of production and post-production equipment, and the opportunity to participate in the Harvard FSC community through work-in-progress screenings, workshops, and other activities.
Applications for the fellowship can be made through the Film Study Center website by a deadline of Thursday, February 6, 2026
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Image Description: Salem Film Fest logo.
Docs-In-Progress is an event that will showcase three nonfiction works-in-progress created by New England filmmakers at Salem Film Fest 2026. Three projects will be selected to participate at the event, which will take place during the festival in late March. Projects will be allowed to present up to 15 minutes of a visual sample, followed by live feedback from a panel of industry professionals. Selected projects will receive a $500 travel stipend, 1-year IDA Doc Maker Membership (for one team member), and all access festival badge!
Learn more and apply by a deadline of 11:59pm ET on January 19, 2026.
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Moving Image Fund Grantee News
| | Image Description: In this still from Lamia Lazrak's work-in-progress DAR MARJANA, three figures with long dark hair sit in a tiled room looking up at something offscreen. | | |
LEF-supported project DAR MARJANA (dir. Lamia Lazrak; prods. Lazrak, Lisa Yadao, Irene Yadao), a story about identity, legacy and a Marrakech restaurant’s mysterious power over a family, was one of the recipients of the Building Bridges Documentary Fund from Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). The Fund aims to support independent filmmakers and films that contribute to a fuller spectrum of narratives that need to be told in the context of what it means to be Muslim in the United States.
WBUR's Best Films of 2025 list by Erin Trahan includes two "local documentaries", both LEF-supported projects: COSMIC CODA (dir. Mary Jane Doherty), which charts the course of gravitational wave research at MIT beginning in 1985 and evolving through new generations of astrophysicists, and THE BEND IN THE RIVER (dir. Robb Moss; prods. Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley), 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.
Sight and Sound's 50 best films of 2025 international critics' poll included LEF-supported project REMAKE (dir. Ross McElwee; prods. Mark Meatto, McElwee), which 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. The film also appeared on Film Comment's Best Undistributed Films of 2025 list.
LEF-supported project NIGHT FIGHT (dir. Khary Saeed Jones; prods. Jones, Kendra T. Field) will screen at the Culver Center for the Arts on February 13. Through nonfiction and fiction, the film attempts to capture a feeling of being hunted and to document the ongoing, wrenching conversations Black people in America have with their individual selves, as well as the impossible task of sharing these experiences with the filmmaker's young son.
LEF-supported project UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG (dirs. Kaitlyn Schwalje, Alex Wolf Lewis; prods. Rebecca Stern, Justin Levy) has continued to win awards at the Newburyport Documentary Festival (Best New England Feature Film) and New Hampshire Film Festival (Audience Award). The film, about a dedicated, motley crew working to keep Portland, Maine's wastewater treatment plant running, also screened at St. Louis Film Festival as part of their Climate Summit. Stay tuned for community screenings in Florida, California, Maine, and Boston in partnership with public works groups, non-profits, community organizations and others.
Last month, LEF-supported project SHE CRIED THAT DAY (dir./prod. Amanda Erickson), 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, was featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show in November for Native American Heritage Month.
LEF-supported project JOONAM (dir. Sierra Urich; prods. Urich, Keith Wilson), about a young filmmaker delving into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity, is now available to rent and/or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video, and Grasshopper Watch. (It's also still streaming on the Criterion Channel!).
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Are you a LEF grantee or fellow with news to share about your film? | | | | |
We Want to Hear from You!
| | There's still time to answer our one-question survey (check-boxes!!) about opportunities for filmmaker connection and community-building opportunities in New England. | | |
Upcoming Film Opportunities
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Image Description: Arts Action Consortium
The Arts Action Consortium (AAC) is a dynamic initiative comprised of six Boston-based cultural organizations with a mission to strengthen and sustain Boston’s creative workforce. See a list of upcoming workshops for artists and the opportunity to connect with consultants about legal, business, financial, or marketing questions, goal-setting, tax planning, securing space, navigating fiscal sponsorship, and more.
Learn more
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Image Description: Purple-tinted image of two people in row boats with the GBH Local Lens Logo
Submit your Film to GBH's Local Lens
GBH seeks films by filmmakers from the New England region or stories pertinent to New England audiences, who want to share their work with their viewers. With a rolling open call process, GBH is currently accepting submissions for completed non-fiction feature length, short films, and series for Local Lens.
Learn more
| | | | Image Description: Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation Logo | |
Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation Grant Program (Deadline: December 30)
The Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation is proud to announce its inaugural grant program. This initiative celebrates Bobby’s vision while looking forward — supporting artists whose practices expand empathy, nurture connection, and respond to the ecological and social challenges of our time. The program will make two $50,000 grants and three $8,000 grants.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Beyond Audiovisual and Anthropological Boundaries Logo | |
Beyond Audiovisual and Anthropological Boundaries (BAAB) (Deadline: January 1)
BAAB is a unique 12-month program designed for artists and researchers working on audiovisual projects at the intersection of art, anthropology, and cinema. Based out of Marseille, the vibrant port city in the south of France BAAB offers an inspiring mix of four collective feedback sessions, one-on-one mentoring, and international networking opportunities in a supportive and benevolent environment.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Switzer Foundation Logo | |
Switzer Fellowship (Deadline: January 5)
The Switzer Fellowship is a one-year fellowship for graduate students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds in New England and California whose career goals focus on environmental improvement. The fellowship includes a $17,000 cash award, leadership training, and opportunities for professional development.
An information session is being held on November 18th at 1 pm Pacific / 4 pm Eastern Time.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Film Independent Logo | |
Film Independent Documentary Story Lab (Deadline: January 6)
The Documentary Story Lab helps directors hone their story as they dive into the editing phase of their feature documentary. Over the period of one week, directors with projects in late production/early post-production attend multiple workshops and sessions. Fellows are paired with mentors and the lab culminates in a final pitch event.
Learn more
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Artist Development Grants (Deadline: January 25)
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 will open soon.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Princess Grace Foundation Logo | |
Princess Grace Awards (Deadline: February 3)
The Princess Grace Awards supports extraordinary emerging talent in theater, dance, and film. The Award is an unrestricted cash grant of $15,000 paid directly to the artist. All applicants must be nominated by a non-profit university, organization, media arts center or previous Princess Grace Award winner.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Chicken & Egg Films Logo | |
Chicken & Egg Research & Development Grant (Deadline: February 4)
The Research & Development Grant supports women and gender-expansive filmmakers from around the world who have directed at least one feature-length documentary and are in the research & development stage of their next feature-length film. A total of $450,000 USD will be awarded in grant amounts of $10,000 for Research and $20,000 for Development.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Sundance Institute Logo | |
Documentary Producers Track (Deadline: February 11)
The 2026–2027 Documentary Producers Lab and Fellowship is a yearlong program designed to nurture emerging producers with project-specific support through the Producers Lab, year-round mentorship from a dedicated industry mentor, film industry networking opportunities, professional development and project advancement strategy workshops, and ongoing support from Sundance Institute staff.
Learn more
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Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship (Deadline: February 12)
The yearlong Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship is open to emerging documentary and fiction filmmakers from across the globe between ages 18 and 25. The fellowship begins with a weeklong in-person lab at MassMoca in North Adams, MA, orienting filmmakers to the fellowship and year ahead, in addition to a $5,000 grant.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Hutchins Center for African & African American Research Logo | |
Black Film Project Fellowship (Deadline: February 26)
The Black Film Project at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University invites applications from established and emerging filmmakers focusing on any aspect of the Black experience in the United States or globally. Three fellowships will be awarded annually with an $80,000 stipend, plus an additional $5,000 for project development expenses, as well as office space in the Hutchins Center, access to Harvard facilities and Film Study Center equipment, and more.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Perspective Fund Logo | |
Perspective Fund (Deadline: Rolling)
The Perspective Fund supports filmmakers and strategists for whom entrenched forces and systems are most apparent in their lives and communities, who can most acutely construct films and campaigns to respond. Areas of funding include production, impact planning and campaigns, and participant compensation.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Assets for Artists Logo | |
Assets for Artists Winter Professional Development Workshops
Free online and in-person professional development workshops through February 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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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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