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Moving Image Fund Grantee News
| | Image Description: A still from THE RIDE AHEAD: With their backs to the camera, a figure in a wheelchair and a figure on foot speed down a summery wooded path, blurred with motion. | | |
LEF-supported project THE RIDE AHEAD (dirs. Dan Habib, Samuel Habib; prods. Dan Habib, Erica Lupinacci) has been nominated for two News & Documentary Emmy Awards: Outstanding Social Issue Documentary and Outstanding Graphic Design for its animation. The film follows co-director Samuel as he itches to move out, start a career and find love all while navigating life with a disability. Emmy Awards will be announced on May 28. The film is streaming on PBS Passport and on Kanopy.
LEF-supported project THE QUILTERS (dir. Jenifer McShane) has also been nominated for an Emmy award in the Outstanding Short Documentary category.
LEF-supported project MY SKIN AND I (dirs. Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall; prods. Guillén, Guy Hall, May Odeh, Zorana Mušikić) won two awards at VdR–Work in Progress at Visions du Réel last month. Read more about the film in Business Doc Europe.
LEF-supported project EL SIGNO VACÍO (the empty sign) (dir. Kathryn Ramey) will screen for three nights at Anthology Film Archives from May 8–10 along with programs of experimental Puerto Rican short films.
LEF-supported project YO (LOVE IS REBELLIOUS BIRD) (dirs. Anna Fitch, Banker White; prods. White, Sara Dosa, Hannah Roodman) will screen at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 9 and 10.
LEF-supported project THE BEND IN THE RIVER (dir. Robb Moss; prods. Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley) will screen at Mendocino Film Festival on May 29, DC/DOX on June 14, and Castlemaine Documentary Festival on June 27.
2024 LEF/CIFF Fellows Vanessa Carr and Josh Gleason were selected for Film Independent's Documentary Story Lab with their project, UNTITLED NOMADS DOCUMENTARY. The week-long Lab helps directors hone their story through workshops, one-on-one support, and pitching as they dive into the editing phase of their feature documentary.
2024 LEF/CIFF Fellow Jason Rhee was selected for the BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship with his project, UNTITLED EJ LEE DOCUMENTARY. The fellowship provides early- and mid-career filmmakers with $10,000 in unrestricted funding, mentorship, industry access, and a nine-month program of workshops, feedback sessions, and artist development opportunities.
Prior LEF grantees Fern Silva (REBOUNDS) and Jacqueline Goss (HART'S LOCATION) were selected as 2026 Guggenheim Fellows. Each Fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.”
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LEF FILMMAKER CALLS FOR COLLABORATORS | |
Seeking an editor
- Preferably BIPOC & French-speaking
Feu de Lune (working title)
Bobia, a rural village in Côte d’Ivoire, keeps a buried secret. The war has one memory, and it is three generations long. In a place where history is carried through stories, the memory of this largely erased civil war survives through children’s dreams, adult silences, and a mother’s nightly bedtime stories.
Email Dominic Yarabe at domyarabe@gmail.com
| We want to connect you! If you're a LEF-supported filmmaker looking to build your project's creative team (with a producer, cinematographer, editor, etc.), let us help you get the word out. Send LEF an email with the LEF support you've received (LEF grant or fellowship name), your project title and logline, the role you're hoping to fill for a creative project, and an email address that anyone interested can respond to. |
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Image description: Color Congress's Elev8Docs graphic
Elev8Docs, a learning initiative by Color Congress, conducted 8 distinct marketing experiments for independent nonfiction films by filmmakers of color throughout 2025 to test different ways of connecting audiences to films. By deploying both time-tested and fresh marketing strategies, Elev8Docs aimed to generate new data and identify challenges and opportunities for marketing documentaries to diverse audiences. Each experiment was crafted to address common barriers faced by filmmakers interested in reaching diverse audiences —from cultural gaps in mainstream marketing to limited data on audience preferences—all in an effort to strengthen distribution infrastructures. The experiments culminated in a set of case studies and actionable strategies for the independent media sector.
"Several experiments succeeded because they understood the prospective audience for the film to be part of an active and engaged community," the report reads. The marketing experiments reveal the success of nonfiction projects that think about audiences not as passive viewers but as active participants in a community relevant to the film.
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Image description: Grantmakers in the Arts logo
We at LEF recognize the long history of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as sources of public funding for filmmaking in New England and beyond, and we know that this federal support can often provide crucial funding for both film projects and field-building initiatives in independent film.
With a goal to maintain, protect, and increase funding for the NEA and NEH in FY27, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) is circulating a time-sensitive request for individuals to sign their petition to Congress. The current FY27 budget once again proposes eliminating both agencies, and GIA is inviting individuals to sign and circulate this petition to show broad public support for federal arts and humanities funding. The petition closes Sunday, May 17
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Upcoming Film Opportunities
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LEF Flaherty Fellowship
The 71st Flaherty Film Seminar will take place from October 8-11, 2026, at The Campus at Marlboro Music in Marlboro, Vermont.
Fellowships will begin Wednesday, October 7, providing emerging and mid-career filmmakers, media professionals, and community leaders with an immersive space to deepen their engagement with cinema through a unique opportunity to focus on the ethical, artistic, and community aspects of their practice.
| Image Description (above): LEF New England Flaherty Fellowship graphic | |
Getting Real is a biennial conference designed for and by documentary practitioners and focused on the business and art of nonfiction storytelling. The seventh edition of Getting Real will take place in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles from July 20–23. Early Bird All Access registration ends June 1.
| Image description (above): Getting Real '26 graphic | | | Image Description: The Gotham Logo | |
Gotham Week Project Market (Extended Deadline: May 7)
Set to take place in Brooklyn from 9/27–10/3, the Project Market is a meetings-driven forum connecting in-development fiction and documentary projects with executives looking to develop, finance, or distribute bold new work.
Learn more
| | Image Description: The Redford Center Logo | |
Redford Center Grants (Deadline: May 14)
Selected environmental filmmakers working on feature-length documentaries and docu-series that explore urgent, intersectional environmental stories will receive $40,000 in grant funding, along with yearlong support that includes mentorship, access to industry and environmental experts, a cohort-based fellowship experience, and an in-person convening focused on creative and professional development.
Learn more
| | Image Description: The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Logo | |
Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship (Deadline: May 17)
The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship is a year-long professional development program for documentary assistant, associate and emerging editors from historically overlooked backgrounds and lived experiences - such as those facing discrimination or barriers due to race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomics, immigration, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Collective Futures Logo | |
Collective Futures Fund (Deadline: May 27)
Collective Futures Fund supports visual artists and artist-run activity in the Greater Boston area through grants of $3,000 and $8,000.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Center for Independent Documentary Logo | |
Kopkind / CID Film Seminars (Deadline: June 1)
Eight filmmakers will be chosen to spend the week of July 19—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.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Denver Film Logo | |
Music on Film-Film on Music (MOFFOM) Grant (Deadline: June 1)
The MOFFOM grant provides up to $20,000 annually in finishing funds for scoring, composition, and music licensing efforts for feature-length documentaries directly related to music in post-production.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Franklin Academy Logo | |
Franklin Academy Cinematic Arts Residency (Deadline: June 1)
This program will support 5–7 artists working in analog film and digital video, taking place from Saturday, July 11th, 2026, to Friday, July 24th, 2026. The residency is located at Franklin Academy in East Haddam, CT and is designed as a focused program to independently develop new work while sharing space, ideas, and processes with fellow residents (and possibly with the summer program students) within a supportive, rural environment along the Connecticut River.
Learn more
| | Image Description: Assets for Artists Logo | |
2026 Capacity-Building Program + Project Grant (Deadline: June 1)
For greater Hartford, CT residents! Over 10 months, the program provides a combination of self-directed and group artist professional development, individualized support and resources from A4A staff and trainers, and planning tools, in addition to a total of $15,000 in project support and an unrestricted grant.
Learn more
| | Image Description: SFFilm Logo | |
SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disability Grant (Deadline: June 9)
The SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disability Grant supports filmmakers who identify as having a disability with films that specifically address stories within the disability community. Awards between $5,000- $25,000 are made for up to 4 projects once a year in the fall, for screenwriting, development, or post-production (feature and short films, narratives and documentaries).
Learn more
| | Image Description: International Documentary Association Logo | |
IDA Emergency Assistance Grants (Now through September)
IDA is piloting an emergency assistance program for documentary filmmakers whose work puts them in imminent and extreme physical danger. Eligible filmmakers may request a one-time emergency grant between $500 and $5,000 (USD).
Learn more
| | Image Description: Assets for Artists Logo | |
Assets for Artists Professional Development Workshops
Free online and in-person professional development workshops through June are available to artists of all disciplines in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine. Upcoming workshops include: “Understanding an Artist’s Personal Finances" (4 sessions), "“Beyond Arts Grants: Creative Solutions for Project Support” (2 sessions), and more!
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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