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List of the Best Documentary Grants to Fund Your Film

For filmmakers around the world, the documentary grants directory guides you to opportunities on how to fund your documentary.

Funding for Documentary Filmmakers

Nederlands Filmfonds

The Fund supports the realisation of minority co-production feature films, long animated films and documentaries.

Movies that Matter

We offer a start-up grant for new human rights film festivals / events and an impact grant for existing events that want to increase their impact or want to add new activities to their programmes.

Humanities for All

Humanities for All is a grant program that supports projects from Californians, encourages greater public participation in humanities programming, particularly by new and/or underserved audiences.

Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund

This documentary fund is dedicated to filmmakers telling engaging, high-quality stories that embrace music artists in all its forms and that demonstrate Canadian music’s role in the world.

William Greaves Research and Development Fund

The William Greaves Research and Development Fund resources talented, mid-career nonfiction storytellers from racially and ethnically underrepresented communities in the United States, as well as filmmakers who identify as being of Indigenous and/or of African descent.

DEI Film Grant

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Film Grant Fund provides intentional support and funding to amplify women, BIPOC & LGBTQ+ centered stories that celebrate running across the spectrum of cultural experiences.

Project: Hatched

Hatched provides support to US-based filmmakers who are nearing completion or have recently completed a documentary film and who have plans to strategize, build, and launch an impact campaign.

AXS Film Fund

AXS Lab provides funding to documentary filmmakers and nonfiction new media creators of color with disabilities.

AFAC Documentary Program

The AFAC Documentary Program supports creative documentary films in the Arab region. The program welcomes submissions of short and medium-length documentary in production and post-production, and feature documentary film projects that are in development, production or post-production phases.

Follow Focus Grant

The ScreeningRoom / Jigsaw Productions Follow Focus Grant provides $10,000 finishing fund for a cinematic documentary short in post-production

AAAS Science Journalism Awards

The AAAS Science Journalism Awards have honored professional journalists for distinguished reporting on the sciences, engineering, and mathematics.

Upcoming Grants

Upcoming Film Grants Open
SFFILM Documentary Film Fund Documentaries in Post Production Fund 6 June, 2023
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund Documentary Fund for Canadian Filmmakers 7 June, 2023
AAAS Science Journalism Awards Fund for Journalists 16 June, 2023
Vision Sud East Co Production and Distribution with Switzerland 28 June, 2023
American Zoetrope Screenwriting Contest Screenwriting Competition 1 July, 2023
Mountainfilm Commitment Grant Fund Environmental Documentaries 1 July, 2023
Hubert Bals Fund Develop Funding for European Filmmakers 1 July, 2023
Berlinale Talents Lab Talent Development Program in Berlin 4 July, 2023
EuroDoc Documentary Development for European Filmmakers 5 July, 2023
William Greaves Research and Development Fund Documentary African Descent 5 July, 2023

Grants Newsletter