Fellowships, Residencies and Labs | Resources | For Filmmakers | POV

Fellowships

Organization	Program	Location	Description
American Cinema Editors	Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship	Los Angeles, California, USA	It is a year-long experience that encourages and champions the talent of an emerging documentary editor. It creates opportunities to help cultivate an editor's artistry and craft, and expand his or her professional and creative community.
Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC)	MediaMaker Fellowship	San Francisco, California, USA	The ten-month program supports the development of projects at all stages of production, and includes professional mentorship in multi-platform and transmedia storytelling, curriculum development, social media and marketing, fundraising and distribution strategy support.
Chicken & Egg Pictures	Diversity Fellows	New York, NY, USA	The Diversity Fellows Initiative supports seven non-fiction projects helmed by first or second-time women filmmakers. Fellows are chosen from applications to the Accelerator Lab, and receive travel grants and stipends enabling them to come to New York for the 2015 DOC NYC Film Festival. They also participate in Chicken & Egg Pictures’ signature story workshop.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)	Public Media Executive Fellowship	Washington, D.C., USA	The Public Media Executive Fellowship Program is designed to provide a college graduate, from an economically disadvantaged background with an interest in public media, an opportunity to learn and broaden their background with direct work experience in the public broadcasting community.
Fulbright U.S. Student Program	National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship	International	The fellowship provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and storytelling in one, two, or three countries on a globally significant theme. It is made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society.
Harvard’s Graduate School of Design	Loeb Fellowship	Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Loeb Fellows represent the broadest spectrum of accomplished practitioners who are influential in shaping the built and natural environment and whose work advances positive social outcomes. Loeb Fellows are architects and landscape architects, urban planners and journalists, public artists and affordable housing developers. They come from around the world to the Harvard Graduate School of Design with a common purpose: to make the world a better place for all. After a transformative Fellowship year in residence, they join a powerful worldwide network of over 450 colleagues and friends. The connections, collaborations and learning are there for a lifetime.
Impact Partners	Documentary Producers Fellowship	New York, New York, USA	The fellowship aims to celebrate the independent documentary producer and foster emerging producing talent through a yearlong program of workshops with some of the most prominent luminaries in the field of documentary film.
Independent Filmmaker Project MN	The McKnight Fellowships for Media Artists	Minnesota, USA	The fellowship provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in ten areas. Eight arts organizations oversee the administration of the fellowships and structure their own programs to respond to the unique challenges of different creative disciplines. Four $25,000 grants are awarded annually.
Kartemquin	Diverse Voices in Docs (DVID)	Chicago, Illinois, USA	Diverse Voices in Docs is a professional development and mentorship program for documentary makers of color. It is organized by Kartemquin Films and the Community Film Workshop of Chicago.
The MacDowell Colony	MacDowell Fellowship	Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA	The MacDowell Colony provides time, space, and an inspiring environment to artists of exceptional talent. A MacDowell Fellowship, or residency, consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to eight weeks. There are no residency fees.
Made in NY Media Center by IFP	Made in NY Fellowship	Brooklyn, New York, USA	Ten year-long, Made in NY Fellowships are awarded to New York City-based individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations in the media and technology sphere that recognize the importance of diversity in the industry.
Magnum Foundation	Magnum Foundation Fellowship	New York, New York, USA	The Magnum Foundation Fellowship offers mentorship and stipends to photojournalism graduates at a critical moment in their development as photographers. During the fellowship, fellows produce an in-depth story local to New York City on an underreported or emerging issue.
MIT	Open Documentary Lab (OpenDocLab) Fellowship	Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA	The program hosts a limited number of distinguished artists, creative technologists, and scholars who want to engage deeply with new documentary storytelling techniques and technologies in a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment.
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)	Artists Fellowships	New York, NY, USA	Over a three-year period, fellows receive cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York for unrestricted use. Artists' Fellowships are not project grants but are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, regardless of the level of his or her artistic development.
Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard	Nieman Fellowship	Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA	A Nieman Fellowship is an extraordinary, transformative learning opportunity open to journalists working in all media in every country around the world. Those selected for this paid residency fellowship program spend two full semesters at Harvard auditing classes with some of the university's greatest thinkers, participating in Nieman events and collaborating with peers
PBS	Next Generation Leadership	Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., USA	The program prepares fellows for programming leadership roles by working intensively on executive and editorial skills that will benefit them most, through classes in leadership and through direct contact with some of public media’s most talented personnel.
SFFILM	SFFILM Catapult Documentary Fellowship	San Francisco, California, USA	SFFILM Catapult Documentary Fellowship supports U.S.-based filmmakers in the early stages of development on compelling, story-driven, feature documentary films. The fellowship includes a $10,000 grant, curated mentors whose work or artistic approach aligns with the filmmaker's goals, guidance from SFFILM and Catapult Film Fund staff, and access to SFFILM's FilmHouse residency and dynamic suite of artist development services.
SFFILM	SFFILM Vulcan Productions Environmental Fellowship	San Francisco, California, USA	SFFILM Vulcan Productions Environmental Fellowship supports documentary filmmakers telling powerful stories about the environment and/or conservation. The fellowship includes a $25,000 grant, an advisor with expertise in the specific environmental topic being explored, and access to SFFILM's dynamic suite of artist development services, including an educational lesson plan. The fellow will also travel to San Francisco and Seattle to partake in workshops and activities that address filmmaking, the environment, and entertainment industry connections. This Fellowship is geared towards filmmakers from across the U.S. and internationally with a proven track record of creating compelling, wide-reaching stories through documentary film, photography, journalism, or related fields.
Southern Environmental Law Center	The Southern Exposure Film Fellowship	Alabama, USA	Sponsored by the Southern Environmental Law Center and made possible through the support and partnership with environmental and conservation groups across the state, fellows have the opportunity to create inspiring, captivating films that give viewers a sense of how much Alabama has to offer and the importance of protecting its resources.
UnionDocs	Collaborative Studio Fellowship	Brooklyn, New York, USA	The 10 month program offers a platform for exploring contemporary approaches to the documentary arts and a process for developing an innovative collaborative project. The program consists of weekly production meetings, seminars, screenings and other public programs, along with regular masterclasses and critiques with visiting artists.

Residencies

Organization	Program	Location	Description
AniDox	AniDox:Residency	Denmark	AniDox:Residency is an artistic spearhead in the examination of the possibilities and potential of animation documentary. The Animation Workshop will host the production and provide studio facilities, workstations, housing for the director, production support as well as financial support. The residency program is open for international filmmakers. Production is expected to start in January with a premiere in January the following year.
Berlinale	Berlinale Residency	Berlin, Germany	The Berlinale Residency programme supports writer/directors from around the world, who have already enjoyed their first festival and cinema successes, in developing their new fiction, documentary film or cross-media projects. Only feature-length projects to which a producer is officially attached are eligible for selection. The residency gives three filmmakers the opportunity to maximize the potential of their projects and to find their audiences, without limiting the creative qualities of the stories they want to tell.
California Institute of the Arts	Summer Filmmaking Residency	Valencia, California, USA	This residency is ideal for the curious mid-career filmmaker eager to explore non-fiction filmmaking as a challenging art form designed to embrace personal, political, or aesthetical realms. Students will create a minimum of 3 short films: one personal essay film, one research driven documentary, and one hybrid film crossing fiction and factual storytelling featuring recreation and staged events. Occasionally, students will engage with select guest artists who represent the highest standards of their field.
Carey Institute for Global Good	Nonfiction Residency	Rensselaerville, New York, USA	The Carey Institute for Global Good believes that an informed, educated and engaged citizenry is essential to the functioning of democratic society. Our Nonfiction program supports this belief by advancing deeply reported, longform nonfiction about the most pressing issues of the day and then helping to disseminate it on a variety of media platforms to the widest possible audience. Residents are provided all the necessary tools to complete their critical work. Lodging, work space, sophisticated technological support (including Wi-Fi, a state-of-the-art screening room and dedicated space, equipment and software for video, film and radio editing) and meals are provided.
Center for Investigative Reporting	Women Filmmakers in Residence	San Francisco, California, USA	As part of a new initiative to promote gender parity in documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism, The Center for Investigative Reporting is looking for three early-career video or multimedia female filmmakers for a new full-time filmmaker in residence position. This is an opportunity to work with our award-winning reporters and producers to hone your filmmaking and journalistic skills inside a dynamic and diverse newsroom. You will be producing short pieces leveraging our investigative projects and your own reporting. By the end of the residency, you also will produce a short documentary or multimedia project on the subject of your choice.
Documentary-art	Residency	Puicheric, France	The residency in Puicheric is ideal for 1 artist or a couple who want/s to spend one to 3 months of time to focus and investigate their practice in a quiet, Mediterranean surrounding. The residency offers different spaces suitable for painting, drawing, writing, new media art, multimedia, installation and sculpture projects. Documentary-art regularly makes short documentaries about contemporary art events in the area, and elsewhere, which are sent to a significant mailing list. At the end of the residency Documentary-art makes a documentary about the artists and their project/s.
Dox Box Association	THE DOX BOX RESIDENCY FOR ENGAGED DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS	Berlin, Germany	If you are a documentary filmmaker working on a film that is socio-politically engaged and includes audio-visual footage originally produced by citizen journalists or media activists, you can apply to The Residency, the new program launched by the Dox Box Association. The Residency provides directors and editors, as well as editorial teams, the opportunity and resources to edit their films to completion in Berlin, including covering accommodation and costs of living in the vibrant capital city of Germany for a period ranging from 3 to 12 weeks.
Green Olive Arts	Art Residency	Tetouan, Morocco	Green Olive Arts aims to provide high quality production spaces and professional services for artists, writers, film-makers and creative researchers for extended seasons of production, inspiration and collaboration. They invite artists from a wide range of disciplines and mediums to apply for residencies of 2-12 weeks during most months of the year. Green Olive Arts accept visual artists, writers, poets, curators, scientists, choreographers, puppeteers, and more.
New York Film Society	Filmmaker in Residence	New York, New York, USA	The Filmmaker in Residence program is an annual initiative created by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Jaeger-LeCoultre designed to further support filmmakers at an earlier stage in the creative process. Each year, one emerging or established artist will be provided with the opportunity to focus on developing or refining new work.
San Francisco Film Society	FilmHouse Residency	San Francisco, California, USA	The San Francisco Film Society's FilmHouse Residency program–which supports narrative and documentary feature films by making office space available free of charge for residencies to independent filmmakers actively engaged in various stages of film production. Made possible by the generous support of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and San Francisco Film Commission, FilmHouse provides critical support to local and visiting filmmakers by fostering a thriving creative community that encourages collaboration, resource sharing, peer-to-peer feedback and networking opportunities.
Santa Fe Art Institute	International Residency Program	Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA	SFAI’s international Residency Program continues to grow and expand to serve the needs of artists, writers, architects, and creative practitioners of many different disciplines, in the support of innovative thinking and creative risk taking. Residencies vary from one month to three months.

Labs

Organization	Program	Location	Description
AniDox	AniDox:Lab	Viborg and Copenhagen, Denmark	The lab brings together documentarians and animation film directors, to maximize their artistic capacity and develop their respective projects, for creative research and forming new collaborations. Through a series of 3 professional seminars in Viborg and Copenhagen, Denmark, ANIDOX:LAB gives talented documentary and animation filmmakers the opportunity to engage and combine their two worlds.
Chicken & Egg Pictures	Accelerator Lab	USA and International	This program brings together five first-time and five second-time women* filmmakers, with a special focus on underrepresented voices. Each participant will receive a two-part grant for the production of a film, to be developed over the course of a 12-month program. All ten participants will come together at various points over the course of a year for an intensive period of mentorship and workshops with industry experts, creatively fusing the art and craft of filmmaking with best practices and peer-to-peer support.
Doc Society	Impact Producers Lab	Hämeenlinna, Finland	Anyone from the European Union eager to learn more about how to use your film as a tool for social or environmental change can apply. We are looking to work with eight established European professionals from the worlds of film, campaigning, journalism, politics and marketing & PR. A diverse mix of experience and expertise of the participants will enhance the Lab.
Doha Film Institute	Producers Lab	Doha, Qatar	This intensive one-week programme takes place in Doha and focuses on the creative, artistic and strategic aspects of producing short or feature-length documentary and fiction films. Through intensive training exercises, group tutorials, tailor-made one-on-one meetings and master classes led by noted industry experts, participants will gain deeper insight into various elements of film producing and come to truly understand the role of a producer.
Film Independent	Documentary Lab	Los Angeles, California, USA	Through a series of meetings and workshops, the lab provides creative feedback and story notes to participating filmmakers, while helping them to strategize for the completion, distribution, and marketing of their films. Additionally, the program serves to advance the careers of its Fellows by making introductions to film professionals.
Firelight	Documentary Lab	New York, New York, USA	The Lab provides filmmakers with one-on-one support, funding, professional development workshops and networking opportunities. More than just a workshop, the lab is unrivaled in its representation of diverse producers, creating an exclusive network of talented unique storytellers that receive ongoing support from a project’s conception to its completion.
Fledgling Fund	Engagement Lab	New York, New York, USA	The lab brings together a small number of social issue documentary film teams along with experts and mentors to design and implement effective outreach and engagement strategies. It is designed to support each project team and maximize the film's social impact.
IDFA	DocLab	Amsterdam, Netherlands	The mission of the lab is to showcase interactive documentaries and other new digital artforms that successfully push the boundaries of documentary storytelling in the age of the interface. Projects are curated and presented online, as well as during live cinema events, exhibitions, workshops and industry panels.
IDFA	DocLab Academy	Amsterdam, Netherlands	An international program for new talent in the field of documentary storytelling and interactive media. It addresses a variety of challenges and opportunities through exclusive workshops on virtual reality and interactive storytelling by international new media pioneers
IFP	Filmmaker Lab	New York, NY, USA	The unique year-long mentorship program supports first-time feature directors when they need it most: through the completion, marketing and distribution of their films. Focusing exclusively on low-budget features (<$1million), this highly immersive program provides filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic tools necessary to launch their films – and their careers.
IFP	Screen Forward Lab	Brooklyn, NY, USA	The Screen Forward Labs gathers content creators from 10 bold, distinctive story-driven, narrative serialized projects (including, but not limited to, TV and web series, VR, or app-based work – Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) for an intensive five-day program focusing on the completion, marketing, and distribution of their work. Moreover, the program gives access to IFP Film Week, and provides ongoing mentorship by IFP.
Kartemquin	KTQ Labs	Chicago, IL, USA	Once a month, members of the Kartemquin community come together for the critique and discussion of a work-in-progress by an independent filmmaker. These intimate feedback sessions are open for incomplete projects at any stage of production. This free program has helped over 100 projects progress towards completion.
NALIP	The Diverse Women in Media Residency Lab	Vermont, USA	Selected fellows will be invited to the Vermont ARC (Artist Retreat Center) where 8-12 diverse women filmmakers will workshop their documentaries, narrative scripts, or digital projects with distinguished mentors.
Sundance Institute	Creative Producing Lab: Documentary	Sundance Mountain Resort and Park City, Utah, USA	The year-long program is designed to hone emerging producers’ creative instincts and evolve their communication and problem-solving skills at all stages of their next feature film project.
Sundance Institute	Music And Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound: Documentary	Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA, USA	The lab brings together documentary filmmakers, emerging film music composers, and Skywalker Sound affiliated sound designers. Each filmmaker/composer pair also works closely with an in-house Sound Designer from Skywalker Sound.
Sundance Institute	New Frontier Story Lab	Sundance Resort, Utah, USA	With an emphasis on story, this lab supports artists who are developing interactive, immersive, or experimental projects that aim to create rich and resonant experiences for audiences. It is open to a wide variety of storytelling disciplines, forms and story designs.
UnionDocs	Summer Documentary Lab	Brooklyn, New York, USA	For projects in development or early stages of pre-production, the 5-week program for emerging filmmakers from the US and abroad explores contemporary approaches to documentary film, offers a stronger understanding of the best practices and business of production, and helps to develop the foundation of an independent project.

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Last Updated: 2/23/2018