Ford Foundation launches $50 million fund for documentary 

JustFilms will invest $10 million a year over the next five years to support and expand the community of filmmakers and mediamakers around the world focused on creating documentaries with passion and purpose, but who often lack funding to realize their visions or reach audiences.

JustFilms is building on the foundation's longtime support for documentaries and will also leverage the foundation's global network of 10 regional offices to identify and lift new talent from around the world and to strengthen emerging communities of documentary filmmakers.

The fund is intended to focus on film, video and digital works that show courageous people confronting difficult issues and actively pursuing a more just, secure and sustainable world. The initiative will pursue three distinct funding paths:

    *   -  Partnerships with major organizations such as the Sundance Institute, the Independent Television Service - ITVS and others
    *   -  An ongoing open application process that will help JustFilms stay attuned to fresh ideas and stories wherever they may emerge
    *   -  Partnership with other Ford Foundation grant-making programs where the introduction of documentary film could help draw attention to an issue or advance a movement.

JustFilms will spend roughly one-third of its annual budget on each of its three core funding paths. The initiative has also set aside funds for marketing partners who will help filmmakers promote their work and engage directly with audiences.

From their new initiative The Ford Foundation will contribute $1 million a year over five years to support the Documentary Film Program at the Sundance Institute. The resulting Sundance Institute/Ford Foundation Documentary Film Fund will support international and U.S. productions that focus on human and civil rights, free expression, economic opportunity, and other critical topics.

The fund will also support filmmaker labs that enhance storytelling through cutting-edge editing, producing, and film scoring workshops. And it will support panels and dialogues at the Sundance Film Festival to enhance understanding and recognition of documentary film as a key component of social change efforts.

Directing the JustFilms initiative will be Orlando Bagwell, who has supported documentary film and other narrative art forms over the past six years as a program officer and director in the foundation's Freedom of Expression team.

Throughout the year, JustFilms will announce its work with further key partners. Learn more about JustFilms at www.fordfoundation.org/justfilms

EDN