Meet the 2021 Impact Campaign Fund grantees

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Firelight Media invites our community of filmmakers and impact producers to apply to the Impact Campaign Fund, now in its third year. This is a dedicated fund totaling at least $150k to resource audience engagement and impact campaigns led by current or former Firelight Media-supported filmmakers. The size of funds will be in the range of $10-25k with an anticipated announcement and disbursement in late summer 2022. The opportunity for impact and engagement strategy guidance and support is also available to the cohort by way of facilitated check-ins and strategy sessions for those who opt in.

Firelight Media is interested in supporting a growing community of nonfiction filmmakers and film impact producers to pursue their dream impact and engagement related projects.

• We will consider impact projects that address a range of themes and issues.
• We will consider myriad kinds of impact from subtle to backed by metrics.
• We will consider impact projects with ambitious or narrowly focused goals.
• We will consider impact projects that are dialogue-based or outcomes-driven.
• We will consider impact projects that are local or national in scope.

We take notice when projects are socially relevant, address or engage underrepresented issues or communities, and are accountable to the impacted communities their films represent. We will not shy away from projects that are smaller in scale, hyper local, or with discrete impact objectives.

• Must be for a film that is either: 1) directed by a Firelight Media-supported filmmaker or 2) directed by a filmmaker of color that also includes a current or former Firelight Media-supported filmmaker on the team.
• Only for audience engagement and impact campaigns around documentary films of any length in post-production or release phases.
• The film must be far enough along that we can at least see a rough cut by application due date (May 22, 2022).
• The project activities and focus must include the U.S.

Projects will be selected based on:

• the strength of the story, 
• the project’s social relevance and ability to respond to pressing, though longstanding, equity issues (e.g. healthcare, housing, worker protections, safety of imprisoned people)
• the viability of plan proposed, and 
• the ethics and accountability of the approach

Projects will be selected through a tiered review process. The first round will be by internal Firelight Media review, the second and final round will be reviewed by a panel of filmmakers, impact and engagement thought leaders, and other industry leaders of color.