Making films is hard. We believe film festivals should pay artists for their work.
Established in 2020, the CIFF Filmmaker Solidarity Fund is our commitment to providing direct financial support to every single filmmaking team – both features and shorts – selected to share their work at CIFF. Building solidarity with filmmakers to create more equitable, sustainable conditions for the creation and distribution of documentary films is at the heart of what we do, and we hope this initiative will help inspire other organizations to think similarly.
In just three years we have distributed nearly $60,000 to approximately 160 filmmaking teams. In the program’s first years, we provided 50% of net proceeds from our virtual festival to filmmakers — via a funding pool divided evenly into honoraria for every participating director who chooses to participate.
As festivals shifted back to in-person, we continued to distribute Filmmaker Solidarity Fund payments thanks to the generous support from our 2022 Presenting Sponsor, Bright West Entertainment. In addition to this support, a portion of the proceeds from our virtual festival box office supported the fund.
