True/False Film Fest
In case you think the Academy only hands out Oscars:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Academy Foundation has awarded a total of $450,000 to 24 U.S. film festivals for the 2010 calendar year. Recipients range from Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and the Ann Arbor Film Festival to the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival and the True/False Film Fest.
Two festivals, the Nashville Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival, are in the second year of a three-year grant worth $75,000. The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the Virginia Film Festival are receiving the third and final annual installment of another $75,000 grant.
Since its establishment in 1999, the Academy’s Festival Grants Program has distributed 222 grants totaling $3.95 million in funding. For more information on the program, visit http://www.oscars.org/education-outreach/grants/filmfestival/index.html.
As per the Academy's press release, "the program is one of the many activities of the Academy Foundation – the Academy’s cultural and educational wing – which annually grants more than $1 million to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Foundation also presents the Academy’s rich assortment of screenings and other public programs each year."
Of note: "While the grants are awarded for a variety of festival programs, organizers are encouraged to submit proposals intended to make festival events more accessible to the general public, provide greater access to minority and less visible filmmakers, and help strengthen the connection between filmmakers and the general public."
The 2010 film festival program allocations are as follows:
$30,000
Chicago International Children’s Film Festival
Cinequest Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Santa Barbara International Film Festival$25,000
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
New Orleans Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Virginia Film Festival$20,000
Ann Arbor Film Festival
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
San Diego Latino Film Festival
True/False Film Fest$17,500
Provincetown International Film Festival$15,000
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
St. Louis International Film Festival$10,000
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Indie Memphis Film Festival
Phoenix Film Festival
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival$2,500
Ozark Foothills FilmFest
The Women’s Film Festival
Tucson International Jewish Film Festival