The Jewish Film Institute’s Completion Grants Program provides finishing funds to emerging and established filmmakers for original stories that promote thoughtful consideration of Jewish history, life, culture, and identity. Launched in 2020, these juried Grants have awarded nearly $200,000 to date to twelve projects. Projects of interest are united by their, fresh, nuanced, and thought-provoking explorations of Jewish themes and their potential to entertain and engage us, turn conversation into action, and reframe understanding of Jewish cultures and identities. Projects may be features, shorts, episodic programs, or web series, with works in fiction, documentary, and animation eligible for consideration.
The Jewish Film Institute champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. As the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), the world’s first and most revered event for independent Jewish storytelling, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry, independence, collaboration, community, and inclusion to support film’s evolution on big and small screens as an indispensable form of cultural communication that inspires personal and societal change. The Institute’s filmmaker services include the competitive, year-long Filmmaker Residency and the JFI Completion Grants, which provide finishing funds to jury-selected projects. Free, online programming includes a popular series of Monthly Online Shorts, the JFI On Demand streaming service, and the JFI Film Archive, a curatorial history of SFJFF.
JFI pre-screeners will review all applications, preview sample works, and select semifinalists to be recommended to an independent panel. An independent panel of media professionals including producers, directors, programmers, academics, or other experts in the field will convene to collectively select the grant recipients. The names of the panelists will remain confidential until after the awards are announced at the 42nd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Summer 2022.
JFI does not provide critiques, screening notes, or individual reviews of any films not chosen for completion grants.
Grant finalists will be asked to submit an invoice and sign a Letter of Agreement that requires:
Tax Deductible Amount: $35
Applicants to the JFI Completion Grants Program may pay their application fee by becoming a Filmmaker Member.
Join RenewJFI Completion Grants Program Application is a 7-part form. Finalists are required to submit a signed Grantee Warranty upon notification of finalist status. Awards will be announced at the 42nd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Summer 2022.
This grant application is not an entry form for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. If you would like to submit your project to the upcoming festival, visit this page.
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