Redford Center Grants 2026

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS UNTIL MAY 14, 11:59PM PST

Recipients will be notified and funds will be awarded by October 2026.

Selected filmmakers will receive $40,000 in grant funding, along with yearlong support that includes mentorship, access to industry and environmental experts, a cohort-based fellowship experience, and an in-person convening focused on creative and professional development.

The Redford Center Grants program is designed to support feature documentaries and episodic docuseries at any stage of production, but films in early development without footage or that are picture locked are ineligible to apply. The program operates on a two-year cycle and provides funding, access to a network of industry and environmental experts, a professional development retreat, and the opportunity to apply for second-year funds.

Project Eligibility:

• New and ongoing nonfiction feature films or docuseries that have sample footage and must not yet be picture locked.
• Project story can take place anywhere in the world.
• Must have clear impact goals and a developed idea for an impact campaign. Learn about our Impact Model, and the details of our impact objectives to see if your project aligns with our criteria. 
• The project must be about, or intersect with, an environmental issue and a proposed or activated solution. 

Applicant Eligibility:

• Must be 18+ years of age.
• Each project may include up to two applying team members, with one being the director. 
• At least one of the applying team members must reside primarily in the U.S. Note: You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to apply.
• Previous filmmaking experience highly recommended.
• Awardees will be expected to be available to participate in our professional development programming.

We Encourage Stories About:

• Intersectional environmental issues and solutions for people and the planet. 
• Leadership, progress, solutions, possibility, hope, and innovation that transform defeatist narratives around environmental crises.
• Fresh viewpoints or filmmaking artistry that challenge the conventional boundaries of what an environmental story is expected to be.
• An equitable, inclusive, and diverse environmental movement that centers underrepresented and historically excluded communities and voices.
• Addressing systemic bias, discrimination, and injustice in environmental policy and their impacts on communities, individuals, and the earth.
• Pathways to direct action, groundbreaking achievements, or measurable impact. 
• Cultural practices that honor traditional and ancestral knowledge and wisdom.
• Community power and civic engagement initiatives at the intersection of environmental justice and planetary health. 
• Protecting and restoring land, water, biodiversity, and natural resources. 

Reflecting the core values of our organization, we seek to ensure accountability to and representation of the intersectionality of environmental advocates and artists, which includes Black, Indigenous, People of Color; Women; people with disabilities; immigrant and refugee communities; and LGBTQ+ communities, and all people whose lives are disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices.

The application follows the format of the Nonfiction Documentary Core Application, a collaborative effort to standardize application requirements to foster greater access and a more equitable and sustainable documentary field.

Application deliverables will be reviewed for realistic progress towards short term and long term goals, and applicants will need to demonstrate measurable ways to track project impact.

Please make sure to read our Terms and Conditions and our Frequently Asked Questions.

Visit our website www.redfordcenter.org/grantapplication to learn more.