Reach Film Fellowship

Program Guidelines & Priorities

Applicant Eligibility

• Cinereach welcomes applicants with a range of experience levels. At minimum, applicants must have completed at least one short film that has been selected by a reputable film festival.
• Applicants may be individuals or teams. A director must be attached to the project at the time of application.
• Applicants must be able to live primarily in or near New York City during the Fellowship.
• Applicants’ short films must be in early development, and may be fiction, nonfiction or hybrid. They must be consistent with the Cinereach funding priorities, and be of proposed lengths between 7 and 40 minutes.

The Reach Film Fellowship is unable to consider

• Films being made as part of an educational requirement
• Films that have begun principal photography
• Applicants who do not have US citizenship or permanent status.

Funding Priorities

We seek proposed short films that:
• Favor story over message, character over agenda, and complexity over duality
• Explore emergent topics, themes or ideas
• Possess an independent spirit
• Depict underrepresented perspectives
• Resonate across international boundaries
• Spark dialogue
• Challenge preconception and bias
• Champion humanity and hope