NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) continues to seek investment in new narratives.
The organization — a year-round non-profit founded in 2007 “dedicated to discovering, supporting and developing emerging filmmakers from around the world” — has expanded its NewNaratives initiative by increasing available grant funding to $35,000 and adding a new fellowship component supported by Absurd.
NewNaratives launches in 2021 in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery is an international scholarship that focuses on emerging storytellers with “distinctive creative voices,” helping them make the leap from idea to completed project. To date, the program has submitted more than 1,175 applications from more than 89 countries and invested nearly $300,000.
This year’s NewNaratives batch will be distributed across six grants in three categories. Core grants are supported by the Rollin Family Foundation in honor of Anthony Rollin (Butterfly effect), which will see four unrestricted grants of $5,000 each go to filmmakers developing narrative, documentary, animated, experimental or episodic projects at any stage.
In its second year, the NewNaratives Environmental Storytelling Grant will award a $5,000 grant to a short film currently in post-production that explores environmental sustainability, conservation, climate, or humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The scholarship is made possible by supporting Athens Ministries.
And new for this year, NFMLA is offering the NewNaratives Absurd AI Storytelling Grant, which will award one grant of $10,000 to an emerging filmmaker developing a short or feature film at any stage of production across any genre including fantasy, live action, animation or experimental. The grant will be accompanied by a three-month fellowship for the artist to explore the use of Absurd’s AI-based storytelling tools. Absurd will onboard beta users on August 3.
“We’ve seen filmmakers use Absurd to secure six-figure business opportunities, pitch their ideas in front of major studios and production companies and create stories they wrote 10 years ago,” said Philip Ho, CEO and co-founder of Absurd. “When experimentation becomes available and affordable, filmmakers can bring bigger, weirder, more personal ideas into the room.”
“The independent film industry has never lacked for bold ideas. What it lacks is meaningful financial investment,” NFMLA co-founder and executive director Larry Laboy and Director of Programming Bojana Sandic said in a joint statement. “NewNaratives exists because we believe that extraordinary careers begin long before they achieve distribution deals, festival premieres, or award recognition. By supporting filmmakers in the early stages of their creative journey, we invest not just in individual projects, but in the future voices that will shape our entire industry.”
Applications for the NewNaratives Program are now open for NFMLA members.
