International Documentary Association Reveals Incubator Fund, Development Grants

Naman Ramachandran
·2 min read
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The International Documentary Association (IDA) and XRM Media have launched a new international fund to support short verité documentaries with an emphasis on emerging filmmakers.

The IDA+XRM Media Incubator will provide three filmmakers with $25,000 each. In addition, Academy Award-nominated directors Skye Fitzgerald (“Hunger Ward”) and Smriti Mundhra (“St. Louis Superman”), and Emmy-nominated director Nadia Hallgren (“Becoming”) will be paired with the grantees as mentors.

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Applications will open July 5 and close Aug. 2.

Simon Kilmurry, IDA’s executive director, said: “XRM Media’s commitment to filmmakers aligns very well with IDA’s mission, and by joining forces we can ensure that filmmakers receive all the resources they need to make high-impact films.”

Michael Y. Chow, chief instigator at XRM Media, added: “XRM Media has long respected and valued what Simon Kilmurry and the entire IDA team have brought to the documentary filmmaking community and are thrilled to announce our partnership and support of the new IDA+XRM Media Incubator fund to support short verité documentaries. We believe in the magic of short films and are excited to see what can come from supporting documentary filmmakers in a meaningful way.”

The IDA also announced grants totalling $150,000 to documentaries in development through its Enterprise Documentary Fund. Ten documentary projects have been selected to receive $15,000 each. All of them have BIPOC directors and/or producers, five projects have directors and/or producers who identify as LGBTQ+, seven are directed and/or produced by women, and one has a producer who identifies as non-binary.

Documentaries receiving the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund development grants are:

“A Border Crossed Land” (Joseph Mathew, director/producer)

“Dear Friend” [working title] (Nicole Teeny, director/producer)

“Holder of the Sky” (Tsanavi Spoonhunter, director/producer)

“JFK8” [working title] (Brett Story, director; Samantha Curley, producer; LAMCo, producer)

“Space to Breathe” (Walidah Imarisha, director/producer; Calvin Williams, producer; Jordan Flaherty, producer; Kate Trumbull-LaValle, producer)

“Swinging Fields” [working title] (Sareen Hairabedian, director/producer; Azza Hourani, producer; Julie Paratian, producer; David Rane, co-producer)

“The Last Sea Knights” (Aymée Cruzalegui, director/producer; Ana Moreno, producer)

“The Past is Waiting Up Ahead” (Gerardo del Valle, director; Remi Itani, producer)

“The Untitled 19th* News Film” [working title] (Chelsea Hernandez, director/producer; Heather Courtney, director/producer; Diane Quon, producer)

“Untitled Domestic Migration Documentary” [working title] (Greg Jeske, director/producer; Catherine Reirson, producer; Jeremiah O. Rhodes, producer)

XRM Media, a media technology firm, also recently announced a partnership with the Sundance Institute to present Sundance Film Festival: Asia, taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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