Sponsored Projects
Film Independent Fiscal Sponsorship


A family drama about the complexities of faith, community, and parent/child relationships.
Project type: Fiction Short
Producer/Director/Screenwriter/Story: Rachel Earnest
Producer/Editor/Story: Ashley Monti
Donate Now | Learn More

In an era of giant Maxi Pads and Phil Donahue, misfit teen Moxie finds her fit with a group of college political activists. But when she becomes pregnant by the rebel leader, she faces her own fight — arguing for her abortion at a time when women’s liberation is coming into its own.
Project type: Fiction Feature
Director: Marya Mazor
Producers: Christina Sibul, Karen Tenkoff
Donate Now | Learn More

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Jaelyn Ellis
Producer: Jaelyn Ellis
Learn More

After a miscommunication leads her coworkers to believe that she is pregnant, a seemingly barren waitress allows the fantasy to overtake the reality and finds herself navigating an ever-growing web of lies as she gets closer and closer to her imaginary “full term.”
Project type: Fiction Short
Co-Directors/Producers: Arden Grier, Roxanna Dunlop
Writer: Julia Dixon
Donate Now | Learn More

Producer: Aishwarya Sonar
Director of Photography: Milind Shah
Production Designer: Prabhakaran
Donate Now | Learn More

Comprised of Necessity Part I: Oil, Water and Climate Resistance and Necessity Part II: Rivers, Resistance and Oil by Rail, NECESSITY traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying toxic tar sands oil through North America. Home to much of the world’s precious freshwater resources, the state is also the site of expanding oil industry infrastructure. The film follows indigenous activists and non-indigenous allies in their resistance to the pipelines traversing native lands and essential waterways.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Jan Haaken
Co-Director: Samantha Praus
Donate Now | Learn More

Never Move Backwards is an intimate portrait of an all female parkour troupe in Shiraz, Iran as they train for competition. The film explores themes of rebellion, youth, escapism, and counterculture set against the backdrop of Iran’s ever mutable cultural identity.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Alexandra Tahereh Kaucher
Producer: Jonathan Olson, Damon Owlia
Donate Now | Learn More

Nevertheless Film Festival elevates the work of women in film, as every film in the program is required to have at least 50% of designated leadership roles filled by women. The roles include director, producer, editor, cinematographer, screenwriter, production designer, sound mixer, and music supervisor/composer.
Project type: Festival
Founder/Festival Director: Meredith Finch
Learn More

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Elizabeth Ai
Producer: Rachel Sine
Executive Producers: Diane Quon, Geeta Gandbhir, Robina Riccitiello, C.Y. Lee
Donate Now | Learn More

Weaving a tapestry of a place and a people, Nihunavea traces a history of the first CA Indian Reservations, land dispossession, and a centuries-long struggle for land and recognition for the Kitanemuk people of the Tejon Tribe. Diving into both the memories and struggles of Tejon Indian Tribal members working to reclaim tribal community and share their history, the film sets out to tell a collective story of coming home–a 21st century creation story from Native California.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Development
Director/Producer: Colin Rosemont
Director: Sandra Hernandez
Donate Now | Learn More

Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director/Producer/Lead: Leena Kurishingal
Producer: Timothy Farrell
Executive Producer/Editor: John H. Rogers III
Executive Producer: Marissa Jo Cerar
Cinematographer: Daniel Izui
Learn More

Disabled players and their allies are using advocacy and technology to fight stigmas and enact change to make electronic gaming accessible and level the playing field.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Derek Dabkoski
Producer: Ian McClellan
Producer: Paige Draney
Co-Producer/Director of Photography: Nicholas Finn Myggen
Donate Now | Learn More

In a Puritan town consumed by paranoia, a young mother, haunted by her friend's execution, must navigate growing suspicion to protect her daughter from a similar fate.
Director: Kim Caicedo
Writer/Producer: Teresa Catherine
Producer: Susanne McDonald, Lauren Elizabeth Harris,
Donate Now | Learn More

Youth in Indonesia are poised to become the majority of their country’s population by 2020. Despite unprecedented death tolls in the wake of environmental disasters, they remain resilient. No Word for No explores the question: how are the young people of Indonesia preparing to face the challenges ahead?
Project type: Nonfiction Short
Director/Producer: Andrew Morrison
Director of Photography: Auden Bui
Editor: Colton Loftin
Master Dalang: Ki Midiyanto
Donate Now | Learn More

Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director:Eimi Imanishi
Producer: Shrihari Sathe, Eric Dupont, Virginie Lacombe, Belén Sánchez Silvero, Damon Owlia
Donate Now | Learn More

Noor, a Black woman develops a deep connection to Rami, an Arab man who works in her neighborhood bodega in the midst of an unexpected tragedy. Based on the award-winning feature script, Noor.
Writer/Director: Nijla Mu'min
Producer: Avril Speaks
Donate Now | Learn More

Nora's Mother and Nora's Husband follow the already-produced Nora to create a trilogy of films that weave together to consider the existential vis-a-vis the banal. These queer fever dreams are a stylized, stylish look at a pivotal moment in which three complicated characters consider a single, simple question: Who am I? Inspired by Shakespearean soliloquies and TikTok rants, Nora… explores the vulnerability and narcissism of publicly sharing a private reflection.
Project type: Fiction Short
Director/Writer/Producer/Actor: Neil D'Astolfo
Producer/Editor: Erika Kramer
Producer: Kevin Bender
Learn More

How a mother’s search for her son led to the defeat of a dictatorship and inspired a new generation of women to fight for their freedoms.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Jayson McNamara, Andrea Tortonese
Producer: Sarah Schoellkopf
Donate Now | Learn More

After a blow up during basketball practice, Olivia struggles to face a deeper devastating reality in rural Montana.
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Mikaela Bruce
Writer/Producer: v.c. rhone
Executive Producer: Jen Buckley-Murphy, Luna Zhang
Learn More

A Nigerian-Italian girl secretly witnesses a white Italian boy she grew up with commit a hate crime, and wrestles with whether to speak up or not when the boy shows up to her home the next day.
Project type: Fiction Short
Producer/Co-Writer/"Renzo": Will Graziano
Director: Francesca Castelbuono
Executive Producer: Bradley Gallo
Executive Producer: Olivia Hurd
Co-Writer: Daphne Di Cinto
Co-Writer: Alanna Bennett
Script Consultant: Angelica Pesarini