Inwood Film Festival Filmmaker Fund

The Inwood Film Festival Filmmaker Fund was created to financially support and encourage the creation of cinema in the Inwood NYC community, and to financially support the filmmaking of local Inwood NYC community filmmakers.

Film projects shot by a filmmaker who resides in the Inwood NYC community are eligible to apply for a grant up to five-thousand dollars ($5,000). Grants must be used for film project expenses incurred between December 1, 2025 and November 30, 2026.

Meet the filmmakers who were awarded grants in past years from our Filmmaker Fund:

2024 Filmmaker Fund Recipients
2023 Filmmaker Fund Recipients
2022 Filmmaker Fund recipients
2021 Filmmaker Fund recipients
2020 Filmmaker Fund recipients
2019 Filmmaker Fund recipients

Grant Evaluation Criteria

Applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • The filmmaker must be a resident of the Inwood NYC community. For the purpose of this grant, we define the “Inwood NYC community” as the New York City neighborhoods of Inwood, Washington Heights, Marble Hill, Kingsbridge, and Riverdale.
  • Filmmakers must have at least one validated credit as a Producer, Director, or primary Director of Photography.
  • If the projects have professional industry-proven personnel attached to the project.
  • It is not a student film.
  • While it is not required to be the focus of a project, locally based stories with cultural relevance, historical associations, or geographical significance will be given preference.

Timeline

August 1 annually — Submissions open
September 30 — Deadline for submissions
December 1 — Grantees notified
December 31 — Funds disbursed to filmmaker
November 30, 2026 — Funded project must be completed

Submitted Materials

The application requires the following materials to be submitted. Make sure you have everything ready before applying.

  • Artist Statement (1500 words or less) that answers: — Why do you need to make this film? — Why are you the person to make this film? — How will your film meet the criteria of this fund?
  • Biography (yours, and up to two other key personnel).
  • A draft of the screenplay for the narrative film, or treatment for documentary film.
  • Project Timeline — please download and use this template.
  • Work Sample of previous film under 25 minutes in length.

Allocations

Inwood Art Works reserves the right to allocate grant funds of any amount over $500 based on the evaluation of the application for the project, and how it best fits the goals of the grant. Previous grant winners must wait one grant cycle before submitting a new proposal.

Automatic Submission to the Inwood Film Festival

Upon the conclusion of the project it will be automatically submitted to the selection committee for the next Inwood Film Festival.

Inwood Film Festival Filmmaker Fund is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.