BAVC Media accepts only a few film and media projects per year to be fiscally sponsored.

We are looking for projects that have momentum and potential for social impact. Sponsored projects are approved on an individual basis and are very often already connected to other BAVC Media programs or initiatives. Starting in 2021 BAVC Media is once again acceptinging unsolicited applications. The application for Fiscal Sponsorship is based on the Documentary Core App and is very similar to the application for our MediaMaker Fellowship. As such if you have applied to the Fellowship in the last year, or are a Fellowship Alumni, you do not need to fill out the application again. Just reach out to the Filmmaker support team.

BAVC Media continues to offer professional development opportunities, grants, seminar programs, innovation salons, new media and technology consultations, subsidized postproduction services, technical support and certified classes for independent producers.

Looking for more Fiscal Sponsorship options? The online Fiscal Sponsorship Directory provides comprehensive information on other local and national fiscal sponsorship programs.

To make a secure, tax-deductible donation to a project currently fiscally sponsored by BAVC Media click on the corresponding “Donate” button below. 

Current Projects

Black and white portrait of William Oliver Everson close up with hands clasped in front of his face wearing a long beard, dark rimmed glasses, and a wide brimmed hat.

The Birth of a Poet: The Life of Bill Everson

Pablo Frasconi – Throughout his life and work, one poet, William Oliver Everson (1921-94), was at the “avant garde” of pacifism, spiritual liberation, sexual revolution and ecological consciousness.

Donate to The Birth of a Poet

BAVC Media Fiscal Sponsoree: Beyond the GapBeyond the Gap

Steve Youn & Keith Battle – Though there is no shortage of data about the Achievement Gap and its impacts on students, we rarely get a chance to speak to young people who have reached success despite the odds. Beyond the Gap was started from the premise that in order to solve the Achievement Gap problem, we need to talk to young people first and listen to their suggestions on how to fix our broken system, a system which often ignores the wisdom of our youth.

Donate to Beyond the Gap

Chanh Sả Salon

Anh Le –When her younger sister forces her to go to a nail salon, goody two shoes Trắc unexpectedly finds belonging in a group of mythical misfits who teach her that “perfection” is a relative concept. “Chanh Sa Salon” is a heartwarming, fantasy short that brings in different mythical Vietnamese creatures to discuss about the model minority myth in a modern setting, opening avenues for the Vietnamese community to destigmatize mental health and most importantly, ask for help.

Donate to Chanh Sả Salon

BAVC Media Fiscally Sponsored Project: Follow the LightFollow the Light

Adam Haas – In 1969, 8th grader Adam Haas got his hands on some used video equipment and shot a film about his classmates. Forty-eight years later Haas is returning to his filmmaker roots to track down his original subjects, to find out where they are now and what happened to them along the way. In discussing what has brought meaning to their lives – along with the disasters, the regrets, and the joys— they reveal the impact of the shared educational experience that brought them together in the first place.

Donate to Follow the Light

Two images are overlayed: a person recording with a video camera and a view of the golden gate bridge

Growing up in America: Life After the Taliban

Isabel Soloaga – After narrowly escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in August 2021, 9 year old Masoma and her family begin a new life in Sacramento, California. Growing up in America: Life After the Taliban, is an intimate documentary following her family’s journey of building home after war.

Donate to Growing Up in America: Life After the Taliban

Title of the film Henrietta the Dragon Slayer

Beth BaranyIn a desolate high desert battlefield, Franc, a knight far from home, vanishes after being plagued by nightmares. His friend and a valiant, decorated war veteran, Henrietta discovers clues that lead her to a treacherous cliffside cave and a menacing chimera. Henrietta confronts the creature to rescue Franc, but can’t succeed with force alone. She must trust in her magical necklace if she wants to have a fighting chance.

If you’d like to show your support for the Henrietta Film through other means reach out to Beth Barany here at bethbarany@gmail.com

Donate to Henrietta the Dragon Slayer

BAVC Media Fiscal Sponsoree: Home is a HotelHome is a Hotel

Kevin D. Wong, Todd Sills, and Kar Yin Tham – Amidst attention grabbing headlines of apps and IPOs, Home is a Hotel tells a different San Francisco story: an intimate portrait of a day in the life of four people living in San Francisco residential hotels as they strive for a better tomorrow. Through the stories of four diverse residents: a middle aged jazz singer in the Tenderloin, a single mother in Chinatown, an aging gay man in the SOMA, and a Latino family in the Mission; this documentary takes it’s viewers into the largely invisible world of San Francisco’s SROs shedding light on this quickly disappearing last bit of affordable housing in the city.

Donate to Home is a Hotel

The Jerome Project title card image for documentary

The Jerome Project

Anthony Cianciolo – The Jerome Project preserves, protects, and perpetuates the artistic legacy of Jerome Caja (1958 — 1995). The mission is to bring greater visibility and accessibility to Caja’s paintings and performances. The project includes several moving parts: a digital catalogue raisonné, a repository of art and ephemera available for academic research, and a feature-length documentary film about Caja, with an accompanying exhibition of his art.

Donate to The Jerome Project

A figure from behind walks a hall lined and stacked with paintings and framed artPainting the Back of the Hill

Abhi Indrekar & Michaela Henry – Founded in 1974, Boston’s African American Master Artist in Residency Program made history, becoming an artistic and community hub and smoothing relations between Northeastern University and its Black neighbors. In 2018, Northeastern locked the artists out of their building and AAMARP’s battle for survival began. What will Boston lose if AAMARP is gone?

Donate to Painting the Back of the Hill

Title card for SHAKTI Nani Sahra Walker's Project in Development featuring

Shakti

Nani Sahra Walker – To tame her mischief, a single mother enrolls her nine-year-old daughter in private painting lessons in Kathmandu until she suddenly catches a mysterious illness. When doctors are unable to pin down a diagnosis, her strong-willed mother turns to a local shaman who reveals shared trauma that leads mother and daughter down a path of redemption.To tame her mischief, a single mother enrolls her nine-year-old daughter in private painting lessons in Kathmandu until she suddenly catches a mysterious illness. When doctors are unable to pin down a diagnosis, her strong-willed mother turns to a local shaman who reveals shared trauma that leads mother and daughter down a path of redemption.

Donate to Shakti

Lorena gazes out form between large lavender signs with butterflies at what seems to be a demonstrationUntitled Lorena

Rodrigo Reyes, Dawn Valadez, Ike Rofe, and Davi Merchan – After losing her 12-year-old daughter Fátima to a horrible attack and fleeing her home in a small town in Mexico, Lorena leads her family on a quest for justice against a corrupt system preying on thousands of women and girls each year, taking her fight all the way to the country’s Supreme Court.

Donate to Untitled Lorena

On a weathered background of mountain lanscape is the tlte Way of Life

Specific Pictures – Interweaving the stories of one of Montana’s only abortion and trans healthcare clinics and diverse Montanans fighting to define and defend individual freedoms, the feature documentary in-progress WAY OF LIFE explores ideological complexities and contradictions in the country’s rapidly intensifying battles over privacy and bodily autonomy–dangerous frontlines in a polarizing America.

Donate to Way of Life

A collage of overlapping Polaroid photos from The LexWe Belong

Susannah Smith – The Lexington Club was the only dyke bar in San Francisco for 18 rowdy years (1997-2015). Ten years after its closure, WE BELONG tells the story of the bar, the patrons that found strength in its walls, and its impact on three profound decades of LGBTQ+ history. More than just a safe space, The Lexington Club was the breeding ground for a generation of Queer women-centered rebellion.

Donate to We Belong

Tony sits on the beach at golden hour looking at the ocean. Palm trees and concrete in the background.Year of the Cat

Tony Nguyen –YEAR OF THE CAT follows filmmaker Tony Nguyen on an extraordinary quest to solve the mystery of his father, lost in the chaos of the Fall of Saigon 50 years ago. Told as an investigative home movie, this powerful documentary weaves together moments of humor and heartache, offering an intimate look at how the children of refugees are shaped by war and loss. As Tony delves into his family’s history, the film reveals the emotional lengths we go to in confronting the ghosts of the past—and the possibility of healing as we reclaim and transform our futures.

Donate to Year of the Cat