BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship

• The MediaMaker Fellowship program is particularly interested in supporting a diverse cross-section of media creators from across the U.S. who are in the process of directing their first or second feature-length documentary. Candidates who have directed a feature previously should take care to clearly demonstrate in their application that this project represents a significant creative leap compared with any previous work and make a strong case for why they need a collaborative fellowship experience at this stage of their career. Above all, ideal candidates should demonstrate a strong capacity for artistic growth and willingness to participate in peer mentorship and collaborative learning experiences with a diverse cohort of other filmmakers.
• The applicant should be the Director and the creative lead of their project – applying as an individual. They must be the only person on their filmmaking team who is applying this year. If they are part of a Co-Directing team they should discuss this program with their partner and together determine which person would most benefit from and have the capacity to participate in a fellowship of this nature at this juncture. This Fellowship required significant time and energy over the course of nine months and applicants should be prepared for the commitment to their cohort if selected
• The project you are applying with should be a feature length film (shorts, series, and podcasts are not eligible), non-commercial (meaning the film is not being created for a market audience with the intent of generating income through the promotion of products, services, or organizations), primarily documentary or non-fiction in nature (this includes hybrid docs which are encouraged to apply), and should have the potential for social impact (social impact can be defined in many ways and is in no way restricted to policy outcomes).
• Eligible films will have at least begun production and may have started post-production. A project would be considered too far along to benefit from the Fellowship if a fine cut is expected before the end of the program year. Projects should be in a place to benefit from workshopping (scenes, story, structure, edit, etc.) with the cohort and seasoned guest filmmakers. This is not a fellowship for filmmakers who are still in early development on their project.
• Though there is no citizenship requirement for the Fellowship, at this time the program cannot support Fellows who are primarily based outside of the U.S. Applicants must primarily reside in the United States and not expect to reside outside of the U.S. for a major part of the year.

In 2020 BAVC Media launched the new MediaMaker Connect Mentorship Program, in the spirit of building the field, supporting nonfiction filmmakers to complete their projects, and facilitating connections between filmmakers at different stages of their careers. This new program provides emerging filmmakers, as well as MediaMaker Fellowship Alum, with 5-months of one-on-one mentorship in which filmmakers receive feedback and counsel from industry professionals addressing their unique challenges from story development to post-production roadblocks. This new effort extends the scope of the MediaMaker program from a one-year fellowship to a spectrum of support that spans early development to artistic fruition.BAVC Media is thrilled to deepen our commitment to cultivating a continuum of infrastructure and support for early-career documentary filmmakers.