For a documentary film to make a difference, a solid strategy for audience engagement and strong partnerships are key. Filmmakers often lack time to do this work themselves or the expertise and the funds to pay for it. Emerging filmmakers, creators of color, and underrepresented artists can face the biggest hurdles, despite the potential of their projects. Working Films’ response to this challenge is Impact Kickstart, a program offering in-kind partnership and strategy development to underrepresented filmmakers with feature-length films that hold great promise to catalyze action to address important and current social issues.
“Impact Kickstart leverages the power of films to create social change, while offering distribution strategies to reach the right audiences at the right time,” says Gerry Leonard, Director of Filmmaker Services. “The program supports filmmakers to position their film within larger social justice movement work and the documentary film ecosystem. Impact Kickstart taps into a film’s inherent strengths, towards long-term partnerships and collective social change.”
Now in its seventh year, the Impact Kickstart program has helped underrepresented filmmakers create strategic goals for impact and specific plans to engage future partners, funders, and audiences in meaningful ways. Impact Kickstart was created to fill a gap in support for the impact campaigns of underrepresented filmmakers and underrepresented stories.
Two films will be selected for Impact Kickstart 2025. Each selected filmmaker will receive an Impact Kickstart from Working Films that includes the planning, facilitation and reporting out from a day-long strategy summit with potential partners and key collaborators. This summit will leave filmmakers well positioned to carry out an impact campaign with a clear strategy, goals, partners, and a report that can be used for engaging supporters. Impact Kickstart recipients will also receive impact campaign funding of $60,000 and 1:1 Mentorship support.
The deadline for applications is Thursday, September 26 at 11:59pm EST. To apply, visit our 2025 Call for Applications page HERE.
If you have any additional questions in the meantime, please email gleonard@workingfilms.org
Working Films strives to make all of our events and programs accessible, including our application processes. To request an accessibility accommodation or adjustment, please email gleonard@workingfilms.org, or call us at 910-342-9000.
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