cinemasetfree
Hands-on support
A direct line to the team while you plan. We will sit with your breakdown, your schedule and your budget, and tell you what we think.
Filmmaker Fellowship 2026
Filmmaker Fellowship
Real money behind independent films.
Eight filmmakers get a cheque toward the film they are already making. Twelve more get the toolkit and the badge. Nobody gives up a frame of ownership.
Why we do this
Great tools should pay the people who make things with them.
Small crews keep making films people want to watch. Tools got cheap enough that the crew stopped being the hard part. Money still is, and the filmmakers pushing hardest tend to have the least of it.
So we pay them. Not in exposure. Money toward the shoot, the toolkit to plan it, and a real push behind the finished cut. We would rather fund eight films than buy one more ad.
If you are making something new, this is us betting on you.
The Cinema Set Free team
cinemasetfree.com
Backing the next wave of independent filmmakers
Every fellow gets paid and gets promoted. The strongest films get the most.
Top award
2Grand Fellows
$10,000 each
- Production grant paid toward your film
- One year of CSF Pro
- Featured on the homepage & newsletter
- A 1:1 planning session with the team
6Fellows
$3,000 each
- Production grant toward your film
- One year of CSF Pro
- Featured across CSF's channels
12Finalists
- One year of CSF Pro
- A finalist badge on your filmmaker profile
What every fellow gets
The parts that are not the cheque.
A community of makers
A private room with the other fellows in it. Trade techniques, show cuts, argue about them.
A real spotlight
Your film goes on the home page, into the newsletter and out to our channels. The people who see it there are filmmakers.
The money is for finishing the film, and for getting it in front of people who are not your friends.
What we're looking for
Independent
You, or you and a small crew, making the film on your own terms. No studio money behind it.
Original
Your own work, not an adaptation of somebody else's. You are the reason it exists.
Ambitious
Something that reaches, and that you mean to finish and show to an audience.
Application timeline
Two deadlines and a phone call.
- 1
Submit your application
Tell us what the film is and what the money would buy.
Deadline: Mar 15, 2026
- 2
We review & shortlist
We read every one and pick twenty finalists.
- 3
Finalist conversations
A call with each finalist about the film and the plan. Then we choose.
- 4
Fellows announced
Names go up. Money goes out.
Announced: Apr 20, 2026
Apply for the Fellowship
Tell us what the film is and what the money would buy. We read every one by hand.
Before you apply
The parts people write in about.
Any independent filmmaker using Cinema Set Free, anywhere in the world, working alone or with a small crew.
Back your next film
Tell us what you are making and what the money would buy.