Avant-Garde Masters Grants

The National Film Preservation Foundation invites applications for the Avant-Garde Masters Grants. These cash preservation grants, made possible in partnership with The Film Foundation, support laboratory work to preserve significant examples of America's avant-garde film heritage. The grants are available to nonprofit and public archives. Funding is generously provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. By its very nature avant-garde film is hard to define. Avant-garde film is generally produced and distributed outside mainstream film channels. Often created by a single filmmaker or a small team, these films are intended as artistic expressions. They often experiment with the film medium in unique and personal ways. This grant supports the preservation of a film or films by a single filmmaker or from a cinematic group significant to the development of avant-garde film in America. Works made within the last twenty years are not eligible. Applications should show how the proposed titles have made a significant contribution to American experimental film or, if the works are lesser known today, demonstrate how the films will contribute to a better understanding of avant-garde film history. Proposals must also explain why the proposed films are in need of preservation and include plans detailing how the films will be made available to the public and the scholarly community. This grant will fund several preservation projects ranging between $5,000 and $50,000.