The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, in collaboration with Points North Institute, is proud to announce the launch of the Ellis-Beauregard Documentary Film Award, an annual initiative supporting visionary nonfiction filmmakers. EBF will provide one $50,000 award to a documentary project currently in post-production, and Points North will welcome the project to Maine for a creative editing retreat, to be timed with the 2026 Camden International Film Festival.
Rooted in the Foundation’s mission to support bold artistic practice, this Award is designed to advance ambitious, creative nonfiction storytelling. We are committed to supporting filmmakers whose work challenges convention, expands the language of documentary, and engages deeply with contemporary culture and the world around us.
What We Support
We are seeking artist-driven, independent documentary films that reflect:
Bold, risk-taking cinematic vision
Experimentation of form and unconventional approaches to nonfiction
A clear point of view and an engaged, critical relationship to the subject matter
Collaborative, process-driven filmmaking, particularly director–editor partnerships
Projects that will benefit meaningfully from support at the post-production stage
The Award welcomes projects from both emerging and established filmmakers. Priority will be given to films that demonstrate strong artistic potential and a clear path toward completion. The project must be on pace to have an assembly or early rough cut at the time of the retreat in September.
Award
The selected filmmaker will receive:
- $50,000 in unrestricted funding to support post-production from Ellis-Beauregard Foundation
- An invitation for the director and editor to attend a dedicated Points North editing retreat, timed to coincide with the 2026 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF)
- Transportation from a location in the US and lodging provided for the retreat for Director and Editor.
During the retreat, the director and editor will share a work-in-progress in Ellis-Beauregard Foundation’s FLEX space on their new state-of-the-art campus. Points North will convene leading documentary editors, producers, and creative advisers in an intimate, supportive environment. The goal is to provide tailored feedback and rigorous conversation, to be metabolized and used to fuel editing progress for the project during the retreat.
Projects that are anticipated to be completed by Summer 2027 are preferred. Finished work will be considered for inclusion in the program at the Camden International Film Festival 2027.
Application & Review Process
Applicants submit an application introducing their project and creative approach through the following materials:
- Project Logline (2-3 sentences)
- Project Synopsis (max 300 words)
- Filmmaker Statement (max 250 words)
- Project Stage (max 150 words)
- Work Sample 1 (a trailer or fundraising sample of less than 10 minutes )
- Work Sample 2 (20 minutes of edited material reflective of the tone and content of the finished project)
- Short Bio(s) for Director and Editor
The 20 minutes of edited material will only be reviewed if the project advances to the final stage of consideration.
Applicants will be reviewed by a panel of invited industry leaders, with selection based on artistic excellence, originality, clarity of vision, and creative potential.
Eligibility
Eligible projects must:
- Be nonfiction, feature-length documentaries.
- Be in post-production at the time of application.
- Be led by applicants at any stage of their career.
- Be submitted by an individual artist (funds will be disbursed directly to an individual, not an entity). The applicant must be the individual award recipient.
- To be eligible for the Documentary Award, applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States (i.e., green card holders). We are unable to consider applications from individuals on temporary visa statuses, including but not limited to work visas (H-1B, O-1), student visas (F-1), exchange visitor visas (J-1), or artist visas. We recognize that immigration status can be a complex topic, and we appreciate your understanding of this requirement.
Award funds may be considered taxable income, and awardees are responsible for any applicable taxes. At the awardee’s request, funds may be disbursed in installments across two fiscal years.
Projects previously supported by other artist development labs or funds are welcome.
Applicants who are currently enrolled or will be enrolling in degree-granting programs are ineligible.
Jurors
- Chloe Walters Wallace, Director, Writer, Photographer
- Jeff Seelbach, Producer
- Nell Augustin, Director
- Ian Kibbe, Producer, Director, Editor
Applications open on March 16 and close on April 16, 2026. Cap of 300 applications
Please submit your application through submittable page
2026 Awardee
Untitled “Ear Hustle” Film
Director: Erika Cohn; Editor: Kristina Motwani; Producers: Jaz Kealoha Berger, Rajal Pitroda; Executive Producers: Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary of Revelations Entertainment, James Younger, Insiyah Haveliwala, and Patty Quillin.
Indígena
Writer/Director: Siku Allooloo; Editors: Avrïll Jacobson, Lawrence Jackman; Producers: Jessica Hallenbeck, Siku Allooloo; Executive Producers: Sky Hopinka, Peter Bratt, Benjamin Bratt and Marie Clements
The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation (EBF) is pleased to announce the recipients of its inaugural Ellis Beauregard Foundation Documentary Film Award: Untitled Ear Hustle Film, directed by Erika Cohn with editor Kristina Motwani, and Indígena, written and directed by Siku Allooloo with editor Avril Jacobson.
Each film will receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant in recognition of its artistic excellence, originality, and creative potential. In a year of exceptional work, the jury recognized two projects that each embody the Award’s commitment to bold, artist-driven nonfiction cinema.
“The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation made a commitment this inaugural year to fund an art form that is research-driven truth-telling,” noted Donna McNeil, executive director of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. “We were moved by the applications and proud of these brave filmmakers.”
In addition to the grant, each film’s director and editor will attend a creative retreat hosted by Points North Institute (PNI) to be timed with the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), September 17–20, 2026, in Camden, Maine. The retreat offers an intimate, peer-driven environment focused on craft, collaboration, and creative development.
“This retreat exists for exactly this moment in a film’s life — post-production is where a documentary really finds its shape, and having the resources to provide creative time makes all the difference,” observed Elise McCave, executive director of Points North Institute. “Points North is honored to partner with the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation on an award of this scale, and we can’t wait to have both teams in Camden this September.”
The Recipients
Untitled Ear Hustle Film (Director: Erika Cohn; Editor: Kristina Motwani; Executive Producer: Morgan Freeman) follows Ear Hustle creators Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods as they prepare for the podcast’s first national live tour, bringing stories born on the inside to prisons and stages across the country. From San Quentin to venues nationwide, the film traces the rise of Ear Hustle into a global phenomenon — now 17 seasons in, with nearly 90 million downloads.
The jury described the film as bringing “a nuanced and unexpected point of view to experiences of incarceration and reentry, adapting a wildly popular podcast into compelling, character-driven cinema.”
Indígena (Writer/Director: Siku Allooloo; Editor: Avril Jacobson; Producers: Jessica Hallenbeck, Siku Allooloo) follows filmmaker Siku Allooloo as she retraces her mother’s work as an activist and journalist during the Red Power Movement, fulfilling a dying wish and bringing to light 500 years of Taino resistance.
The jury celebrated the film’s “poetic and distinct artistic vision,” noting that it “recovers a liberation story rooted in a people the world was told no longer existed.”
The Award was adjudicated by a jury of four distinguished documentary practitioners: Chloe Walters-Wallace (Director of Regional Initiatives, Firelight Media), Jeff Seelbach (Producer), Nell Lawrenz-Wareham (Deputy Director, Explore Minnesota Film), and Ian Kibbe (Senior Producer, Kartemquin Films).