Observations of the independent film ecosystem from the vantage point of a career in the nonprofit sector
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
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Will the Ford Foundation Continue to Fund Documentary Film?
For brand nerds, check out the story of the Ford Foundation re-brand here
Almost one year to the date that Heather Gearken began her tenure as the newest CEO of the Ford Foundation, the parent organization of JustFilms released its anticip...
We Could Own Letterboxd
Join the movement! letterboxd4all.com
Hello readers of Lingo on Docs and The Backlight! We’re bringing you this special co-authored post in the spirit of collaboration that is a hallmark of the Letterboxd4All campaign led by Intrinsic Ente...
The Price of Prestige
Image credit: Thomas Fall
It’s the end of September, and in doc world ‘tis the season filmmakers are submitting their projects to Sundance 2027, while those with films that hit the festival circuit earlier this year are gearing up to mount...
Uncertainty Is A Hope-fueled Superpower
Credit: Gremlin
Note: I wrote this for Hope for Film last week, so if you also subscribe to Ted’s Substack you’re receiving this again. So nice, you read it twice? Enjoy!
Hello, Hope for Film readers:
I’m a Los Angeles–based docu...
Fund the Practice, Not Just the Project
Perplexity.ai generated this image based on the prompt, “create an image that represents the ideas in this essay.” Hunh!
A few weeks ago I shared a bit about my philanthropy journey and opened up a space to explore donor centrism in the in...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Maida Lynn is the founder of Facet (https://facet.ltd/), board co-chair of The Roxie Theater, and fascinated by the nonprofit NonDē film world.
Anya Rous is an Emmy-winning producer and the President and Co-Founder of Multitude Films, a team dedicated to transformative culture change through nonfiction storytelling, www.multitudefilms.com
Dedicated to transformative culture change through nonfiction storytelling.
Independent documentary producer. Spent 11 years at NYT making docs: 250+ NYT Op-Docs, 5 feature films, and 2 tv series. Won 4 Emmys, got 3 Oscar noms, had films at Sundance etc. Adjusting to this new chapter and learning to love it (er make $)?!
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