Distribution Advocates, a collective that aims to reclaim power for independent storytellers, has launched the FilmADE Fund. The program seeks to support up to 30 independent film releases a year by offering financial support, skills training and industry collaborations for U.S. theatrical and non-theatrical releases.
Applications for the fund open Thursday, and will feature grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to fund marketing strategies and distribution experiments. The program is aiming to cultivate a field-wide transformation in the industry to improve how independent films reach and engage with their audiences.
FilmADE, which stands for Film Audience Development and Engagement, operates through three initiatives: providing grants for audience development and distribution experiments, film team training and data reporting for field-building.
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It also offers strategic training sessions to equip filmmakers with essential skills like audience design, social media engagement, visual asset creation and publicity strategy development. Grantees will then report on their experiments, which the program runners will synthesize into case studies, podcast episodes and field reports.
“We’re incredibly proud of the filmmaker-centered work of Distribution Advocates that led to this fund’s design,” said Amy Hobby, co-founder of Distribution Advocates. “We saw the need for an ecosystem intervention that harnesses the creativity, humor, and boldness of indie film and transforms that energy into audience development and engagement, and we took action.”
Partnerships and educational sessions will roll out during the fall and winter of 2024, with a first series of data being published by mid-2025. Information about applications for the grants can be found on the FilmADE Fund website.
(Pictured at top: Distribution Advocates co-founders Karin Chien, left, Avril Speaks, Carlos Gutierrez, and Amy Hobby host aworkshop on distribution innovations.)
