Eligible Festivals and Events

There is no approval process for the grant. Instead, filmmakers whose projects are accepted to these prestigious festivals & events will be automatically eligible for the travel grant:

• Academy Awards
• AFI Fest
• Aspen Comedy Festival
• Berlin Film Festival
• Cannes Film Festival
• CineMart
• CineVegas Film Festival
• Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
• Edinburgh Film Festival
• FIND Screenwriters/Directors Lab
• Frameline Film Festival
• Full Frame Doc Festival
• Gotham Awards
• Hamptons Film Festival
• Hot Docs
• IFP No Borders
• IFP Rough Cut Labs
• Independent Spirit Awards
• International Documentary Festival Amsterdam
• Locarno Film Festival
• Los Angeles Film Festival

• New Directors/New Films
• New York Film Festival
• Outfest
• Palm Springs Short Film Festival
• Rotterdam Film Festival
• San Francisco International Film Festival
• Seattle International Film Festival
• Silver Docs
• Slamdance Film Festival
• Student Academy Awards
• Sundance Film Festival
• Telluride Film Festival
• Thessaloniki Film Festival
• Toronto Film Festival
• Tribeca All-Access
• Tribeca Film Festival
• Urbanworld Film Festival
• Vancouver Film Festival
• Venice Film Festival
• Woodstock Film Festival

In developing these lists, festivals and events were selected for the following criteria:

• Must occur outside of Texas
• Are highly competitive
• Have significant prestige in the film industry
• May lead to distribution, influential reviews, industry connections, etc. for participating filmmakers
• Generally don’t cover the costs of travel and accommodations for participating filmmakers

Other Festivals and Events

This is the first year for this travel grant program and we are still refining its goals and guidelines. If a filmmaker has a project invited to a festival or event not on the above lists, they can still apply for a travel grant, but they will only be eligible for after-the-fact reimbursement at the end of the fiscal year (Aug. 31) if any Travel Grant funds are still available.

In addition to the regular requirements for application, the filmmaker will also need to provide a short profile of the festival or event, highlighting its prestige or importance to the film industry, especially if it is a niche event (ie. a horror festival, a gay & lesbian festival, etc.).

If there are Travel Grant funds left over at the end of the fiscal year, a subcommittee of Austin Film Society board members and local film professionals will review the applications to decide whether or not to provide reimbursement for any of these applications and whether or not that festival or event will be put on the “approved list” for the next fiscal year.

No consideration will be given to festivals or events that are non-competitive in nature, like the Cannes and AFM markets, or that aren't primarily focused on film and video.

These grants are intended to help offset costs for filmmakers traveling outside the state, so Texas festivals & events will also not be given consideration.