Spotlight on Documentaries is a successful market for U.S. and International buyers, sales agents, and financiers to meet with filmmakers with new doc feature and serialized projects.
Submissions are now open!
Early deadline: April 26th – ($45)
Final deadline: May 11th – ($60)
Info session April 21st at 5 PM – RSVP here.
Application Form SPOTLIGHT ON DOCUMENTARIES 2021
The Gotham Week – September 19th – 24th
The 2021 edition of the Project Market will be virtual and meetings will be hosted on an online platform.
About
Presenting 50+ documentary projects ranging from those at an early financing stage (i.e. early development or in production) to those nearing completion (i.e. in post-production or at a rough cut stage), this section includes emerging and established filmmakers working in non-fiction.
Accepted filmmakers take part in pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with potential financing and distribution partners, speed dating meetings with festival programmers, invitations to private documentary events, and exclusive access to the Gotham Week Conference.
Who Can Apply
- Filmmakers with a project in development, production or post-production seeking financing partners, broadcast/distribution, and festival invitations.
- Projects may only be submitted by US filmmakers or a filmmaker or producer residing in the US. International filmmakers can apply through one of Gotham’s Presenting Partners, see below.
- Feature-length applicants must have a visual sample to submit (requirements below).
- Long-Form Doc Series must have an intended episode length of at least 22 minutes; it can be in development or production but must have a visual sample to submit.
- Short-Form Doc Series must have an intended episode length of no more than 15 minutes; it can be in development or production but must have a visual sample to submit.
Formats Accepted
- – Features (intended 52 mins or longer). Work-in-progress features in production or post-production, but not yet complete, with sample material to submit
- – Series – Long Form (episode length 22 mins or longer). Limited or continuing series of two or more episodes; in development or production with sample material to submit preferred.
- – Series – Short Form (avg episode length 15 mins or less). Limited or continuing series of three or more episodes; in development or production with sample material to submit required.
Submission Video
- Projects need to have a sample of at least 6 minutes and no more than 20 minutes.
- Projects in Rough Cut stage can submit max. 40 minutes of footages or identify (timecode) the 40 minutes of longer cut the committee should watch.
For more information, please read: Program Guidelines and FAQ.
Recent Projects
Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert’s American Factory, Rachel Lears’ Knock Down the House, Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family, Brett Story’s The Hottest August, Stephen Maing’s Crime + Punishment, Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar’s The Silence of Others, Michael Palmieri & Donal Mosher’s The Gospel of Eureka, Nancy Schwartzman’s Roll Red Roll, Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson, Nanfu Wang’s I Am Another You, Keith Maitland’s Tower, Yance Ford’s Strong Island, Ido Haar’s Presenting Princess Shaw, Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)error, Catherine Gund’s Chavela, Till Schauder’s When God Sleeps, Jeff Unay’s The Cage Fighter, Jen Brea’s Unrest, Hope Litoff’s 32 Pills, Aaron Brookner’s Uncle Howard, David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s Thank You for Playing, Dawn Porter’s Trapped, Todd Miller’s Dinosaur 13.
Presenting Partners
Around the world, The Gotham has partnerships with key support organizations and funding bodies that provide the most exciting international projects the opportunity to seek out the resources and connections the Project Forum can provide. Non-U.S. applicants to the Project Forum may only submit via these partners.
2020 Presenting Partners
- ACE Producers
- CineMart – International Film Festival Rotterdam
- CoPro – The Israel Documentary Screen Market (docs only)
- EAVE
- Edinburgh International Film Festival / Screen Scotland
- French in Motion / CNC
- Frontières International Co-Production Market
- Hot Docs Forum, Deal Maker and Rendezvous (docs only)
- IDFA Forum (docs only)
- Israel Film Fund
- National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa / Durban
- Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket (docs only)
- Sundance Institute
- Telefilm Canada
- TorinoFilmLab
- Venice Biennale College – Cinema.
