While fiscal sponsorship is a component of the program, unlike other sponsoring organizations, we also provide a suite of support services such as tailored consultations, discounts to our workshops and webinars with leading industry professionals, and other essential resources.
In the last 5 years, WMM’s Production Assistance Program has helped 194 films reach completion and assisted filmmakers in raising more than $46,000,000 from government, foundation, corporate or individual, and crowd-funded sources. Since its inception, the program has been a part of raising more than $100,000,000 and helping more than 1,000 films to completion.
Films and filmmakers we have supported have been nominated for or won Academy Awards for the last 22 years, including Oscar-winning documentary CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras, STRONG ISLAND by Yance Ford, SUGARCANE by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, TO KILL A TIGER by Nisha Pahuja, THE ETERNAL MEMORY by Maite Alberdi and THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK by John Hoffman and Christine Turner, the last two of which were directed by PA alum. The program has also supported critically acclaimed fiction features like FAMILIAR TOUCH (dir. Sarah Friedland), Dee Rees’ PARIAH, I CARRY YOU WITH ME (dir. Heidi Ewing, prod. Mynette Louie), FAREWELL AMOR (dir. Ekwa Msangi, prod. Huriyyah Muhammad, Sam Bisbee, Josh Penn), and THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (dir. Marielle Heller). We’re thrilled to continue to have a large presence at the Sundance Film Festival, including GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT (Dir Michèle Stephenson), LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING (dir. Lisa Cortés), Sandi Tan’s SHIRKERS, which won the World Cinema Documentary Competition Award for Best Directing, and most recently SEEDS (dir. Brittany Shyne, prod. Danielle Varga), which won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. In addition to Sundance, films supported by our program premiere at major festivals like Berlin, Tribeca, CPH:DOX, and SXSW.
FIND PROJECTS AND FILMMAKERS TO SUPPORT
GIVE IT A SHOT
GIVE IT A SHOT follows scientists in India and the U.S. developing a new male contraceptive that could revolutionize family planning and improve women’s lives globally.
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Reproductive Choices: Revisiting La Operacion
A documentary challenging the long-held belief that the U.S. government forced Puerto Rican women to be sterilized; the truth is more complex and examining the evidence from the women themselves casts a whole new light on this story.
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Stand Up for Madinah
“STAND UP FOR MADINAH” follows the first female Muslim legislator in Delaware as she challenges the Biden administration on the ongoing war in Gaza. When she is not confronting the establishment, Madinah is spending time at comedy clubs trying her luck to find success as a local stand up comedian.
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Rooting Souls
Sparked by Zivia Berkowitz’s ambitious vision and self-filmed footage, ROOTING SOULS explores three emerging alpinists, organizers, & educators preparing to summit Mt. Kenya. Intricate portraits of access, representation & healing within the Black diaspora & outdoor adventure worlds emerge in this feature documentary, inviting audiences to re-envision community and success.
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WOMEN OF STEEL
1980-1994: hundreds of migrant/working-class women campaigned for equality against BHP, the biggest and most powerful company in Australia. In WOMEN OF STEEL, these ordinary women tell their personal stories of how they beat a giant and changed the workplace rules for women and men throughout the country.
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Hasta Siempre - Until Forever
Growing up in one of the most powerful nonviolent land-defense movements in the world, a young Indigenous girl, Estefanie, absorbs the struggle of her people to protect their territory in war-torn Colombia. As violence resurges and Estefanie witnesses the deaths of many of their leaders, her mom must teach her.
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Paper City
Paper City tells the story of three survivors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Tokyo as they launch one final campaign to leave behind a record of this forgotten tragedy—before the last of them passes away.
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Girls for Tomorrow (formerly GIRLS OF TOMORROW)
2015 - 2025 : From Obama, through Trump, and until Biden’s final presidential days, the Girls go through their twenties grappling with dreams of a fair, feminist, sustainable society in a patriarchal reality. While I have just become a mother and seek elevation, I follow them for a decade.
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NO ACCIDENT Impact Campaign
An Unprecedented Case Against Hate
Our campaign will support a nationwide, grassroots screening campaign featuring in person conversations with leaders in the movement, virtual talks and screening guides to help different groups frame their own events. We will also develop educational guides for law schools and other institutions.
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My Name Is Andrea
A cinematic evocation of key moments from the life of feminist outlaw Andrea Dworkin, maverick thinker and intellectual genius of the 20th Century. Through innovative use of archival footage and expressionistic dramatizations, the film pushes the creative boundaries of biographical documentary to challenge the current narratives on gendered violence.
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Wisdom Gone Wild
WISDOM GONE WILD is an intimate documentary presenting a new look at dementia and caregiving. Rather than a portrait of loss, dementia is seen as a wisdom that has “gone wild.”
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The Dreamer's Daughter (working title)
As her family travels America in an RV, teenage Leilani is torn between her father’s dream of freedom and her desire for a normal teenage life.
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The Gas Station Attendant
Telephone conversations the filmmaker recorded with her father while he worked nights at a gas station reveal a remarkable journey, from living on the streets of India to a chance encounter that would bring him to the United States.
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Ever and the sharks
A female leading marine biologist and a teenage boy from a disadvantaged fishermen community in northern Peru will embark on a quest to tag whale sharks in a scientific discovery that aims to save the species (and the boy’s future).
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Erica Deuso: The Good Neighbor Mayor
When a trans mayor is elected in a swing state, the first 30 days in office reveal how quickly progress can be challenged—and defended.
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Call Me Dancer
When a hip-hop dancer accidentally walks into a ballet class in Mumbai, his world opens up and a passion is born. The tough ballet master recognizes his talent and dares him to fulfill his dreams of dancing professionally - giving him the courage to defy family, culture and poverty.
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