WMM | FOR FILMMAKERS | SPONSORED PROJECTS

Now you can learn more about - and contribute to - select film projects that are currently fiscally sponsored through our Production Assistance Program. The Program has assisted in the completion of hundreds of projects, including Oscar nominated CITIZENFOUR directed by Laura Poitras, as well as fiction features like PARIAH and Sundance 2015 premiere THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL. Over the last 5 years WMM has helped more than 120 films reach completion and channeled more than $17,000,000 to filmmakers.

You too can take part in helping women's visions reach the screen by donating here!

Browse current projects by title and make a tax deductible donation directly from this page through our secure shopping cart. Here's how.

WMM's Production Assistance and Fiscal Sponsorship Programs are separate from our Distribution Service. The films listed on this page ARE NOT part of our distribution catalog and therefore submitting a donation does NOT entitle you to a copy of the video.

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		THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED A film by Assia Boundaoui & Alex Bushe The first documentary to tell the story of the “War on Terror” from the perspective inside an Arab¬American neighborhood. Since the early 90’s, people in Bridgeview, IL have stayed quiet about their deep suspicions of living under government surveillance, and no one has ever dug into why the surveillance may have began. Until now. This film brings to light an under¬represented human story and follows the filmmakers as they investigate what really happened, and may still be happening in Bridgeview. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		FENCING FOR THE EDGE A film by Holly Buechel Fencing for the Edge tells the story of 4 high school fencing teams in the state of New Jersey competing in the largest league in the world. Facing challenges at home and in the classroom, the fencers learn what it takes to be successful on the strip and in life. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		FINDING NORMAL (FORMERLY MAKE ME NORMAL) A film by Mitch McCabe Are we medicalizing normal human behavior? FINDING NORMAL explores recent controversies in psychiatry, the rise of diagnosed mental illness, psychopharmacology and our new definition of "normal"— all set against the backdrop of new psychiatric guidelines in the new DSM-5 (the "Psychiatry Bible"). Traveling the country to high-profile psychiatrists, senate investigators, researchers, peer advocates and pharma reps, the film gives a much-needed, hard-boiled look at the current state of mental illness treatment, ultimately forcing the question: What is normal? Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		THE FOUNDERS FILM A film by Charlene Fisk Battling society, finances and sometimes even each other, thirteen women in 1950 changed women’s athletics forever. With humor, grit and raw talent, these underdogs persevered not only to create a legend in the sports world but also a timeless story of redemption and endurance. Through rare, archival footage, current-day interviews with surviving founders, and historical reenactments, we tell their story in the feature-length documentary Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		FREE THE BID Our Mission: 1. Getting global and local BRANDS + AD AGENCIES + PRODUCTION COMPANIES to pledge for a female bid on every commercial pitch. 2. Creating a database of working women directors from leading production companies in one place while introducing unsigned female directors. 3. Changing the way women are represented in advertising by giving them a voice as directors. 4. Supporting FILM and TV WOMEN DIRECTORS by making sure they can sustain themselves financially as filmmakers. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		FROM AWAY A film by Maya Tepler Two young brothers have arrived in small-town Maine after escaping war-torn Burundi. Through their unexpected lives as American teenagers, they learn what it means to be different, to start anew, and to be “from away.” Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		GRACE (WT) A film by A film by Rachel Pikelny GRACE (wt), a short documentary, tells the story of a 36-year-old suburban soccer mom and breast cancer survivor who decides to reclaim her body by getting an elaborate mastectomy tattoo. Directed by a recent breast cancer survivor and created by an all-female crew, Grace will be a frank, honest, and often funny exploration of a seldom-discussed side of the survivor’s experience—the battle that begins when everyone else thinks the war is already won. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		GREENWOOD AVENUE A film by Ayana Baraka Greewood Avenue is a groundbreaking, emotional exploration into the lives of African Americans living in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, during the era of Black Wall Street, the second rise of the KKK, and the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, told through the eyes of an elderly Black female protagonist named Agnes. With the helpful recollections of the surviving members of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, and groundbreaking virtual reality technology, viewers will be transported to that era. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		A GUANGZHOU LOVE AFFAIR (FORMERLY AFRICA TOWN) A film by Kathy Huang A GUANGZHOU LOVE AFFAIR captures the love, heartache, and real life challenges of two Afro-Chinese couples in China. Through their struggles to survive racism, xenophobia, and draconian immigration policies, we are given a uniquely non-Western view into China, globalization, and modern love. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		GUNS, GRIEF & GRACE IN AMERICA (FORMERLY GUNS, GRIEF AND GRACE: EMERGING CONVERSATIONS AND CHANGING THE CONVERSATION) A film by Janet Fitch The Guns, Grief and Grace in America three-part documentary series reframes the gun violence debate in our country from one of Second Amendment rights to that of public health prevention. The two completed films and their accompanying education pieces have made a significant community impact; generating non-polarized, solution-based discussions with diverse audiences. In doing this, we pave the way to reclaim the public sphere for discussion of a complex societal topic relevant to diverse communities across the country. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HABIBI RASAK KHARBAN A film by Susan Youssef Habibi Rasak Kharban (My Darling, Something's Wrong With Your Head) is a feature film project that is a modern retelling of the classical Arabo-Islamic tragic romance Majnun Layla. The Habibi Project serves as a bridge for understanding contemporary conflict, and as an illumination of the multi-textured character of Islamic civilization. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARSHA! A film by Reina Gossett and Sasha Wortzel Happy Birthday, Marsha! is the story of legendary transgender rights activists and best friends, Marsha "Pay It No Mind" Johnson & Sylvia Rivera, in the hours before the 1969 Stonewall riots. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HARD HATTED WOMAN A film by Lorien Barlow Hard Hatted Woman is the first feature documentary about women in blue-collar construction trades. A small number of remarkable women continue to pursue this daunting and non-traditional career path that is still 97% male-dominated. Whether seeking the economic benefits of union jobs or drawn to the innate satisfaction of the work, all of them end up fighting to advance in a hyper-masculine arena, where they challenge entrenched gender stereotypes not only among their co-workers but our culture at large. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HEATHER BOOTH: CHANGING THE WORLD A film by Lilly Rivlin Heather Booth is a legendary social change organizer who has masterminded 65 intense, varied, and (mostly) successful community actions and political campaigns. Through her life story and her passionate commitments, I will cover 50 years of progressive movements highlighting civil rights, abortion rights, and the feminist revolution, while creating, in the course of the narrative, a filmic handbook on the art, tactics, strategy and magic of organizing for social and political transformation. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HERE ONE DAY A film by Kathy Leichter When filmmaker Kathy Leichter moved back into her childhood home after her mother’s suicide, she discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before she had the courage to delve into this trove, unearthing details that her mother had recorded about every aspect of her life from the joys and challenges of her marriage to a State Senator, to her son’s estrangement, to the highs and lows of living with bipolar disorder. HERE ONE DAY is a beautiful, emotionally candid film about a woman coping with mental illness, her relationships with her family, and the ripple effects of her suicide on those she loved. The Here One Day Community Screening Initiative presents Here One Day in communities and educational institutions across the country to reduce stigma around mental illness and suicide, create a safe space for others to share their stories, teach how mental illness and suicide impact families, and link audiences to local mental health support. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HOME TRUTH (FORMERLY JESSICA GONZALES VS. THE U.S.A.) A film by April Hayes and Katia Maguire In 1999, Jessica Gonzales' estranged husband abducted their three daughters in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Jessica's repeated calls and visits to the police that night went unheeded. Nearly twelve hours after she first called the police, Jessica's estranged husband arrived at the police station and opened fire, and he was immediately shot and killed by the police. The bodies of the three girls were found in his bullet-ridden truck. Jessica's quest for answers and justice led her on a 10 year journey through the American legal system and beyond, and have turned her into an outspoken and charismatic advocate for victimized women and children everywhere. Jessica Gonzales vs. The United States of America is a feature-length documentary that follows the story of one woman, who in the wake of unspeakable tragedy and hardship embarks upon a journey to reclaim her voice and discover her own power to heal herself and others. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HOMECOMING A film by Gemma Cubero Homecoming tells the story of the atoll of Pukapuka through the intergenerational story of two bi-cultural women Johnnie Frisbie and Amelia Borofsky who journey home after decades away. Facing modernization, environmental, and cultural loss, this 3sq km coral atoll has little contact with outsiders or tourists, and the native community follows a Polynesian way of life lost to most of the Pacific. This character-driven documentary follows the two women on their journey “home” offering a poetic meditation on race, climate change, memory and the universal journey towards wholeness. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HOW TO POWER A CITY A film by A film by Melanie La Rosa As headlines rage about the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, people around the U.S. are bringing solar and wind power online in dozens of ways. How can everyday people be part of the clean energy revolution? How are cities leading the way? How To Power A City explores stories from around the nation about everyday leaders in the ongoing shift to solar, wind, and other types of clean energy. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		HUNTING IN WARTIME (FORMERLY HOONAH'S HEROES) A film by Samantha Farinella During the Vietnam War, thirty-nine Tlingit men from the tiny village of Hoonah, Alaska saw combat. Thirty-eight came back alive, making Hoonah the American town with the highest per capita enlistment rate as well as the highest survival rate. While the soldiers were away, a new law prohibited village fishermen from acquiring greater catches than the year before – robbing retuning veterans of their livelihoods. This feature-length documentary traces the tension between the soldiers' prideful service and the racism they encountered at home. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		IF THE DANCER DANCES A film by Lise Friedman and Maia Wechsler Unlike a painting that hangs in a museum over the decades, dance is ephemeral, existing only in the moment. There is no script or score for preservation. Instead, dance is transmitted from body to body, one generation to the next. If the Dancer Dances is a journey from studio to stage, as Merce Cunningham’s iconic 1968 RainForest is brought back to life. Timed to coincide with Cunningham’s centennial, the film makes the language of dance accessible to a wide audience, as it confronts what it takes to prevent the loss of masterworks to time. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		IT RAINS (LLUEVE) A film by Carolina Corral (dir.) and Magali Rocha Donnadieu (prod.) Since Oliver was killed, he communicates with his mother María through the rain. He let her know the attorney’s office buried him, along with 117 other corpses, in a hidden mass grave. This sparks a new life mission for María: to hold the government accountable for exhuming them all and returning the bodies back to the Mexican families who have been looking for them for years. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		JACKSON A film by Maisie Crow Abortion remains legal in the United States but anti-abortion efforts have succeeded in making it virtually inaccessible in some places and in the Deep South, often unthinkable. At one time Mississippi had fourteen abortion clinics. Now only one remains. Set against the backdrop of the fight to close the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson is an intimate, unprecedented look at the lives of three women caught up in the complex issues surrounding abortion access. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		JARMO A film by Emma Piper-Burket Jarmo is an archaeological site in Northern Iraq that is believed to be one of the earliest farming settlements. Agriculture began in Iraq nearly 10,000 years ago with the cultivation of crops such as wheat, barley and lentils; yet today the country must import the majority of its food and agricultural supplies.The political, personal and exploratory missions passing over this land for the past 10,000 years each contain their own set of agendas, sorrows and discoveries. Dancing between these transient personal or political moments and the long history of the earth below, Jarmo investigates how humans have used the earth for survival, knowledge, power, and meaning throughout time. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		KARUARA, PEOPLE OF THE RIVER A film by Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Araoz Cartagena Mariluz Canaquiri says her river is the ‘ɨa’ (ee-ah); the heart, life force and mother of the universe. She leads a federation of Kukama women who are using myths, art and political activism to protect their river in Peru’s Amazon. The film moves between the women’s struggle and animations of the ‘Karwara’, or river people. These spiritual creatures live in underwater villages and protect the Kukama, but their existence is threatened by oil spills, hydroelectric dams and other mega projects. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		THE LAST CLINICS (FORMERLY UNDUE BURDEN AND THE PROVIDER) A film by Maya Cueva and Leah Galant The Last Clinics is a documentary series that follows the last remaining abortion clinics throughout the U.S. and the abortion providers, clinic workers, and communities fighting on the front line for reproductive healthcare. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		LESSONS FROM THE ASYLUM AKA KINGS PARK: STORIES FROM AN AMERICAN MENTAL INSTITUTION A film by Lucy Winer, Co-produced by Lucy Winer & Karen Eaton On June 21, 1967, at the age of 17, Lucy Winer was committed to the female violent ward of Kings Park State Hospital following a series of failed suicide attempts. Over 30 years later, now a veteran documentary filmmaker, Lucy returns to Kings Park for the first time since her discharge. Her journey back sparks a decade-long effort to face her past and learn the story of the now abandoned institution that once held her captive. Her meetings with other former patients, their families, and the hospital staff reveal the painful legacy of our state hospital system and the crisis left by its demise. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		LITTLE SALLIE WALKER A film by Marta Effinger-Crichlow What is play? How has this jubilant ritual given generations of black girls pleasure, refuge and power? In LITTLE SALLIE WALKER, black women across the United States reflect upon their relationships with childhood play revealing how this ignored legacy helps them survive life in America. From big cities to rural hamlets, play like patty-cake, double-dutch, doll-making, and hide-and-go-seek help to paint an alternative picture of black women’s lives otherwise dismissed or misrepresented in America’s social and historical record. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		THE LONG FRIDAY A film by Pamela Hogan One crisp Fall morning in 1975, 90% of Iceland’s women went on strike – and brought their country to its knees. Thanks to them Iceland is now #1 on the Gender Equality Index. The U.S. has dropped to #45. The feisty, often hilarious women who created and lived this revolutionary moment bring it to life in The Long Friday. This is the best story you never heard about the power of women to transform society. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		LOVE CECIL A film by Lisa Immordino Vreeland Cecil Beaton (1904 -1980) academy award winner, photographer, writer and painter was not only a dazzling chronicler, but an arbiter of his time. He was one of the great polymaths of the 20th Century, where his sense of the visual dictated a style that set standards of creativity that continue to resonate and inspire today. His legacy is relevant because he was a creative force with genius in a breadth of mediums and an esthetic that was recognized in all the worldly capitals. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		LOVESICK (FORMERLY MATCH+: A STORY ABOUT LOVE IN THE TIME OF HIV) A film by Ann S. Kim and Priya Giri Desai How do you find love when you are HIV-positive? And how do you do that in India, where marriage is a must, but HIV/AIDS is unspeakable? LOVESICK chronicles the tale of two people looking for love and the revolutionary doctor-matchmaker who helps them. They are challenged by crippling stigma at every turn—from choosing the right mate, to getting married and having HIV-negative children. Ancient traditions and the new realities collide – LOVESICK is the modern love story that results. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MAESTRA (TEACHER) A film by Catherine Murphy Maestra tells the story of eight women, who as teenage girls taught on the 1961 Literacy Campaign in Cuba, where 250,000 volunteer teachers taught more than 700,000 illiterate adults learned to read and write in one year. Over half of the teachers - and students - were women. This film looks at a controversial and transformative time through the eyes of the women teachers, and explores how this experience changed their sense of themselves and what they saw as possible. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MEET BESS A film by Nicole Franklin When twenty-one year old Anne Brown walked into George Gerswhin's apartment to audition for his opera about a black man named Porgy, she sang her way into history as the woman known as Bess. Finalist for the IFP Gordon Parks Award for Emerging Directors. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MISSING MICROBES A film by Steven Lawrence and Sarah Schenck In the last 50 years we’ve lost 50% of our bacteria from overuse of antibiotics and C-sections. The result has been stratospheric rises in obesity, asthma, and allergies, and the growing threat of deadly superbugs. Leading the fight to reverse this disastrous trend are married microbiologists Marty Blaser and Gloria Dominguez-Bello. Missing Microbes follows their groundbreaking work – from their labs, to the Amazon, to Capitol Hill – as we learn how this crisis happened and how we can end it. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MONKEY BUSINESS: GEORGE’S CURIOUS CREATORS A film by Ema Ryan Yamazaki In June of 1940, Hans and Margret Rey, who were German Jews living in Paris, narrowly escaped Hitler’s troops by fleeing on makeshift bicycles, carrying with them an unpublished manuscript of the first Curious George book. MONKEY BUSINESS: George’s Curious Creators is a mixed-media feature documentary that explores the extraordinary lives of Hans and Margret, whose creative spirit and resilient attitude produced a monkey loved by the world. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MOVING STORIES: LIVES TRANSFORMED BY DANCE A film by Rob Fruchtman & Cornelia Ravenal, Mikael Södersten and Wendy Sax An acclaimed American dance company travels the world, working with marginalized, mistreated and often traumatized youth. “Moving Stories” follows them to India, Romania, South Korea and Iraq, with young people who’ve experienced gender violence, extreme poverty, violent conflict and harrowing escapes from repressive regimes. While the teaching artists often struggle to break through, their students’ transformations become palpable, as many who seem shut down begin to 'speak' through their bodies, unlocking feelings and experiences in wellsprings of creativity. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MR. SOUL! ELLIS HAIZLIP AND THE BIRTH OF BLACK POWER TV A film by Melissa Haizlip Before Oprah – before Arsenio – there was Mr. SOUL! From 1968-73, America got “SOUL!” – television’s first “black Tonight Show.” The film celebrates the groundbreaking PBS series from its genesis to its eventual loss of funding against the backdrop of a swiftly changing political and social landscape, while profiling Ellis Haizlip, the charismatic man behind one of the most culturally significant and successful television shows in U.S. history. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		THE MUSIC NEVER ENDS (FORMERLY GRACIAS Y BUENAS NOCHES) A film by Mari Keiko Gonzalez THE MUSIC NEVER ENDS follows the key members of the Mambo Legends Orchestra, formerly the Tito Puente Orchestra; Jose Madera, Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez, Jr., and Mitch Frohman, as well as the baritone sax player, Carmen Laboy, who is the only woman to sit in with "The Big Three". Through rehearsals, live performance, an album recording, interviews and archival footage, we cover the cultural and artistic significance of this style of latin music that originated in NYC in the 1940's - a fusion of the big band sound of the jazz era with the music from Puerto Rico and Cuba. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -
		MY SO-CALLED SELFISH LIFE A film by Therese Shechter The modern mother has been glorified, fetishized and commodified, but what happens when women say not to having kids? My So-Called Selfish Life takes on a world where femininity is tied to childbearing, where reproductive rights are under constant attack, where society demands women have children–but only the “right kind” of women. From pregnant Barbies to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, filmmaker Therese Shechter takes us on an irreverent journey to discover what it means to say no thanks to motherhood in the 21st century. Visit the filmmaker's website. Click to add to Favorites (bookmark this title) Donation Amount: Optional -

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Women Make Movies is a multicultural, multiracial, non-profit media arts organization which facilitates the production, promotion, distribution, and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women. contact us