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.
Learn more
The People Vs. Austerity/El Pueblo Vs. La Austerdad
Democracy was on the ballot in Puerto Rico in 2024's historic election, as workers, activists and journalists faced off against a corrupt government and an unelected Oversight Board. Just as in NYC and Detroit before, they fight to regain basic services and end the cycle of debt and austerity.
Learn more
My Color
My Color is an intimate documentary portrait of three artists living entirely in one color — from their clothes to their homes — turning radical visibility into a means of survival.
Learn more
Qatar Stars
Qatar Stars presents a four-year story of girlhood in all its joys and growing pains, through intimate access to a multinational rhythmic gymnastics school in Doha Qatar, led by a former Russian gymnast.
Learn more
Wikipediology
Wikipediology is a documentary YouTube series that uncovers the hidden stories behind Wikipedia’s most contested science pages -revealing the messy, human process by which we collectively decide what counts as truth.
Learn more
AKA Doris Wishman
In a world dominated by male filmmakers, delve into the enigmatic journey of a trailblazing American woman who redefined cinema through her groundbreaking contributions to the realm of sexploitation films.
Learn more
Untitled Federal Workforce Election Film
What happens when public servants are forced out of their jobs in government but not service itself? From the Emmy-nominated team behind HEIST, this documentary follows former federal employees running for elected office and transforming frustration into action. Our film tells a critical story about democracy, leadership, and civic engagement.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
When an Indian filmmaker turns the camera on her fragmented family and her childhood mentor, a white British man, she uncovers the complex legacies of love and colonisation. Set between inherited duty and chosen identity, the film is an absurd excavation of what it means to belong.
Learn more
INDÍGENA
To fulfill her mother’s dying wish, a filmmaker retraces her mother’s work as an activist and journalist during the Red Power Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s, bringing to light 500 years of Taino resistance and igniting her own journey of reclamation.
Learn more
Coexistence, My Ass!
Noam Shuster Eliassi grew up the literal poster child for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process before making a hard pivot to stand-up comedy and political satire. But as the region sinks deeper into devastating violence, she must meet the moment by challenging people with hard truths that are no laughing matter.
Learn more
Confessions of a Female Gamer
An actress, reluctantly cast as the voice of the main character (a powerful warrior queen) in a smash-hit video game, becomes an unlikely heroine for female gamers around the world – and uncovers the battles unfolding in their lives.
Learn more
Jinwar
Jinwar is a feature documentary about a Syrian mother’s complex relationship with her children, one of which she had to abandon in order to save the other one.
Learn more
Terracotta Daughters
Terracotta Daughters is a feature-length documentary following eight Chinese girls from 2015 to 2030, whose portraits inspired Prune Nourry’s 2012 art installation of 108 sculptures modeled on the Terracotta Army of Xian. At once intimate and political, the film captures their journey from childhood to adulthood.
Learn more
Hollywood Does Abortion
HOLLYWOOD DOES ABORTION reveals how depictions of abortion in film and television have both reflected and distorted this safe but controversial medical procedure. Exploring how abortion came into our living rooms and psyches, we see how these stories helped shape public discourse and today’s seismic shift in abortion access.
Learn more
Myself When I Am Real
Set in the year 2000, MYSELF WHEN I AM REAL is an experimental short film about a working mother and her teenage daughter who struggle to make friends and find belonging in a small Wisconsin town. It explores otherness, identity, and assimilation from the contrasting perspectives of childhood and adulthood.
Learn more
From Pain, Pursuit
It's as common as cancer and causes more infertility than any other disease, yet diagnosis requires surgery, and most people wouldn't recognize its name. A filmmaker with a decade of debilitating pain seeks answers from top researchers, the inventor of video laparoscopy, and a new generation of patient-scientists.
Learn more
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.
Learn more