SFFILM Rainin Grant

SFFILM Rainin Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: San Francisco Film Society (SFFILM)
Amount: Up to US $25,000
Last Updated: March 30, 2026

Summary

The SFFILM Rainin Grant supports independent narrative feature films that address social justice issues. With a cash grant up to $25,000, it assists filmmakers in screenwriting, development, or post-production phases. The grant also provides access to mentorship and a FilmHouse residency in San Francisco. Filmmakers must be at least 18 years old and engaged in a key creative role, with projects focusing on social justice themes. Applications close in May 2025.

Overview

Note: There are 2 deadlines: Regular Deadline: Fri, May 16, 2025 at 11:59 pm (PST) (Application Fee $30)Final Deadline: Fri, May 30, 2025 at 11:59 pm (PST)(Application Fee $50) SFFILM Rainin Grant Overview The SFFILM Rainin Grant program is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the US. Grants support films that address social justice issues—the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges—in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme, or setting and benefit the Bay Area filmmaking community in a professional and economic capacity. Awards are made to 15-20 projects once a year in the fall, for screenwriting, development, or post-production. In addition to a cash grant of up to $25,000, recipients receive access to the FilmHouse (located in SOMA in San Francisco) and benefit from SFFILM’s comprehensive and dynamic artist development programs. Current SFFILM Rainin Grants are as follows: Screenwriting GrantThese grants are open to filmmakers anywhere in the US, as well as internationally, and are up to $25,000. The funds allow filmmakers to devote dedicated time to furthering their work, and the grant includes a FilmHouse residency in the Bay Area to further develop the screenplay, and have access to both peer and established mentorship engagement.Development GrantThese grants are up to $25,000 for producers of narrative features tackling social justice issues who demonstrate a need to engage with the Bay Area to develop and package their films. The grant includes a FilmHouse residency with peer and established mentorship engagement. Successful projects will be at a stage to pursue financing, casting, location scouting, and/or other key activities to package the film before production. Major screenwriting work should be complete by this stage.Post-production GrantThese grants are up to $25,000 for filmmaking teams of a narrative feature. Projects should have significant creative work remaining in the editorial process or have a specific need related to sound or color in post-production. There is no Bay Area residency commitment required for this stage.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Who Can ApplyFilmmakers must be at least 18 years old.Applicants must be actively engaged in one of the following phases: screenwriting, development, or post-production and should apply for the phase of production they expect to be in six months after the final submission deadline.Primary applicants must be in a key creative role for the film: screenwriter director producerFilm must feature plot, character, theme and/or setting that explores social justice issues, such as human and civil rights, anti discrimination, disability issues, gender issues, sexual identity and/or other social issues of our time. Project must have strong and recognizable social value, contributing, for example, to a greater public appreciation of a disenfranchised group, identifying an area where social change is needed or bringing to light a difficult or inspirational story, condition or issue.Film must be a feature-length fiction film. Short films or documentaries are not accepted.Project budgets shall be $3,000,000 or under including all phases of production.Projects may reapply and must include what significant progress has been made since the last submission.The SFFILM Rainin grant is open to applicants who live anywhere in the U.S. or internationally. The stories can be set anywhere in the world.Acceptable uses of the funds:For the screenwriting stage:The funds are awarded to the writer or writer/director and can be used for cost of living expenses and childcare while the filmmaker works on the project. Filmmakers have also used the funds for research trips, consultants, and table reads. For the development stage:The funds are awarded to the producer and should be spent on parts of the development process such as casting agents, location scouts, and/or lookbooks. Up to 40% of the awarded funds can be used to create a proof-of-concept, mood reel, or a closely related short film if the producer feels that this is the best use of those funds to unlock additional support for the film. For post-production:You should clarify which elements of post-production you would like to put the grant towards.Projects and filmmakers do not have to be rooted in the Bay Area in order to apply.However, we ask applicants to consider how they can best both learn from and give back to the Bay Area filmmaking community to reach their goals. This can be done by shooting in the Bay Area, participating and hosting talks and events at Filmhouse during the residency, or connecting with local communities or resources within the Bay Area, among other contributions.All filmmakers applying for the screenwriting and development/packaging stage must complete a residency period of four weeks. The 4 weeks do not need to be contiguous. The residency does not include living arrangements, but is an open workspace at SFFILM’s FilmHouse office. The residency includes peer-to-peer engagement with SFFILM’s year-round residents and feedback sessions, one-on-one meetings with expert advisors working in various sectors of the film industry, space to work from including a quiet screenwriting room and editing suite, year-round programming including talks, workshops, table reads, and work-in-progress screenings, and support from SFFILM’s Artist Development team. We strongly encourage filmmakers to fulfill the residency requirement during the annual San Francisco International Film Festival in April in order to take advantage of the industry and programming. Is there an additional stipend for travel and accommodations to the Bay Area?All filmmakers applying for the screenwriting and development/packaging stage must complete a residency period of four weeks. The 4 weeks do not need to be contiguous. The residency does not include living arrangements, but is an open workspace at SFFILM’s FilmHouse office. The residency includes peer-to-peer engagement with SFFILM’s year-round residents and feedback sessions, one-on-one meetings with expert advisors working in various sectors of the film industry, space to work from including a quiet screenwriting room and editing suite, year-round programming including talks, workshops, table reads, and work-in-progress screenings, and support from SFFILM’s Artist Development team. Filmmakers are welcome to apply the grant toward cost of travel but no additional stipends are provided.You are welcome to submit your application for consideration for multiple narrative grant opportunities.

Ineligibility

Who Can ApplyFilmmakers may not be an SFFILM or Kenneth Rainin Foundation employee or member of any SFFILM or Kenneth Rainin Foundation Boards.Project may not be work for hire.