SFFILM New American Fellowship

Overview

The SFFILM New American Fellowship was a $25,000 cash grant plus FilmHouse residency for immigrant and first-generation American filmmakers working on documentary or narrative feature projects. Created in 2017 in partnership with the Flora Family Foundation, the fellowship ran through at least 2021 and supported 5 fellows over its lifetime. SFFILM described it as the first program of its kind in the US film industry: a dedicated grant and residency for independent producers or directors who had recently immigrated to the United States.

The fellowship was designed for filmmakers who had arrived in the US within the past 10 years, either as immigrants or non-immigrants. Both directors and producers were eligible, and the program accepted both narrative and documentary projects. The goal was to support films by new American artists that brought perspectives shaped by cross-cultural experience to American audiences. The fellowship is now listed among SFFILM's previous grant programs, indicating it is no longer accepting new applications.

What It Provided

Selected fellows received:

• A $25,000 cash grant toward the development of their documentary or narrative feature project
• A FilmHouse artist residency in San Francisco, providing dedicated workspace and time for focused development
• Access to SFFILM's professional network, including potential co-producers, distributors, and industry advisors
• Professional development programming through SFFILM's broader Makers artist development program
• Connection to other SFFILM grant and fellowship alumni, creating a cohort of supported filmmakers

The residency component distinguished this fellowship from simple cash grants. Rather than just providing money, the program created structured conditions for development work: dedicated space, community, and proximity to SFFILM's ecosystem of advisors, mentors, and industry contacts. Fellows were expected to use the residency period to advance their project while building relationships within the Bay Area film community.

Eligibility

The fellowship was designed for:

• Immigrant or non-immigrant filmmakers who had arrived in the United States within the past 10 years
• Directors or producers working on at least one active feature-length project
• Narrative or documentary formats, both accepted
• Filmmakers with direct personal experience of migration, cultural duality, or navigating between a country of origin and the United States

The 10-year arrival window was a firm eligibility requirement. The program was not open to US-born filmmakers or to immigrants who had been in the US for more than 10 years. The fellowship was explicitly designed for filmmakers whose cross-cultural experience was recent enough to shape their creative perspective and whose work engaged with questions of American identity, community, migration, or belonging.

Notable Fellows

The New American Fellowship supported 5 fellows over its run, from 2017 through 2021:

2017 (Inaugural): Carlo Velayo, for his film Lingua Franca. Velayo's film, directed by Isabel Sandoval, follows an undocumented transgender Filipina immigrant in Brooklyn who works as a caregiver while pursuing a green card through a marriage of convenience. Lingua Franca premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix.

2019: Siyi Chen, a Chinese documentary filmmaker based between the US and China. Chen received the fellowship for her documentary projects My Grandma's a Dancer (in development) and People's Hospital (in post-production). Chen holds a B.A. from Peking University and an M.A. in News and Documentary from NYU, and has produced short docs for Quartz, CNN, and PBS.

2020: Kirsten Tan, a Singaporean filmmaker based in New York. Tan received the fellowship for her narrative feature Higher, about a mysterious flood that rises through a metropolitan apartment building. Tan's debut feature Pop Aye premiered as the Opening Night film of the World Cinema Dramatic competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, received a Special Jury Prize at Sundance, and was selected to represent Singapore in the Foreign Film category at the Oscars.

2021: Gerardo del Valle, a video producer from Guatemala based in New York City. Del Valle received the fellowship for The Past is Waiting Up Ahead, about a poet who revisits his journey across the US-Mexico border.

The fellowship was selected from a competitive pool: the 2019 cycle, for example, chose 1 fellow from 10 finalists.

Historical Context

The New American Fellowship launched in 2017 as part of a major expansion of SFFILM's artist development programs. The same announcement introduced the Women, Peace, and Security Fellowship (supported by the Compton Foundation) for filmmakers telling stories of women's efforts to end conflict and advance peace.

The program was created at a time of heightened national debate about immigration policy in the United States. The Flora Family Foundation's support for the fellowship reflected a philanthropic interest in amplifying the voices of filmmakers whose perspectives were underrepresented in American cinema. The fellowship's structure, combining cash with a residency, acknowledged that immigrant filmmakers often face both financial barriers and network barriers: the lack of existing industry connections in the US that more established American filmmakers can draw on.

The program ran for at least 5 cycles. SFFILM now lists it among previous grant programs, and filmmakers interested in similar support should review SFFILM's current active grants.

Current Status

The New American Fellowship is no longer accepting new applications. SFFILM lists it as a previous program on its website. Filmmakers who would have been eligible for this fellowship should consider SFFILM's currently active programs:

• SFFILM Documentary Film Fund: $10,000 to $20,000 for documentary features in post-production, open internationally
• SFFILM Rainin Grant: Up to $25,000 for narrative features addressing social justice, open to US and international filmmakers
• SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship: $35,000 for narrative features with science or technology themes at the screenwriting stage

Filmmakers should also check the SFFILM website directly for any successor programs or new initiatives that may serve a similar audience.

Who Applied

Immigrant and first-generation American documentary and narrative filmmakers with a feature-length project in development that engaged with questions of American identity, community, migration, or belonging from a perspective shaped by lived cross-cultural experience. The fellowship was specifically for filmmakers who had arrived in the US within the past 10 years and who would benefit from both financial support and the structured environment of a Bay Area residency.

See Also

For SFFILM's currently active grants, see the SFFILM Documentary Film Fund, SFFILM Rainin Grant, and SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship entries. For building a documentary financing strategy, see Documentary Financing: Building Your Stack. For planning a development timeline, use the Production Schedule Calculator.