Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship

Overview

The Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship is a partnership between SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supporting narrative feature filmmakers whose screenplays center on scientific or technological themes, characters, or discoveries. Each annual cycle selects two fellows, each receiving a $35,000 cash grant, a FilmHouse residency, and connection to a science advisor with expertise relevant to the project's subject matter. The fellowship is active as of 2026, with applications for the 2026 cycle having closed in May 2026.

The initiative launched in 2015 as part of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's broader mission to champion films that explore science and technology. Since its launch, the SFFILM Sloan initiative has supported 40+ artists and distributed $115,000 in awards and grants in 2026 alone. The Sloan Foundation's 2025 grant to SFFILM totaled $745,000, funding the fellowship program, the Stories of Science Development Fund, the Sloan Science on Screen Award, and related programming.

What It Funds

The fellowship supports narrative features and series at the screenwriting phase of development. Specifically, it funds scripted films that place science, scientists, technology, or scientific discovery at the center of their storytelling. The Sloan Foundation's interest is in films that create more realistic and accurate representations of science and scientists in popular culture, challenging stereotypes and bringing the complexity of scientific work to general audiences.

What the Fellowship Provides

Each selected fellow receives:

• $35,000 cash grant toward the development or screenwriting of the narrative feature
• FilmHouse residency: Access to SFFILM's creative hub for local and visiting independent filmmakers, providing workspace, community, and development infrastructure
• Science advisor connection: Each fellow is matched with a science advisor who has expertise in the subjects at the center of their screenplay, ensuring scientific accuracy while maintaining dramatic integrity
• SFFILM artist development programs: Access to SFFILM's comprehensive artist development infrastructure, including professional mentorship and industry networking
• Bay Area science and technology community access: Connection to leaders in the Bay Area's science and technology communities
• Festival recognition: Fellows are celebrated at the San Francisco International Film Festival alongside other Sloan honorees

What Is Not Eligible

• Documentaries are not eligible for this fellowship. The Sloan Foundation funds a separate Stories of Science Development Fund at SFFILM for narrative screenplays inspired by scientific articles (not documentaries).
• Science as backdrop: Projects that use science merely as set dressing or superficial context are not competitive. The scientific content must be substantive and central to the story.

2026 Application Timeline

• February 10, 2026: Grant opens
• May 8, 2026: Regular deadline (application fee: $30)
• May 22, 2026: Final deadline (application fee: $50)
• Late September 2026: Finalists notified
• Late October 2026: Recipients announced

SFFILM members have the application fee waived. The fee is paid by credit card at the time of submission through the online application portal.

Application Process

Applicants select "SFFILM Narrative Grants 2025" from the dropdown menu and complete the core questions. If eligible, applicants may submit to more than one SFFILM narrative grant by answering supplemental questions for each opportunity. This means a single application can be considered for multiple SFFILM grant programs simultaneously.

Eligibility

• Format: Narrative feature films or series (not documentaries)
• Stage: Screenwriting phase of development
• Content: Projects must center on scientific or technological themes, characters, or discoveries
• Geography: Open to filmmakers based anywhere in the US or internationally (not restricted to Bay Area residents)
• Career stage: Both emerging and mid-career narrative directors are eligible

Recent Recipients

2025 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship Recipients

• Destiny Macon (Talk Black): A timid engineer develops an audacious split personality to help her stand up to the boys' club at work and prevent "urban renewal" in the historically Black neighborhood where she grew up. This marks the second Sloan grant for Macon's Talk Black, which previously earned a 2023 Sloan Screenwriting Fellowship at the Athena Film Festival.
• Justin Kim WooSŏk (The Green Corridor): Joseph Yoon, a Korean-American anthropologist, returns to his homeland on a Fulbright grant, drawn by rumors of a tiger's reappearance in the DMZ, a creature long thought extinct on the peninsula. As he partners with a sound ecologist working along the border's edge, their pursuit transforms into a confrontation with colonial ghosts, personal grief, and the limitations of human perception.

2024 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship Recipients

• Sara Crow and David Rafailedes (Satoshi)
• Lara Palmqvist (The Garden)

Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund

The Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund is a companion program to the fellowship, also administered by SFFILM and funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It awards $10,000 to $20,000 cash grants to 2 to 4 filmmakers in the earliest stages of writing screenplays inspired by articles and discoveries from the Stories of Science Sourcebook.

The Development Fund operates on a biennial cycle (every two years) and resumed in Spring 2025.

2025 Stories of Science Development Fund Recipients

• Lane Unsworth (Hello Neighbor): With humanity on the cusp of potentially finding life on Jupiter's moon Europa, a lonely and retired child science entertainer gets recruited to the NASA public relations team to help answer the question: if we do find life, how do we tell everyone?
• Sid Gopinath and Aditya Joshi (One Inch From Earth): A group of scientists must overcome NASA leadership, rival teams, the specter of Mars, and the US government to launch a mission that proves life exists on a distant moon of Jupiter.

Sloan Science on Screen Award

In addition to the fellowship and development fund, the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative includes the Sloan Science on Screen Award, presented annually at the San Francisco International Film Festival to a completed narrative feature that compellingly depicts science.

2026 Award Winner

Silent Friend, directed by Ildikó Enyedi (starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Léa Seydoux, and Luna Wedler): An ancient ginkgo tree enchants longing souls across more than a century in a cinematic triptych. The film celebrated its North American premiere as the Sloan Science on Screen Showcase selection during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The award includes a $5,000 prize and an onstage conversation between the director and a scientist.

The Broader Sloan Science-in-Film Ecosystem

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funds science-in-film programs at multiple organizations simultaneously. As of 2026, the Sloan Foundation has supported over 850 science and film projects nationwide and has honored directors including Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, and Lee Isaac Chung. Filmmakers developing science-themed projects should review the full Sloan network:

• Sundance Institute: Sloan Science-in-Film initiative and Sloan Commissioning Grant
• Film Independent: Sloan Foundation Grants for science-themed narrative features
• Tribeca Festival: Sloan Science in Cinema-related programming
• Hamptons International Film Festival: Sloan Science in Cinema Feature Film Prize
• Athena Film Festival: Sloan Screenwriting Fellowship
• Black List / Sloan Foundation: Sloan Science-in-Film Screenwriters Lab
• University programs: Sloan production awards at NYU, USC, UCLA, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, and other film schools

A complete listing of Sloan film grants is available through the Sloan Foundation Grants Database.

Who Should Apply

Narrative feature filmmakers developing or writing a scripted film in which science, scientists, or scientific discovery plays a central dramatic role. Both debut and experienced directors are eligible. The fellowship is open to international filmmakers, not just US-based applicants. The strongest applications demonstrate both cinematic ambition and genuine engagement with scientific subject matter, rather than science as a superficial backdrop. Projects should have a clear scientific or technological question at their narrative core.

Filmmakers with documentary projects about science should look elsewhere, as this fellowship is restricted to narrative work. The Sloan Foundation's broader film program includes documentary support through other partner organizations.

Notable Awards and Recipients

The Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship is a partnership between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and SFFILM, supporting narrative feature filmmakers developing films in which science, scientists, or scientific discovery plays a central dramatic role. The fellowship provides $35,000 to screenwriters or writer-directors in development or writing stages. The Sloan Foundation's broader film program includes the Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance (awarded to films with science themes, including SALLY by Cristina Costantini, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance 2025), the Sloan Commissioning Grant and Development Fellowship at Sundance, the Sloan Distribution Grant at Film Independent ($50,000), the Sloan screenwriting and production awards at partner film schools, and the Student Grand Jury Prize. A complete listing of Sloan film grants is available through the Sloan Foundation Grants Database. The fellowship is open to international filmmakers, not just US-based applicants. Both debut and experienced directors are eligible.

Who Should Apply

Narrative feature filmmakers developing or writing a scripted film in which science, scientists, or scientific discovery plays a central dramatic role. Both debut and experienced directors are eligible. The fellowship is open to international filmmakers, not just US-based applicants. The strongest applications demonstrate both cinematic ambition and genuine engagement with scientific subject matter, rather than science as a superficial backdrop. Projects should have a clear scientific or technological question at their narrative core. Filmmakers with documentary projects about science should look elsewhere, as this fellowship is restricted to narrative work. The Sloan Foundation's broader film program includes documentary support through other partner organizations. The application typically requires a treatment, screenplay or script sample, a director's statement explaining the scientific engagement, a budget summary, a production timeline, and letters of support or scientific advisor endorsements. Applications are submitted through the SFFILM website.

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See Also

For SFFILM's other active grant programs, see the SFFILM Rainin Grant, SFFILM Documentary Film Fund, and SFFILM Westridge Grant (discontinued). For the broader Sloan Foundation film program, see the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Program. For production planning once the fellowship is awarded, use the Production Schedule Calculator. For understanding how fellowship funding connects to broader financing strategies, see Film Grants and the Development Pathway.