The exhibition fee for each feature film is $500. The university or cultural institution chooses a minimum of five films, so the minimum cost of each festival is $2,500. The university or organization may apply for a grant to cover up to HALF the cost of the basic-level festival. The maximum grant amount a university or organization can apply for is $1,250. The university or organization is responsible for raising the additional funds.

To be eligible for a grant, you must be affiliated with a North American college, university or cultural organization with non-profit status. Applicants must plan to screen a minimum of five films and they must be shown as part of a festival. The films may be presented as part of a larger film festival and the screenings must take place within a five-week period. Applicants are eligible to receive an SFC grant for a maximum of three consecutive years, but they must reapply each year.

Technically, universities and cultural institutions only need a projector and a high-speed internet connection as all the screenings are streamed.

The Selection Committee chooses the grant recipients by carefully reviewing the applications. For this reason, it is extremely important that you are as detailed as possible when answering the application questions. The ideal applicant will be thorough in describing the concept of their festival and also convey excitement for the project.

This is our first year, but for consecutive years you will still will need to submit a new application even if your institution has participated in the program in the past. Even if you think we are familiar with your school, cultural institution or festival, please describe them in detail. Also, please be aware that we carefully review the post-screening documents when we consider applications from past grant recipients.

We suggest that you establish a committee to choose the films and organize the festival and we encourage you to work with other departments, professors and organizations in planning the event. We believe that many of the most successful festivals have been those that were arranged as a collaboration. The more people that are involved, and the greater the financial commitment, the better the promotional and organizational outcome. You are also likely to have a larger audience if you have someone introduce the screenings and facilitate post-screening discussions.

A way for universities to increase attendance is to include the screenings as part of a curriculum or as an extra-credit option. In our experience, we have seen that these students tend to form a large part of the audience at the festivals. Furthermore, professors who assign the screenings as part of a course are usually more likely to get involved with the promotion and organization of the festival. We have found that there are also many students who have an interest in helping to organize the festivals and you can make this possible via internships or work-study programs. This can also be a good way to increase interest and attendance.

We suggest that you choose a more accessible film for your opening screening as this is a good way to attract a wider audience at the beginning and create interest in upcoming films. If the first film is more challenging, it can result in a smaller audience turnout for the remainder of the festival.