Docs on the Spot

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, a program of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, has been approved for a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

The funds will go toward compensation for participating artists and programming committee members, screening fees, and efforts to make the festival more accessible to all attendees.

“Now more than ever, we believe in the immense power of documentary film and its ability to impact communities. We are grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for their support, which allows us to uplift artists and help their work reach a wider audience,” said Sadie Tillery, Full Frame’s artistic director and interim festival director.

Full Frame is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA acting chair Ann Eilers. “The Center for Documentary Studies in Durham is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an Academy Award–qualifying event that gathers thousands of people from around the globe for a weekend celebration of exceptional nonfiction cinema each year.

The 25th edition takes place April 7–10, 2022, and will be presented entirely online amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Passes to the event go on sale March 8. More information on how to attend this year’s virtual event can be found at fullframefest.org.

Photo credit: Colin Huth

Photo caption: Outdoor screening in downtown Durham at the 2019 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

About Full Frame

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an internationally recognized, Academy Award–qualifying event that proudly presents the best of nonfiction films on the festival circuit each year. Based in Durham, North Carolina, the annual festival gathers thousands of enthusiastic fans from around the globe to celebrate the documentary art form, engage in meaningful conversation, and experience the impact of exceptional nonfiction cinema firsthand. The 25^th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival takes place virtually April 7–10, 2022.

The festival is a program of the Center for Documentary Studies, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) affiliated with Duke University, and receives support from corporate sponsors, private foundations, and individual donors whose generosity provides the foundation that makes the event possible. The Presenting Sponsor of the festival is Duke University. To learn more about the mission of Full Frame or how to support Full Frame, visit fullframefest.org.