1 | You must be a Member of Albertine Cinémathèque to apply.
2 | Complete the Film Festival Grant ApplicationPlease note: The Application Portal will be open on April 21, 2025
Application Deadline: JUNE 5, 2025
— NEW PROCEDURE:
The Festival Grant will be used by Albertine Foundation to pay the screening fees, up to $2,400 for 6 films, directly to the distributors prior to the start of the festivals and no later than the end of September of each academic year.
Grantees will no longer have to pay the screening fees for the films to the distributors.
No Grant money will be transferred to universities/colleges.
— You must plan to show the films as part of a festival consisting of a minimum of 6 films including at least 1 Classic (the films may be presented as part of a larger film festival) from the Film Selection.
— The screenings must take place within the university year for which the grant has been allocated.
— Please be as thorough and detailed as possible in order to adequately convey the concept for your festival, and your enthusiasm for the project (even if your institution has participated in the program in the past, please do not assume that we are familiar with your school and festival).
— Please send us a detailed budget using our Distributors’ Information page. The amount of the Film Festival Grant will only cover the screening fees for 6 films – up to $2,400 – so we highly recommend that you consider raising additional funds for the promotion of your festival and other technical and/or organizational fees.
— Members are eligible to receive a Festival Grant for several consecutive years, but they must reapply each year even if their institution has participated in the program in the past.
— We will notify applicants of our decision by the end of June.
— We will send you an Agreement for signature via DocuSign and will request that you confirm prior to the start of your festival and no later than the end of September for each academic year:
— Albertine Foundation and Villa Albertine logos should be included and the credit line should be: [supported by.] Albertine Cinematheque, a program of Albertine Foundation & Villa Albertine, with support from the CNC / Centre National du Cinema
— Post-Screening Form: A post-screening report using the online form will be required following your festival. The document will contain information regarding your festival attendance, program, organization and budget. Please include links to any reviews or newspaper articles, photos, posters or any other information you deem important to convey the success of your festival.
NB: If you do not submit your post screening form by the end of June for each academic year you will not be able to reapply for a grant the following year.
— Payment of the Grant: The Grant will be used by Albertine Foundation to pay the screening fees for 6 films from the Film Selection directly to the distributors. No Grant money will be transferred to universities/colleges.
— Sign your Grant Agreement including all the necessary information about your festival (please see above).
— Contact the Distributors to request the material for your screenings at least one month prior to each screening.
— Promote and organize your Festival!
— Start advertising way ahead of the event.
— Include the screenings as part of a curriculum or as an extra credit option: students who are required to attend form a core audience at festivals or events and Professors who assign the screenings as part of a course are usually more apt to get involved with the promotion and organization.
— Collaborate with other departments and professors: more people involved brings larger funds and a better promotional and organizational outcome. For a festival, you could establish a committee to select the films.
— Choose someone to introduce the screenings and facilitate post-screening discussions. This usually results in a larger audience.
— Ask students to write a review, paper, or diary entry on the films for extra credit.
— Encourage student involvement in the organization of the festival or event via internships or work-study programs. There are many students who are genuinely interested in this kind of work and it can be a good way to increase interest and attendance.
— Organize a Q&A with the filmmaker. That always attracts an audience.
— Screen the films on different days of the week—some weekdays and some weekends. Most people have set activities on a specific day, so this will ensure that there are options for everybody.
— For a festival, choose your opening night film wisely: selecting a more accessible first film is a good way to draw a wider audience and create interest in the films to follow. If the first film is too challenging, this can negatively impact audience turnout for the duration of the festival.
— Use social media, discussion forums, etc… you can create a group or an event to give regular updates, ask students to help by posting on their own pages.
— Post the information on the school and your academic department’s website.
— Ask professors to make announcements in class.
— Use the university’s PR office. They can help spread the word by sending out press releases to the local media.
— Contact the local media directly. Newspapers, radio shows, and magazines are great resources to reach out to audiences outside the campus.
— Use the campus media outlets. If your campus has a newspaper, magazine, TV station, or radio shows, they should be able to help.
— Print posters, flyers, and/or postcards, and put them up in strategic locations around campus.
— Ask academic departments related to the film’s topic to put up a poster or flyer on their community boards or murals.
— Post the event on the university and strategic academic department’s calendar. Reach out to local community organizations that have an interest in French culture, or some other topic related to the film/s you are screening.
— Look for internal grants. A lot of universities have grants for cultural events available to its many departments. Look into what is being offered by your school, and see if it would be compatible with the Festival Grant.
— Partner up with other university departments. This partnership will not only help you with promoting the festival, but it may also help finance it. All departments have a small budget for events, and if each one of the partnering departments assigns some of that budget for your festival, you’ll be able to cover the expenses.
— Look into non-academic departments: student associations, the university library, film clubs…
— Organize a fundraising and enlist students to help.
— Partner up with your local Alliance Française.
Sandrine Neveux | Program Officer sandrine.neveux@villa-albertine.org