Doc Society opens climate fund

Global non-profit organisation Doc Society has launched the Climate Story Fund, which will give filmmakers grants for projects that tackle the climate crisis.

Megha Agrawal Sood

The Climate Story Fund will have two rounds for applications this year, with the first closing on March 4 and the second opening in the autumn.

The grant pot available for the first round is US$800,000 and will support from six to eight projects with grants ranging from US$20,000 to US$100,000.

Recipients will be invited to participate in an impact lab where they will collaborate with practitioners such as climate scientists, impact producers and movement builders to ensure they build upon existing expertise and advocacy efforts to engage the audience.

In the first round, the Doc Society is looking for proposals from creative non-fiction projects that can complete production this year. This can include longform, shorts and episodic documentaries, as well as podcasts and augmented or virtual reality.

It will also consider proposals from completed creative non-fiction and fiction projects that are looking to pilot an impact campaign in 2021 to engage audiences who have felt excluded from the climate conversation.

Megha Agrawal Sood, head of the Climate Story Unit at Doc Society, said: “Storytelling is how we will understand the extent of the climate emergency and the required solutions. We need to move beyond the monoculture of past climate narratives and support a wave of climate stories that centre on the voices of those on the frontlines and strategic impact campaigns that can activate audiences who have often been ignored.”