Completion Fund

The Frameline Completion Fund provides financial support to emerging and established filmmakers who need funding to complete film and video projects representing LGBTQ+ people and their communities. Frameline states that the fund is intended to provide a needed source of financial contributions to artists who are struggling to secure funding to finish their works. The program has operated since 1991 and, through the information provided for this cycle, Frameline reports having awarded $717,500 to 203 projects. Eligible creative formats are broad and include documentary, narrative, experimental, animated, and episodic projects, as well as projects of any film or video format, length, genre, or nationality. The standard Completion Fund grant ranges from $1,000 to $5,000, although the jury may recommend an award above or below that range. Funding is specifically for completion and may be applied to post-production costs. Examples of allowable costs identified by Frameline include closed captioning and audio descriptions, editing, special effects and graphics, music licensing, and photo licensing. Applicants must therefore be sufficiently advanced in production: 90 percent of production must be finished, and applicants who are not yet in post-production must be ready to begin post-production as soon as the funding is available. No matching or cost-share requirement is stated, and there is no application fee. Projects must be about LGBTQ+ people and their communities. Applicants must provide a full working cut of the film; projects without a rough cut cannot be considered. Temporary sound, color, or visual effects are permitted, provided the applicant identifies what remains incomplete or in progress. Grants are available only to individuals who have creative and financial control of the project. For collaborations, one project director must be designated as the applicant. Students are eligible when they maintain artistic and financial control. International projects are welcomed and encouraged, but their proposals must be submitted in English and their rough cuts must provide an option for English subtitles. Frameline staff and members of the Frameline Board of Directors are ineligible. Frameline states that the program seeks to support works by and for under-served communities and specifically encourages submissions from women, people of color, transgender people, intersex people, asexual people, nonbinary people, disabled people, and other underrepresented people and communities. Frameline also reserves the right to deem a project ineligible or alter its award status at any time before funds are disbursed. This may occur for perceived violations of Frameline's Code of Conduct or for projects that could harm the organization. Applications for the Completion Fund opened August 31, 2026 and must be submitted by October 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM PST through the 2027 Completion Fund Grant form. No separate pre-application, letter of intent, or concept-paper requirement is identified in the provided information. Frameline's Programming team reviews applications and work samples and recommends a shortlist to an independent jury. That jury consists of film and media professionals, including professionals such as filmmakers, curators, critics, and academics, and collectively selects the grant recipients. Jurors remain confidential until after the awards are announced. Applicants are expected to receive a status update in late 2026, and grantees are scheduled to be announced in January 2027. Frameline states that it cannot provide additional application status information before the late-2026 notification period. Due to the volume of submissions, it does not provide critiques, screening notes, or individual reviews for films that are not selected. Applicants considering submitting an unsuccessful project again in a subsequent year are advised that Frameline does not recommend resubmission unless significant changes have been made to the project. Questions about the Completion Fund may be directed to Frameline's Programming Team at programming@frameline.org. Frameline also provides a general contact telephone number of 415-703-8650. The supplied material identifies projects completed with Completion Fund assistance in 2026, including Barbara Forever, Lady Champagne, Hunky Jesus, Jaripeo, Adam's Apple, and But Still, We Move. The fund also has a long history of supporting projects including Pariah, Go Fish, The Watermelon Woman, Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, Freeheld, We Were Here, In the Summers, and numerous other works.

Submit a full working cut and ensure at least 90% of production is finished; identify any temporary or unfinished sound, color, or visual effects in the application; demonstrate creative and financial control of the project; for collaborations designate one project director as applicant; ensure the project is about LGBTQ+ people and their communities; international applicants should submit the proposal in English and provide an English-subtitle option