About Catapult Film Fund
Catapult Film Fund is dedicated to supporting nonfiction filmmakers with critical early-stage funding and mentorship to launch distinctive, story-driven, and cinematic films.
Focus Areas
Documentary filmNonfiction storytellingFilm research and developmentFilmmaker mentorship and training
Who They Fund
independent documentary filmmakers / production teamsincarcerated individuals and families (subjects of corrections-focused work)workers / labor unions and their communitiesmothers' movements / grassroots Latinx community subjectscommunities affected by policing (e.g., 'Cop City' subjects)regional/Indigenous and Philippine maritime communitiesaudiences of environmental/climate-impacted regions
About Catapult Film Fund
Catapult Film Fund’s flagship support sits at the riskiest point in nonfiction filmmaking: early development. The funder backs documentary filmmakers with development grants, research funding, mentorship, and project acceleration designed to help story-driven films move from idea to materials and reporting. Its grantmaking also includes immersive rough-cut support, showing a clear interest in helping projects through the earliest and middle stages of production rather than only at completion. Recent grants show a strong mix of film infrastructure and project-level support. Women Make Movies received $182,500 in 2025 for development, momentum, research, and consulting, while The Center for Independent Documentary received $120,000 in 2024 for documentary support. Catapult also funded International Documentary Association, Film Independent, The Film Collaborative, and The Redford Center, indicating a pattern of supporting organizations that serve documentary creators as well as individual projects. The foundation’s stated focus areas center on documentary film, nonfiction storytelling, film research and development, and filmmaker mentorship and training. The recent-grants list also points to a practical, production-oriented approach. Awards went to organizations and project entities tied to development, editing, and field research, suggesting Catapult is interested in helping filmmakers build the reporting, structure, and momentum needed for nonfiction work. Its program menu includes unsolicited grants for research and development, development, and rough-cut retreat support.
What Catapult Film Fund Funds
Catapult Film Fund’s cause areas cluster around documentary development and the support systems that make nonfiction production possible. In development work, it gave $75,000 in 2025 to Walking Iris Media for a development grant, and it also awarded $25,000 to Dream of Grape Gardens for development in 2025. The funder also backs organizations that provide documentary training and institutional support. Women Make Movies received $182,500 in 2025 for development, momentum, research, and consulting, while the Center for Independent Documentary received $57,500 in 2025 for development, momentum, and research. A third thread is rough-cut and work-in-progress support. The Rough Cut Retreat and the Catapult & True/False Rough Cut Retreat are explicitly designed for nonfiction feature filmmakers at the editing stage, with travel, lodging, meals, and mentorship included. Catapult’s active program list also includes a Project Accelerator focused on stories at the intersection of technology and society.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$2.1M
Total Assets
$303K
Total Revenue
$1.5M
Total Expenses
$1.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $20K and $54K, with a median of $20K.
25th Percentile
$20K
Median
$20K
75th Percentile
$54K
Geographic Reach
National7 states funded
About 44% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Lisa Kleiner-Chanoff
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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