Documentary film funding: filmmakers share their best advice

Very few people go into documentary filmmaking to get rich or famous. A documentary filmmaker is driven to uncover stories that matter and share them with the world. There are growing audiences for documentaries, with non-fiction series finding their home on streaming platforms where they rival the biggest movie blockbusters for viewing figures. But no-one reaches that point overnight.

Launched in 2020, the Canon Video Grant – Short Film Documentary offers emerging international photojournalists and videographers a head start in the form of a cash grant and a loan of Canon gear to shoot a short film on ​​a social, economic, political or cultural topic. Here, Michaël Zumstein, Camille Millerand and Irene Baqué, three previous grant recipients, talk about their experiences of funding and realising their projects.

Irene: "I worked in-house as a documentary maker at The Guardian for six years before going freelance in 2019. When you work for any newspaper, there are certain stories they want to cover and I wanted to explore my own style, to make work that was longer and allowed me to spend more time with subjects."

Camille: "I co-directed another documentary, Derwisha, with Leïla Beratto. The film tells the story of a roofless two-storey house located 30km from Algiers where about 30 people, mostly Cameroonians and Ivorians, lived on their way to Europe. We self-funded the project for three years before teaming up with Lumento Films, a French production house, for the editing, colour grading and post-production. Often, I manage to finance my scouting via photo orders from the press, which allows me to write a note of intent, and then I try to meet producers. Also, obtaining scholarships related to photography allows me to switch to a documentary film project."

Michaël: "Usually, I make documentaries for TV channels such as France Télévisions and ARTE. I always work with a producer who manages the funding and budget, and they are responsible for finding a TV channel to finance the project. The producer normally has everything planned out before you start filming – expenses, travel costs, salaries. As an independent video maker you are not set up as a company so you can't pay salaries or pay taxes. TV budgets are higher than in photojournalism so there is more at stake. A channel won't want to take a risk on an independent filmmaker. If something goes wrong in the filmmaking process that might lose you money, the producer deals with it. I've always worked with the same producer, who happens to be my wife, and her colleagues. With a producer, it's not just about the money, it's also about working with someone you trust."

Irene: "Flights and accommodation, also hiring the sound recordist and fixer. I'm going to edit my current project myself, but I'll spend a little more on colour grading and sound design."

Irene (2022 winner): "I only discovered in 2021 that there were documentary grants you could apply for. Compared with some, the Canon Video Grant is quite open in terms of what you can pitch, and I decided to apply with a story I wanted to shoot in Mexico. It was amazing to win. I've since managed to find quite a few grants to fund my documentaries. It's never a lot of money, so I tend to invest all the grant in getting a good team to make the film and balance my income with directing commercials. I'd advise younger filmmakers to try to always have some work on the side to balance the incomes and to research grants online."

Camille (2021 winner): "I couldn't believe my ears. I was so surprised to have won. Before I applied for the grant, we scouted for locations, which was self-funded. The grant changed that."

Michaël (2020 winner): "I felt fantastic. The whole application process was really smooth, unlike when you're trying to get a documentary approved by a television channel which can take a long time. This was the first grant I'd come across for documentary. In my 20 years as a photojournalist, I'd shot stills with Canon, and I was curious to explore Canon's video equipment."

Camille: "My film tells the story of Makan Baradji, a Malian worker who has two jobs as a kitchen dishwasher and delivery man in Paris. We follow him for one year during which he obtains his official papers and finds his family that he's not seen for four years."

Irene: "I filmed with the residents of Casa Xochiquetzal [a retirement home for sex workers] in Mexico City. I got access to film there through a fixer before I won the grant, but hadn't met any of the women at that point. I used to shoot everything myself and then when I went freelance, I started working with DoPs with bigger cameras. But this was an intimate film and my relationship with the women is part of the story, so I went back to shooting solo, although I worked with a sound recordist and fixer. I did interviews with the older women in their rooms and shot observational scenes."

Michaël: "I was interested in exploring how Chinese enterprises are working in West Africa. I wanted to report on young people in Senegal, a former French colony, who don't feel a connection with France but now look to China as a route to find work. I thought a powerful way to show this was by following Senegalese students learning Chinese at the Institut Confucius in Dakar. I hired a fixer, Abdullai, who worked as my assistant, translator and driver. There was one day where I was really sick and lay on the floor while he did everything as I directed. He was so important!"

Irene: "I really liked the Canon EOS C70 camera because it's small but still a cinema camera, with a Canon CN-E24mm T1.5 L F lens. For me it was important to show how the women lived and had organised their rooms, so this wide angle, fixed lens was perfect for moving around in a small space."

Camille: "We shot with the Canon EOS C70 and two lenses: a Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM and an RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM. We preferred the EOS C70 because of the mini-jack stereo sound input, and chose the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm lenses for their complementarity. The first to have wide shots and medium shots, the second to look for gestures in the kitchen and facial expressions of Makan."

Irene: "There are simple things you can do such as use available light. Think about where you position people within the room. Sit them by the window, open or close curtains and doors, turn on a bedside table lamp or whatever. That added to some colour grading will help to make your film look more cinematic."


To find out more about the Canon Video Grant – Short Film Documentary, read our Canon Video Grant article.