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California · Public charity

Film Independent

To champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision.

$713k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
8
Itemized grants FY2025
6
Organizations funded FY2024
83%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Itemized, FY2025
$240k
The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025
$30,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$50,000
Organizations funded a year
2 to 11
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
4
Total assets, FY2025
$9.4M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 83% of the organizations Film Independent funded were first-time grantees, receiving 82% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 18% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $135k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving8$240k100%
FY20246$165k83%
FY20239$310k100%
FY20226$152k83%
FY202111$263k100%
FY20202$75k100%
FY20199$230k100%
FY20187$170k100%
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.0MScience & Tech$90kReligion$90kFood & Nutrition$50kHousing & Shelter$50kEmployment$30kEducation$25kHealth$25kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
NY
OR
NV
OH
NJ
CA
CO
TN
LA
GA
TX
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Samuel Goldwyn Films LLC$50,0012n/a
House of Tomorrow LLC$50,0001n/a
Gentle Fuzz Inc$50,0001n/a
Flaming Creatures Productions LLC$50,0001n/a
Weltrix LLC$50,0001n/a
3pas Studios$50,0001n/a
Per Capita Productions$50,0001n/a
Artefacto Cinema Inc$50,0001n/a
One Rising LLC$50,0001n/a
Good Deed Entertainment$50,0001n/a
Show all 57 grantees
All grantees of Film Independent by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Samuel Goldwyn Films LLC$50,0012n/a
House of Tomorrow LLC$50,0001n/a
Gentle Fuzz Inc$50,0001n/a
Flaming Creatures Productions LLC$50,0001n/a
Weltrix LLC$50,0001n/a
3pas Studios$50,0001n/a
Per Capita Productions$50,0001n/a
Artefacto Cinema Inc$50,0001n/a
One Rising LLC$50,0001n/a
Good Deed Entertainment$50,0001n/a
Gia Rigoli Films LLC$50,0001n/a
Still Rolling Productions LLC$50,0001n/a
Azuspeak Productions$40,0002n/a
Journey West Pictures LLC$39,3901n/a
African Cowboy LLC$30,0001n/a
4 Brothers Pictures$30,0001n/a
Life Life LLC$30,0001n/a
Protostellar Media LLC$30,0001n/a
Tuckergurl$30,0001n/a
Infinite Wings LLC$30,0001n/a
Beholden Flilms LLC$30,0001n/a
Nettles and Dirt Roads Inc$30,0001n/a
Mel Jones Productions LLC$30,0001n/a
Fritz Fortune LLC$30,0001n/a
Malpelo LLC$30,0001n/a
Jm Harper Media LLC$30,0001n/a
Bell the Film LLC$30,0001n/a
Ominira Studios LLC$30,0001n/a
Becoming Box Films LLC$25,0001n/a
Twin Pines Ranch Inc$25,0001n/a
E Pic Film Production$25,0001n/a
Ppw Films LLC$25,0001n/a
Mi Alma Films Inc$25,0001n/a
Pawikan Films LLC$25,0001n/a
Desire Paths LLC$25,0001n/a
Donkeybone Inc$25,0001n/a
Rosetory Inc$25,0001n/a
All Is Well$25,0001n/a
Story Farm LLC$25,0001n/a
World Famous LLC$25,0001n/a
Weird Dog Productions LLC$25,0001n/a
Gap Minding Productions LLC$25,0001n/a
Straw House Production$25,0001n/a
Plate Spinner Productions LLC$20,0001n/a
Asia a LLC$20,0001n/a
Engle Films LLC$20,0001n/a
Periodic Media LLC$20,0001n/a
Solid Stripe Films$10,0001n/a
It Just Got Real LLC$10,0001n/a
The Candis Company$10,0001n/a
Memorandom Pictures LLC$10,0001n/a
Trabajo LLC$10,0001n/a
3 Point Pictures$10,0001n/a
Third Cousin Pictures Inc$10,0001n/a
Whiz Tech LLC$10,0001n/a
Orquidea LLC$10,0001n/a
13am Productions LLC$10,0001n/a

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Sundance Institute
Sundance InstituteUT15.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sundance Institute

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Compare Film Independent with peer funders

About Film Independent

How much does Film Independent give?
Film Independent reported 8 itemized grants totaling $240,000, out of $712,957 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 11 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Film Independent fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (74%), Science & Tech (6%), Religion (6%).
Who are Film Independent's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Samuel Goldwyn Films LLC ($50k), House of Tomorrow LLC ($50k), Gentle Fuzz Inc ($50k).
Does Film Independent fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 83% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Film Independent?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Sundance Institute.
Where is Film Independent based?
Film Independent is based in CA.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 57 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Film Independent’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home