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An inside
look at the
Gucci Tribeca
Documentary
Film Fund
A
s an indie doc fi lmmaker, getting to the
fi nal stages of completing your fi lm can be
grueling. You’ve spent months or years on
a project. In fact, you know the characters in your
fi lm better than your own family. Then comes the
fi nancial strain as you struggle to make ends meet
while completing the picture. You’ve tapped out
your investors, and now, you must look elsewhere
for the fi nancial lifeline that will allow you to com-
plete your fi lm. So, where do you go? The answer
may be to apply for a grant.
When it comes to grants, the Gucci Tribeca
Documentary Fund is one great option. The Gucci
Tribeca Doc Fund is an annual grant for doc fi lm-
makers. The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) works with
international retail brand Gucci along with Verizon
Media (formerly The Oath Foundation) to make
the program possible. In short, the mission of the
grant is to provide fi nishing funds to fi lmmakers
in the fi nal stages of completing a feature-length
social issue-driven documentary fi lm.
To get more insight on how fi lmmakers can
win such a grant, we spoke to the Director of
Documentary Programs at TFI, Jose Rodriguez.How
to win
a grant:
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Financing is often your biggest hurdle to making a movie,
but grants can potentially provide the funds you need. We
go inside the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund to learn
what it takes to win a grant and finish your film.
He fi lled us in on the details of the program and
gave us an inside look at the grant process.About the grant
You don’t often hear retail luxury brand names
like Gucci associated with documentary fi lm-
making. The partnership, however, evolved
organically out of an effort to cultivate event
partnerships back in the late 2000s. Rodriguez
says his former boss, Ryan Harrington, helped
bring that relationship to fruition.
“They (Gucci) have catered to underserved
stories for a long time. They also commission
fi lmmakers to do content for them, and their net-
work of celebrities and famous people invested
in social issue causes are part of the jury here,”
Rodriguez says. That jury includes celebrities like
Edward Norton, Jessica Alba, Olivia Wilde and
Jada Pinkett Smith.
“We know what the brand is, across a global
scale, and they use that kind of spotlight and po-
sition to get behind a lot of female-driven stories,
supporting underserved women, underserved
youth,” Rodriguez says, “And, following thosestories to fi nd their necessary impact campaign,
they can reach the right audiences and use the
power they have for positive change.”
Moreover, with the name recognition of Gucci
and the stellar reputation of the Tribeca Film
Institute, the grant has continued to grow in
popularity and competitiveness over the years.
The grant opens for submissions every year in
February and stays open for two months until
April. Most competitive reviewing takes place
shortly after that going through the end of July.
Thus, the fi nal stages of deliberation take place
through August. TFI usually announces grantees
at the end of August or early September.Notable recipients
The Gucci Tribeca Doc Fund has granted fi lmmak-
ers over two million dollars since its inception.
The program puts emphasis on bringing women’s
voices and stories to a larger audience. Rodriguez
estimates that seventy percent of the grants go to
women fi lmmakers or stories about women.
Rachel Lears was one notable recipient of
the grant in 2018. Her fi lm, “Knock Down theBY LANDON DYKSTERHOUSE
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