Film and Video Grants in Africa

Currently 3 active film and video grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Africa. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.

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Open calls

1. Durban International Film Festival 2027 (48th): Call for Film Submissions

   Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal (DIFF) · Durban, South Africa. Features and documentaries must be African or South African; shorts and student films are open internationally. · Deadline: 15 Jan 2027 · Award: NO PUBLISHED CASH, listed under the desk's festival exception. Awards for Best Feature, Documentary, Short and Student Film (with South African variants), three of them Oscar-qualifying; cash amounts not stated. Submission fees via FilmFreeway, with an early-bird discount.

   Africa's oldest film festival takes submissions for its 2027 edition. Features and documentaries of 60 minutes or more must be African or South African; shorts and student films are open internationally. Films must be completed after 1 January 2026, need a South African premiere, and cannot have been declined for DIFF 2026. Early-bird deadline 23 November 2026, regular deadline 15 January 2027; notification 4 May 2027.

2. IDFA Bertha Fund: IBF Classic 2027 (documentary development up to EUR 7,500, production up to EUR 25,000)

   IDFA Bertha Fund (IDFA, Amsterdam) · Remote application. Directors must be from and living in a country on the IBF Classic Country List (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Caribbean, Oceania). · Deadline: 10 Feb 2027 · Award: Project Development up to EUR 7,500; Production and Post-production up to EUR 25,000. No application fee mentioned.

   The IDFA Bertha Fund's IBF Classic scheme supports creative documentaries by filmmakers from countries on its Global South and Eastern Europe country list. Development grants of up to EUR 7,500 pay for research, writing, shooting or a visual pitch; production and post-production grants of up to EUR 25,000 pay for filming, editing and finishing. ELIGIBILITY: the director must be from, and currently living and working in, a listed country; development applications come from the director, production applications from the director or producer. Documentary series, study films and immersive or interactive projects are excluded, and it cannot be combined with the Hubert Bals Fund. APPLY via an English entry form in MyIDFA (French allowed for some countries) with linked audiovisual material; entries open late December 2026. DEADLINE: 10 February 2027, 23:59 in the applicant's own time zone. A separate IBF Europe scheme closes 15 January 2027.

3. Encounters South African International Documentary Festival 2027 (29th): Call for Entries

   Encounters South African International Documentary Festival · Cape Town, South Africa. African and international categories. · Deadline: 07 Mar 2027 · Award: NO PUBLISHED CASH, listed under the desk's festival exception. Fees via FilmFreeway are not on the call page (in 2025, African films entered free and international films paid USD 25).

   Africa's leading documentary festival opens submissions for its 29th edition, in African and International categories, each split into features (50 minutes or more) and shorts. Films must be completed after 1 January 2025. Deadlines: early bird 17 December 2026, regular 25 January 2027, late 14 February 2027, extended 7 March 2027.