The 2025 AFS Grant for Feature Films will open for submissions via Submittable on April 16, 2025, and close on May 21, 2025. The AFS Grant for Short Films and the Harrison McClure Endowed Film Fund applications will open in the summer of 2025.
The AFS Grant awards funds annually to filmmakers in the state of Texas. Grants are provided to artists whose work shows promise, skill, and creativity. AFS is committed to fostering diverse and underrepresented voices in independent film with the intention of focusing on communities of color through an intersectional lens.
Since its creation in 1996, the AFS Grant has awarded more than $2.7 million in cash grants to 540 Texas filmmakers, creating life-changing opportunities for exceptional emerging artists making visionary work from a state often overlooked by the film industry.
In addition to granting funds to feature films in development and feature and short films in pre-production, production, and post-production, Austin Film Society also awards cash grants to Texas filmmakers traveling to prestigious film festivals through the AFS Travel Grant program.
Check out past grant recipients here.
2025 APPLICATION UPDATES
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Submittable: This year, applications to the AFS Grant will be sent through Submittable. If you don’t already have a Submittable account, please create one before beginning your application.
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Smaller Essay Modules: In the application, instead of submitting a 2-page project description, we’ve broken apart this section into smaller essay modules. It is the same amount of overall content, it’s just organized in a way that we hope is more approachable.
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Accepting More Materials: We are now accepting pitch decks and lookbooks as optional materials in your grant application.
If you have any questions regarding the grant, please email us at filmmakersupport@austinfilm.org
Thank You to our 2024 AFS Grant Partners
