About Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship: 

Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship (DVID) is an year long program supports non-fiction filmmakers telling stories that are intimate, grounded in mutual support, and provoke audiences to question the world around them.  The DVID Fellowship supports emerging filmmakers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or another person of color in the Midwest. The program is rooted in ideals of a collaborative community and welcomes filmmakers who are committed to unflinching documentary filmmaking rooted in social justice.

Founded by Gordon Quinn of Kartemquin Films and Margaret Caples of Community Film Workshop of Chicago, this six month cohort based program supports non-fiction filmmakers telling stories that are intimate, grounded in community, and provoke audiences to question the world around them.   

Please review the guidelines for submitting your DVID 2026 Fellowship application.

• Projects with a major investor, streamer or other distributor attached to the project are not eligible.
• Anyone currently working at Kartemquin is ineligible.
• Allow yourself at least 90 mins to complete the application; we do NOT recommend applying last minute. If you need to come back to it, Submittable will save a draft of your application!                                                                         

Applicant Eligibility Criteria:

• Be applying with a project that reflects and prioritizes BIPOC, PWDs, LGBTQIA+, those from other historically excluded communities.
• Identify as Black, Indigenous, Latina/e/o/x, Middle Eastern or North African, Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander, or other person of color or aforementioned historically excluded communities. 
• Be either the director or producer of the project for which they are applying.               
• Identify as an emerging filmmaker (no more than 2 feature or short film credits in a lead position- ie.Producer, Director).
• Filmmakers looking for structured support on developing their documentary story, budget and production.
• Are not enrolled in a degree seeking program for the duration of the fellowship.   

Project Eligibility Criteria:

• Projects in early production* of a short or short-to-feature length at the early production stage (Short films are considered anything between 8 and 40mins in length) 
• Projects open to short to feature length development
• Non-fiction project with themes of social impact/justice that complement Kartemquin’s mission
• May be filmed anywhere in the Midwest
• Priority consideration will be given to filmmakers who are developing stories centering and engaging stories of social, racial, gender-based and/or climate based stories. Please view our film discography as a reference guide.   

*This fellowship is best suited for filmmakers in pre to early production who have done significant research, principal photography, have identified and begun building relationships and access with potential characters/participants, and have a strong thematic or narrative vision for their project.  Filmmakers must be willing to take feedback and explore creative story development.

About Kartemquin Values

The Kartemquin values framework is our guide for every decision we make - from hiring to partnerships to program design and execution. Our values dictate which project we stand behind and guide us through business every day. For your consideration, you can read our values in full here.      

Have questions?  Please check out our FAQ or reach out to dvid@kartemquin.org