Black-owned · Community-funded · SoCal

Local films.Local power.

Reel Commons funds filmmakers with micro-grants, screens their work in the neighborhoods the stories come from, and turns every screening into something the community does next.

Apply for a micro-grant Find a screening

A young Black filmmaker walking with a camera rig on a city rooftop

A camera operator filming a woman being interviewed on a neighborhood street

Made in SoCal

How it works

One loop. Real change.

Fund
Micro-grants of $500 to $3,000 put cameras in the hands of students and storytellers the industry overlooks. Plain-language application. No film degree, no reel required.
Screen
Finished films premiere at Reel Commons screenings in parks, schools, churches and backyards. Tickets are sliding scale, and the money funds the next round of grants.
Act
Every screening ends with one clear local action: a sign-up, a meeting to pack, a neighborhood group to back. The film starts the conversation. The room decides what happens next.

Who it’s for

Stories from the people missing from the screen

A smiling student with a backpack on a busy street

Our biggest crew

Students

High school, community college and university filmmakers. First films welcome. Phones count.

Start a campus chapter

A young Black woman smiling behind a camera

Overlooked storytellers

Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American and Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrant and working-class filmmakers telling stories from home.

Apply for a grant

A smiling young woman in a crowd at a community event

Neighbors and partners

Block clubs, schools, churches, small businesses and organizers who want their community’s story told, and seen.

Host a screening

Micro-grants that move fast

Most film funding is built for people who already have a reel. Ours is built for the first and early film: a short application, a community panel that reads every one, and an answer within six weeks.

Spark, $500. First films and student projects.
Story, $1,500. Short films with a small crew.
Impact, $3,000. Films made with a local campaign.

See the grants

Young filmmakers gathered around a camera during a street shoot

Screenings that fund the next film

A Reel Commons night is part premiere, part block party, part town hall. Local films on a big screen, a talk with the filmmakers and the people in the story, local groups at the tables, and one thing everybody can do before they leave.

Tickets, sponsors and donations from every night go straight back into micro-grants.

Upcoming screenings