As of today, IDA Emergency Assistance is now a permanent program, supporting independent documentary filmmakers who face threats from governments and other political powers because of their work.

Since the launch of our six-month pilot program in March of this year, IDA has granted nearly US$60,000 to 18 documentary filmmakers from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Morocco, Myanmar, Russia, Sweden, Uganda, the United States, Venezuela, and Yemen—more than twice the support we planned for at launch. The need is far greater than we anticipated, and continuing to meet it will take the support of our community.
 

Why and how we began

Historically, documentary filmmakers have not had the kind of reliable, dedicated emergency support that journalists facing similar risks can turn to. We modeled our pilot partly on that support, and we launched it by contacting 100 peer organizations worldwide. These partners have already built trusting relationships with local film teams, understand the nuances of culturally-specific threats in their regions, and in some cases already do what they can to provide emergency support, if often without the full resources they need to do so. We could not have run this pilot without them, and they’ll be integral to our program going forward.

Our pilot—which was made possible by the generous donors to our 2025 end-of-year fundraising campaign—offered grants of up to $5,000 to filmmakers facing immediate and extreme physical danger as a result of their documentary work. Our initial eligibility parameters were narrow by design: we had to assess the need and make sure we could handle the volume of documentarians needing support. Knowing that some filmmakers might not meet our specific criteria but nonetheless be in urgent need of support, we invited such filmmakers to contact us so that we could learn what a lasting program should account for.

How it went

We quickly saw the need to make exceptions, and more than half of the filmmakers we supported fell outside the pilot’s terms. These exceptions included filmmakers in need post-emergency; those who remained in dangerous conditions in order to continue documenting; those seeking support for collaborators and participants; and situations in which our funds did not completely resolve a threat, among others.

The filmmakers we ended up supporting—exceptions or otherwise—demonstrate the breadth of the dangers documentary filmmakers face when shining a light on critical issues around the world, including:

• One filmmaker in Venezuela who needed help quickly departing the country after their work documenting a disappearance attracted public attention.
• A Moroccan filmmaker in need of urgent assistance with legal expenses to remain in the host country, where he’d fled after being arrested and barred from leaving the country in relation to charges of “disturbing the Muslim faith.” 
• A filmmaker held captive while filming in Syria—without adequate food, safe drinking water, or medication—whom IDA helped with medical expenses and replacing the equipment their captors had stolen.

The above filmmakers have agreed to these accounts being shared anonymously, and they are only a small sample of the cases we supported. Our program maintains strict confidentiality practices to ensure we don’t increase the risk to a filmmaker’s safety.

What we learned

Danger to documentary filmmakers does not always arrive as a single emergency. They intentionally take these risks to document important, untold stories, sometimes in the span of years and beyond. Threats can follow them for years after a film is released. Collaborators and participants are at risk, too, and documentary filmmakers also want to see them protected. Many told us they wouldn’t leave until they had ensured the safety of all their crew and collaborators, including participants. Lastly, it is clear that physical danger and threats are often a means to an end: silencing the work.

The permanent program

Based on our learnings, IDA Emergency Assistance will, moving forward:

• Prioritize independent documentary filmmakers with limited access to safety resources and financial support who can demonstrate that their work is for an in-progress or past documentary film, not for reportage or an unconfirmed future project.
• Support filmmakers facing threats from governments or other political powers—not interpersonal disputes—including current threats related to past work.
• Include covering the costs of seeking a visa to reach safety or remain safe.
• Include covering safety costs for film crews and collaborators, up to $5,000 per film, on application by the director or producer.
• Respond to intake forms within one business day. A full assessment of the circumstances can take around 10 business days or longer, depending on the complexity of the case.
• Disburse funds within 5 business days of a grant being confirmed.

We are also building a network of partner organizations in regions where making documentaries is dangerous. They will help us verify cases, connect filmmakers with peers, and refer them to other support when we cannot help directly.

How you can help

If you know a filmmaker who needs this support, please share the IDA Emergency Assistance web page. If your organization supports filmmakers working under threat, we would like to hear from you. And if you are able, please make a donation to IDA to support this vital work. With 3,700 members in more than 80 countries, IDA’s community is what makes this program possible.