The Film Collaborative^™

Helping filmmakers with all aspects of distribution, without taking rights.

how we work.

Click here to learn how TFC can help your film.

The Film Collaborative^™

Helping filmmakers with all aspects of distribution, without taking rights.

how we work.

Click here to learn how TFC can help your film.

sign up for our newsletter.

submit your film.

Click here to fill out our submission form.

A-Z site links.

Something you can’t find? Check out our a-z links page.

questions?

Feel free to contact us.

THE FILM COLLABORATIVE, INC.
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

All the Empty Rooms

TFC is handling Festival Distribution for this new emotionally powerful short that serves as a visual meditation on how grief and mourning lingers with the families of school shooting victims, highlighting the urgent need for action against the rising epidemic of gun violence.

Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film

Barbara Forever

TFC is thrilled to finally be able to announce that we are working with Brydie O’Connor’s incredible, intimate, dream-like, masterfully-crafted, and Sundance and Berlinale Teddy award-winning look at the iconic life, work, and legacy of the pioneering feminist experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

2026 BERLINALE TEDDY AWARD WINNER

American Pachuco

TFC is delighted to once again be working with David Alvarado on his latest doc, AMERICAN PACHUCO, celebrating the work of acclaimed playwright and director Luis Valdez, who is known as the father of Chicano film and playwriting. The film recently won Festival Favoriate and U.S. Doc Audience Awards at Sundance.

SUNDANCE 2026 AUDIENCE AWARD—BEST DOC

Holding Liat

TFC is humbled to be handling Festival Distribution for this Berlinale Documentary Award-winning film that focuses on one Israeli family’s harrowing emotional journey when their daughter, Liat Atzili, is kidnapped by Hamas. U.S. Theatrical now underway.

Oscar^® Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”

TFC is handling Festival Distribution for Hilla Medalia’s powerful, observational documentary that recently premiered at DOC NYC about a silent vigil in Tel Aviv for children killed in Gaza, offering a deeply moving portrait of civil action in opposition to the conflict.

Oscar^® Nominated for Best Documentary Short Film

My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow

TFC Fiscal Sponsorship client. Julia Loktev’s new documentary follows independent journalists in Moscow as they face government crackdown in Russia as it invades Ukraine, capturing their fight for speech amid risks of being branded “foreign agents” and the country’s drift towards authoritarianism.

Oscar^® Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Black Box Diaires

TFC is honored to be handling Festival Distribution for MTV Documentary Films’ Black Box Diaries, directed by Shiori Itō, which premiered at Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize.

Oscar^® Nominated for Best Documentary Feature

I Am Ready, Warden

TFC is excited to work once again with Smriti Mundhra on her latest short, MTV Documentary Films’ I AM READY, WARDEN, on which Sheila Nevins serves as Executive Producer.

Oscar^® Nominated for Best Documentary Short

SPEAK.

TFC is excited to be handling Festival Distribution for and working again with Jen Tiexiera (and now Guy Mossman) on their latest film, Speak., which will premiere at Sundance 2025.

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY

5 years after Disclosure had its world premiere at Sundance, TFC is thrilled to be working once again with director/producer Sam Feder and producer Amy Scholder on Heightened Scrutiny, a film that couldn’t be more timely… or necessary.

THIRD ACT

We are very excited about handling Festival Distribution for Tadashi Nakamura’s very personal film about his father, Robert A. Nakamura, whom generations of artists have called “The Godfather of Asian American film,” The film will have its world premiere at Sundance 2025.

FREE LEONARD PELTIER

TFC is honored and humbled to be handlilng FREE LEONARD PELTIER, directed by Jesse Short Bull (Lakota Nation vs. the United States) and David France (How To Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, Welcome To Chechnya) and produced by Bird Runningwater. Premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Queendom

From the producers behind Welcome to Chechnya comes the haunting, high-stakes tale of Gena, a uniquely provocative queer artist from a small town in Russia prior to and during the Ukrainian invasion. This TFC Festival Distribution and Fiscal Sponsorship client recently won the NEXT:WAVE Award at CPH:DOX.

Oscar^® Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Union

TFC is thrilled to be handling Festival Distribution for Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s Union, which premiered at Sundance, where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change.

Oscar^® Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Daughters

TFC handled Fiscal Sponsorship for Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s Sundance Audience award-winning documentary Daughters, currently streaming on Netflix.

Oscar^® Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Separated

TFC is honored to be handling Festival Distribution for Errol Morris’s latest film, Separated, which premiered at Venice and Telluride 2024. The film is based on NBC Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s book by the same name.

ZURAWSKI V TEXAS

TFC was a fiscal sponsor on this film, and now we are finally able to announce that we are handing it for Festival Distribution worldwide! Executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Jennifer Lawrence, Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s powerful new film follows a group of women, denied abortions under Texas’ ambiguous and unforgiving bans, as they band together with a fearless attorney to sue Texas.

recent news.

New Case Study! Director/Writer/Producer Rachel Feldman takes us through how her narrative feature Lilly, about factory worker turned equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, and starring Academy Award^® Nominee Patricia Clarkson, got made and distributed.

The Popcorn List has published a 2025 Wrap Report on their Pop Up Series, highlighting how it grew visibility for participating films, brought new programming to theaters and audiences, offered filmmakers an additional exhibition window, and elevated discoverability with built-in marketing.

The Film Collaborative is proud to introduce Peaced Off!, a film and conversation series exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We will release new episodes on a weekly basis.

Video versions of the podcast can be found on Substack. Audio versions are available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.

Peaced Off! was born out of frustration, heartbreak, and the urgent, persistent desire for peace.

It explores Israeli and Palestinian stories through podcast episodes, films, and dialogue events that center empathy, truth, and shared humanity.

The mission is simple yet vital: to foster empathy, promote honest dialogue, move beyond polarization, and build common ground—one story at a time.

Listen to the introduction:

…and the awards go to…

TFC congratulates our clients with projects that are contenders for top awards this year!

2026 News and Documentary Emmy Award Nominations

(Winners announced on May 28, 2026)

mtv_documentary_films

Predators

NOMINATED

Outstanding Investigative Documentary

Union

NOMINATED

Best Documentary

Songs from the Hole

NOMINATED

Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary

Outstanding Writing: Documentary

Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary

Outstanding Art Direction / Set Decoration / Scenic Design: Documentary

2026 Peabody Awards Nominations

(Winners announced Apr. 23, 2026; ceremony to be held on May 31, 2026)

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

NOMINATED

Documentary

mtv_documentary_films

Predators

NOMINATED

Documentary

98th Academy Awards Nominations

(Ceremony to be held on Mar. 15, 2026)

All the Empty Rooms

WINNER!

Best Documentary Short Film

Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”

NOMINATED

Best Documentary Short Film

Holding Liat

SHORTLISTED

Best Documentary Feauture

My Undesirable Friends

SHORTLISTED

Best Documentary Feauture

37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Nominees

(Ceremony to be held on Mar. 5, 2026)

The Wedding Banquet

NOMINATED

Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release

The Queen of My Dreams

NOMINATED

Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release

Heightened Scrutiny

NOMINATED

Outstanding Documentary

I’m Your Venus

NOMINATED

Outstanding Documentary

Before We Forget

NOMINATED

Reconocimiento Especial

Cinema Eye Honors

(Ceremony held on Jan. 8, 2026)

All the Empty Rooms

WINNER!

Nonfiction Short Film
Director: Joshua Seftel

mtv_documentary_films

Predators

NOMINATED

Direction
David Osit

My Undesirable Friends

NOMINATED

Editing
Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor

Production
Julia Loktev

The Eyes of Ghana

NOMINATED

Original Music Score
Kris Bowers

Audience Choice Prize
Director: Ben Proudfoot

Monk in Pieces

NOMINATED

Debut
Directors: Billy Shebar, David C. Roberts

The Librarians

NOMINATED

Audience Choice Prize
Director: Kim A. Snyder

IDA Documentary Awards

(Ceremony held on Dec. 6, 2025)

All the Empty Rooms

NOMINATED

Best Short Documentary Special Mention
Director: Joshua Seftel
Producers: Joshua Seftel, Conall Jones, James Costa, Trevor Burgess

My Undesirable Friends

NOMINATED

Best Editing
Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor

Suburban Fury

NOMINATED

Best Editing
Jason Reid, Robinson Devor, Adam Sekuler, Matt Levinthal

Best Writing
Robinson Devor, Jason Reid, Bob Fink, Charles Mudede

Free Leonard Peltier

NOMINATED

Best Original Music Score
Mato Wayuhi

The Gothams Film Awards

(Ceremony held on Dec. 1, 2025)

My Undesirable Friends

WINNER!

Documentary Feature

Critics Choice Documentary Awards

(Ceremony held on Nov. 9, 2025)

The Librarians

NOMINATED

Best Political Documentary

mtv_documentary_films

Predators

NOMINATED

Best True Crime Documentary

All the Empty Rooms

NOMINATED

Best Short Documentary

The Eyes of Ghana

NOMINATED

Best Score

Checkpoint Zoo

NOMINATED

Best Science/Nature Documentary

My Undesirable Friends

NOMINATED

Best Political Documentary

See our clients’ previous awards and nominations.

TFC on location.

Jeffrey Winter will be on the Documentary Competition Jury at Seattle International, May 7-9, 2026.
Orly Ravid will be doing a session at Film Independent’s 2026 Documentary Story Lab on Thur., May 7, 10am - 1pm.
Orly Ravid and David Averbach will be on a virtual panel session entitled “It Will Be Seen—Indie Distribution in 2026” presented by the The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture on Thu., April 30, 2026 at 4pm PT.
Kathy Susca will be on the Beyond Theatrical panel at Reelabilities on Tue., April 28 at 4:30pm.
Kathy Susca was on the Putting It Out There panel at the Phoenix Film Festival on Sat, April 11 at 11:00am.
Orly Ravid was a guest speaker on “Film Festival Distribution and Legal Aspects of Distribution” in an Introduction to the Film Festival Circuit course at the University of Texas, Austin, on April 7, 2026.

See where else we’ve been.

Fest and Furious:
Maximize your Film Festival Strategy

Film Fatales presented an online workshop led by TFC’s very own Jeffrey Winter and Kathy Susca and moderated by TFC client Lagueria Davis (Director/Producer, Black Barbie: A Documentary).

Watch

Reimagining Distribution

Don’t sign that crappy deal! There are other effective ways to make money with your film. TFC’s Orly Ravid, David Averbach and Kathy Susca joined Keith Ochwat of Show&Tell and Jon Reiss of 8 Above to address pitching to partners as a priority, utilizing government agencies for educational sales, selling virtual events and educational toolkits, and other new strategies that are working for filmmakers.

Watch

SXSW 2022

Orly Ravid moderated a panel entitled, “Go Beyond the Big Global Streamers—Funders/Buyers Outside the U.S.” Panelists included Wendy Bernfeld (Rights Stuff), Jaume Ripoll (FilmIN), and Filippa Wallestam (Viaplay).

Watch

Women’s Weekend Film Challenge (WWFC)

TFC Founder Orly Ravid and Director of Fiscal Sponsorship Lynnette Gryseels joined Women’s Weekend Film Challenge (WWFC) for a Q&A as part of WWFC’s virtual workshop series.

Watch

PBS Webinar

This special webinar by Keith Ochwat of Show&Tell provides an introduction to the PBS system and an actionable outline of how you can reach a large national audience and raise significant funding for your film.

Watch

AFM 2021

TFC Creative Director David Averbach moderated a marketing panel with Heidi Millay (Director of Marketing, Cinedigm), Emma Manfredi (Manager, Content Acquisitions, Giant Pictures), Ryan Davis (Co-Founder, Smarthouse Creative), Jitin Hingorani (Founder and Principle, Jingo Media) and Charles Rice (Social Media Manager | Strategy & Transformation, Rogers & Cowen PMK).

Watch

SXSW 2021

TFC’s Orly Ravid moderated panelists Wendy Bernfeld (Managing Director, Rights Stuff), filmmaker/producer Tracie Holder (who runs consulting company Means of Productions), and filmmaker Yi Chen (First Vote) in a discussion about which international VOD platforms and financial sources filmmakers can avail themselves of to achieve impact-oriented distribution.

Watch

Film Financing Panel

Orly Ravid moderated a panel of producers to discuss foreign tax incentives and credits and other international financing. Panelists included Alexander Nevsky (Hollywood Storm), Lauri Apelian (Ocean Sky Entertainment), Peter Graham (120dB Films and 120dB Advisors), and Jay Lin (Portico Media).

Watch

apply for

fiscal sponsorship.

check out the

digital distribution guide.

read the

tfc blog.

read our

distribution case studies.

check out the

distributor reportcard.

donate to a

fiscally sponored project.

see who we’ve worked with!

visit the tfc alumni page.

distripedia updates

We have recently added Good Deed Entertainment to our Distributor ReportCard™, which collates real experiences from real filmmakers, so that you can make informed decisions about which distributor might be the right fit for your film.

Dozens more planned for later this year—stay tuned!

Read Now

distripedia updates

Updated: A Practical Guide to Distributing Your Film Internationally: Who Else is Out There in the International Digital Space Beyond Just the Big Globals?

Read Now

distripedia updates

TFC’s Distribution Days is upon us!
A Primer by David Averbach, Liz Manashil and Orly Ravid

Read Now

distripedia updates

Episode 5 of :20 in ’22 is now available!

Orly Ravid interviews longtime TFC collaborative Wendy Bernfeld of RightsStuff about the latest trends in distribution in the EU and beyond, and some great advice to independent films looking to distribute across the pond.

Watch

distripedia updates

Latest Case Studies:

Mama Bears and You Can Live Forever.

Read Now

If your film premiered on the festival circuit after January 2023, has an interesting story to tell, and you’d like to help your fellow filmmakers learn from your successes (or failures), please fill out our submission form and check the “be a case study” checkbox.

newsletter.

Read our most recent monthly newsletters. You can sign up to receive them by clicking here.

April 2026
News & Documentary Emmy and Peabody Award Nominations, New Lilly Case Study, The D-Word Distribution/Marketing Strategy Workshop with Jon Reiss, Filmmaker Ops, and, of course, Tidbits!
March 2026
All The Empty Rooms Academy Award win, New Episode of Peaced Off!, Filmmaker Ops, and, of course, Tidbits!
February 2026
On Location, Oscar Nomination, Sundance Solidarity House, Nonfiction Hotlist, New Fiscal Projects, Filmmaker Ops, and, of course, Tidbits!
January 2026
On Location, Oscar Shortlist Lunchtime Panel, Holding Liat Los Angeles Theatrical, New Fiscal Projects, Filmmaker Opportunities, and, of course, Tidbits!

See all more of our recent newsletters here.

Subnavigation

The Film Collaborative™

how we work.

The Film Collaborative™

how we work.

submit your film.

A-Z site links.

questions?

All the Empty Rooms

Barbara Forever

American Pachuco

Holding Liat

Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”

My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow

Black Box Diaires

I Am Ready, Warden

SPEAK.

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY

THIRD ACT

FREE LEONARD PELTIER

Queendom

Union

Daughters

Separated

ZURAWSKI V TEXAS

recent news.

…and the awards go to…

TFC on location.

Fest and Furious:Maximize your Film Festival Strategy

Reimagining Distribution

SXSW 2022

Women’s Weekend Film Challenge (WWFC)

PBS Webinar

AFM 2021

SXSW 2021

Film Financing Panel

apply for

fiscal sponsorship.

check out the

digital distribution guide.

read the

tfc blog.

read our

distribution case studies.

check out the

distributor reportcard.

donate to a

fiscally sponored project.

see who we’ve worked with!

visit the tfc alumni page.

distripedia updates

distripedia updates

distripedia updates

distripedia updates

distripedia updates

newsletter.

The Film Collaborative^™

The Film Collaborative^™

Fest and Furious:
Maximize your Film Festival Strategy