How to apply

Research and Development Fund

Thank you for your interest in the Violet Pictures RAD Fund, which supports UK and worldwide director/producer teams currently in the early stages of developing a single feature documentary. Applications are assessed as they are submitted, with a maximum award of €2,000.

Application Process:

Please send through the following documents:

• A detailed two-page proposal.
• A Visual pitch deck.
• What you plan to spend the development money on.
• A timeline of your development plan.

Please note that the only requirements for receiving the grant are:

• An end title credit of “The film was developed with support from Violet Pictures Research and Development Fund”
• 2 x tickets to the film’s festival premiere.

The fund is now open. Deadline July 24. Please send your submission to james@violetpictures.co.uk

2025 Awards:
The Chimney Sweeper - Dir: Shingo Ota, Producer: Kyoko Takenaka
At 85, Yoshio is one of Japan's last chimney sweepers for public bathhouses. When an earthquake damages a bathhouse in rural Noto Peninsula, he takes on what may be the final and most dangerous job of his life.
Shape of Silence - Dir/Producer: Varun Trikha
A blind Polish linguist and bioacoustician has spent years archiving the sonic secrets of forests. As aural environments shift, she journeys in search of a mysterious wild sound, one that once offered her solace, hoping it might now help others, too.

2024 Award:
Big in Gazi Baba - Dir: Pauline Blanchet, Producer: Avdi Thachi
In one of North Macedonia’s toughest neighbourhoods, 14-year-old Sadije is the only girl in her wrestling club and was raised as her family’s son, expected to lead in a household with no boys. As she becomes a champion, she must find her own path through the painful transformation into a young matriarch.

Updates (Last updated March 2026):
Shape of Silence has been awarded the following grants:
• A Sundance Development Grant.
• Grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council in Canada.

Image credits: Shape of Silence (Top), The Chimney Sweeper (side)