CIFF launches first-ever Cinematic Futures Fund
Posted Dec 2, 2025 2:33 pm.
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is breaking new ground with the launch of its Cinematic Futures Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to support the creation of film in the city and sustain the festival’s filmmaker awards.
CIFF Executive Director Katherine Penhale says the fund is about ensuring long-term, reliable support for local filmmakers.
“We are able to award those filmmakers who’ve made special work—work that is really showing growth in their career,” she explained. “We’re able to give them those funds to take away.”
Penhale emphasized that sustaining the filmmaker awards is central to CIFF’s mission.
“Being able to sustain the filmmaker awards, and through that the filmmakers themselves, is really at the heart of what CIFF wants to do,” she says. “We want to make sure that people keep telling their stories through film.”
The fund officially launched on Giving Tuesday, with a generous donor pledging to match all donations made that day—up to $25,000. CIFF hopes to raise $75,000 by the end of the month.
Supporters can learn more and contribute through the CIFF website.
