About the Program

The Ash Christian Shorts Filmmaking Program honors the distinguished career and legacy of former PIFF advisory board member Ash Christian who tragically passed away at the age of 35.

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Ash’s first film, FAT GIRLS, premiered at the Provincetown Film Festival when Ash was only 20 years old. Since then, he has been a close friend to the festival, premiering several of his films here over the years, joining our advisory board, and co-producing our annual film financing forum, and drawing upon his vast networks of industry leaders to mentor and support the work of underserved filmmakers.

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Upon his death in the fall of 2020, friends, colleagues, family members, and other principals in his company Cranium Entertainment approached the film society about serving as the fiscal sponsors to a shorts filmmaking program that Ash was already in the process of organizing.

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Since announcing the program, nearly $30,000 in pledges and donations have been raised, including funds from Ash’s mother, who donated Ash’s SAG residuals to the program; almost 100 industry professionals have agreed to serve as mentors, a mentorship library with interviews covering a wide range of topics has been set up; Camp Lightbulb has agreed to host workshops; and after engaging in a submission process and several interviews, the first annual fellowship was awarded to San Kann.

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As part of the fellowship program, the filmmaker is invited to attend the festival and stay at the Mary Heaton Vorse House with a planned screening at the same venue.

Currently, submissions are closed.  If you are interested in receiving updates about our next grant cycle, please provide your name and email address.