International Initiative

ITVS International is looking for single documentaries with powerful global stories that inform, inspire, and connect the U.S. to the world at large. We fund documentaries from all points of view that engage American audiences and expand civic participation by bringing diverse voices into the public sphere.

We embrace projects from every part of the world, including places that are lesser known to U.S. audiences or seldom represented on U.S. television. We especially encourage producers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East to apply for funding, and for projects that that support our Women and Girls Lead Campaign and our Diverse Muslim Voices Project.

ITVS International premieres funded documentaries on U.S television and new media platforms, engaging viewers and maximizing impact through national promotion and educational outreach campaigns. In certain cases, we may ask for rights outside the U.S.

For this highly competitive fund, a documentary must feature content that matches the ITVS International mission and excels in the art of storytelling. See our evaluation criteria.

These are a sampling of documentaries have been funded by ITVS International. To see the complete list of projects funded, visit the Global Perspectives Project page.

	74 Square Meters A social experiment that moves marginalized families into a middle class neighborhood in Valparaiso, Chile.
	Avant In Uruguay, a forgotten national ballet company performing in a half-finished theater is shaken into life by the arrival of Julio Bocca, one of the best ballet dancers of all time.
	The English Surgeon A British neurosurgeon confronts the dilemmas of the doctor-patient relationship on his latest mission to Ukraine.
	I Was Worth 50 Sheep Sabere was just 10 years old when she was sold to a man in his fifties. For the next six years she was both slave and wife, miscarrying four times. Now 16, she is fighting for her freedom.
	Invoking Justice Muslim women from a small town in South India deliver justice in their own courts, posing a radical challenge to their traditional Muslim community and clergy.
	Last Train Home Set against the backdrop of the world’s largest annual human migration, Last Train Home follows the Zhang family who travel home on Chinese New Year to reunite with their teenage daughter.
	Peace vs Justice Peace vs Justice takes place in Uganda and at The Hague and tells the story of the miscommunication between two cultures and their different perceptions of justice.
	Putin's Kiss Nashi is an increasingly popular political youth organization with direct ties to the Kremlin. Officially, its goal is to support the current political system by creating a future elite among the brightest and most loyal Russian teenagers. But their agenda is also to keep the political opposition from spreading their views among the Russians.
	This is My Picture When I was Dead An imaginative look at what happens after four-year-old Bashir comes back to life after the assassination of him and his father, a top PLO lieutenant.
	Waltz With Bashir Written and directed by Ari Folman, this animated feature relates Folman’s struggle to come to terms with his role in the 1982 Lebanon War.