Canon announced the launch of the first edition of the Canon Video Grant – Short Film Documentary, which wishes to give a videographer and/or photographer a grant of $9,000, endowed by Canon, plus the loan of a video kit.

Canon Video Grant

The Canon Video Grant – Short Film Documentary is presented to a videographer/photojournalist who wishes to cover a social, economic, political, or cultural subject in a journalistic manner. The Grant will be given to an individual videographer/photojournalist and not to a group, without any consideration of their nationality. Furthermore, the Grant is provided to allow the winner to carry out the short film documentary reportage which has been presented for the Grant. Moreover, this short film documentary should not exceed 8 minutes. “This grant aims to celebrate and support up-and-coming champions of this new age of visual storytelling by giving them funding and a platform to be heard,” says Richard Shepherd, Senior Marketing Manager, Canon Europe Pro. “Canon is also arming storytellers with the innovation they need to further propel their careers in video. Just as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II’s (now succeeded by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV) stills and video capabilities marked the beginning of a shift in the market that enabled visual storytellers to move between stills and motion, the Canon EOS R5 with 8K video takes this a step further.”

Schedule of competition

The recipient will be selected later, beginning of May by a jury made up of photography and media professionals. Applicants will be judged both upon the presentation of their project and their previous work, as well as the journalistic thoughts and relevance of the chosen subject. A first teaser will be presented in September 2020 at the grant ceremony during one of the evening screening shows of the Visa pour l’Image – Perpignan Festival. The complete and final video report will be screened in Perpignan one year later, in September 2021.

Canon is also arming storytellers with the innovation they need to further propel their careers in video. Just as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II’s (now succeeded by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV) stills and video capabilities marked the beginning of a shift in the market that enabled visual storytellers to move between stills and motion, the Canon EOS R5 with 8K video takes this a step further

Richard Shepherd, Senior Marketing Manager, Canon Europe Pro

Conditions

The conditions are as follows:

1. Applicants must have completed at least one video reportage (broadcast or not)
2. Applicants must be professional photojournalists/documentary
3. Applicants must be able to write and speak in French or English
4. Applicants will offer a clear indication of the participation of each coproducer in the financing of the project

Deadline for application: April 15, 2020. Check out the PDF, which contains the rules and application.

The prize – $9,000 plus Canon’s kit with cine lenses

The grant winner will receive $9,000, along with a loan of video kit including a Canon video camera and two cine lenses to make a short documentary of approximately eight minutes in length. Go here for the competition page.