FILM ARTS FOUNDATION
In 1976, ten San Francisco filmmakers pooled their resources to buy, and share, a film editing machine. Film Arts Foundation, the organization that grew from that original ten, today serves over 3,400 members working in all genres, styles, and formats. Film Arts members have earned five Oscars®, over 30 Oscar nominations, over 20 Sundance Film Festival awards, and countless more film and broadcast honors. Long recognized as the leading Bay Area organization of independent filmmakers and an example for nonprofit film groups nationally, Film Arts offers a comprehensive range of support services for independents. After nearly three decades of supporting independent voices in the media, Film Arts recognizes that the challenges ahead are more important, and exciting, than ever.

FRAMELINE
When people think of LGBT film, they think of Frameline. For a quarter century, Frameline has pioneered the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender images. As the proud producer of the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Frameline is looked to worldwide for new films, emerging talent, and cultural trends. The Festival, the first event of its kind, has a ticketed attendance of over 80,000, making it the largest LGBT film festival—and one of the largest film festivals of any kind—in the world. The Horizons/Frameline Film & Video Completion Fund, which assists artists in the final stages of production, has guided over 70 films to the screen. The only national distributor solely dedicated to the promotion of LGBT film and video, Frameline distributes over 150 titles, leading the way in educating the general public on issues of sexuality and gender.

CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA
The Center for Asian American Media (formerly NAATA) has set the standard in Asian Pacific American media since 1980. Through the annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and various national public television broadcasts, NAATA counteracts the exclusion and distortion of Asian Pacific American lives on TV and in movies. NAATA’s Media Fund has given out $3 million for the production and completion of films that convey a diversity of experience, and NAATA’s distribution arm helps filmmakers reach the educational market. Year-round public screenings and workshops showcase new Asian American film and video artists and examine the creative process of filmmaking. By providing so many different services to filmmakers and audiences, NAATA plays a unique and indispensable role among Asian American media groups in this country.

SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
The first and largest festival of its kind, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival has inspired over 60 similar events in the U.S. and over 100 around the world, playing a key role in the promotion of Jewish film and video everywhere. The festival is renowned for programming films that raise questions and catalyze audiences to consider what it means to be Jewish in today’s world. The festival’s New Jewish Filmmaker Project helps Bay Area Jewish teenagers express their viewpoints by training them in 16mm film production. As the publisher of Independent Jewish Film: A Resource Guide, the festival disseminates information on every title they have ever screened, along with in-depth articles and extensive resources for filmmakers, researchers, and film buffs alike.

CANYON CINEMA is an artist-run organization dedicated to the preservation of film as an art form. Since its grassroots origins in 1967, Canyon has distributed alternative cinema, including many rare and archival prints, to schools, museums, community centers, and film festivals. Canyon’s catalog is an indispensable source for experimental film history, relied on for research and course development by educators around the world.

NAMAC, the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, provides programs and services to a national membership composed of nonprofit media centers, production companies, university film departments, museums, film festivals, archives, community access TV stations, and others dedicated to encouraging the media arts. NAMAC is an active participant in the cultural policy debates that affect independent media at the local, state, and federal level.

SAN FRANCISCO CINEMATHEQUE, founded in 1961, brings experimental cinema to audiences in search of fresh voices and visions. Screening upwards of 500 cutting-edge works every year, Cinematheque remains committed to the films and videos of lesser-known artists, the works of acknowledged avant-garde masters, and the ongoing examination of experimental cinema’s history, meanings, and messages.

TILT, Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools, is the newest member of the Bay Area media community. TILT’s media literacy programs combine technical training and hands-on experience to teach underprivileged youth how to critically understand and create media messages. By offering affordable workshops to schools, after-school programs, and community organizations, TILT helps students find the voices to tell their own stories.