ALT EFF’s Environmental Film Fund Wants Stories From India’s Most Overlooked Regions

The All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) has announced a major new initiative for documentary filmmakers in India. Supported by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, the ALT EFF Film Fund will provide a total corpus of ₹1.2 crore to support three Indian documentary projects exploring the theme of 'Coexistence.' The fund is one of the largest environmental film funding initiatives in the country and is designed to support filmmakers from the early stages of development through production, impact campaigns, and eventual distribution. According to ALT EFF, the goal is to help environmental stories from India reach wider audiences while giving filmmakers access to resources that can strengthen both the films and their long-term social impact.

The theme for the 2026 edition asks: how do humans coexist within nature? The fund is looking for films that explore the complex relationships between people, wildlife, ecosystems, agriculture, and changing environments. ALT EFF says coexistence sits at the intersection of ecology, policy, culture, and everyday life, shaping decisions about conservation, development, and livelihoods. The organisers are especially interested in stories that move beyond familiar wildlife narratives involving tigers, elephants, or leopards. Instead, they hope to support unusual and underreported stories that reveal unexpected forms of human-nature relationships. The fund will also prioritise projects that represent geographically and socio-economically diverse perspectives, with a particular focus on Tier-2 locations and communities that remain underrepresented in Indian and international environmental cinema

Filmmakers can apply through two established documentary platforms: Greenstories and DocedgeKolkata. Applications for Greenstories opened on May 1 and close on June 30, 2026. Selected projects will be announced on September 1 before participating in Greenstories, a week-long environmental documentary lab taking place in Goa from November 11 to 17. Described as Asia’s first wildlife and environment documentary lab, Greenstories connects filmmakers with more than 25 international broadcasters, distributors, foundations, and festival organisers. Participants will receive intensive mentorship focused on visual storytelling, narrative development, pitching, and industry engagement. A second application round through DocedgeKolkata will run from November 1 to December 10, 2026, with the forum scheduled for March 2027.

The fund offers far more than financial support. Selected filmmakers will receive mentorship, training, impact campaign design assistance, and distribution guidance throughout the filmmaking process. ALT EFF will also host the world premieres of the completed films and support their journeys through international festivals. Ten percent of each grant has been reserved specifically for impact producing, helping filmmakers build campaigns that can extend conversations beyond the screen and into communities, policy discussions, and public engagement. The initiative builds on ALT EFF’s growing role in environmental storytelling. Since launching in 2020, the festival has expanded into one of the world’s largest decentralised environmental film festivals, bringing climate and conservation stories to audiences across India and beyond.

Follow ALT EFF here and apply via Greenstories here.

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