AXS Film Fund announced the six recipients of its sixth annual production grants on Wednesday, bringing the nonprofit’s cumulative impact to $262,000 in grants awarded across 29 nonfiction creators of color living with disabilities.
Founded by Jason DaSilva in 2020 in the wake of a societal reckoning that heightened awareness of inequities in film and TV, AXS Film Fund this year is awarding Patrick G. Lee’s “Becoming, Becoming,” Cameron S. Mitchell’s “Disposable Humanity,” Seon Shim’s “Dreamin’ Cats,” Jules Rosskam’s “Study and Struggle,” Alan Domínguez’s “The House of Our Memory” and Maya Pen’s “A Face for a Thousand Heroes.”
“As one shining star in the constellation of AXS Lab, alongside initiatives such as AXS Map, the AXS Film Fund ensures that stories at the intersection of film, technology, disability and social change do not simply exist, but are seen, supported and celebrated,” DaSilva said in a statement.
The fund’s 2025 open call drew 250 applications, including 201 feature-length documentary projects and 49 nonfiction new media projects. Six projects received funding following review by an external panel.
Naomi Middleton, program director of the AXS Film Fund, acknowledged the competitive landscape.
“It has been an honor to be a part of the AXS Film Fund and watch it evolve from its inception,” she said. “It is a privilege to collaborate with such a talented community of creators. While we can only fund a fraction of the project grant applications we receive, the volume of essential, timely stories and unique perspectives deserves to be heard.”
The 2025 review panel included Brenda Avila-Hanna, Neha Aziz, Chica Barbosa, Libby Chun, Bedatri Datta Choudhury, Tania Dominguez-Rangel, Czarina Garcia, Fay Ginsberg, Jarrad Henderson, Aya Nimer, Jane Nunez, Zuri Obi, Dr. Grishma Shah, Jordain Searles, Kristal Sotomayor, Rachel Summers, Robert Winn, Paige Wood and Veronica Wood.
Applications for the 2026 funding cycle are open through July 31 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. Details are available at axsfilmfund.org.
AXS Lab programs receive support from The Bertha Foundation, Jerome Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts with backing from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The film fund also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Learn about about the sixth annual fund recipients below:
“A Face for a Thousand Heroes” (New Media Project)
Directed & produced by: Maya Pen
Synopsis: This interdisciplinary project transforms personal disability narratives into mythical landscapes, reimagining the origins of our “broken” bodies beyond internalized colonial influence. Told through short episodes, handmade artifacts and written tales, the work will be presented as an immersive exhibition and ultimately archived and released on its own immersive site.
“Becoming, Becoming”
Directed & produced by: Patrick G. Lee
Logline: “Becoming, Becoming” follows two openly trans best friends in Seoul, Korea, as they explore gender, seek belonging and manifest their future as part of a chosen family of nightlife performers.
“Disposable Humanity“
Directed by: Cameron S. Mitchell
Produced by: Cameron S. Mitchell and David T. Mitchell
Executive produced by: Steve Way and Nic Novicki
Logline: The Mitchell family investigates the history and memory of the Nazi Aktion T4 program, which targeted disabled people and catalyzed the Holocaust.
“Dreamin’ Cats” (working title)
Directed & produced by: Seon Shim
Logline: Dreamin’ Cats traces the lives of autistic and developmentally disabled artists in Seoul, linked less by direct contact than by the same subway lines, art spaces and a quiet current of han, as they navigate precarity and imagine livable futures within an ableist city.
“Study and Struggle“
Directed by: Jules Rosskam
Produced by: Julianna Brannum
Logline: Beginning in coastal Connecticut and moving west across the United States, “Study and Struggle” explores how land, learning and power became intertwined in the making of modern universities.
“The House of Our Memory”
Directed & produced by: Alan Domínguez
Logline: In the landscapes of northern New Mexico, a Vietnam veteran and artist reckons with the trauma of war while his filmmaker son returns to the sites of childhood clergy abuse. Through Super 8 home movies, art and intimate acts of remembrance, “The House of Our Memory” becomes a lyrical exploration of masculinity, intergenerational trauma and the search for healing.
