Quick start
- Describe your project with Match my project.
- Review the shortlist of potentially relevant funds.
- Open each fund to confirm eligibility and current application status.
- Use the stack builder to organise possible sources into a financing map.
The six filter dropdowns
Country
Narrows results to funds that explicitly list a country as eligible — either as the fund's home country or as a qualifying co-production territory. Selecting Nigeria, for example, returns all instruments open to Nigerian productions or Nigerian co-producers.
Format
Filters by the type of project: Feature film, Documentary, TV / Web series, Short film, or Animation. A fund appears only if it explicitly supports that format.
Stage
Filters by production stage: Development, Production, Post-production, or Distribution / Market. Select the stage your project is currently in.
Fund region or scope
Filters by the fund's geographic origin or scope: National (a single African country's own fund), Pan-African, European, Gulf, North American, or International. Use it to narrow to, say, only African-domiciled funds, or only European co-production funds.
Financing type
Filters by where the money sits in your financing, from least to most dilutive: Grant (money you don’t repay), Rebate (cash back on qualifying local spend), Soft loan / advance (repaid only from revenue), Loan / debt (repaid regardless), Pre-sale / broadcaster (rights sold or pre-bought for cash now), or Equity (investment for an ownership stake). A fund can appear under more than one — CEDF, for example, shows up under Grant, Loan / debt, and Equity.
Funding amount
Filters by the typical award range: Up to $25K (micro), $25K–$100K (small), $100K–$500K (mid), or $500K+ (large). Rebates and percentage-based incentives with no fixed ceiling are excluded from funding amount filters.
Search bar
The search bar at the top of the left column performs a live text search across fund names, countries, and descriptions. It works in combination with the dropdowns — you can search for "Morocco" while also filtering by Stage: Production to see only Moroccan production-stage instruments.
Reading a fund detail panel
Click any fund card in the left column to open its full detail panel on the right. The panel contains:
Badge
Two colour-coded labels showing the fund’s region and its capital-stack position — for example “National · Grant” or “Pan-African · Equity.”
Status badge
Programme status — ✅ Active: the fund is operational. ✅ ⚠️ Active (flagged): operational, but with an issue to read first. ⚠️ Partial: partially operational. ⏳ New: recently launched. ◎ Announced: not yet operational. ❌ Closed: no longer accepting applications. Application status (shown alongside programme status for Active funds) — Open: applications currently being accepted. Currently closed: this round has closed; next opening not yet announced. Closed · next [year]: closed, next cycle expected in the stated year. Always verify current status on the fund's official website before applying.
Flag alert
An amber warning box that appears when a fund has a known operational issue — a freeze, restructure, payment backlog, or eligibility restriction. Read it before including the fund in any finance plan.
Key facts
Grant range, access type (open-call vs. relationship), application cycle, and contact / website.
Eligibility
Specific conditions your project must meet to qualify — nationality of production company, director, minimum spend, etc.
Compatibility chips & "Stacks with"
At the bottom of each detail panel, the Stacks with section lists other instruments that are known to be combinable with this fund — i.e., they do not have exclusivity clauses that prevent stacking. Each chip is clickable: clicking it navigates directly to that fund's detail panel so you can evaluate the combination.
These pairings are based on AFP's research into fund rules and co-financing precedents. They are indicative, not exhaustive — always verify current fund rules before submitting.
Capital Stack Builder
Whenever the fund list has results, a Build capital stack from current results button appears in the results bar above the fund list. Click it to open the Capital Stack Builder, which takes over the right column and shows a structured advisory of how the instruments currently visible could be layered into a financing stack — arranged in the order you would typically approach them.
The stack is organised by layer — national grants, co-production mechanisms, international funds, incentives / rebates, and equity. Each layer lists the relevant instruments with their ranges. A notes section flags equity instruments that require relationship access rather than open-call applications, and highlights any gaps in the stack.
Click Close in the stack panel header to dismiss it. The stack rebuilds automatically when you change filters.
