Roy W. Dean Grant Spring 2026 Finalists

The Jollytologist® is a joyful and moving documentary about Allen Klein, the “scientist of joy,” whose life and work reveal the healing power of humor. In a world that often feels heavy, Allen shows us how laughter, positivity, and everyday “mini-miracles” can help us move through grief, hardship, and uncertainty. More than a portrait of one man, the film is an invitation to find light, connection, and hope in challenging times.

Urban Canvas: From The Underground Up is a feature documentary exploring the evolution of graffiti from an underground act of expression to a globally recognized art form. Through the voices of legendary writers, contemporary artists, and community leaders, the film examines themes of identity, culture, resilience, and creative transformation while preserving the stories of those who helped shape a movement that continues to redefine public space and artistic expression.

This hybrid documentary/narrative film tells the story of an Irish family who take on a multinational corporation and their own government to expose industrial pollution devastating their community. It combines investigative storytelling with narrative cinema to create deeply human stakes, making it both urgent and universally relatable.

The Marilyn 100 documentary – Journey to Truth: Inside the Marilyn Investigation follows producer and longtime Marilyn researcher Nina Boski as she reexamines the life and death of Marilyn Monroe 100 years after her birth. Through interviews with forensic experts, historians, mental health professionals, and newly examined evidence, the documentary challenges decades of myths and conspiracy theories to uncover a more human truth. Beyond the mystery, it explores trauma, addiction, resilience, and the power of healing—revealing how Marilyn’s story continues to offer hope, understanding, and lessons for those facing today’s mental health challenges. The Truth Will Be Known.

Erik Erazo is the Lowrider Teacher, an impassioned educator and lowriding advocate based in Kansas, who is transforming his after-school program into a national movement.

THE CALL is a visualization. Palestinians call us from the homeland to tell us that Palestine has just been liberated. Each call reveals that the occupation is over.

WHEN AGE MEETS AUDACITY, THE WISDOM YEARS REVEALS EXTRAORDINARY SENIORS WHO PROVE THAT WISDOM ISN’T QUIET—IT’S FEARLESS.

In a 9-part docuseries “The Wisdom Years” redefines aging as activism and empowerment—spotlighting real seniors who are not fading quietly into the background but boldly stepping into their truth, purpose, and power. A high-concept, gritty, emotional, and sometimes shocking series showcasing seniors who defy fear, age, and convention to do what’s right when others stand down.

A final domino game becomes an unlikely life lesson and life line for a shot caller and a short timer in the throes of the prison system.

Director Andre Rodriguez Sr. discovered 3D animation while incarcerated, sparking a 20-year studio career. His 12-minute 3D animated drama, Double Smooth, is an homage to the mentors who guided him. The film aims to humanize those rendered invisible by the prison system, exploring how one maintains humanity in an environment designed to erase it. Through the lens of a final domino game, the project highlights how mentorship can preserve a person’s spirit and secure their second chance at life.

A grieving widowed father thinks love is behind him-until his teen daughter secretly signs him up for online dating. As he stumbles through a string of hilariously awkward dates, he discovers that healing sometimes arrives through unexpected encounters and the courage to trust and open his heart again.

7-Day Free Trial is a faith-forward dramedy that explores how healing, humor, and second chances often arrive when we least expect them.

Based on a true story, it reflects real life experience in marriage, loss, parenting, and faith. At a time when many people feel isolated or overwhelmed, this project creates space for laughter, empathy and meaningful conversations.

We taught ourselves to stop saying “that’s not fair.” Kids never got the memo. Kids Got Rights travels the length of Los Angeles — from Malibu to South LA — asking children one question adults forgot: what does it feel like when your rights are missing? Through intimate vérité encounters and a traveling Truth Booth where children speak freely on their own terms, the film listens to what they know about Housing, Safety, Dignity, Equality, and Agency — before the grown-up noise rushes in. Five stop-motion animated fables give them the last word. In the tradition of Pasolini’s Comizi D’Amore, this is documentary as living conversation — candid, cinematic, and caught in the moment.

In the wake of her son’s overdose death, a mother brings his ashes to the Ganges, where her search for peace becomes a profound reflection on grief, fate, and the urgent need to protect what is sacred.

American Orange is a feature documentary investigating the hidden toxic legacy beneath Mission, Texas—a celebrated citrus town where some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals were manufactured alongside homes, schools, and families. Filmmaker Laura Perez returned home to document her community’s fight for answers, only to have her investigation become entangled in a landmark lawsuit. Forced to shelve the project for years, she now returns to uncover a story of environmental injustice, corporate accountability, and a toxic legacy that continues to echo through generations.

A struggling artist’s sugar daddy finances her art and new studio—until her latest series of hyper-stylized dioramas of murdered male dolls fractures their transactional relationship, igniting a slow, unsettling psychological spiral over power and creative control.

Through the lens of a post-conviction case, the feature documentary follows 81-year-old storyteller, grandmother, and private investigator, Kitty Hailey, as she takes us behind the scenes in the fight to free the wrongfully convicted, offering a rare look at the investigative process, its ethical challenges, and the unwavering pursuit of justice.

The Invisible Cost of Powering the Internet is a documentary short that follows farmers, environmental justice advocates, and everyday people in Illinois as they reckon with the rapid arrival of data centers. Data center companies cool their servers with freshwater, building massive warehouses atop farmland and ecosystems, powered by fossil fuels and paid for by everyday ratepayers. Across the Great Lakes Basin, coalitions championing the POWER Act and organizations like the Alliance for the Great Lakes are fighting to hold data centers accountable before it’s too late.

Twenty-five years after filming two young boys selling newspapers on the streets of Mumbai, filmmaker Sunil Sadarangani — now living in the U.S. and never having forgotten them — journeys back to find out what became of their lives.

In this feature follow-up to Nimble Feet, filmmaker Sunil Sadarangani will return to the Mumbai streets where Ajay and Laxman once sold newspapers, carrying the original footage that has stayed with him for 25 years. As the search widens, the film will become both an investigation and a cathartic journey for Sunil to discover what became of the boys, their lives, and the hopes they carried as children.

DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL is a dark romantic dramedy exploring dating culture and our desperation to connect, often mistaking rushed physical intimacy for true love. Our protagonist Sarita is on a date at a carnival with John, who wins her a fish at one of the carnie games. Shortly after , following a rushed sexual encounter on the fairground, the fish nearly dies. Her date grows distant and decides to end the evening there. Sarita goes home defeated, placing the fish in a jar and labeling it JOHN, and as we pull out, we reveal hundreds of fishes with hundreds of names. Is it insanity, doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, or is it the reality of dating in 2026?

A suburban mom with terminal cancer turns to psilocybin therapy to confront her fear of mortality.