Join our newsletter!

Get Funded

Get Funded

You have a powerful story to tell—let’s bring it to life together. We offer development and co-production funds for short and feature documentaries.

EXPLORE OUR PROGRAMS

Our Funds

Open Call

Open Call

Not currently accepting applications

Up to $400k in funding for features and $50k for shorts in co-production support and creative development.

View Open Call

Development Fund

Not currently accepting applications

Up to $35k in early-stage funding for nonfiction projects 30, 60, or 90 minutes in length, and full funding proposal feedback.
Working With Us
Documentaries
Documentaries

As the leading incubator and funder of independent documentaries, ITVS has co-produced over 1,800 projects since our founding in 1988.

EXPLORE OUR DOCUMENTARIES
Featured Film

Home Court

Home Court

Home Court traces the ascent of Ashley Chea, a basketball prodigy whose life intensifies amid recruitment, injury, and triumph throughout her high school career.

Our Work

Where We Stream
About
About ITVS

We amplify powerful stories and voices that represent the breadth of our communities across America.

Read More About ITVS
Who We Are
Search

On the Border of Desperation

Poverty, violence, and extreme conditions in Kurdistan, Iran, are forcing Kurds like Tala into petrol smuggling over the border to Iraq at great risk.

Premiere Date

June 14, 2009

Length

60 minutes

Funding Type

Co-Production

Nima Sarvestani

Producer/Director

Nima Sarvestani started his career as a journalist in Iran and has been concentrating on documentary filmmaking since moving to Sweden in 1984. Focusing on social and political issues, he is inspired by those who fight passionately for their cause. He directed Dead Man’s Guest (2003), Naked and Wind (2002), Many Years Later (1999), and The Evil Cycle (1998), Iranian Kidney Bargain Sale (2006), and On the Border of Desperation (2008). I Was Worth 50 Sheep is his latest production.