The Micheaux Fellowship
An intensive cohort taking first time feature filmmakers to their debut. Mentorship, production support, financing guidance, one film at a time.
The Oscar Micheaux Film & Media Institute
Talent is everywhere. Access is not.
The Oscar Micheaux Film & Media Institute is in its founding phase. Opening in Los Angeles, 2028 to 2029.
The Legacy
Oscar Micheaux American, 1884–1951
Author · Producer · Distributor · Owner
Hollywood had no door for him. So he built the house.
The first major Black feature filmmaker in America. Shut out by Hollywood, he wrote, produced, distributed, and owned more than forty films, selling shares farm to farm and church to church.
The Vision
An institution for the storytellers the industry has not learned to see.
We close the gap between being discovered and building a career.
- Discovery
- A moment. A screening, an award, a room that finally says yes.
- A career
- Infrastructure. Mentorship, craft, capital, community, and ownership.
- The Institute
- The structure between the two, built in his name, deliberately, in public.
The Missing Middle
No film school. No mentor. No way in yet.
The field calls them hard to reach. We call them the point.
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Talent without credentials
No MFA, no connections, no map.
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Voices rarely reached
Storytellers from foster care and the justice system.
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Stories found nowhere else
Young people whose voices aren't in any writers' room yet.
From Festival to Institute
The festival grew into an institution.
2018
The festival is founded
The Micheaux Film Festival opens in Los Angeles, a stage built for filmmakers the industry overlooked.
2026
The transition begins
The festival pauses and begins its next chapter within the Institute.
Next
The Institute opens
The festival becomes one of its programs.
25,000+Guests served
1,000+Filmmakers showcased
Est. 2018The festival
2025 Micheaux Film Festival The Culver Theater
The festival creates the moment of discovery. The Institute turns that moment into a career.
Past partners include
The Model
Programs
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Executives and Creatives to Know
Pilot program -
The Micheaux Cinema Project
In development -
Industry Path
In development -
Ownership Track
In development
Impact & Community
The work is already in the room.
Social change storytelling is our founding instinct. Year round, we mentor young people experiencing homelessness, with guest speakers from across the industry. Some have already worked the festival from the inside.
The Founders' Wall
It is being built now.
Our founders' wall is still blank. The people who fund, advise, and build it over the next two years will be on it for decades.
Founders' Wall
The first names are being written now.
Begin the Conversation
Donate
The Institute operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Riggle Me That Productions, a 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions are made to Riggle Me That Productions and restricted to the Oscar Micheaux Film & Media Institute.
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Founding Partners
Studios and companies ready to put their infrastructure behind the pipeline.
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Funders
Philanthropies and individuals building an institution, not sponsoring an event.
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Advisors
Industry leaders joining the founding advisory circle.
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Storytellers
If you see yourself in the missing middle, we are building this for you.
The Institute concept rendering
Los Angeles.
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