The KET Fund for Independent Production

Notice to Producers: We are now taking applications for KFIP grants to be awarded in January 2009; the application deadline is November 7, 2008. See our application guidelines for more information and an application form.

In addition to our own full slate of productions, KET supports Kentucky programs through grants to local independent filmmakers. Using funds specially allocated by the General Assembly, the KET Fund for Independent Production has been awarding grants to Kentucky-based film and video makers each biennium since 1990.

The KFIP has helped fund projects ranging from documentaries and dramatic features to animated shorts. In return, KET viewers get the first chance to see the completed works.

Coming up on our schedule are encores of the KFIP-supported film Call to War, Dorian Walker’s chronicle of two young Kentuckians’ contrasting experiences in the Civil War. One became the youngest Medal of Honor winner in history, while the other was executed for desertion after going home to help feed his starving family. • Sunday, October 12 at 3:30/2:30 pm CT and Thursday night, November 27 at 12:00 m/11:00 pm CT on KET1

Pharaoh's Army Though made primarily for regional audiences, several KFIP-supported films have gone on to air nationwide. They include Robby Henson’s Pharaoh’s Army (pictured at left), Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos’ The Spirituals and Beyond the Border, Tobacco Blues by McGinnis and Christine Fugate, Heather Lyons’ M&M Smith: For Posterity’s Sake, Walter Brock’s LAND (and how it gets that way) and If I Can’t Do It, Andy Garrison’s Wilgus Stories, and Louis Guida’s You Ain’t Seen Nothin’: Tales from the Kentucky Derby. Browse our list of KFIP-funded programs, and you’ll probably see several other familiar titles.

Kentucky was the first state to establish such a fund to support local filmmakers. Through the KFIP and other production partnerships, KET is a leader among public television stations in working with regional independents. And several individual filmmakers have gotten national recognition for their KET-supported work. But the ultimate winners, of course, are Kentucky viewers!