Stories worth the years they take.
A documentary can take years, or sometimes lifetimes, to make. We look after the funding, so it lasts as long as the story does.
To advance the art of documentary filmmaking with a focus on authentic human experiences and their communities. CairnRidge holds and administers charitable funding for independent documentary projects, enabling these stories to reach the public.
We carry the money, not the film
Most documentary funders can only give to a charity. A film company is not one, and neither is a filmmaker, so the money never reaches them. CairnRidge can receive it on a film's behalf.
We receive it
Grants and tax-deductible gifts are made to CairnRidge for a film we have taken on. We take on work that fits the mission, rather than any project that needs a sponsor.
We look after it
The money sits in an account for that film. Spending goes against a budget set at the start, and we keep the records a funder expects.
The film stays the filmmaker's
They keep ownership, final cut, and anything the work earns.
The films we are drawn to
People, and the places they belong to
Stories about human experience and the communities that hold it.
Work that serves the community it comes from
Films made with the people in them, that reach audiences who recognize themselves, and leave something behind when the filming ends.
Filmmakers already inside the story
We lean toward the person documenting their own community. It is a disposition, not a requirement.
First film
The Miles We Carry
Two friends set out to run the World Marathon Majors together. Then one of them loses her husband, and the miles become something else entirely.
What follows is two years of training, grief, and the running and mental-wellness communities the two of them build. Principal photography is underway.
In formation, openly
CairnRidge is being set up as a New Jersey nonprofit corporation. That work is still in progress.