The submission window for the 2026-27 grant competition opens Oct. 1.
The Elon University Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Funding Competition is designed to support, promote and encourage the production of original short films across all genres by Elon University Los Angeles-based alumni. This year’s funding competition, which was created and first launched in 2025, will award a grant of $3,000 to each of three LA-based Elon alumni for the production of their films in early 2027.
Submissions for funding consideration will be accepted from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. Funds awarded will come directly from contributions by Elon LA-based alumni, alumni from other geographic areas and contributions from other sources.
The 2025-26 grant competition awarded funds to Elon Los Angeles alumnae Julia Boyd ’15, Bex Evans ’16 and Mirai ’07. Their films had their world premieres last July at the sold-out Inaugural Elon University Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival, at Sony Pictures Studios, in Culver City, California. For all three filmmakers, being awarded these funds and the world premiere event have been enormously impactful, both personally and professionally.
“Winning the grant gave me the seed money, a deadline and the accountability I needed to actually produce my film,” Mirai said of her project “#StopAsianKate,” which she wrote, produced and starred in. She proudly added, “Since its premiere at Sony, my film has gone on to screen at the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts Festival, the Catalina Film Festival and the Broad Humor Festival, where we won the Audience Award.”
Boyd, who received funds for her short film “The Life and Times of,” said, “Receiving this grant allowed me to create my narrative directorial debut and tell a story that is deeply personal to me in the exact way I want to.” She wrote, directed and starred in the film. Boyd added, “I feel so buoyed by the support I received from the Elon community as I make my creative dreams a reality.”
Evans, who was awarded a production grant for her short film “Shadow Dusk,” was thrilled to get a green light for their project.
“The Elon grant gave me a great base to start making a film I’d been thinking about for years,” said Evans. “It was great for requiring accountability, giving me a framework to start from and affirming for me that this was something that I could do.”
Selected filmmakers are required to make production, performance and other opportunities available in their projects for students who are participating in the Elon University Los Angeles Spring 2027 immersive experience.
Funding award decisions will be made by a selection committee comprised of Elon University community-associated and entertainment industry-affiliated individuals. The announcement of award recipients will be made in December.
Elon alumnus Jordan Roman ’15, who co-chaired the selection committee for the 2025-26 grant competition, will serve as chair of the selection committee for this year’s competition.
“The dream was to create to a program to remove the barriers to (production) funding for our LA alumni grant recipients and to provide Elon Los Angeles students with an opportunity for hand-on learning experiences in the professional production process,” Roman said. “With such great work coming out of last year’s competition, we’re all excited to see the great submissions we’re expecting for funding consideration this year.”
The three projects selected for production will have their world premieres at a special festival screening event at Sony Pictures Studios in July 2027.
For information about the Elon University Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant Competition and for detailed submission requirements, visit the Elon Los Angeles National Campus alumni grant information page.
A conversation with last year’s grant recipients, via Zoom, will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET). The online gathering will explore how to create, craft and submit a grant award-worthy submission package with an opportunity to ask questions about the process. To receive a link to join the Zoom session, e-mail LAShortFilms@elon.edu.
For nearly 20 years, Elon University, through Study USA and National Campus Programs, has had a thriving presence in historic Hollywood, where students have an opportunity to spend a spring semester or summer core capstone program immersed in professional development-focused academic classes, experiential learning, community service and alumni engagement.