What is The Big Tell?
The Big Tell is a regional filmmaking program offering grants for the production of 5-minute short documentaries that feature stories from California’s great Central Valley.
Community Media Access Collaborative will award ten grants of $5,000 each for the creation of short films about the amazing people, places, and activities that make the Central Valley so remarkable.
Winners will have 3 months to complete their short film, and will receive one-on-one mentorship from Emmy-nominated documentarian Sascha Rice.
The Big Tell 2022 is presented by the James B. McClatchy Foundation and the Central Valley Community Foundation with support from CMAC.
Apply Now!
Applications close July 12th, 2022.
Helpful Links:
- Learn more at: TheBigTell.org
- Click here for FAQs
- Click here to register for Q&A on May 31 at 5pm
- Click here for application form
2022 Timeline:
The Big Tell 2021
Click on an image below to view each 5-minute film.
Mi Elotero | My Corn Man
Kaweah Kweens
Not Just any Restaurant
Stan Bitters: Ceramics Wizard
Hope in a Basket
Little Big Gym
Beyond the Basket
The Arts, The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Mammoths in Madera
Good Fire
Click below to view interviews with each of the filmmakers as they appeared on KSEE24's Central Valley Today.
Beyond the Basket | Jennifer Robin
The Arts, The Gift That Keeps on Giving | Jeremy Miller
Kaweah Kweens | Zach Green Films
Not Just Any Restaurant | Matt Mealer
Little Big Gym | Rigoberto Moran
Stan Bitters: Cermaics Wizard | Ed Goto
Mi Elotero | Carolina De La Torre
Good Fire | Erica Tom
Mammoths in Madera?! | Eddie Garcia
Hope in a Basket | Chad Saechao
The Big Tell 2020
Click on an image below to view each 5-minute film.
Famously Unknown
On the Edge
Lemoore, CA: Surfing Capital of the Central Valley
Pintor Diego
Our Daily Bread: The Last Panadero
#Blackgirlmagic
The Steam
Liminal
BEEware
Love in Anxiety
The Big Tell 2019
Click on an image below to view each 5-minute film.
Capital G
The Spirit of Traditional Dances
Family Rx
Mariposa is Music!
100 Years of Suffrage
N.$.D.
Peacock: Exeter, The Anti-Filipino Riot
Professional AND Skater
Remembering Trevor
Story Queens
The Big Tell 2018
Click on an image below to view each 5-minute film.
The Oasis in the Sun
Field of Murals
Ichi, Ni, San, SHE! (How to Throw Like a Girl)
One Step at a Time
Just Stuff
Needle & Thread
SEVA
Raisins Made with Love
Transformation in the Central Valley
Preying on Innocents
The Big Tell 2017
Click on an image below to view each 5-minute film.
On the Banks of El Canal
Road to Hope
Joaquin Murrieta: Tradition and Culture
The Promise
Forgotten Veterans of the Vietnam War Guerilla Units
The Blessing and the Curse
Literacy Empowers
59 Days of Code
Unbound
