SAN JOSE, Calif.—Adobe today announced 10 filmmakers will receive a combined $1 million in grants and introduced a new Film & TV Fund Board including several influential entertainment leaders.
The company launched its Adobe Film & TV Fund in 2024. To date, more than 1,000 creators have received support in the form of fellowships, financial support, mentorship and access to its professional creative tools. Adobe has worked with partners, including Gold House, Rideback RISE and Sundance Institute, to assist filmmakers.
Earlier in 2026, Adobe announced a new way for filmmakers to receive funding from the nearly $10 million it has pledged this year. The $1 million in grants for Adobe’s “inaugural cohort” of recipients puts “resources behind filmmakers and their projects at a stage when development funding can determine whether an idea moves toward production,” the company said in its announcement.
Recipients will also have access to Adobe’s professional creative tools, including Premiere and Firefly to assist in their creative process.
The work of the 10 filmmakers receiving the direct grants spans narrative features, documentaries, shorts and student films. Nominations were submitted by industry and community organizations. Adobe chose recipients with input from its fund’s advisory board.
Recipients include:
Narrative Features
- Austin Everett, writer-director. A two-time Black List writer and one of Variety's 10 Screenwriters to Watch, Everett has three features in development with Columbia Pictures, Lionsgate and TriStar. His directorial debut, “Akiya,” is a horror film starring Karen Fukuhara and Robbie Amell about a couple whose new home in rural Japan is haunted by spirits.
- Lara Everly, director. An award-winning director working across narrative and branded content, Everly brings humor to unexpected stories. Her feature, “Reconstructing Charlie,” adapted from her short film, follows a woman navigating an early breast cancer diagnosis.
Documentary Features
- Sue Ding, director. A 2026 Creative Capital Awardee whose short documentaries have premiered at SXSW, IDFA and True/False, Ding explores the Asian-American teens who shaped Southern California's 1990s import car culture in “Rice Rocket Revolution.”
- Molly Gillis, filmmaker. A New York Times video editor whose award-winning shorts have screened at SXSW, Outfest and Palm Springs ShortFest, Gillis follows American comedians performing solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in “Fringe.”
Shorts
- Jasmine J. Johnson, director, writer and producer. Johnson's shorts have screened at SXSW and Tribeca with support from Tribeca, Chanel and The Gotham. Her film “BREAK” follows a young surfer whose painful accident goes viral without her consent.
- Gabriela Garcia Medina, filmmaker. A two-time Tribeca fellow and alum of the Academy Film Accelerator and Film Independent Directing Lab, Garcia Medina tells the story of an upbeat Uber driver saving to reunite her family in the U.S. in “Cuqui.”
- Maria Burton, director. Having directed six independent features and recognized as one of Variety's "Talent to Watch," Burton explores the story of Jerrie Cobb, one of the first women tested for spaceflight, in “How High the Moon.”
- Spencer Jamison, filmmaker. A Film Independent Episodic Lab fellow featured in CAA's showcase of rising Black filmmakers, Jamison explores family and grief in “Numinia,” following a musician who inherits her grandparents' home.
Student Films
- Djibril Keita, filmmaker. An NYU Tisch graduate film student raised in Mali and the United States, Keita explores identity and technology in “Verified,” following a delivery driver locked out of his work app after an accident changes his face.
- Olajide “Kay” Hamed, writer, director and producer. An MFA directing candidate at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Hamed explores Booker T. Washington's historic 1901 dinner with Theodore Roosevelt in “Dinner at the White House.”
Adobe’s Film & TV Fund Advisory Board includes:
- Jon Mone, film producer, founder and CEO; former Universal Pictures production executive.
- Kerstin Emhoff, Emmy-winning producer, co-founder and CEO of PRETTYBIRD and Ventureland.
- Lena Waithe, Emmy-winning writer, producer, actor and founder of Hillman Grad.
- Phil Sun, founder and CEO of 1v1 Entertainment; co-founder and managing partner, M88.
- Reggie Hudlin, Oscar-nominated producer, director, president of Hudlin Entertainment; former president of entertainment of BET.
- Sophia Rzankowski, executive, Superconnector Studios.
- Stacy Smith, founder, USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative; USC professor.
- Stacy Martinet, Chief Content and Creative Officer, Adobe.
- Stacey Walker King, Chief Brand Officer, MACRO.
More information is available on the company’s website.
