Presented by the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc.
Eatonville
Your Camera. Their Legacy. Your Moment.
A national competition for documentary filmmakers. Seven will be selected to each produce an original short documentary about Eatonville, its people, history and living legacy, competing for a $50,000 prize pool and a premiere at the 39th ZORA!® Festival in January 2028.
October 3, 2026
Nov 15, 2026 · 11:59 PM
$75 via FilmFreeway
$50,000
“This is more than a competition. This is a movement to document legacy.”
Eatonville, Florida is not just a town. It is the first incorporated Black municipality in the United States and the birthplace of Zora Neale Hurston. This national competition invites documentary filmmakers to document, preserve and celebrate its history, its people and its enduring cultural legacy.
Seven selected filmmakers will each produce an original short documentary, competing for a $50,000 prize pool and a premiere at the 39th ZORA!® Festival in 2028. This isn’t just a competition. It’s a chance to preserve a story that helped shape American history, told by the filmmakers bold enough to tell it right.
An 18-month program across the 38th and 39th ZORA!® Festival Seasons. Executive Producer: Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.). The seven finished films become a permanent audiovisual archive of Eatonville for generations to come.
1
Pitch your short documentary on FilmFreeway. $75 application fee. Deadline 11:59 PM Eastern, November 15.
2
Selected filmmakers are revealed during the 38th ZORA!® Festival Season.
3
Develop and complete a professional short documentary. Finished films due October 31, 2027.
4
A panel with documentary film industry credentials scores every film on one standardized rubric.
5
Films screened and winners announced at the Eatonville Documentary Challenge Premiere & Awards, 39th ZORA!® Festival.
Open nationwide. You apply with a treatment; the finished film is produced after selection.
$50,000 in prizes
$25,000
$15,000
$10,000
All prizes awarded live at the Eatonville Documentary Challenge Premiere & Awards, Saturday, January 29, 2028, during the 39th ZORA!® Festival.
A celebrity panel with documentary film industry credentials scores every finished film against the same six-part rubric. All judging decisions are final.
Factual integrity, credible sources, accurate representation of Eatonville
20 PTS
Narrative arc, pacing, how the story is built from open to close
20 PTS
Visual choices, camera work, editing, lighting and sound craft
20 PTS
Who is centered, dignity and authenticity of the filmmaker’s approach
20 PTS
Unique perspective, bold approach, a voice distinct to this filmmaker
10 PTS
The feeling the film leaves after the credits roll
10 PTS
100 PTS
“Eatonville is not just a town. It is a symbol. Proof that Black self-determination is a historical reality.”
Incorporated Black municipality in the United States. Founded 1887.
Birthplace of the cultural movement that inspired Zora Neale Hurston and generations of Black writers.
Seven original documentaries preserved forever, ensuring Eatonville’s stories outlive any single generation.
CEO, Gregory Media Group, LLC
via FilmFreeway · Deadline November 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern
Questions: documentary@zorafestival.org
Executive Producer: Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)
“Research is formalized curiosity.” — Zora Neale Hurston
Deadline Nov 15
11:59 PM Eastern · $75 application fee · Submit your treatment on FilmFreeway
