Subject Matter, an organization that provides funding and resources to nonprofit organizations and documentary films focused on pressing social issues, will award $120,000 in grants at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Winners include Sharon Riese’s investigative thriller “Seized,” the nonprofit organization Reporters Committee for a Free Press, Dawn Porter’s “When A Witness Recants,” and the nonprofit organization “Gideon’s Promise,” each of which received $30,000.
“Seized” focuses on a troubling police raid in Kansas that quickly becomes a national story. The film, told through police body cameras and surveillance footage, will premiere at the Ray Theater on January 25th and will be available to watch online at the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 29th to February 29th. 1. Matching nonprofit grants will be donated to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The commission provides free legal representation, assistance, and other legal resources to protect the rights of journalists across the country.
“When a Witness recants” investigates the wrongful imprisonment of three innocent teenagers who were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, until the truth finally comes out 36 years later. The film will premiere at the Library Center Theater on January 27th. The matching grant will go to Gideon’s Promise, a nonprofit organization that aims to transform the criminal legal system by building a movement of public defenders who provide equal justice to marginalized communities.
Subject Matter will also host a public panel discussion at Box at the Ray on January 26th at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, a conversation that will explore “what happens when the systems designed to protect us, such as local police, courts, and laws, are used to silence the truth, and how audiences can take positive community action in response to the film.” The conversation will be moderated by Fabio Bertoni, General Counsel of The New Yorker. Subject Matter will add $100 to each audience member’s donation made to any nonprofit grant organization during Sundance, up to a total of $5,000.
