AFMP IV: ANNUAL FOTOFILMIC MENTORING PROGRAM (MAY 2026 – APRIL 2027)

4th EDITION 2026/27 AFMP:
☞ FINAL APPLICATION DEADLINE: SAT., JAN. 31, 2026

Photographers from all backgrounds, nationalities, and at all stages of their artistic development and careers are invited to submit their applications to take part in the fourth edition of FotoFilmic’s Annual Mentoring Program: AFMP IV! With two successfully completed editions (AFMP I 2023/24 & AFMP II 2024/25) and the third one (AFMP III 2025/26) currently smoothly running its course (inaugural AFMP III exhibition June 27-July 25, 2026), we are thrilled to open the doors today of the fourth iteration of our yearlong, in-depth mentorship program designed to structure, strengthen and break through the creative practices of 10 growing photographers while lending their best work to date meaningful international exposure and attention.

Send your application using the form below☟ before the final Saturday, January 31st deadline for a chance to be considered this year!

VISION

Purpose-built for photographers at crucial crossroads in their artistic development and forming careers, AFMP IV will offer a small group of practitioners (10 participants total) a robust and proven, in-depth, year-long mentoring framework to materialize their fullest potential through the creation of their most ambitious bodies of work to date, and through combined final gallery presentations and an accompanying catalog publication with broad international diffusion receive a unique community platform to secure successful photographic futures.

STRUCTURE

The AFMP IV program will revolve around two intensive physical retreats with the core mentors: the first one this coming May (2026) at the FotoFilmic Space on beautiful Bowen Island, part of Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada; and the second one next November (2026) in Paris, France, where two additional guest reviewers* (tba) will join in to contribute fresh outside feedback on all developing projects midway through the program. Participants also receive a day pass to attend the Paris Photo fair, the largest international art fair dedicated to the photographic medium, and get the chance to tour the countless other prime photographic events taking place in Paris during that special photography week.

In addition to the in-person retreats, a comprehensive, well structured online schedule (nearly 50 hours total) comprising a multitude of both group and individual monthly meetings with the three core mentors facilitates continued conversations and ensures constant input and progress the rest of the year (Fall 2026, and Spring 2027). See the full schedule details below!

* Past guest reviewers have included: Lucy Conticello (M Le Monde Magazine Director of Photography), Carolyn Drake (Magnum Photos), Katy Hundertmark (Foam Magazine Managing Editor), Mimi Plumb, and Clementine Schneidermann.

OUTCOMES

With tailored guidance from the core mentors and their collaborators every step of the way, the goal for each participant will be to conceive and develop a new significant body of work to represent them ambitiously for years to come. The work will embody meaningful commentary on our contemporary moment and reality, speak to the world’s state of affairs and its pressing issues, and as such remain foundational to their artistic identity on the international photography scene for the duration of their careers. Acting as their true passport for opportunity and growth as professional photographic artists, the creation of their AFMP IV work will also drive a profound reshaping of the participants’ practices as they successfully connect to their true artistic ethos and purpose, and build the foundation and ability to execute equally ambitious future projects.

This fourth AFMP edition will culminate in 2 featured gallery exhibitions* on Bowen Island (Summer 2027, monthlong) and in Paris (November 2027 during the Paris Photo week) presenting curated edits of the participants’ final projects. Both exhibitions will be accompanied by a FotoFilmic produced printed catalog publication edited by renowned book artist and AFMP IV mentor Christian Patterson, and designed by Italian graphic designer and teacher Roberto Montani (co-founder of CH RO MO studio in Jesi, Italy). In addition to complementing the exhibitions, AMFP IV catalog copies will also be distributed generously throughout the FotoFilmic network to prominent editors, publishers, curators, writers and programmers of contemporary photographic culture around the world (North America, Europe, and Asia). The exhibitions and publication will help forge a multitude of lasting connections with influential figures of the photo world, built from the start to evolve into concrete future opportunities for work, collaboration, publication, and friendship.

* Note: to lower exhibition costs participants can get their final project prints produced in-house with FotoFilmic’s professional printer partner; attending both exhibition openings is also not mandatory.

MENTORS: LUCY CONTICELLO | STACY KRANITZ | CHRISTIAN PATTERSON

The 4th AFMP edition sees an important but no less exciting change of mentoring direction this year, as long time AFMP core mentor Elisa Medde (program editions I-III) recently took on a new leadership role at the Foto Colectania Foundation in Barcelona, Spain, where her creative plate will be quite full for the foreseeable future. In filling her shoes, we couldn’t be happier to welcome reputed photography editor and educator Lucy Conticello, director of photography at M, the celebrated weekend supplement of Le Monde, France’s most widely read daily newspaper, since 2011. Lucy will bring to the program her unique three-decade strong experience of assigning newsworthy and longer form societal projects to photographers around the world. She truly has her finger on the pulse of contemporary practice, and a more than refined understanding of the creative process involved in pairing artists with subjects and stories, helping them bring home ideas, and seeing through their context of publication and reception. We are very grateful to Lucy for lending her incredible industry experience and expert advice to AFMP IV, and look forward to having her guide the new participants’ projects from early development stages and into successful completion through the coming year!

Joining her in doing so, we are thrilled to welcome back once again leading documentary photographer, Pulitzer Prize winner (2025 for Public Service) and Guggenheim fellow (2020), Stacy Kranitz, as core mentor for this fourth edition! Stacy contributed her invaluable artistic experience, uncompromising vision and limitless talent to the second and third AFMP editions (2024-25 & 2025-26), helping 21 participants to date to develop ambitious personal projects, all successfully completed and able to speak durably, and in their own voice, to many problematic aspects of global society.
Stacy’s groundbreaking work and inaugural monograph “As It Was Give(n) To Me” (Twin Palms, 2022) placed her at the forefront of a new generation of artists rethinking the documentary tradition, and embracing the inherent limitations and flaws of photographic representation as a crucial component of contemporary storytelling. As such, Stacy has proven to be a most ideal mentor to help develop long-form projects that can also be reflective of these critical cracks in the photographer’s traditional power position.

Longtime FotoFilmic collaborator and award-winning book artist Christian Patterson will also remain a vital figure of the AFMP IV core mentoring team, joining the program midpoint from November 2026 to spearhead the concept and design of the final exhibitions and its accompanying catalog publication. Bridging the gap between the last development stage of the participants’ projects, their final edited form, and an ambitious multi-format presentation is a task that we know Christian will yet again acquit himself adeptly owing to his genuine, meticulous and perceptive creative flair. His latest monograph “Gong Co.“, a decade in the making masterpiece co-released late last year (2024) with TBW Books and Éditions Images Vevey, was shortlisted this year (2025) for the prestigious Rencontres d’Arles Author Book Award. We were also incredibly pleased to have Christian sign copies at the FotoFilmic Paris Gallery in Le Marais last November during Paris Photo week! 

MENTORS BIOGRAPHIES