The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film today announced an expanded 2013 grant program that now includes an award for short-short documentary filmmaking. In addition to their third annual call for documentary photography submissions, the foundation is now seeking outstanding entries in social documentary film focusing on the lives and populations ravaged by war, famine, disease, poverty, religious persecution, political oppression, forced migration and other human injustices.

“The addition of documentary film to our grant programs is a natural progression for the foundation,” says Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, foundation Founder and President. “Expanding beyond still images to moving pictures brings us full circle within the realm of documentary reportage and maximizes our impact on effecting change and social justice through journalistic humanitarianism.”

The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film is a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit Organization committed to positive social discourse in underrepresented communities throughout the world by encouraging emerging and established photographers working in around the world to keep their lenses fixed on the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Headquartered in New York, with a presence in Paris and Zurich, the foundation is a charitable trust serving the international photographic community through exhibitions, publishing, grants, and other curatorial projects.

Established in 2010, the foundation aims to encourage a new generation of photographers, armed with only a camera and a vision of a better world, to take to the streets every day and document humanity on the move.