The IFP Labs, which offer intensive, year-long mentorship to first-time filmmakers with features in post-production and budgeted less than $1 million, has a March 1 deadline coming up. Still the only Labs focused on post-production, festival strategy, marketing, distribution and DIY strategies, the program is, I think, an invaluable resource and one of the IFP’s best activities. (Full disclosure: IFP publishes Filmmaker, and I was a creator of the IFP Narrative Labs.) In addition to the guidance and advice from Lab Leaders and professional mentors, the Labs also create a tight-knit community of filmmakers who wind up being their own best supporters as their films together launch on the festival circuit.

Past films to go through the Labs include Pariah, T(error), An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, I Believe in Unicorns, Our Nixon and more — including Donald Cried (pictured above), which premieres at SXSW next month. If you’re a first-time filmmaker with a movie in post, I can’t recommend this program more highly.