Amongst last year's grantees were a handful of projects we've been following since then – Buddha of Africa (a working title), a South Africa/Malawi production, and The Supreme Price – a USA/Nigeria production; there were 2 or 3 others as I recall.
Skimming over this year's list, I can see that there are, once again, a handful of projects that will be of specific interest to this blog – like Yoruba Richen's The New Black, which we're already following.
I should also note that Nekisa Cooper, producer of Pariah, was awarded the the first Creative Producer grant from Chicken and Egg Pictures last year at the Sundance Film Festival – a $10,000 award!
I'll take a much closer look at the list later, and return to share any individual highlights. It's always exciting to learn about new, upcoming projects.
In the meantime, feel free to go through the selections yourself via press release below:
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009, there are only four doctors left in America providing late-term abortions. With unprecedented access, After Tiller goes inside the lives of these physicians working at the center of the storm.
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS by Grace Lee*
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Grace Lee Boggs is a Chinese American activist and philosopher in Detroit dedicated to social change and building a more just future for all of humanity. At age 97, her vision of the next American revolution may surprise you.
(Production, I Believe In You Grant)
BLACKOUT, Director Eva Weber*
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Can’t Stop The Water tells the story of a tiny island deep in the bayous of south Louisiana called Isle de Jean Charles, and its Native American Cajun residents. Overwhelmed by a host of environmental problems, including coastal erosion, sea level rise from global warming, and oil company and government canals, the community fights to save their culture as their land washes away.
CHESHIRE, OHIO, Director Eve Morgenstern*
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
A gun toting 83-year old woman refuses to sell her house to the power plant next door, but the plant has moved ahead with their 20 million dollar deal to buy out most of small town Cheshire, Ohio and bulldoze all the homes. What happened in this Ohio River town overrun by one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the world?
HOW TO BECOME AN EXTREME ACTION HERO, Director Catherine Gund
(Development, Hybrid, I Believe In You Grant)
How do we make decisions about our love life? The result is an exploration of love through re-enactments of our past memories and of our inner dialogues about our future.
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
The New Black uncovers the complicated and often combative histories of the African-American and LGBT civil-rights movements. Specifically, the film examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar–the black church, and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Más Hijos Por Vida uncovers the contested history of sterilizations of Mexican American women during the 1960s and 70s at Los Angeles County Hospital, and how a group of mothers, young lawyers and activists, and a whistle-blowing doctor stood up in the name of justice.
PEACEKEEPERS, Directors Geeta Gandbhir, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Perri Peltz
(Development, I Believe In You Grant)
Following an all female unit of UN peacekeepers from India to Liberia, Peacekeepers aims to raise awareness about the role of women in UN peacekeeping missions, as well as the unique contribution they make in crisis situations, from inspiring trust among female victims to acting as positive role models in communities facing instability.
PRIVATE VIOLENCE, Director Cynthia Hill
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Private Violence follows four women experiencing domestic abuse, and the advocates and activists that support them, portraying the complicated pathway from victim to survivor.
REMOTE AREA MEDICAL, Directors Farihah Zaman and Jeff Reichert
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
Over just three days in April 2012, Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit “no-cost” health care clinic, treated nearly 2000 patients on a local racetrack in Bristol, Tennessee, bringing to light the daily struggles and human cost of America's broken health care system.
SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY, Director Mary Dore
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
She's Beautiful When She's Angry tells the dramatic story of the young activists who founded the women's liberation movement. Brimming with personal stories, dramatic re-enactments and humor, the film shows the birth of a tempestuous, far-reaching movement in the late 1960's. Outrageous, angry, and brave–they risked everything to bring about a revolution for women.
(T)ERROR, Directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
(Production, I Believe In You Grant)
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Four boys from abusive households seek new beginnings at IPODERAC, an unconventional group home in rural Mexico. Together, they redefine family.
TWO CHILDREN OF THE RED MOSQUE, Directors Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi
(Production, I Believe In You Grant)
After attending Pakistan's most notorious madrassa, twelve-year-olds Zarina and Talha pursue different paths in life that personalize Pakistanis’ ideological war.
VALENTINE ROAD, Director Marta Cunningham
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
In 2008, eighth-grader Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King at point blank range. Unraveling this tragedy from point of impact, the film reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as its startling aftermath.
WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS, Director Beth Murphy
(Production, I Believe In You Grant)
In the remote, conservative Afghan village of Deh Subz, the very first girl’s school opens across the street from an all boys madrassa, challenging centuries-old social traditions against the backdrop of the U.S. withdrawal from the war on terror.
WITHIN EVERY WOMAN, Director Tiffany Hsiung
(Post Production, I Believe In You Grant)
Within Every Woman is a film that explores the forgotten history of the ‘comfort women’, a term used to describe over 200,000 girls, some as young as nine years old, who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II in Asia.
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
Set in Baltimore over three generations of the filmmaker’s family, The Wreckage is a frank examination of her grandfather’s murder during the volatile1960s, and the effect it had on his surviving wife and children. The film reveals an America that is still far from post-racial. An honest reckoning with the truth suggests a new way forward.
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Sunny Clifford, her twin Serena, and their neighbor, Brandon Ferguson, share an inchoate dream of changing the harsh world around them. Their opportunity comes when a tribal election hinging on abortion politics and women’s rights sets off a chain reaction in the lives these three young Lakota, forcing each to make choices that define who they are, and the adults they will become.
UNSTABLE ELEMENTS, Director Madeleine Sackler*
(Completion, Liberty Grant)
Forced into hiding and torn apart from their loved ones, the members of the Belarus Free Theater face increasing danger to continue creating illicit performances. In their underground art, they turn a spotlight on their own lives to expose the truth about life under the last dictatorship in Europe.
