Meet the SFFILM-Supported Filmmakers Headed to Sundance 2020

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival is just around the New Year corner and the lineup includes three projects supported directly by SFFILM artist development programs! The SFFILM Makers team is thrilled to see our funding partnerships including the Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship and SFFILM Westridge Grant yield their first completed films, building on the success of our longest partnership through the SFFILM Rainin Grant. We are excited to celebrate the continued success of these programs and our supported filmmakers, the expansion of SFFILM Invest, and three of SFFILM’s esteemed FilmHouse mentors who will be premiering documentaries at this year’s festival. Congratulations to all the films and filmmakers making their debut in Park City next month!

From our grantees and fellows:

Feels Good Man
US Documentary Competition
(USA) Arthur Jones, director; Giorgio Angelini, Caryn Capotosto, Aaron Wickenden, producers
When indie comic character Pepe the Frog becomes an unwitting icon of hate, his creator, artist Matt Furie, fights to bring Pepe back from the darkness and navigate America’s cultural divide. 
 — SFFILM Invest, 2019 slate
 
Miss Juneteenth
US Dramatic Competition 
(USA) Channing Godfrey Peoples, writer/director; Neil Creque Williams, Jeanie Igoe, James M. Johnston, Toby Halbrooks, Theresa Steele, Tim Headington, producers
Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did. 
 — Spring 2018 SFFILM Westridge Grant for development
 — Fall 2019 SFFILM Rainin Grant for post-production
 
Tesla
Premieres
(USA) Michael Almereyda, writer/director; Avi Lerner, Jeffery Greenstein, Uri Singer, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Isen Robbins, producers
Highlighting the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology–including his own previous work–by pioneering a system of wireless energy that will change the world.
 — Spring 2017 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship for screenwriting

From our FilmHouse mentor community, all in the US Documentary Competition section:

Boys State
(USA) Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine, directors; Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, producers
In an unusual experiment, a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.
 — Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, 2018 FilmHouse mentors

Crip Camp
(USA) Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht, directors; Sara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham, producers
Down the road from Woodstock in the early 1970s, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement.
 — Jim LeBrecht, 2019 FilmHouse mentor

Dick Johnson Is Dead
(USA) Kirsten Johnson, director; Nels Bangerter, Kirsten Johnson, screenwriters; Katy Chevigny, Marilyn Ness, producers
With this inventive portrait, a cameraperson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.
 — Nels Bangerter, 2019 FilmHouse mentor

Find out more about the grants, residencies, and fellowships offered by SFFILM Makers here.