May 28, 2015
Artist Development
San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Film Society (SFFS), in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF), announced today the projects that will receive a total of $300,000 in funding in the latest round of SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants. Eight filmmaking teams were granted funding to help with their next stage of their creative process, from screenwriting to production. The Film Society’s flagship SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. More than $3 million has been awarded since the launch of the Film Society’s grant program in 2009. For more information visit sffs.org/filmmaker360.
The San Francisco Film Society, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the United States. The SFFS / KRF program has funded more than 50 projects since its inception, including such success stories as Kat Candler’s Hellion and Ira Sachs’ Love Is Strange, both of which premiered to strong reviews at Sundance 2014; Short Term 12, Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale Station, which won the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; and Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012 and earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture).
The panelists who reviewed the finalists’ submissions are Noah Cowan, SFFS Executive Director; Jonathan Marlow, Chief Content Officer at Fandor; Jennifer Rainin, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation; Kirsten Schaffer, Executive Director of Women in Film; and Michele Turnure-Salleo, Director of Filmmaker360.
“The talent on display with this group of winning projects is an inspiration, and we are proud to support such innovative and important projects,” the jury noted in a statement. “We are particularly excited about the mix of international stories in these projects, which demonstrates the power of the SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant to touch communities all over the world and connect them to the creativity of the Bay Area. The growing number of SFFS / KRF supported filmmakers that are based outside the United States represents a significant step forward for the program.”
“We are pleased to see the Film Society’s family of supported filmmakers grow and to deepen our relationships with projects we’ve been involved in for some time,” said Turnure-Salleo. “We’re also seeing more and more cross-pollination between SFFS programs-there are FilmHouse participants, previous grant recipients, and former SFFS Artists in Residence on this list-and that is immeasurably satisfying. We are honored to help shepherd these exciting new projects towards completion and look forward to seeing the finished films!”
SPRING 2015 SFFS / KRF FILMMAKING GRANT WINNERS
The Fixer – Ian Olds, co-writer/director; Paul Felten, co-writer; Caroline von Kuhn, producer – $75,000 for production
An Afghan journalist is exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime he gets drawn into the backwoods of this small town-a shadow Northern California where sex is casual, true friendship is hard to come by, and an unfamiliar form of violence burbles up all around him.
Jones – Sally El Hosaini, writer/director – $25,000 for screenwriting
When his father abandons him deep in the Guyanese jungle, the rebellious son of a narcissistic church leader discovers a new life of freedom. His utopia is soon shattered when “Dad” arrives with hundreds of followers. Driven by the universal need for a father’s love he becomes complicit in the depravity he previously rejected. Based on Stephan Jones’s true-life story.
Mustang – Laure de Clermont Tonnerre, writer/director – $25,000 for screenwriting
Roman Coleman is halfway through serving an 11-year sentence for attempted murder when he is offered the chance to participate in an ongoing rehabilitation therapy program involving the training of recently captured wild mustangs. Through his struggle to communicate with the animals, trainers, and other inmates he is forced to face his past and must learn confront his inner demons.
Oscillate Wildly – Travis Mathews, writer/director; Andrew Carlberg, Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams, producers – $75,000 for production
When a first love challenges his guarded sense of what’s possible, a hot-headed young gay man with mild cerebral palsy is forced to confront the disability he’s let consume and define him. Visit travisdmathews.com for more information.
Reza and the Refugees – Aaron Douglas Johnston, writer/director; Charlotte Scott-Wilson, Trent Scott-Wilson and Laura Wagner, producers – $25,000 for screenwriting
A ragtag team of Middle Eastern political refugees in Holland enters the Eurovision song contest in an effort to save their friend from deportation and certain death.
Sorry To Bother You – Boots Riley, writer/director; Jonathan Duffy, George Rush and Kelly Williams, producers – $25,000 for screenwriting
A Black telemarketer discovers a magical way to make his voice overdubbed by a White actor, propelling him into the upper echelon of a macabre universe where he is selected to lead a species of genetically manipulated horse-people, called the Equisapiens. Visit thisisthecoup.com for more information.
Staring at the Sun – Ryan Piers Williams, writer/director; Jason Michael Berman, America Ferrera and Caroline Kaplan, producers – $25,000 for screenwriting
After a massive solar event knocks out the world’s technological infrastructure, healthcare becomes a vital commodity. An elite group of United Nations aid workers given access to the best healthcare are tasked to isolate the sick from the healthy and privileged. When a young aid worker finds himself in a forbidden love, he must choose between a life of solitude or an uncertain fate with the woman he loves.
What Waits For Them In Darkness – Stephen Dunn, writer/director – $25,000 for screenwriting
11-year-old Skipper gets separated from her family during the Newfoundland resettlement and stranded alone in her floating house on the high seas of the Atlantic where reality mixes with the rich folklore of Newfoundland for a dark fantasy adventure.
SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are made possible by the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. In addition to being awarded funds from the country’s leading granting organization, recipients will receive various benefits through Filmmaker360, the San Francisco Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services program. These benefits, customized to every individual production, can include one-on-one project consultations and project feedback, additional fundraising assistance, resource and service recommendations, and networking opportunities, among many others. For more information visit sffs.org/Filmmaker360/Grants.
Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation dedicated to enhancing quality of life by championing and sustaining the arts, promoting early childhood literacy and supporting research to cure chronic disease. Collaboration and innovation are at the heart of all its programs. Its vision is guided by the belief that change is possible through inquiry, creativity and compassion. Its successful partnership with the San Francisco Film Society supports visionary filmmakers to create narrative films that inspire social justice. More at krfoundation.org.