Hear from Catapult Film Fund co-founder Bonni Cohen about her film In Waves and War and the state of the documentary filmmaking landscape
Photo by Pamela Gentile
A dynamic hub for influential conversations about non-fiction funding and the state of the industry, Doc Congress is an annual gathering that takes place during SFFILM’s Doc Stories. By bringing together documentary funders, filmmakers, and distributors to discuss the most prevailing topics of the non-fiction funding landscape, Doc Congress is one of the documentary showcase’s most vital events.
At the 10th Doc Stories, Bonni Cohen, co-founder of the Catapult Film Fund and of the San Francisco-based documentary production company Actual Films, served as Doc Congress’ keynote speaker. Join us as we revisit Cohen’s compelling address here.
In Waves And War: One Film’s Path To Being Made & Seen
In February of 2022, our film team arrived in Virginia Beach to interview retired Navy seal DJ Shipley for our latest film In Waves And War which we were producing in association with Participant Media RIP. It’s the story of three special OPS SEALs who returned from the 20-year war in Iraq and Afghanistan—broken both physically and mentally—and were setting an alternative and risky course for personal healing through an illegal psychedelic drug regimen.
We came to interview DJ but as I spent more time with his wife, Patsy, it became clear to me that her story was equally as important to the film we were making. The wives who ultimately saved the lives of their husbands and families—whose clarity, strength, and vision were the key to the success of the healing process for these guys. It wasn’t an easy story to tell as it was filled with pain, heartache, fear and, in Patsy’s case, betrayal.
Patsy had a number of reasons why she didn’t want to be on camera, not the least of which was that she and DJ have two little girls and she wanted to protect them, being well aware that our film could end up on a big streaming service and as they grew up, they would be surrounded by people who had seen the film and knew of their family trauma.
I could tell that Patsy and I had a connection and she was comfortable talking to me off camera. So, I made her an offer I had never made to a film participant before. I offered to do the interview and then check in with her later to see if she wanted to proceed. I would send her the interview transcript and she could get comfortable with what she revealed.
This kind of collaboration with a film subject is risky, as Patsy could decide to simply pull out and I would have no recourse. But, it was clear to me that a new approach was necessary here, given what this family had been through and I was willing to engage her in the process to the extent that she would feel comfortable enough to display her family’s trauma on screen. Her story is profound and was deeply moving to me.
As I sat through the interview, I realized again what a privilege we have as storytellers to speak to people about the most intimate and complicated aspects of their lives, often giving them an opportunity to realize something about their relationships that maybe they hadn’t hit on before. I was overcome with the reminder and feeling once again of my own passion to connect and help people through sharing stories.
Here I was, a San Francisco-based, and left-leaning, documentary filmmaker, and Patsy grew up in a military family in the heart of Navy SEAL country, widowed by her first husband who was also a SEAL and a stepfather who was part of NAVY SEAL leadership. We couldn’t be from more different backgrounds yet here we were coming together to share something about our common humanity.
We just premiered In Waves And War at the Telluride Film Festival this past month. Patsy and DJ were there. They experienced standing ovations from the audience even before the credits came on. There was a visible emotional response from the audiences that was more profound than anything we had experienced before. Tears were leaking from the eyes of a few streaming platform executives. For the filmmaker and subject, it was a home run.
Two months later, our sales agents are reporting back things like: although the film is beloved by all that have seen it, in today’s climate, streamers are looking for “content” that has been proven to generate millions of eyeballs. Insert your favorite celebrity here. It’s no secret that celebrity docs and true crime rule the day. We find ourselves in the awkward position of having made a powerful film that doesn’t have an easy way to foretell its success. We continue to work on the best distribution path for the film.
Bonni Cohen On Co-Founding The Catapult Film Fund
In 2010, I was set up on a blind lunch date with Lisa Kleiner Chanoff, who I knew through mutual friends. She was interested in the documentary field and wanted to know if there was a need to fill on the funding side that could be useful. In other words, rather than funding films one at a time, was there a hole to fill more globally?
Photo by Pamela Gentile
Lisa had dipped a single toe into the field, having funded a few individual projects but was looking to make more of a difference. I told her that the most difficult moment, in my opinion, for a documentary, is the early stage when it’s just an idea and can easily, without any support, die on the vine. It’s no secret that this has led to a barrier to entry for artists with fewer connections and means. I could see in Lisa’s eyes that she was intrigued and a few weeks later, we set the blueprint for The Catapult Film Fund.
There were a few organizations dabbling in development funding at that time, but we envisioned a fund dedicated to getting filmmakers over the line from just an idea to a sample piece that reflected the film they wanted to make for presentation to production funders. The idea for the fund was specifically about taking big risks.
[Now,] Catapult has funded 290 films in the last 15 years. In our first round, we invited 20 filmmakers to submit applications and this past round we received nearly 900 applications for 15 slots.
These projects take years to become All that Breathes and Crip Camp—and may have struggled longer to find those films without the support of Catapult.
Since Catapult was born there are now a whole slew of organizations out there that see the importance of development funding and have also made a big difference for the field including Sundance, Points North, Chicken & Egg Films, and Impact Partners, to name a few. We know that, as a field, we are capable of responding to the needs of filmmakers as those needs present themselves.
It is frustrating to sit here in 2024 and consternate about the state of documentary distribution, particularly at a time when truth is under attack and we know, as a community, how valuable our films are to righting the ship. But, let’s remember a few things:
In my lifetime, public television was born, cable TV was born, and streaming platforms came into view. Distribution is not a solid state. As Brian Newman writes in his Sub-Genre newsletter:
“I think that’s been the trouble we’re having in the film business as things have become stuck. People are looking at the old map for a way out of this mess, and it also doesn’t align with our new reality.”
We all need to be looking in new directions. The problem, however, is that much of our industry leadership is focused on putting out the fires, and on reading the old maps. We’re waiting for someone to come along with the new map. Luckily, I’ve been seeing a lot of such rumblings from both newer/upcoming leaders, and some who’ve been in the field for quite a while, but who have stayed nimble. I can’t report on all of those developments yet, because many remain behind the scenes as works-in-progress, but the next era’s winners are clearly going to be those who chart the new maps.
The State Of Documentary Filmmaking In 2024 & Beyond
I am looking for a miracle. And I am not pessimistic about finding one. I have seen this community step and solve seemingly insurmountable problems before.
There are clearly impressive and innovative experiments going on as we speak—inroads into self-distribution through a grant from FilmAid and the new platform for documentaries called Jolt, that Geralyn Dreyfous and Jim Swartz from Impact Partners are spear-heading. [There] are new experts in the field, like Mia Bruno, who are taking on indie theatrical distribution, and there are [tireless] filmmakers, like Brett Story with her incredible Sundance Award-winning film, Union, who have worked… to self distribute her film around the country to audiences who need to see it most.
Photo by Pamela Gentile
So, I get the irony here: I stand before you passionate but humble. I have not one, but two films that Actual Films has finished this year—In Waves and War and The White House Effect—…and neither of them have a distributor on board yet.
In the film, you see Patsy Shipley help save the life of her husband and play the central character in a great on-screen love story. Patsy ultimately [agrees] to participate in the film. We took a risk on Patsy, spending valuable production time on an interview that we might never have gotten permission to put in the film but, ultimately, Patsy told us how much she appreciated the interview and gave us permission to use her story.
Being open to a new way of working paid off for us and, part of what we do as artists and storytellers is to figure out new pathways we don’t have an ending for. Industry wide, we are now in such a moment. I continue to be optimistic about what we can innovate as a field to get these critical films out in the world.
I came out to the Bay area to attend the Stanford Documentary Graduate Program in the early ‘90s. Being there, not only did I meet my life partner in life and film, I was privileged to sit at the foot of the documentary masters—Jon Else, Kris Samuelson, Debbie Hoffman, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman to name just a few. I began to realize that there was something special here in San Francisco, [something] unique to the independent documentary voice, and I harnessed it.
There has always been excitement and fear for me as a documentary filmmaker. Excitement for the stories we are allowed to tell and fear that those stories might never get seen.
But, if we examine the waves of history in our field and how we have exhibited documentary film here and around the globe, there have been trends of distribution that have not supported massive audiences and there have been times when our documentaries have had the experience of being viewed by millions around the world.
Why are we making these films? Who are they for? What is the measure of success in audiences and exhibition?
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SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
Celebrate these 2024 SFFILM Rainin Finalists with us
Supporting feature filmmakers since 2009
SFFILM is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2024 SFFILM Rainin Grant, the flagship artist development program offered by SFFILM Makers in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Twenty-three filmmaking teams have been shortlisted as contenders to receive funding and professional support for their narrative projects at different stages of production.
The SFFILM Rainin Grant program is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the US. It supports films that address social justice issues—the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges—in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme, or setting. Awards are made to multiple projects once a year, for screenwriting, development, and post-production. Recipients are offered a cash grant of up to $25,000, residency at FilmHouse, and SFFILM’s premier artist residency space.
The program is open to filmmakers from anywhere in the world who can commit to spending time developing the film in San Francisco. Applications for next year will open in early 2025.
Meet the 2024 SFFILM Rainin Grant Finalists
The Matriarch
Screenwriting Zandashé Brown, Director/Screenwriter A young woman, haunted by her mother’s long battle with psychosis, struggles to reconnect after her unexpected recovery. When the death of an estranged family matriarch brings them back to their ancestral home in rural Louisiana, she forms a mysterious connection with her late grandmother—one that threatens to unravel her own grip on reality.
S.Q.A.G. (Short Quiet Asian Girl)
Screenwriting Benedict Chiu, Director/Producer/Screenwriter A S.Q.A.G. (short quiet asian girl), in a desperate effort to upend her anonymity, disguises as another student to take a test in her place, only to stumble upon a Secret Society that specializes in underground cheating operations.
Fonzel and Gloria
Development Christopher Cole, Director/Screenwriter; Devin Tusa, Producer; George Rush, Producer; Caroline Kaplan, Producer When an aging one-hit wonder is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she enlists her rapper grandson on a crime-filled bumbling romp from LA to Oakland.
Strangers
Screenwriting Karishma Dev Dube, Director/Producer/Screenwriter Pari and Tara are complete strangers, until a chance encounter on a New York City subway platform instigates inexplicable and profound connections between them. Set between New Delhi and New York, the film explores how these two women quietly unravel in tandem: with lovers, at home, and in public.
Rainbow Girls
Screenwriting Nana Fobi Duffor, Director/Screenwriter As San Francisco’s tech boom gentrifies their city, three young black trans women decide to take matters into their own hands, staging a string of robberies targeting the city’s most exclusive luxury brand stores.
Requiem for a Glacier
Screenwriting Stephanie Falkeis, Director/Screenwriter When a young glaciologist returns to her remote ancestral village to assess the local glacier for its prospective use as a ski resort, she is confronted by her estranged eco-activist mother who is willing to defend the glacier from destruction at all cost. A feminist anti-western set in a dying landscape.
Dreamland
Screenwriting Joie Estrella Horwitz, Director/Screenwriter A love story blooms during the night shift in a slaughterhouse, where phantoms of the future sit with ghosts of the past.
Karolina and Udochi Dance in the Woods at Dusk!
Development Osinachi Ibe, Director/Producer/Screenwriter; Thomas Ethan Harris, Producer; Megan Carlson – Producer During their first summer apart, two childhood best friends discover they have fallen in love with each other and embark on a spiritual journey that changes them forever.
From a Crooked Rib
Screenwriting Idil Ibrahim, Director/Producer/Screenwriter Set against the backdrop of pre-independence Somalia, From a Crooked Rib follows independent yet naive Ebla (18) who dreams of life outside her suffocating village. When her grandfather promises her hand in marriage to Giumaleh, the oldest man in the village, Ebla makes a decision that alters the course of her life.
Mucho Power
Screenwriting Fernando Frias de la Parra, Director/Screenwriter/Producer; Gerry Kim, Producer/Screenwriter When a Korean immigrant opens up a store in a Mexican neighborhood outside of downtown Chicago, he expects that his hard work will translate into success. But his dreams can’t keep up with how quickly the world is changing around him.
Rosemead
Post-Production Eric Lin, Director; Mynette Louie, Producer; Andrew Corkin, Producer; Lucy Liu, Producer An immigrant mother in California’s San Gabriel Valley takes desperate measures to help her unstable teenage son as she uncovers his obsession with mass shootings. Inspired by true events.
Honeyjoon
Post-Production Lilian T. Mehrel, Director/Screenwriter Kurdish-Persian Lela and her American daughter June take a trip to the romantic Azores after their major loss—with polar opposite ideas about the trip, grief, and June’s bikini. Between happy honeymooners, Woman Life Freedom, and their hot tour guide João, they find each other… coming back to life.
Daraluz
Screenwriting Asia Nichols, Writer/Director Returning home to honor her late mother in one of Mexico’s most religious states, a forlorn puppeteer becomes afflicted by a recurring pregnancy and must confront a fabled tunnel mummy hellbent on forcing the birth.
Searching for Mateo
Development Nico Opper, Director/Screenwriter; Maria F. León, Producer A queer couple from the Bay Area take their 10-year-old adopted son on vacation to Honduras, where his birth family is from, hoping to strengthen his connection to his roots. But when he suddenly disappears, the entire family must navigate the complexities of love, loss and belonging that bind them.
Pangea Ultima
Development Estevan Padilla, Director/Screenwriter Determined to heal their fractured family, a misguided brother and sister take drastic action, kidnapping their estranged parents in a bid for forced reconciliation.
Love Visa
Screenwriting PJ Raval, Director/Co-writer; Eileen Cabiling, Co-writer; Derek Nguyen, Producer When Filipino hottie Jon Jon arrives in Texas to marry his Black closeted online lover Harvey, their relationship is put to the test by familial obligations and the social stigmas of a transactional marriage, all while attempting to fit into the American dream.
If we don’t burn, how do we light up the night
Post-Production Kim Torres, Director; Alejandra Vargas Carballo, Producer In a realm where mystique weaves through the ordinary, thirteen-year-old Laura ventures into a secluded town, haunted by tales of a beast that preys on women. When she meets the radiant Daniela, their friendship quietly—but surely—takes her on a journey that unravels the true nature of the beast.
Fishtank
Screenwriting Wendi Tang, Director/Screenwriter Jules, a 28-year-old Chinese-American woman grappling with her troubled past and present, vomits living goldfish whenever she’s triggered. Haunted by her unstable reality, Jules must face the darkest secret she’s been hiding from the world and uncover the truth behind it.
SummerWinterSummer
Development Thy Tran, Director/Producer/Screenwriter Grappling with a heartbreak, a gay, Vietnamese American creative drifts through the cycle of disappointment, rejection, and quiet despair, spiraling into self-destruction until he confronts the weight of familial scars and rediscovers his true self.
Half Orange
Screenwriting Alejandra Vasquez, Director/Screenwriter Lucia navigates life as a teenager born to now-divorced teenaged parents, shuttled between her mother’s place in rural Texas and her father’s suburban life in California. As she turns 16, Lucia finds herself in a coming-of-age story about three people, only two of those people happen to be her parents.
Mouna Tharangam (A Silent Wave)
Development Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda, Director; Janani Vijayanathan, Producer In Post-Roe Texas, Amal, an Indian-American woman, grapples with an unexpected pregnancy when her path crosses with a newlywed Indian immigrant, Charulata. Their love sparks a journey of sexual awakening, cultural clash, and profound choices as the specter of abortion looms large.
No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds: A Queer-Inclusive Memoir
Screenwriting LaTajh Weaver, Director/Screenwriter; Sean Gillane, Producer An escape room master builds an inescapable puzzle room for tourists, while trying to comprehend their own sense of belonging within Oakland’s surreal, radicalized Queer scene.
Sweeping Graves
Screenwriting Kevin D. Wong, Director/Screenwriter; Vanessa Gentry, Producer/Screenwriter A gentrification ghost story, Sweeping Graves is a modern-day folk tale that tells the story of Brandon, a San Francisco realtor who buys a property in Chinatown and evicts the tenants, intent on flipping it. But as Brandon begins to renovate the building, he starts to suspect that not all of the previous inhabitants have left—and that driving them out may cost him more than he ever bargained for.
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
SFFILM hosted Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast for an exclusive behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes look at some of the films that played during the 10th Anniversary of Doc Stories.
Photo by Pamela Gentile.
Deadline and NOS Studios’ Doc Talk podcast hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey made their way to SFFILM FilmHouse for an insightful conversation and thoughts about the changes in the nonfiction filmmaking landscape with SFFILM’s Executive Director Anne Lai and Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks.
They continued by going behind the scenes with SFFILM Education alum and director Jonah Mosshammer and fellow filmmaker Brennan McGee, directors of the short film Arepas en Bici, which premiered at Doc Stories.
Watch the full conversation and stay tuned for the next episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk coming very soon!
Deadline’s Doc Talk—Featuring SFFILM Doc Stories
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
Students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) to work with SFFILM-supported filmmakers to compose original film scores set to screen at the 68th San Francisco International Film Festival in April 2025.
Shared with permission. Story by Mark Taylor, SFCM. Originally posted on October 16, 2024.
SFCM students Rafe Axne and Theo Popov. Photo Courtesy of SFCM
Picture a world where a students’ musical dreams reach the magic of the silver screen faster than ever before. That’s becoming a reality as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and SFFILM join forces for a groundbreaking collaboration.
For student Theo Popov (‘25) it’s a long-time wish come true. “Young composers rarely get a shot to work on movies that reach such a wide audience, so it feels like SFCM is propelling us forward in our careers before we’ve even graduated!” Popov said.
Popov is one of 15 Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) students at SFCM who will spend the next year collaborating with SFFILM-supported directors to to provide original score, sound design, and sound mix for films that will be presented during the annual San Francisco International Film Festival in April 2025.
Studio G inside SFCM’s Bowes Center. Photo Courtesy of SFCM.
“This new partnership gives our composers, sound designers, and producers real-world experience as they work alongside amazingly talented filmmakers,” said Executive Director of the TAC program Steven Horowitz. “Directors will have a chance to polish and complete their soundtracks in our state-of-the-art studios alongside our young composers. Perhaps best of all, these projects will become part of the 68th San Francisco International Film Festival.”
SFFILM is northern California’s premiere film organization. Since 1957, SFFILM has produced the longest-running film festival in the Americas, and has grown to provide a comprehensive artist development program for new generations of filmmakers through grants, fellowships, and residencies.
“This new collaboration allows us to shine a spotlight on the process of music and sound design, focus on cross-discipline collaborations, and celebrate the cinematic form in a unique way,” said Anne Lai, SFFILM’s Executive Director. “Our desire to provide access, resources, and expertise to ensure that independent voices in film can thrive through all stages—from development to being seen—is what drives our mission forward. We’re delighted to launch this new partnership with SFCM.”
Masashi Niwano, the Director of SFFILM’s Artist Development program concurs, “The SFFILM Sound and Cinema Fellowship exemplifies our mission by uniting our SFFILM supported filmmakers with SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) students to create original, independent work, and to have the opportunity to be showcased at our Festival.”
SFCM TAC students in class. Photo Courtesy of SFCM.
Over the school year, as part of their course curriculum, TAC students will essentially become a given film’s music and sound department, working with directors on four different short films. Directors and their films come from SFFILM’s FilmHouse Residency program, which provides San Francisco Bay Area-based filmmakers with artistic guidance and support from established film industry professionals.
The San Francisco International Film Festival produced by SFFILM is renowned for bringing voices and stories from around the world to audiences in the San Francisco Bay. In addition to exhibiting completed films, SFFILM provides support to all stages of filmmakers’ careers and creates opportunities for growth around every stage of filmmaking from development to post production.
For the students involved, they can’t wait to get started. “I’ve never worked on a project this big before, and it’s really exciting,” said student Rafe Axne (‘26). “Getting exposed to some of the work we’ll be doing in the future as composers and sound designers this early on is invaluable experience. I’m excited to get to know the producers and directors and work with them to make their film come to life,” he added.
TAC students Rafe Axne and Theo Popov. Photo Courtesy of SFCM.
“This project also does something else that is very important,” Horowitz added of this unique partnership. “It brings together two vital SF artistic communities that will help to raise the bar and foster a more vibrant and cohesive climate for all Bay Area artists. I really think this kind of collaboration between organizations is a big win-win for the entire SF creative arts scene.”
At the conclusion of the program, the films will be presented, with directors and composers in attendance, in a screening on campus as part of the SFFILM Festival in April 2025.
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
SF Honors is our annual award presentation in celebration of a filmmaker’s singular vision in our current cinema landscape, and we were honored with a discussion between director Azazel Jacobs and actors Elizabeth Olsen and Jovan Adepo.
SFFILM honored Azazel Jacobs and his film His Three Daughters in the world-class Premier Theater at One Letterman. Before the screening of the film, SFFILM Board President Todd Traina presented the award to Azazel with a very special introduction calling attention to the masterful storytelling in His Three Daughters. After the screening, SFFILM Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks was joined onstage by Azazel Jacobs and actors Elizabeth Olsen and Jovan Adepo. During the conversation, the filmmakers discussed everything from the structure of the film and the nuances behind its construction to the connection between the actors and their collaboration in the achievement of a singular goal.
“The fact that we get to be here is such a huge privilege to us. We didn’t make this with results in our minds. We made this because of a process that we had all missed. That’s where it came from,” said Elizabeth Olsen. “[We] wanted to support a filmmaker who we love as a person and as a creative.”
Watch the full conversation to hear more about the creation of Azazel Jacobs’s His Three Daughters, and be sure to watch the film on Netflix starting on Friday, September 20.
SF Honors: His Three Daughters—In conversation with Azazel Jacobs, Elizabeth Olsen, and Jovan Adepo
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM brings the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers all year long. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
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