Meet the finalists for the 2018 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund Grants

SFFILM has selected a dozen compelling projects to be in the running for this year’s Documentary Film Fund grants, which support feature-length docs in the post-production phase. For the 2018 cycle, a total of $125,000 will be distributed to the winning projects, which will be announced in late August.

Find out more about this and other filmmaking grant opportunities at sffilm.org/makers.

The Doc Film Fund has helped a growing range of important films finish their edits in recent years, including RaMell Ross’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening, which won a Special Jury Prize for Creative Vision at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival; Peter Nicks’s The Force, which won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for documentary and SFFILM Festival’s Bay Area Documentary Award, and was released theatrically last fall by Kino Lorber ahead of its broadcast on ITVS; Peter Bratt’s Dolores, which won the 2017 SFFILM Festival Audience Award for Documentary Feature following its Sundance premiere; and Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary and was nominated for the 2014 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature; among many others.

Since its launch in 2011, the SFFILM Documentary Film Fund has distributed $650,000 to advance new work by filmmakers nationwide. The 2018 Documentary Film Fund is supported by the Jenerosity Foundation.

2018 DOCUMENTARY FILM FUND FINALISTS

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Anbessa
Mo Scarpelli, director; Caitlin Mae Burke, producer; Nico Leunen, editor
A brand-new condominium has shot up in the Ethiopian countryside, pushing farmers off their land for the construction and promising thousands of others a “better” way of life. Anbessa follows one boy caught between the two, as he navigates modernization on his own terms and comes of age in a brave new world.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Chéche Lavi
Sam Ellison, director; Abraham Ávila, Rachel Cantave, Kyle Martin, Nora Mendis, and Kimberly Parker, producers
Geopolitical chaos challenges the bonds of brotherhood when two Haitian refugees get stranded at the US-Mexico border. With no one to depend on but each other, difficult choices lead them towards drastically different futures.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Fanwei
Jessica Kingdon, director; Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell, producers
Fanwei examines megatrends of today’s China through an impressionistic collage of the new “Chinese Dream.” This observational film reveals paradoxes born from prosperity of the newest world power through the flow of production, consumption, and waste.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Fourty Pounds
Nick Bentgen, director; Lisa Kjerulff, producer; Eavvon O’Neal and Dustin Waldman, editors
Tarone “Fourty Pounds” Lindsay spends hours illegally dancing on the New York subways, earning pocket money, dodging the cops and chilling with his crew. When new love blooms, Fourty must decide what to do with his life and how to be the man he wants to be.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Freedom Fields
Naziha Arebi, director; Flore Cosquer and Naziha Arebi, producers; Ling Lee, Alice Powell, Maya Hawke, editors
In post-revolution Libya, a group of women are brought together by one dream: to play football for their nation. But as the country descends into civil war and the utopian hopes of the “Arab Spring” begin to fade, can they realize their dream? And is there even a country left to play for?

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The Gut (working title)
Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, director/producer; Jim Sabataso and Asma Bseiso, producers; Jen Bradwell and Youssif Salah, editors
Filmed over two years in a small New England community that is struggling to emerge from the opioid epidemic and finds itself caught up in a battle over Syrian refugee resettlement, The Gut closely follows the lives of several intersecting but very different characters to explore what changes — and what doesn’t — when white, rural Americans see themselves in “the other.”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Hispaniola
Michèle Stephenson, director/producer; Jennifer Holness, Lea Marin and Joe Brewster, producers; Andres Landau, editor
Combining magical realism and verité, Hispaniola follows the lives of families affected by the 2013 Dominican Republic Supreme Court ruling that stripped citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent, and reflects on how imposed borders, citizenship, and racial identity define us and seal our fates.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Honeyland
Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska, co-directors; Atanas Georgiev, producer/editor
The last female bee hunter in Europe struggles to save the bees and restore the natural balance when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood. Honeyland is an exploration of an observational Indigenous visual narrative that deeply impacts our behavior towards natural resources and the human condition.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

In Real Life
Liza Mandelup, director; Lauren Cioffi and Bert Hamelinck, producers; Alex O’Flinn, editor
This intimate contemplation on modern youth follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester as he flirts with the world of social media fame. Driven by a wide-eyed desire for stardom, Austyn cultivates a singularly positive online persona that’s at odds with growing up in small-town Tennessee.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Midnight Traveler
Hassan Fazili, director; Su Kim, producer; Emelie Mahdavian, producer/editor
Midnight Traveler follows a family of Afghan filmmakers on the run from the Taliban. Told from refugee/director Hassan Fazili’s unique first-person perspective, this story provides unprecedented access to the complex refugee experience as it encounters the West.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

No Kings
Emilia Mello, director/producer/cinematographer; Raoul Nadalet, producer; Adam Kurnitz, Henrique Cartaxo, Marie-Hélène Dozo, and Pierpaolo Filomeno, editors
In a place where conventional structures of authority fall away, a tomboy navigates the space between urban and traditional life.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Watermelon Thump Queen
Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman, co-directors/producers; Mark Lukenbill, editor
In the “toughest town in Texas,” a high-stakes election plays out as seven high school girls compete to become the next Watermelon Thump Queen.

Announcing the finalists for the Spring 2018 SFFILM Rainin Filmmaking Grants

Fifteen exciting narrative feature projects have been just been selected by the SFFILM Makers team as finalists for the Spring 2018 round of SFFILM Rainin Filmmaking Grants. The largest grant program of its kind in the US, the partnership between SFFILM and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation is celebrating ten incredible years of supporting important independent filmmakers telling critical socially driven stories.

The winning projects, which will split $250,000 in this round, will be announced in about a month. In the meantime, get to know this talented group of finalists!

As always, find out more about the filmmakers services provided by SFFILM Makers at sffilm.org/makers.

SPRING 2018 SFFILM RAININ FILMMAKING GRANT FINALISTS

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Cops and Robbers
Jinho “Piper” Ferreira, writer (screenwriting)
John “Jay” Punch is a social justice artist from Oakland, California. Frustrated with the lack of impact of his artistic efforts, and haunted by the police killing of Oscar Grant, he decides to pay his own way through the police academy in an attempt to create change from the inside.

50 Miles from Boomtown
Flo Linus Baumann, writer (screenwriting)
After six years of grueling work, the only woman working on the oilfields of North Dakota is months away from the dream she’s been saving for: trading in her truck for a new house with her daughter. But when the economy dwindles, and she finds herself falling in love with her younger partner on the oilfields, she begins to question which dream she should be chasing after all.

Huntress
Suzanne Andrews Correa, writer/director (screenwriting)
In Ciudad Juarez, a city where violence against women goes unnoticed and unpunished, an unlikely heroine emerges to seek justice.

I’m No Longer Here
Fernando Frias, writer/director; Gerry Kim, Gerardo Gatica, and Alberto Muffelmann, producers (post-production)
To prevent a life working for the drug cartels, a teenage Mexican boy is forced to migrate to New York City at the pleas of his family. But when he lands in Jackson Heights, Queens, he quickly realizes that he would rather return home to his family and friends than confront the alienation and loneliness that he faces in America.

Jimmy Salvador
Kirill Mikhanovsky, director; Alice Austen, writer/producer (screenwriting)
Jimmy Salvador depicts 36 hours in the life of a 14-year-old Mexican American sprinter who has to be faster than ever to save his undocumented mother from being deported.

Kayla & Eddie en Français
Iyabo Boyd, writer (screenwriting)
Eddie Williams is 20 years sober but has neglected to rebuild the tenuous relationship with his daughter Kayla, a film producer who’s heading to Paris to pitch an important funder. Hoping to reconnect, Eddie crashes Kayla’s trip, unearthing their long-standing tension around his addiction and emotional distance.

Leche
Gabriella Moses, writer/director; Julius Pryor, Marttise Hill, and Shruti Ganguly, producers (development)
When a reserved Dominican American girl with albinism believes she can perform miracles after she seemingly resurrects an illegally hunted albino deer, rumors spread to the popular clique at school, and she must choose to combat their cruelty with either revenge or peace.

Mafak
Bassam Jarbawi, writer/director; Shrihari Sathe and Yasmine Qaddumi, producers (post-production)
Driven to psychosis by the torture he underwent in an Israeli prison, an ex-basketball champ struggles to re-assimilate into Palestinian society. As the line between reality and hallucination blurs, he cannot help but drive himself back to the same event that started it all.

Omniboat
The Borscht Corporation (post-production)
Omniboat is an anthology feature film comprised of nine different interconnected stories about a speedboat in Miami. It’s not just a boat ride, it’s a Miami adventure.

Santosh
Sandhya Suri, writer/director (screenwriting)
In the corrupt hinterlands of Northern India, a newly widowed young woman inherits her husband’s job as a police constable. When a young girl’s body is found, she is forced to confront the brutality around her and the violence within.

Sealskin Woman
Tani Ikeda, director/co-writer; A-lan Holt, co-writer (screenwriting)
A young girl goes to live with her grandparents in Japan after her mother dies. When she discovers that the people who are supposed to protect her can’t, she must rely on her own magic to save herself.

Shit & Champagne
D’Arcy Drollinger, writer/director, Michelle Moretta, producer (screenwriting)
Shit & Champagne is a high-octane, high-camp, slapstick send-up of the iconic exploitation films of the 1970s. The film is a tribute to female empowerment flavored with borscht belt comedy, with an original funk score, fabulous vintage inspired fashion, and cross-gender casting.

Strange Fruit
Elizabeth Oyebode, writer (screenwriting)
In the 19th century South, a pugnacious Black journalist embarks on a life-threatening investigation that will upend her beliefs about all the Black men whose lives she and the rest of America thought did not matter.

Sutro Forest
Travis Matthews, writer/director; Mollye Asher, producer (screenwriting)
A young homeless woman prepares to leave San Francisco for a new opportunity, but when she finds her brother dead in Sutro Forest, she loses herself on a mysterious journey that may lead to his killer.

Todos los Cuerpos
Jennifer Reeder, director; Laura Heberton, writer/producer
In a not-too-distant dystopian future, in the wake of a climate-change-related disaster, two nearly wild mixed-race girls with special powers named Z and Bub fight to survive in the desert ruins of the former US/Mexico border wall.

Meet the Spring 2018 SFFILM Westridge Grant Winners

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have selected the inaugural winners of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support program offered by SFFILM Makers.

A total of $100,000 has been awarded in the Spring 2018 granting round to five narrative feature projects from a diverse group of emerging storytellers tackling important social issues facing the nation.
 
The SFFILM Westridge program is designed specifically to support the screenwriting and development phases of narrative feature projects whose stories focus on the significant social issues and questions of our time. Providing support at these critical early stages protects filmmakers’ creative processes, and allows them to concentrate on properly crafting their stories and building the right strategy and infrastructure to guide them through financing and production.

The SFFILM Westridge Grant is open to US-based filmmakers whose stories take place primarily in the United States. Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2018 round of grants; the final deadline to apply is July 31. Find out more at sffilm.org/makers.

SPRING 2018 SFFILM WESTRIDGE GRANT WINNNERS

Back Seat
Lana Wilson, writer/director; Shrihari Sathe, producer (screenwriting) — $20,000
An immigrant woman leaves her young son alone in the back seat of a car, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the liberal community where she lives. As the town’s latent xenophobia bubbles to the surface, and the woman’s parenting abilities are scrutinized in increasingly disturbing ways, she fights to prove that she’s a worthy mother — to the town, to her children, and to herself.

Mandeville
Russell Nichols, writer (screenwriting) — $20,000
A traumatized Black boy, whose brother was killed by a cop, volunteers for an experiment that tests his powers of prediction to prevent future murders.

Miss Juneteenth
Channing Godfrey Peoples, writer/director; Neil Creque Williams, producer (development) — $20,000
Turquoise, a former beauty pageant queen turned hardworking single mother, enrolls her rebellious daughter, Kai, in the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant to compete for the grand prize — a college scholarship. Determined to keep Kai from making her same mistakes in life, Turquoise saves her tips from working at a juke joint to buy her daughter the grandest pageant dress of all. However, Kai is more interested in her school’s dance team and chasing her high school crush.

Stay Awake
Jaime Sisley, writer/director; Kelly Thomas and David Ariniello, producers (development) — $20,000
For years, teen brothers Ethan and Derek Reynolds have tried to help their mother, Michelle, overcome her prescription drug addiction with little success. When Michelle goes missing after another binge, Ethan and Derek begin to question whether they should continue trying to find and help Michelle, or move on with their lives at the expense of saving her.

Taliesin
Maya Perez, writer (screenwriting) — $20,000
Based on actual events, Taliesin tells the story of a young Black couple hired to work at the infamous Taliesin home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The remote location becomes a pressure cooker, and tensions around race and gender boil over with tragic consequences — the most horrific mass murder in Wisconsin history.

In addition to the cash grants, recipients will receive various benefits through SFFILM’s comprehensive and dynamic artist development program, as well as support and feedback from SFFILM and Westridge Foundation staff. All grantees will spend one week in the Bay Area attending a programmed retreat geared towards honing their craft, strengthening their scripts, and making connections to other filmmakers and industry professionals.

For more information about SFFILM Makers artist development programs, visit sffilm.org/makers.

Meet the Inaugural SFFILM Westridge Grant Finalists

SFFILM and the Westridge Foundation have announced the inaugural finalists of the SFFILM Westridge Grant, the newest filmmaker support program offered by SFFILM Makers.
 
The SFFILM Westridge program is designed specifically to support the screenwriting and development phases of narrative feature projects whose stories focus on the significant social issues and questions of our time. Providing support at these critical early stages protects filmmakers’ creative processes, and allows them to concentrate on properly crafting their stories and building the right strategy and infrastructure to guide them through financing and production.

The SFFILM Westridge Grant is open to US-based filmmakers whose stories take place primarily in the United States. Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2018 round of grants; the final deadline to apply is July 31. Find out more at sffilm.org/makers.

In addition to the cash grants, recipients will receive various benefits through SFFILM’s comprehensive and dynamic artist development program, as well as support and feedback from SFFILM and Westridge Foundation staff. All grantees will spend one week in the Bay Area attending a programmed retreat geared towards honing their craft, strengthening their scripts, and making connections to other filmmakers and industry professionals.

SPRING 2018 SFFILM WESTRIDGE GRANT FINALISTS

Back Seat
Lana Wilson, writer/director; Shrihari Sathe, producer (screenwriting)
An immigrant woman leaves her young son alone in the back seat of a car, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the liberal community where she lives. As the town’s latent xenophobia bubbles to the surface, and the woman’s parenting abilities are scrutinized in increasingly disturbing ways, she fights to prove that she’s a worthy mother — to the town, to her children, and to herself.

Bait
Jamie Ruddy, writer/director (development)
In a prosperous suburb in 1986, New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl discovers her father is a child molester and has been using her as bait. Will she protect him or tell the truth in this heartbreaking true story?
 
The Beautiful Ones
Neil Paik, writer/director (screenwriting)
A fateful night in the San Fernando Valley, an illicit affair in Afghanistan, a school shooting, and an activist journalist are all connected by an old Polaroid camera that exchanges hands over the course of 15 years following 9/11.

Mandeville
Russell Nichols, writer (screenwriting) 
A traumatized Black boy, whose brother was killed by a cop, volunteers for an experiment that tests his powers of prediction to prevent future murders.

Miss Juneteenth
Channing Godfrey Peoples, writer/director; Neil Creque Williams, producer (development) — $20,000
Turquoise, a former beauty pageant queen turned hardworking single mother, enrolls her rebellious daughter, Kai, in the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant to compete for the grand prize — a college scholarship. Determined to keep Kai from making her same mistakes in life, Turquoise saves her tips from working at a juke joint to buy her daughter the grandest pageant dress of all. However, Kai is more interested in her school’s dance team and chasing her high school crush.

A Night to Remember
Jessiline Berry, writer/director (screenwriting)
Just three hours ago, they were strangers at a party; now Will is stopping Rayna from getting into an Uber so she can spend the night getting into him. The two could-be lovers go on a moonlit LA adventure, falling into mischief and, perhaps, something like love. By morning’s light, Rayna will know Will all too well — for better or for worse.

Stay Awake
Jaime Sisley, writer/director; Kelly Thomas and David Ariniello, producers (development) 
For years, teen brothers Ethan and Derek Reynolds have tried to help their mother, Michelle, overcome her prescription drug addiction with little success. When Michelle goes missing after another binge, Ethan and Derek begin to question whether they should continue trying to find and help Michelle, or move on with their lives at the expanse of saving her.

A Storybook Ending
Lanre Olabisi, writer/director; Isaac LeFerve and Gabriel Sedgwick, producers (development)
A “Black” comedy set in Brooklyn, A Storybook Ending is also a highly stylized noir. The film unfolds through shifting time frames as it explores contemporary race relations experienced by multiple characters whose lives intersect thanks to a single, life-changing event.

Taliesin
Maya Perez, writer (screenwriting) — $20,000
Based on actual events, Taliesin tells the story of a young Black couple hired to work at the infamous Taliesin home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The remote location becomes a pressure cooker, and tensions around race and gender boil over with tragic consequences — the most horrific mass murder in Wisconsin history.

They Call Me Stacy
Atsuko Okatsuka, writer/director (development)
They call her Stacy…but that’s not her name. Asuka is an undocumented high school student living in her uncle’s garage with her grandmother and schizophrenic mother. With the help of her mother, she tries out for the school’s cheerleading squad and gets in. Her two best friends Nanette and Sandy act as the comedic relief and support system for Asuka as she navigates family stress, being a new member of the cheerleading squad, and now also going by Stacy, as suggested by her English teacher.

The Vanishing Point
Beth Pielert, writer (development)
On the verge of losing her home, a community-minded Latina is seduced by a group of senior women who offer her a solution to her money troubles — help them rob the pharmaceutical company where she works.

White
A. Sayeeda Moreno, writer/director (screenwriting)
White is a dystopian thriller set in a burning hot near-future where climate change has both devastated the planet and turned melanin into the world’s most valuable commodity. When Nuyorican beauty Luna has her newborn ripped from her arms just moments after giving birth, she is thrust into the merciless world of melanin harvesting to save her daughter, her community and spark a revolution.

For more information about SFFILM Makers artist development programs, visit sffilm.org/makers.