Oct 31, 2012
Artist Development
San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation have announced the 13 finalists for the eighth round of SFFS / Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants; up to $300,000 will be given to one or more narrative feature films at any stage of production. Projects must explore–through plot, character, theme or setting–human and civil rights, discrimination, gender and sexual identity and other social issues of our time in order to qualify. Additionally, the grants support projects by filmmakers from anywhere in the world that will have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. The total amount disbursed from 2009 to 2013 will reach nearly $2.5 million. Winners of the fall 2012 SFFS / KRF Grants will be announced in early December.
“It was a difficult process narrowing the field to these 13 finalists; we were very impressed by the strength of the applications across the board,” said Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of Filmmaker360. “Each of these projects, in their various stages of production, exudes the kind of independence, integrity and great potential that that truly excites us.”
“It is so rare for narrative films to get financial support in this way, completely divorced from market concerns. These grants allow filmmakers to tell the stories they want to tell, in the manner each story–not the market–requires,” said Ted Hope, who recently took the reigns of the San Francisco Film Society.
SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are made possible by the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. In addition to a cash grant, recipients will receive various benefits through Filmmaker360, the San Francisco Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services program.
For additional information visit sffs.org/Filmmaker360/Grants.
FINALISTS
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale, postproduction
Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008. This project was previously supported by a SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant for production, and Coogler participated in Filmmaker360’s Off the Page script workshop program with actors Melonie Diaz and Michael B. Jordan in the spring of 2012.
Destin Cretton and Asher Goldstein, Short Term 12, postproduction
An acutely observed portrait of a foster care facility for at risk teenagers. Told with immediacy, uncanny accuracy, and almost no sentimentality, Short Term 12 is a story both of the children who live at the home–and of the staff members who care for them.
Mario de la Vega, The Undeniable Charm of Sloppy Unruh, development
A charming rogue returns to his Texas hometown and turns it upside down, seducing the ladies, dazzling the populace and running for sheriff against the corrupt incumbent-who happens to be his jealous younger brother. De la Vega participated in Filmmaker360’s Off the Page script workshop program with actors Kyle Chandler, John Hawkes and Amy Ryan in the summer of 2012.
Mark Decena, The Flower and the Bee, screenwriting
The Flower and the Bee is a quirky dramedy about a nine-year-old botanist and his sidekick girlfriend, a budding entomologist, who upon discovering a thriving bee colony in an abandoned barrio lot, transform the orphaned half acre into a community garden. When the Archdiocese decides to sell the land off to a developer, the battle to save a garden becomes a questioning of their faith, and a struggle to save a community. For more information visit kontentfilms.com.
Eric Escobar, The East County, screenwriting
Dale Ryan is a desperate and broke real estate hustler. While chasing down a lead, he discovers two children abandoned in an empty house. Shockingly they are the kids of his long-lost friend who has a connection to a lucrative property development. With his eye on the real estate, Dale volunteers to look after the children. After the parents’ missing minivan is found, Dale uncovers a web of corruption implicating people closest to him. This project was previously supported by a SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant for screenwriting in the fall of 2011.
Daniel Grove and Reza Sixo Safai, A Better Place Than This, screenwriting
A happy-go-lucky prison guard, Para Dastur’s charismatic demeanor hides a grim truth: he is Singapore Changi Prison’s resident hangman. Not simply an anonymous executioner, Dastur consoles the condemned, helping them come to terms with their fate. But when a young Australian girl is placed on death row his convictions are challenged and his world is turned upside down. For more information visit vimeo.com/38964286.
Aurora Guerrero, Los Valientes (The Brave Ones), screenwriting
Struggling to find work and recover from a break-up, Felix, a gay undocumented Mexican, leaves San Francisco for a small town in Pennsylvania where his sister promises steady work and the comfort of family. But once there, alienated by the town’s newly proposed anti-immigration law and forced into silence regarding his sexuality, Felix finds unexpected solace in the company of one person: his sister’s husband. Guerrero’s previous project Mosquita y Mari was supported by a SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant for postproduction in the spring of 2011.
Jonah Markowitz, Start at the End, screenwriting
Start at The End is a character-driven drama that explores the similarities between the family we are born into and the one that we create. The story begins with a tragic accident that results in a gay couple becoming caretakers of their teenage niece and nephew. As grief catapults all four onto seemingly individual paths of despair and discovery, the inherent bond of family contains these journeys into one that is shared.
Chris Mason Johnson, Test, postproduction
Frankie is the newest, skinniest and most mocked member of San Francisco’s exciting new contemporary ballet company. The year is 1985. As lurid headlines threaten a gay quarantine, Frankie navigates a world full of risk that is also, now and then, full of promise. This project was previously supported by a SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant for production in the fall of 2011, and Johnson’s previous projectSkirt was supported by a SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant for screenwriting in the fall of 2010. For more information visit TestTheFilm.com.
Gerard McMurray, Riders, screenwriting
A group of rogue police officers known as the Riders terrorizes black residents in West Oakland, CA by making false arrests, violently assaulting residents, and committing a myriad of other civil rights violations. Ultimately, a 23-year-old rookie cop becomes entangled in the corruption and has to face a difficult decision between his obligation to the brotherhood of police and his own sense of morality.
Michael Tully and George Rush, Ping Pong Summer, postproduction
It’s the mid-1980s. Radical Miracle is a shy teenager who lives in Maryland and loves two things: rap music and table tennis. When Rad relocates to the beachside community of Ocean City, the most epic summer of his life begins. In addition to falling in love, he realizes his dream of becoming a ping pong champion. For more information visit facebook.com/pingpongsummer.
Diane Weipert, Boyle Heights, screenwriting
Boyle Heights tells the story of a young Mexican woman who was forcibly sterilized at USC County Hospital in LA, a whistleblowing intern who risks his career to expose the hospital’s social Darwinist policies, and the way their separate but parallel struggles helped bring about the 1978 federal class action lawsuit, Madrigal vs. Quilligan.
Susan Youssef and Man Kit Lam, Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf, screenwriting
With her father imprisoned on dubious terrorism-related charges, a Lebanese American teenager in Arkansas searches for identity in a headscarf and a motorcycle. This feature project is an extension of the short by the same name that screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, and is the first narrative feature that explores coming of age into the hijab. For more information visit forbiddentowander.com.
Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation that is dedicated to enhancing quality of life by promoting equitable access to a baseline of literacy, championing and sustaining the arts, and supporting research that will lead to relief for those with chronic disease. The Foundation focuses our efforts on the San Francisco Bay Area and specific medical issues. It utilizes its networks, resources, and commitment to socially responsible practices to support innovation, collaboration and connection in the service of inspiring world-changing work. For more information visit krfoundation.org.