Jul 21, 2010
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation today announced the application period for the Fall 2010 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are given twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films that through plot, character, theme or setting significantly explore human and civil rights, discrimination, gender and sexual identity and other urgent social justice issues of our time. Additionally, the grants support films that have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. The total amount disbursed 2009-13 will be over $3 million, including a total of $275,000 already awarded in the first three rounds. The letter of inquiry period for the fourth set of SFFS/KRF grants totaling up to $225,000 for screenwriting, script development, preproduction, production and postproduction is now open; the deadline is August 13, 2010.
Winners of the fall 2010 SFFS/KRF grants will be announced in November 2010.
For additional information, including guidelines and application, visit www.sffs.org/Filmmaker-Services/Grants-and-Prizes
“This grant is unique in its support of filmmakers bringing social issues to light in complex, fresh and aesthetically diverse ways,” said Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of filmmaker services at the Film Society. “We are thrilled and honored to provide such tangible support and are excited by the possibilities for these films to effect and inspire change.”
Due to the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants provide tangible encouragement and support to meaningful projects and benefit the local economy. In addition to the cash grant, recipients will receive various benefits through the Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services programs. More information is available at www.sffs.org/Filmmaker-Services
As previously announced at the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival’s Golden Gate Awards, five filmmakers working in various stages of production were awarded funds in the third round of the SFFS/KRF grants:
Krisy Gosney: Manhandled, $10,000 for script development
Manhandled is the story of a longtime lesbian couple undergoing shock waves of changing perception and identify as one partner’s transition from female to male impacts their relationship.
Annie Howell: Black Kid, $25,000 for preproduction
Black Kid is the comic coming-of-age story of a geeky 11-year-old biracial kid from San Francisco whose world is turned upside down when his family relocates to a rural, all-white Appalachian town. With the support of his parents, he learns to define himself rather than fulfill the expectations of others.
Barry Jenkins: Jeremiad, $35,000 for script development
Jeremiah goes back to San Francisco following a term in San Quentin and quickly discovers that there’s a stigma on Black men returning from prison, for which he has a compelling rebuttal in the form of a prison clinic printout specifically declaring him HIV negative. The ensuing consequences challenge Jeremiah more than his incarceration did until he comes to understand that hope is the product of honesty. strikeanywherefilms.com
Maryam Keshavarz: Circumstance, $50,000 for postproduction
Against the backdrop of a reactionary Iranian government, a father fights to create a sanctuary of music, art and intellectual curiosity for his two children, but one child’s emerging sexuality is threatened by the other’s newfound religious devotion and political vigilance. marakeshfilms.com
Benh Zeitlin: Beasts of the Southern Wild, $50,000 for postproduction
In this mythological epic inspired by the erosion crisis impacting the wetlands of America’s Gulf Coast, a ferocious young heroine vows to save her father, who is stricken by a mysterious illness, and her rapidly sinking island home. court13.com
Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation dedicated to enhancing the quality of life by promoting equitable access to a baseline of literacy, enabling inspiration through the magic of the arts and providing opportunity for a healthy lifestyle for those with chronic disease. The Foundation focuses its efforts on the San Francisco Bay Area and specific medical issues and utilizes its networks, resources and commitment to socially responsible business practices to support innovation, collaboration and connection.
San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating the world of film and media in four core areas: Internationalism and Cross-Cultural Exchange, Educating and Inspiring Bay Area Youth, Showcasing Bay Area Film Culture and Exploring New Media. Its activities are organized via three major program areas: Exhibition, Education and Filmmaker Services.
The Film Society shows the best of world cinema year-round on its SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas; presents the longest-running film festival in the Americas, the SF International (April 21-May 5, 2011); and presents the San Francisco International Animation Festival, New Italian Cinema, Cinema by the Bay, Taiwan Film Days and French Cinema Now each fall. SFFS presents more than 300 days of programming each year, reaching a total audience of more than 100,000 people. Its acclaimed Youth Education program introduces international cinema and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students annually.
SFFS publishes a daily online magazine, SF360.org, with broad-ranging news and features on Bay Area film culture and provides crucial support to the Bay Area filmmaking community through Filmmaker Services, including FilmHouse Residencies, Fiscal Sponsorship, SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants, Hearst Screenwriting Grant, Djerassi Residency Award/SFFS Screenwriting Fellowship, SFFS Film Arts Forums and professional-level filmmaker classes.