Oct 14, 2011
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society announces the winner of the San Francisco Film Society/Herbert Family Documentary Award given to support the career of an emerging filmmaker who pitched a project at the recently concluded 2011 San Francisco Good Pitch event. The award is part of the Film Society’s suite of filmmaker services designed to foster creativity and further the careers of independent filmmakers. First-time directors Mary Posatko and Emily Topper were selected for their social justice documentary American Village and will receive $5,000 to support their next phase of production.
Michele Turnure-Salleo tapped Posatko and Topper for the award at the Good Pitch on September 27 noting the Film Society’s specific interest in supporting emerging filmmakers and the winners’ courageous approach to their project.
WINNER
Mary Posatko, Emily Topper, American Village
West Baltimore, 1972: A father of 13 is shot point-blank on his way to a community meeting. Three boys are arrested, but acquitted. The victim’s family flees to California for 40 years, until a crisis forces them back to Baltimore on a desperate and redemptive search for the boys, now men. Exploring the painful legacies of blockbusting, white flight and American race relations-as well as the hopeful theme of restorative justice-American Village is both the story of a family and the story of our country. Its message: Only face-to-face can the past be repaired. For more information visit heavyindustryfilms.com.
Mary Posatko is an independent producer whose award-winning first feature documentary Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm premiered at South by Southwest in 2010. Previously, she produced the music videos for Levon Helm’s Grammy-winning album Dirt Farmer and the Student Academy Award and BAFTA-winning short film Pitstop. She has worked in news, documentary and drama production for NPR station KCRW, and on several documentaries for HBO and Showtime including Naked States. Born and raised in Delaware, Posatko studied semiotics and modern American history at Brown University and received her MFA from USC. She lives in Venice, California with her husband and two sons.
Emily Topper began working in ?lm as an associate producer on the PBS documentaries Gay Bingo (2000) and Mural (2001). In 2004, she earned her MFA in film production from USC and began working as a cinematographer. Her recent work can be seen in Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm (2010) and Elemental (2011). She is currently shooting the film Trust Women, about four American abortion doctors. Topper earned her undergraduate degree in visual anthropology from Swarthmore College. She is the granddaughter of the man whose murder is at the core of American Village.
For more information visit sffs.org/filmmaker-services.
SFFS Filmmaker Services include project development and fiscal sponsorship, numerous grants and prizes including the SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant, the SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants and the Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship, seminars, workshops and networking opportunities, with more programs in the early planning stages including script readings with local actors and theater companies and script editing consultations.
The Good Pitch, presented by Britdoc and the Sundance Documentary Institute, brings together filmmakers with NGOs, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues, to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society. This year’s San Francisco Good Pitch showcased six projects with social or environmental justice themes.
The San Francisco Film Society/Herbert Family Documentary Award is made possible thanks to the generous support of Cecilia and Jim Herbert, and family.