Sundance Institute Announces Grants to 5 Documentaries

Sundance Institute Announces Grants to 25 Documentaries Posted Dec 17, 2012

Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the 25 feature-length documentary films that will receive $550,000 in grants from its Documentary Film Program and Fund (DFP). Grantees were selected from 696 submissions from 104 countries.

Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund said, As we enter a new cycle for political leadership in the U.S. and abroad, documentary filmmakers continue to seek out stories that elucidate the conditions of our lives. Their reach is global, and their stories connect and inspire a new generation of independent documentary filmmakers and audiences.

Granted filmmakers reflect a range of experience, including five first-time feature filmmakers as well as noted documentarians Fred Wiseman, Sam Pollard and Jehane Noujaim. In-country filmmakers include those in Africa (Ghana), India and China, and additional countries of production include Afghanistan, Nepal, Senegal and Egypt.

Awarding grants is a core activity of the DFP, which provides year-round creative support and funding to nonfiction filmmakers globally. Proposals are accepted twice a year, and submissions are reviewed by a jury of creative film professionals and human rights experts, based on their approach to storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, subject relevance and potential for social engagement. Submissions for the next round will be accepted beginning in late December, with a February 5 deadline. More information at www.sundance.org/documentary.

The DFP celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 and since its inception has awarded grants to more than 450 documentary filmmakers in 62 countries, including the projects announced today.

DEVELOPMENT

Boomtown (U.S.)

Director: Beth Murphy

A modern day Grapes of Wrath story is playing out across America as families pack their bags and head to North Dakota in search of the American Dream.

Bukom Fighter (Ghana)

Director: Makafui Zimrani

A nine year old boy from a shanty town in Ghana tries to create hope for himself using the only resource at his disposal; the power of his fists.

Chameleon (Canada / Ghana)

Director: Ryan Mullins

Africas most famed investigative reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, takes us deep undercover for his own brand of brazen journalism.

Perry vs. Schwarzenegger (U.S.)

Directors: Ryan White and Ben Cotner

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that challenges Californias ban on same-sex marriage. Perry v. Schwarzenegger, filed by two couples with an unlikely legal team, has now reached the nations highest court and is poised to be the first ruling on the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry.

Rise and Fall of ACORN (U.S.)

Directors: Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard

In 2009 a national community-organizing group was destroyed. The complex story of ACORN involves a journalist posing as a pimp, embezzlement, and voter fraud.

PRODUCTION / POST-PRODUCTION

99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (U.S.)

Directors: Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Lucian Read, Nina Krstic

The Occupy movement erupted in September 2011, propelling economic inequality into the spotlight. In an unprecedented collaboration, filmmakers across America tell its story, digging into big picture issues as organizers, analysts, participants and critics reveal how it happened and why.

After Tiller (U.S.)

Directors: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009, only four doctors in the country provide late-term abortions. With unprecedented access, After Tiller goes inside the lives of these physicians working at the center of the storm.

At Berkeley (U.S.)

Director: Frederick Wiseman

A world renowned, public university strives to maintain its academic excellence, public role, and the economic, racial and social diversity of the student body in the face of severe budget cuts by the California Legislature.

A Blind Eye (U.S. / Afghanistan)

Director: Kirsten Johnson

A one-eyed boy struggles to hide what really haunts him. A bold teenage girl defies convention, out running her nightmares of the Taliban, but still too afraid to show her face in a film. A U.S. Military surveillance blimp in the sky over Kabul tracks their every move.

Dirty Wars (U.S.)

Director: Richard Rowley

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill chases down the truth behind America's covert wars.

The Faun Experiment (U.S.)

Directors: Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright

He expected to be in a wheelchair by age 40 with cerebral palsy. Instead, Gregg Mozgala embarks on a dance project with choreographer Tamar Rogoff. As art overturns science his life is forever changed.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (U.S. / Nepal)

Directors: Amy Benson and Scott Squire, Co-Director: Ramyata Limbu

Shanta is an Untouchable Nepali girl with a rare opportunity to break her family's cycle of poverty, through education. But, a year from graduation, Shanta falls victim to globalization's new epidemic: suicide.

The Kill Team (U.S.)

Director: Dan Krauss

An American soldier attempts to expose U.S. war crimes even more heinous than Abu Ghraib and then is himself charged with premeditated murder.

Mr. President (U.S. / Senegal)

Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

President Abdoulaye Wade challenged Senegal's constitutional term limits and ran for re-election. The election and pro-democracy movement is seen from both sides, ultimately documenting a chapter of African Spring.

The New Black (U.S.)

Director: Yoruba Richen

The New Black uncovers the complicated and often combative histories of the African-American and LGBT civil-rights movements.

Powerless (India)

Directors: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar

In a city with 15-hour power outages, a nimble young electrician provides robin-hood style service

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-announ...
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