DocLands Documentary Film Festival announced the five finalists for DocPitch, a program designed to connect filmmakers, with projects currently in development or post-production, to potential funders, distributors, organizations, philanthropists, fellow filmmakers, and future audiences.
These five filmmakers with feature documentary projects currently in development have been selected to present a three-minute verbal pitch, three- to five-minute trailer and participate in a ten-minute Q&A with an audience, comprised of invited funders, organization representatives, distributors, broadcasters, and the general public. All members of the audience will be given a ballot prior to the filmmakers’ presentations to vote for their favorite pitch. The top-voted project will be announced on site and presented with a cash award of $25,000,with every pitcher receiving a 2019 CFI Membership.
What: DocPitch
When: Saturday, May 4, 2019
Time: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth Street (between A&B Streets), San Rafael, CA
Finalists:
FIVE YEARS NORTH
Pitching: Director Chris Temple, Editor Alejandro Valdes-Rochin
Chino is facing a life-changing opportunity and deadly risk; crossing the border to the U.S. Told over more than a decade, Five Years North is the coming-of-age journey of a boy who must leave his family in order to save them.
Local Bay Area Connection: Director Chris Temple is based in Bay Area (Napa Area)
GATHER
Pitching: Director Sanjay Rawal, Producer A-dae Briones
Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political, and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide. Gather follows a chef from White Mountain Apache (Arizona) opening an indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic; a young female scientist from Cheyenne River Sioux (South Dakota) conducting landmark studies on bison; and a group of environmental activists from Yurok (Northern California) trying to save their river.
THE HEIST
Pitching: Director Allison Otto, Producer Jill Howerton
The Heist is a feature documentary about one of the most audacious and puzzling art thefts of a generation.
RUN WITH IT
Pitching: Directors/Producers, Dee Hibbert-Jones, Nomi Talisman, Producer Amilca Palmer
An animated documentary feature that explores the crisis in the criminal justice system and the U.S. racial divide through the eyes of De’Jaun Correia, a young black man on the Dean’s List at Morehouse College guided by the memory of his uncle, Troy Davis, who mentored him from death row.Local
Bay Area Connection: Directors/Producers Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman are based in Bay Area.
SOCIALISM: AN AMERICAN STORY
Pitching: Director Yael Bridge
Rampant inequality. Entrenched racism and sexism. A rapidly warming planet. For a growing number of people in America today, there is one answer to the biggest problems that face our country: SOCIALISM. Socialism: An American Story uncovers the rich history of American socialism and goes beyond the headlines to tell the stories of the people striving to build a socialist future.
Local Bay Area Connection: Director Yael Bridge is based in Bay Area