Film Independent announced the producers selected for its 19th annual Producing Lab. This intensive program is designed to help creative, independent producers develop their skills and further their careers by introducing Fellows to film professionals who can advise them on both the craft and business of independent producing. Each Producing Lab Fellow will be paired with an experienced Creative Advisor with whom they’ll work to develop their project over the course of the program.
SFFILM awarded five documentary films 2019 SFFILMDocumentary Film Fund awards totaling $125,000, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Lea Golb’s Apolonia, Apolonia, Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Landon Van Soest’s Light Darkness Light, David Osit’s Mayor, and CJ Hunt’s Neutral Ground were each awarded funding that will help push each project towards completion.
SFFILM and the Catapult Film Fund have announced the three filmmaking teams that have been awarded 2019 SFFILM Catapult Film Fellowships: Ilse Fernandez, Allison Otto, andYusef Srouji. These fellowships are awarded to filmmakers working in the early stages of developing compelling, story-driven documentary features, and run August through December of this year.Also, in keeping with SFFILM’s broader commitment to the Bay Area’s documentary filmmaking community, SFFILM’s popular Doc Talks series of nonfiction filmmaking workshops will continue at the organization’s FilmHouse residency space through a renewed grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Sundance Institute, in collaboration with Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation, announced the expansion of the Science Sandbox Nonfiction Initiative, alongside the initial nine science-focused independent projects selected for support this year. The initiative, first introduced in 2018, aims to elevate the voices of independent artists working at the intersection of science and nonfiction storytelling, as well as to encourage critical thinking, promote educated discourse and highlight the overlap of science and art.
The 10th Durban FilmMart, the industry development program of the Durban International Film Festival closed in style with its awards ceremony.
Seven narrative feature films in various stages of production will receive a total of $200,000 in funding in Spring 2019 SFFILM Rainin Grants from SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, to support the next stage of their creative process, from screenwriting to post-production.
Continuance Pictures has selected the Top 25 script submissions for the first Continue Short Film Initiative, which aims to establish a platform for Australian talent and provide opportunities for emerging filmmakers everywhere. Unexpectedly, the Continue initiative proved popular internationally, with filmmakers from all corners of the globe submitting their film and television scripts. A third of submissions came from female screenwriters, and of the top 25 finalists, over a third were written by women.
Five boundary-pushing nonfiction film project teams will convene at the Sundance Resort in Utah on June 21, for the Sundance Institute’s 2019 Documentary Edit and Story Lab.
25 nonfiction films from 12 countries are the latest Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and Stories of Change Grantees which includes unrestricted grants to films in the development, production, post-production and audience engagement stages, and is made possible by founding support from Open Society Foundations.
Sundance Institute, will present The Farewell director Lulu Wang, an alumna of Institute’s 2017 FilmTwo Initiative, with its Vanguard Award. The Institute will also present a special premiere benefit screening of her film The Farewell and afterparty at The Theatre at Ace Hotel DTLA on Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
Two Indigenous filmmakers, Kyle Bell (Creek-Thlopthlocco Tribal Town) and Peshawn Bread (Comanche) have been chosen to participate in the 2019 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, continuing the Institute’s commitment to supporting Native American and Indigenous storytellers since its founding. This year’s recently selected Indigenous Program Full Circle Fellows also will attend the Native Filmmakers Lab.
Filmmakers from the U.S., Lebanon, Palestine, and the United Kingdom have been selected for the 2019 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.