News

[caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="550"]The exterior of the San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema. [/caption]

Amy Rich was announced today as the winner of the 2012 Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship for her project The Insect Princess.

The Insect Princess is a feature-length, fantasy-infused family drama set in rural Yorkshire about Romilly, a lonely little girl who discovers she can communicate with insects. While she quickly accepts this odd turn of events, those around her don’t, so she learns to hide the relationship with her new friends. Gradually with the help of her fantasy friends, Romilly learns to stand up to the school bully, to accept herself and to develop friendships with her classmates.

Previous recipients are Adam Chanzit (2011) for his psychological thriller The 15th Stone and Kathryn Mockler (2010) for her project Weak People Are Fun to Torment.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_1660" align="alignnone" width="550"]2010 Nicholl Fellows[/caption]

Ten finalists, including seven individual writers and three writing teams have been selected as finalists for the 26th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy’s Nicholl Committee may award as many as five of the prestigious $30,000 fellowships.

This year’s finalists are (listed alphabetically by author):

Chris Bessounian & Tianna Langham, Los Angeles, Calif., “Guns and Saris”
Dion Cook, Altus, Oklahoma, “Cutter”
K.E. Greenberg, Los Angeles, Calif., “Blood Bound”
Ehud Lavski, Tel Aviv, Israel, “Parasite”
John MacInnes, Los Angeles, Calif., “Outside the Wire”
Aaron Marshall, West Hollywood, Calif., “Fig Hunt: The Quest for Battle Armor Star Captain”
Khurram Mozaffar, Lisle, Illinois, “A Man of Clay”
Matthew Murphy, Culver City, Calif., “Unicorn”
Abel Vang & Burlee Vang, Fresno, Calif., “The Tiger’s Child”
Paul Vicknair & Chris Shafer, Los Angeles & Hermosa Beach, Calif., “A Many Splintered Thing”

The finalists were selected from a record 6,730 scripts submitted for this year’s competition. The competition is open to any individual who has not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $5,000, or received a fellowship or prize that includes a “first look” clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer’s work.

The 2011 Nicholl Fellowships will be presented on Thursday, November 3, at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire.

Read more

Rooftop Films announced the recipients of the 2011 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Grants. Grants were made to two feature films and five short films.

The 2011 grantees are:

ROOFTOP FILMS & EDGEWORX POST-PRODUCTION GRANT:
AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS (David Lowery)

ROOFTOP FILMS & EASTERN EFFECTS EQUIPMENT GRANT:
OBVIOUS CHILD (Gillian Robespierre)

ROOFTOP FILMS & ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION SHORT FILM GRANT FOR WOMEN:
A LIGHT IN THE NIGHT (Sarah Daggar-Nickson)

ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS’ FUND SHORT FILM GRANTS:
MAN ON MARS (Anna Farrell)
TSUNAMI / SAKURA [TIDAL WAVE / CHERRY BLOSSOM] (Lucy Walker)
I’M NOT NOTHING (Zachary Volker)
THE SEEDS (Todd Chandler & Jeff Stark)

Read more

The San Francisco Film Society announced the three winners of the inaugural SFFS Documentary Film Fund grants. The Fund was created to support the postproduction of singular feature-length nonfiction film work that is distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach.

2011 Winners

Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, An American Promise, $25,000

In 1999, filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson began documenting the experiences of two African American boys — their son and his best friend — as they started kindergarten at the prestigious, private, predominantly white Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, just as the school began to actively cultivate a diverse student body. This unprecedented longitudinal documentary reveals the life-changing experiences of the boys and their families as they navigate the challenges of academic achievement further complicated by issues of race and class.

Priya Desai and Ann Kim, Match +, $25,000

How do you find love and marriage when you are HIV-positive? And how do you do that in India, where marriage is a must but HIV/AIDS is unspeakable? Shame led some people to marry without disclosing their diagnosis and others to remain single. Twenty-five years ago the doctor who discovered the first cases of HIV in India could do little more than console her patients. Now she also acts as their matchmaker, helping HIV-positive people fulfill their familial duty as well as their own wish to marry.

Zachary Heinzerling, Cutie & the Boxer, $50,000

Cutie & the Boxer chronicles a unique love story between two Japanese artists and reveals the roots of their relationship. Ushio Shinohara achieved notoriety in postwar Japan with his avant-garde boxing paintings, and in 1969 moved to New York City in search of international recognition. Three years later, at age 19, Noriko left Japan to study art in New York and was instantly captivated by the middle-aged Shinohara. She abandoned her education and became the wife of an unruly, alcoholic husband. Forty years into their marriage the Shinoharas’ art and personalities are the basis for a deep and challenging symbiosis. Cutie & the Boxer reveals painful, universal truths about the lives of artists and examines how the creative process intersects with reality, identity and marriage.

Read more