VIMOOZ

The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation today announced the five winning projects in the sixth round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films with social justice themes that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Between 2009 and 2013 the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants will award nearly $2.5 million, including more than $1 million awarded in the first six grant rounds.

The panelists who reviewed the finalists’ submissions are Jen Chaiken, producer, founder of 72 Productions and member, SFFS board of directors; Jennifer Rainin, president, Kenneth Rainin Foundation; Bingham Ray, SFFS executive director; and Michele Turnure-Salleo, director of filmmaker services, SFFS. The panel noted, “For their unique stories and breadth of social justice issues — which range from religious fanaticism to bullying in the dance world — we are thrilled to award these filmmakers SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The five winners, whether based locally or in New York or Los Angeles, all showed strong connections to the Bay Area and a real capacity to have a significant impact here, professionally and economically.”

Lance Edmands, Kyle Martin: Bluebird
$97,000 for production
In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the community balance, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences.

Eric Escobar: One Good Thing
$15,000 for screenwriting
A jaded and bitter locksmith spends his days locking families out of their foreclosed homes. When a morning lockout turns up the abandoned child of a long-lost friend, his cynicism is put in check as he races to find the missing parents. For more information visit kontentfilms.com.

Ian Hendrie, Jyson McLean: Mercy Road
$35,000 for screenwriting
Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the political and spiritual odyssey of a small-town Christian housewife as she slowly turns from a peaceful pro-life activist to an underground militant willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.

Chris Mason Johnson: Test
$60,000 for production
The year is 1985. The youngest, skinniest and most mocked member of San Francisco’s new contemporary ballet company begins a friendship with a brilliant dancer with a bad boy reputation in the same troupe. As lurid headlines threaten a gay quarantine, the two friends navigate a world full of risk that is also full of promise. For more information visit thenewtwentymovie.com.

Oden Roberts, Azura Skye: Rosie Got Her Gun
$100,000 for production
Following a series of arrests, a troubled young woman struggling to avoid prison time is visited by an opportunistic Army recruiter. For more information visit odenroberts.com.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_1773" align="alignnone" width="550"]Fanny, Annie & Danny, a film by finalist Chris Brown[/caption]

The San Francisco Film Society announced today the nine finalists for the third SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant and the grant prize of $15,000.  The finalists were selected from 57 applicants, and the winner will be announced in early December.

FINALISTS
Chris Brown, San Franciscoland
A young Iraqi war veteran is forced to turn to prostitution in order to survive in San Francisco. For information visit fannyannieanddanny.com.

Jason Cortland, Lumberjunkies
In a small logging town in Northern Oregon, two brothers circumvent the decline of the timber industry by stealing trees off public lands at night. Following a series of accidents, they have a falling out. The youngest goes to work for their estranged father on a legitimate salvage logging crew. With loyalties shifted, a history of family betrayal leads to an explosion of violence.

Mark Decena, The Martyr
The apparent suicide of a peace activist has a galvanizing effect on global efforts to end war and conflict. When the activist unexpectedly turns up very much alive, his colleagues must decide whether the movement’s new momentum is more important than one man’s existence. For information visit kontentfilms.com.

Gabriel Diani, Etta Devine, Sorry, Wrong Planet
Sorry, Wrong Planet is a sci-fi comedy about an inept clone soldier named Dort who is accidentally teleported to Earth where he teams up with an illegal immigrant named Miguel to do day labor. He falls in love with a waitress who looks exactly like the empress he is genetically programmed to worship and saves Earth from an alien invasion. For information visit dianidevine.com.

Joshua Malkin, Both Hands
When Dora, an ambitious American college student studying in Montreal, spies on the mysterious tattoo artist next door, she ignites a passionate mutual obsession that threatens to destroy both their lives. For information visit smalldrama.com.

Jonah Markowitz, Falling Home
An urban and happily childless gay couple’s life is forever changed following a tragic accident. They become the caretakers of two teenagers and the owners of a rural family farm. Three cross-cultural, multigenerational families learn to carry on after extreme tragedy. For information visit logolite-ent.com/jmarkowitz.

Jean-Louis Milesi, Inland Sea
A group of kids survives on the streets in a country recently torn apart by a war. Among them is ten-year-old Mickey who never speaks and whose friends treat him like an idiot. While the others are focused only on finding food, Mickey has two goals in life: to find new batteries to light up the plastic blade of his light saber and to find, and kill, his father. For information visit jeanlouismilesi.com.

Chioke Nassor, How to Follow Strangers
A woman died alone in her apartment and a year later her body was found decomposing in a crisp Chanel suit. A young man becomes obsessed with this urban tragedy and disappears, wondering if anyone will notice. A young woman who shares his commuting schedule does notice, and when he resurfaces, she decides to follow him, setting off a chain of events that bind them together. For information visit chiokenassor.com.

Ian Olds, Western Habit
An Afghan journalist exiled from his war-torn home to a small, bohemian community in Northern California struggles to find a new life for himself while juggling a low-paying job on the local police blotter, a meddling avant-garde theater director and a sexually charged relationship with his roommate, who is also the town sheriff. For information visit fixerdoc.com.

The 2010 SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant was awarded to Eric Escobar for East County, a drama set in the economic downturn in which a deputy sheriff who is drowning in debt moonlights for his brother’s eviction agency.

Read more

monterey media has acquired North American rights to actress Famke Janssen’s writing and directorial debut, “Bringing Up Bobby” with a late 2011 theatrical release date planned. “Bringing Up Bobby ” stars Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Three Musketeers), Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Sleepless in Seattle, The Grudge) and Marcia Cross (star of “Desperate Housewives”). The film premiered recently at the Deauville American Film Festival and will have its US premiere at The Savannah Film Festival this November.

About Bringing Up Bobby
In an effort to escape her past and build a better future, Olive (Milla Jovovich), an attractive European con artist, and her 10-year-old American-born son, Bobby (Spencer List), find themselves living in Oklahoma.  But as Olive and Bobby blithely charm their way from one comical adventure to another, Olive’s criminal past finally catches up with her, forcing her to make the toughest judgment of all.

Read more