We are deeply saddened that much of the NEH staff has been put on administrative leave and that NEH grants are being terminated. We want to particularly thank and acknowledge the highly professional staff of the NEH who for years have provided us and our filmmakers with thoughtful, smart and exceptional feedback and advice, great care and thoroughness in preparing contracts and expediting payments. These wonderful civil servants have indeed been helping to nurture wisdom and to bring the lessons of the humanities to us all. The seal of the NEH has never been more powerful-- Democracy Demands Wisdom.

Click here to take action.

FWD-DOC'S FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING DISABILITY REPRESENTATION IN FILM & MEDIA

FWD-DOC recognizes that authentic representation of disabled people in film and media is not just about who is on-screen, but also about who is behind the camera, in decision-making roles, and on the awards stage. Films that exclude disabled voices in the storytelling and distribution process often perpetuate harmful tropes, reinforcing stereotypes that view disabled people as objects of pity, inspiration, or fear rather than full and complex individuals. We hope this framework helps audiences to think more deeply about the media they consume.

Read the Framework here

Read the Forbes Article here

FWD-DOC is a global, intersectional community of disabled creators and allies working in media to build a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable entertainment industry. Learn more here.



INTERGENERATION STREAMING

INTERGENERATION was shown on GBH's Local Lens on April 10th at 9pm. It is available to watch streaming on PBS app and on Local Lens.

At the start of the 2020 pandemic, a Boston filmmaker works with eight inner-city teens to animate the memories of seven Boston elders. Their cross-generational creation becomes a playful and imaginative journey through the city’s past and present. A glimpse into an educational process, INTERGENERATION, directed and produced by CAROLYN SHADID LEWIS, celebrates the beauty and strength of Boston’s neighborhoods of color and the multicultural fabric that can hold community together.

FATHER FIGURES UPDATES

FATHER FIGURES, directed by EMMA D MILLER, and produced by FLORRIE PRIEST, COLBY DAY, and Emma D Miller. was named to the inaugural Nonfiction Hotlist, chosen as one of 23 projects out of 600+ submissions with "extraordinary creative potential."

The team is thrilled to be heading into the edit this month and are currently welcoming any and all contributions.

FATHER FIGURES: When a retired theater director begins posting deeply intimate conversations with his growing collection of ventriloquist’s dummies, his daughter embarks on a quest to understand his motivations and repair a fraught relationship — using puppets.

OUTCRY: ALCHEMISTS OF RAGE UPDATES

OUTCRY: ALCHEMISTS OF RAGE played at the Athena Film Festival on March 9th and is currently available to stream on AMC+ as part of the Future of Film: Athena Rising Stars short film collection. 

The film will also be playing at Cinema Columbus Film Festival in Ohio, on May 1st.

OUTCRY: ALCHEMISTS OF RAGE, directed produced by CLARE MAJOR, and produced by WHITNEY BRADSHAW, RIVKAH BETH MEDOW and JEN RAININ follows Whitney Bradshaw as she photographs women mid-scream in cathartic group sessions where long-silenced stories conjure rage, sorrow, and joy. An activist and sexual abuse survivor, Whitney uses art to fuel action for women’s rights, culminating in a grassroots fight for abortion access in Ohio.

CONNECTION ISOLATION UPDATES

CONNECTION ISOLATION, directed and produced by G. CHESLER, premiered at the Seattle Queer Film Festival in October 2024, with screenings at DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, Tampa Bay Trans+ Film Festival, and upcoming screenings at Divine Queer in Torino Italy, the Portland Art Museum’s Tomorrow Theater, and more. Please follow the G6_Pix Instagram or sign up for the G6 Pictures newsletter for updates on screenings in the US and beyond this year.

CONNECTION ISOLATION presents eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst moments of connection and isolation, these participants reveal a deepening awareness of gender, their bodies, and trans community.

FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE UPDATES

FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE, directed by TRISTAN COOK, and produced by BIRGIT GERNBOCK, is completed and has secured distribution with Juno Films. The team aims to premiere the film this year in New York City with a limited theatrical release. 

Interweaving vivid memories of the Emerson Quartet’s past with delicate observations of life on the road in the weeks and days before disbanding, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE explores the group’s difficult decision to walk away from the things that they cherish most in life: the music they play and the friends they hold dear. At once a frank examination of the tyranny of aging and a cri de cœur to pass the torch to a new generation of artists, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE culminates with one final Emerson Quartet performance for the ages, leaving all to ponder what happens to us after the final curtain. Click here to learn more.

THE WILD GIRL OF BRUSHVALLEY TOWNSHIP PREMIERE

THE WILD GIRL OF BRUSHVALLEY TOWNSHIP, by CID filmmaker HEATHER CASSANO, will premiere at IFF Boston on April 25th. This short documentary was inspired by research and footage captured for CID sponsored project THE FATE OF HUMAN BEINGS. To learn more about the screenings and the film click here. 

THE WILD GIRL OF BRUSHVALLEY TOWNSHIP chronicles the story of Minnie Adams, one of the estimated one million people who died in American mental institutions. The film reconstructs her life and illness through interviews with historians and genealogists, a visit to the local historical society, and the newspapers from the early 1900s that sensationalized her institutionalization in graphic detail. Through speculative animation drawing from documentary material, the film reclaims Minnie’s story from sensationalist public gossip imagining an alternative history for a woman who was failed by her family and society. 

HEATHER CASSANO was also recognized by Massachusetts Cultural Council through their Grants for Creative Individuals program. Read the full announcement here. 

GLENDORA UPDATES

GLENDORA, produced and directed by ISABELLE ARMAND, has been selected by Independent Film Festival Boston.

In the vast fields of the Mississippi Delta, an African-American community and culture thrive on the strength and creative resources of its people, even as material resources are scarce. GLENDORA is a hands-on, innovative collaboration with the townspeople, exploring how past and present intertwine through the testimonies of multiple generations, and ordinary and not so ordinary events. Click here to learn more.

CURED UPDATES

The CURED team has been honored to partner with dozens of social justice organizations, mental health associations, medical schools, colleges and universities, libraries, historical societies, and other non-profit groups to present approximately 300 outreach events (both in-person and virtually) in 24 countries, 22 states, and the District of Columbia. Recent highlights include:

•     PRISM Project — We’ve been commissioned to create a module based on CURED for PRISM, an online training program aimed at increasing LGBTQ+ cultural competency among educators in California.

•    Educational Impact — We were excited to present CURED in late November at NCSS, the annual conference of social studies and history teachers. It was gratifying to hear educators’ enthusiastic reactions to the 35-minute classroom version and the accompanying curriculum materials that we created in partnership with History UnErased.

•    Justice for All Summit — In late April 2025, filmmakers Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer will present a session at the 2025 Justice for All Summit: The Power of Inclusion. This gathering is intended to provide attendees with strategies and insights to champion inclusion and equity at workplaces.

•    Digital and In-flight Distribution — CURED is now streaming in the US on multiple platforms, including Prime Video's PBS Documentaries Channel, iTunes, and Xfinity. We’re also pleased to announce that American Airlines has acquired the film for its in-flight entertainment lineup.

Five years in the making, CURED, directed by BENNET SINGER and PATRICK SAMMON, illuminates a pivotal yet largely unknown chapter in the struggle for LGBTQ equality: the campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses. Click here to learn more.

ENDURING DEMOCRACY: THE MONTEREY PETITION BROADCAST PREMIERE

The award-winning documentary, ENDURING DEMOCRACY: THE MONTEREY PETITION, by DAVID SCHENDEL, will have its broadcast premiere on PBS in May as part of Asian Heritage Month. 

The timely and urgent film tells the story of a group of fearless women in Monterey and Carmel California that stood up to government endorsed racism against Japanese Americans during WW2. The film and curriculum is now available at the NETA website.

BELLY OF THE BEAST UPDATES

BELLY OF THE BEAST is working on two powerful documentaries about Cuban healthcare.

The first is called TERESITA’S DREAM, and it ​​follows a Cuban scientist who, inspired by her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s, played a key role in developing a groundbreaking medication to combat the disease. The medication, which is undergoing the final stages of clinic trials, has shown remarkable success in slowing and even reversing Alzheimer’s – with no serious side effects. The film is in the final stages of post-production and will be released in the coming months.

In the second documentary (working title: FROM CUBA TO ITALY), filmmakers Daniel Montero, Gabriela Tamarit and Alfredo Lazcano embed with a group of Cuban doctors serving on a medical mission in Calabria, the poorest region of Italy. U.S. officials have attacked Cuba's medical missions, either accusing the doctors of being spies or characterizing them as victims of “forced labor." This documentary takes a unique and intimate look inside a Cuban medical mission in a European country, revealing the truth about the courageous doctors who risk their lives in the name of international solidarity. 

To sign up for Belly of the Beast's newsletter or to support their work, please visit their website HERE.

SCALING BABEL RISE OF THE TRANSLATORS UPDATES

Stop motion animation artist Jeremy Rourke has begun work on SCALING BABEL: RISE OF THE TRANSLATORS, directed by VERONICA SELVER and SHARON WOOD. Jeremy's animation contributed to Jay Rosenblatt's 2022 Oscar-nominated short, "When We Were Bullies."  

Jeremy will visualize participants' spoken descriptions of how each solves a particular translation challenge. First up, Jennifer Shyue's translation of "The Red Rooster," by Chinese-Peruvian poet Julia Wong Kcomt.

SCALING BABEL: RISE OF THE TRANSLATORS is the story of the long invisible world of literary translators at a turning point. Through the individual stories of a handful of translators, the film shines a light on this culturally rich practice and reveals its subtle but profound impact on society.

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON UPDATES

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON director ELIZABETH M WEBB and producer DAMANUEL RICHARDSON were honored to pitch the project at Big Sky Pitch in Missoula, Montana in February in front of a panel of industry leaders. 

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON chronicles the layered social and natural histories of former plantation land in Alabama, an origin point for the director's family members who live on either side of—and sometimes cross—the “color line”. Through their stories, the film examines how boundaries are inscribed and offers plants as liberatory models for subverting structures of attempted control.

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE PBS BROADCAST

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE, an ITVS supported film directed and produced by SARAH MCCLURE and JOSEPH TERRANOVA, will be broadcasted and streamed on PBS Independent Lens in 2026 as part of their upcoming season! The date is TBA.

KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE tells the story of a former Amish woman who breaks the deeply entrenched silence surrounding sexual abuse in her community and ignites an unprecedented movement. Based on groundbreaking reporting, the film chronicles her journey against the backdrop of this historic reckoning, delivering a sobering celebration of resilience in the face of staggering oppression. Click here to learn more.