ROY W. DEAN GRANT

The Roy W. Dean Grant winner for Fall will receive $3,000 and thousands more in donated services including a film score as well as animation to help them complete their project. Eligible projects include documentary films, narrative features, short films, and web series.

Deadline to apply is October 31st. Learn more here.

DIRECT ACCESS FUND

The Direct Access Fund awards small targeted funds for access accommodations and services that would otherwise be unfunded. They underwrite disabled media makers who practice fact-based storytelling, including but not limited to: documentary, nonfiction podcasting, new media, immersive, and other types of nonfiction practice, and are currently working on a project at any stage. This includes distribution and festival support. All career levels are encouraged to apply. You do not need an official diagnosis to apply to the fund. If disability, neurodivergence, or chronic illness is something that resonates with your experience, please apply.

Deadline to apply is October 31st.

Learn more here.

CALIFORNIA DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

California Humanities invites proposals for the 2023 California Documentary Project (CDP) grant program for film, audio, and digital media projects that explore California in all its complexity and tell stories from all across the state. Productions of any documentary style and length are eligible—shorts, features, podcasts, web series, broadcast series, VR, (and more).

Funding is available in two categories: Research and Development Grants up to $15,000, and Production Grants up to $50,000.

Deadline to apply is November 1st. Learn more here.

CAAM DOCUMENTARY FUND

With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), CAAM provides project funding to independent documentary films by and about the Asian American experience for public television. Documentaries are eligible for production or post-production funding and must be intended for public television broadcast. Awards typically range between $10,000 and $50,000.

Deadline to apply is October 29th. Learn more here.

SUNDANCE DOCUMENTARY FUND GRANTEES

Sundance Institute has announced the 2023 grantees for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, which supports the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe. Twenty-three projects have been selected for unrestricted grant funding totaling just over $1,000,000.

Grantees include the below CID sponsored films:

ADAM'S APPLE, directed by Amy Jenkins and produced by Brit Fryer and Amy Jenkins, is a personal documentary about a family in transition, intimately filmed from the perspectives of artist Amy Jenkins and her transgender son, Adam. Each equipped with a camera, the film creatively chronicles an ever-shifting dynamic as Adam charts his own path toward manhood.

UNTITLED YEMEN PROJECT, directed and produced by Sara Ishaq and Sonia Kennebeck. An unlikely Yemeni couple who come from polar-opposite backgrounds push back against social pressures and call for peace as they face their uncertain futures in a devastating war.

Read the press release and full list of grantees here.

BERKELEY FILM FOUNDATION GRANTEES

The Berkeley FILM Foundation has awarded $200,000 in its 2023 grant cycle to 20 independent filmmakers and 5 student filmmakers.

This year’s Saul Zaentz Award for $25,000, given each year to honor the legacy of renowned filmmaker and a BFF founder, Saul Zaentz, has gone to CID filmmaker Courtney Quirin for TRACKER. This film follows an intimate group of students admitted to Tracker Academy, a premier program in South Africa that teaches traditional wildlife tracking skills to young people.

Other grantees include CID sponsored film HOLDER OF THE SKY, directed by Tsanavi Spoonhunter, a modern-day American story of colonization that documents three Wisconsin Tribes' battle to reclaim the historic treaty promises made to them in the face of longstanding racism and lingering land lust.

Read the full press release and list of grantees here.

THE BLUES SOCIETY WORLD PREMIERE

THE BLUES SOCIETY, directed and produced by Augusta Palmer, had its world premiere at the 26th Annual Indie Memphis Film Festival in September.

THE BLUES SOCIETY is a documentary feature that tells the story of the Memphis Country Blues Festival (1966-1970). In segregated Memphis, blues masters and beatniks created a utopian event which rocked the foundations of a conservative world. The film weaves together hypnotic and unforgettable performances with the voices of a large and diverse cast to create a nuanced re-evaluation of the 1960s.

DOCNYC PREMIERES

FANNY: THE OTHER MENDELSSOHN, directed and produced by Sheila Hayman, will have its North American premiere at DOC NYC on November 12th. The film illuminates the overlooked life of a remarkable composer, Fanny Mendelssohn. Tickets available here.

NATHAN-ISM, directed by Elan Golod and produced by Elan Golod and Melanie Vi Levy, will have its New York premiere at DOC NYC on November 14th. At the age of 19, Jewish soldier Nathan Hilu was assigned to guard Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. He went on to channel his memories into compellingly manic, childlike art, aka "Nathan-ism," which this film brings to life through vivid animations. Tickets available here.

NURSE UNSEEN AT FESTIVALS

NURSE UNSEEN, directed by Michele Josue and produced by Carlo Velayo, Joe Arciaga, and Michele Josue, was the opening night film at the 3rd annual San Diego Filipino Film Festival on October 3, 2023. The film also screened as the Centerpiece Documentary at the Boston Asian American Film Festival on October 13, 2023.

NURSE UNSEEN is a feature-length documentary that explores the little-known history and humanity of the unsung Filipino nurses risking their lives on the frontlines of a pandemic, thousands of miles from home. The film unearths the colonial ties between the Philippines and the United States that have led to Filipino-American nurses becoming the unknown backbone of the United States health industry.

THE FATE OF HUMAN BEINGS TEAM SELECTED FOR LEF/CIFF FELLOWSHIP

Director Heather Cassano and producer Emily Hofelich participated in the LEF/CIFF fellowship with their film, THE FATE OF HUMAN BEINGS, at the Points North Institute during this year’s Camden International Film Festival. The LEF/CIFF Fellowship is an opportunity for 5 New England-based filmmaking teams to attend the 2023 Camden International Film Festival and connect with other filmmakers and industry leaders through a series of mentor-led project development workshops, networking events, and curated 1:1 meetings taking place both in-person during the festival and virtually in the weeks following.

STRATA PERFORMED AT CAMDEN FILM FESTIVAL

Directors Hannah Jayanti and Alexander Porter performed Strata, the live-edited documentary element of their multiformat project TOPOGRAPHY, at the Camden International Film Festival as part of the festival's Storyforms. Set in a small 3D scanned region of the Badlands of South Dakota, Strata is an improvised call and response between live documentary editing and a virtual landscape with documentary audio. Each iteration is unique, as viewers piece together a chorus of diverse perspectives while meditating on the complex histories embedded in all lands and how profoundly human perspectives shape and define its future. They were also part of the Between Verité and Landscape Cinema panel, reflecting on the creative approaches to depicting landscapes in non-fiction cinema.

FARAIHAH ZAMAN COMPLETES RESIDENCY AND GRANT PROGRAM

Farihah Zaman completed a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Mt. San Angelo in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Amherst, Virginia, developing her CID supported project SOULMATES. September was also the final month of participation in the Catapult Research Fund program for SOULMATES; the film was awarded the grant earlier this year.

SOULMATES cracks open contemporary dating by intimately exploring the lives of women in romantic and sexual relationships with spirits. This phenomenon has been reported on in tabloid newspapers around the world, but this film’s subjects have lived more quietly with their unconventional relationship – until now.

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO AND PBS

This Hispanic Heritage Month, the heartwarming critically acclaimed LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS, directed by Marcia Jarmel and produced by Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel, debuted on Amazon Prime Video and was rebroadcasted on PBS! Look for it wherever you stream, and at PBS.org and on the PBS App.

The film is a joyful celebration of family, love, and music telling the story of two Afro-Cuban classical virtuoso siblings who are divided by geopolitics and united by music. The featured score is composed by Aldo López-Gavilán and performed with his brother, Ilmar, as well as Grammy-winners Joshua Bell and the Harlem Quartet.

THE FAITHFUL UPDATES

THE FAITHFUL, directed and produced by Annie Berman, is now streaming on Kanopy as of September 26th. In addition, the film had a special screening on September 10th at the Quebec City Fine Art Museum.

THE FAITHFUL explores the deep veneration and legacies of the Pope, the Princess, and the King. Over the course of 20 years, Berman profiles these figures’ biggest fans and makes numerous pilgrimages to Vatican City, Graceland, and Kensington Palace. As the years go by, the film itself becomes increasingly entwined with Berman’s daily life and identity, much like how these officially-licensed knick-knacks define the fans she filmed.

THE JOURNEY THAT MATTERS ON LITHUB

THE JOURNEY THAT MATTERS, a series of six short films about Ursula K. Le Guin's life and work is being serialized on LitHub. The short films are based on outtakes from WORLDS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN, directed by Arwen Curry. The series starts with “What it Was Like,” in which Ursula reads her powerful essay about the illegal abortion she had as a senior at Radcliffe in 1950, which she credits with allowing her to pursue her career as a writer and to build her family. .

The next five films will appear each Wednesday through October 18—each accompanied by an original introduction from writers John Plotz, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, and Julie Phillips, as well as Le Guin’s three children, Elisabeth, Caroline, and Theo. 

FILMMAKING WORKSHOPS, ONLINE, SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER

MassArt Continuing Education; Teacher: Michael Sheridan

Video Editing Workshop, 7 Thursdays, 6:30-9:30pm, 09/07-10/19, Online

Camera and Sound Workshop, 7 Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30pm, 09/12-10/24, Online 

Documentary Storytelling Workshop, 7 Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30pm, 10/31-12/12, Online

“Michael Sheridan is one of the best teachers one could hope to have. He has a genuine commitment to facilitating students’ ability to realize their vision, which is backed by a deep understanding of technology and technique. I had the pleasure of hiring Michael to teach over twenty years, and student reviews were always excellent.”

– Anne Marie Stein, Former Executive Director, Boston Film/Video Foundation and Dean Emeritus, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Questions: Michael Sheridan, michael@sheridanworks.com, 617-834-7206