Past
Grantees

A grant was awarded to CHERIEN DABIS for Make a Wish a short narrative personal journey that follows Mariam, a young Palestinian girl, on the day of her late father's birthday. While the film does not specifically indicate how the father died, it does make political references that indicate it is related to the current political turmoil. The theme is the devastating impact of political conflict and war: love, loss and grief on a deep, personal level. The film is both a celebration of life and a work of mourning.

C. CHANNON DOERR received support for the production A Man Made of Gold, an experimental black and white 16mm reversal film and color Kodachrome on old wind-up cameras, to create an overall historical effect consistent with its Civil War setting. The film is based on a poem, written by Doerr, about a mysterious Civil War era man who appears to be made of brilliant gold and who turns everything he touches to lead or gold. Is he mad or some apocalyptic beacon of light? The answer will be provided in this 50-minute film.

A grant was awarded to DAVID EBERHARDT for Korsang, a 90-minute documentary that will detail the lives of a group of Cambodian-American deportees forced back to the urban despair of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The film will chronicle their efforts, assisted by a tough ex-addict woman from Boston, to run a newly formed NGO (non-governmental organization) dedicated to reducing the harmful impacts of drug addiction and prostitution.

MAERI S. HEDSTROM received a grant for a 15-minute narrative film titled Interludes, which is composed of three five-minute vignettes, thematically linked by the same actress whose appearance and character change to represent the three emotions of fear, sadness and love. The central idea of this film is to reveal how a woman's physical appearance determines the manner in which she navigates her way through the world and expresses herself to others.

YUNAH HONG received a grant for Anna May Wong, a feature-length documentary about Anna May Wong's (1905-1961) struggle against racism and sexism in Hollywood in her day. A premier Chinese American film star and stage actress, Wong achieved worldwide fame in the 1920's and the 1930's. Today, her life story and career-defining struggles resonate among many young women of color who face issues of race, identity and career. This documentary will elucidate how Anna May Wong's life story is an integral part of American cultural history.

WILLIAM KRUSE was awarded support for Big Boy, a short narrative video about sex, using the context of the coming of age talk between a father and his adolescent son. The story projects across three vignettes: First Sexual Experience, Married Sex and Sex Between Seniors. With Big Boy, the method of storytelling is as important as the message. The structure of this narrative piece addresses the new way in which audiences view content.

A grant was awarded to EMILY and SARAH KUNSTLER for Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler, a documentary about William Kunstler's transformation from smalltime divorce lawyer to larger-than-life defender of equal rights and justice in America, as told by his daughters. In this 90-minute documentary, the co-directors will explore their father's life, from middle-class family man, to movement lawyer, to the most hated lawyer in America (New York Times), in order to understand his political development and his role in the social change movements of which he was a part.

Support was awarded to MOUA LEE for the production of Dab Neeg (a Hmong word meaning Stories or Tales). This feature-length narrative contains three short stories: Forest Keeper, Poj Ruam (a Hmong phrase referring to a girl who is mentally incapable of speaking) and Unforgettable Smile. The stories involve themes of actions and consequences. Forest Keeper is about a man who loves to hunt; he kills for the thrill, until he learns a valuable moral lesson. Poj Ruam, focuses on the brutal rape and murder of a young girl and the supernatural forces that exact justice on the four men responsible. Unforgettable Smile is about the obsession of a young man with a beautiful young woman he sees in a crowd. He goes back to the same location year after year looking for her, until she one day appears and agrees to marry him. But his health takes a downward turn soon after the wedding. He's unaware that the woman with whom he is so obsessed was killed shortly after he laid eyes upon her the first time.

WYATT MCDILL received a grant for Apartment 39, a feature-length narrative about eBay auctioneers August, Bella and Carthage, who search the obituaries looking for estates to auction off on eBay. As the story begins, these three come to find themselves on the deserted farm of one Einar Anderson-a recently deceased farmer whose sad life might only ever be known through the possessions now being sent via UPS to all corners of the country and world. As they disassemble a life lived-and the mystery of that life deepens-the three young people are simultaneously caught up in two other intrigues. A mysterious connection among the three auctioneers, the dead farmer and a young women on a voyeur web site, apartment 39.com unfolds.

ABINADI MEZA was awarded support for the production of Like Snow, Falling, a 25-minute experimental video exploring memory and the winter landscape. The non-linear narrative of the video will be generated from five interviews with people having a memory linked to a specific space. The metaphor of snow falling will illustrate the ephemeral yet cumulative nature of memories-how they build up layers and weight, yet eventually disappear.

CHRIS NEWBERRY received support for Medicine Box: Health Care and the New Americans, an hour-long documentary that uncovers the struggles facing immigrants and refugees as they navigate the American health care system. Every week, at least 50 new immigrants arrive in Minnesota-Mexican, Somali, Hmong and Russian, many of them refugees. The differing social and medical needs of these diverse immigrant groups are often minimized or misunderstood. The result? Poor healthcare for immigrants and more expenses for our health care system.

LANRE OLABISI received support for August the First, a feature narrative whose story begins on a promising day. Preparations are wrapping up for a graduation party celebrating a principal character's educational achievement. Friends and family have agreed to reunite on the one day in his honor. As people arrive and the party begins, a dark history begins to unfold with the return of a surprise guest. Unfortunately, the reunion brings turmoil as secrets are revealed, old wounds are reopened, and bad habits are revived. Actions or inactions in the face of life's hardships etch a family dynamic, which is captured in the history of this African-American family.

MARLO PORAS received support for The Candidate (working title), a documentary about the US Senate candidacy of 94-year-old Doris Granny D Haddock. It's a first-person portrait of Doris's remarkable transformation from renowned citizen activist to novice political candidate. The film offers an intimate look at the nation's oldest political newcomer as she struggles against the inherent liabilities of old age and challenges herself to run a US Senate campaign that personifies her democratic ideals of a government of, by and for the people. With no on-camera interviewers or outside narration, Doris's story will be told through an intricate weave of real time scenes and voice-over narration culled from original interviews. The Candidate addresses the entrenched cynicism toward the political system that leaves many skeptical about the motivations of politicians.

A grant was awarded to MARK TANG and LU LIPPOLD for Open Season, a one-hour documentary about a still festering multiple shooting incident for which a Hmong immigrant hunter is convicted of killing six white hunters in northern Wisconsin. Part courtroom drama, part intimate portrait, this documentary brings into high relief the simmering tensions-racial, cultural, economic-that lurk in America's heartland.

MATTHEW FRANK THOMAS was awarded a grant for The Kindness of Strangers, a 30-minute narrative about Lenny Barnes, a young stubborn locksmith who copes with feelings of depression, loneliness and love by stalking an older ex-lover named Brenda. After paying her an unannounced visit, Lenny must face the terrible consequences of his obsession when he discovers just how little he knows about his femme fatale. Lenny finds himself entangled in a web of deceit, murder, and a serious case of wrong place, wrong time. This work explores the emotional complexity and internal experiences of African-American men through a modern day film noir.

SUZI YOONESSI received support for Dear Lemon Lima, a narrative film that looks at a spell of misguided parenting that pulls together a 13-year-old Yu'pik (Western Eskimo) girl with a vivid imagination, an underdeveloped military enthusiast and a girl who has legally changed her name to the pronoun Nothing. The film thrives off the notion that life is a time to come together and celebrate common traits and differences, inspiring kindness, individuality and equality.

ADAM ZUCKER was awarded a grant for a feature-length documentary called Greensboro-Closer to the Truth, which has its roots in the Greensboro Massacre of 1979. This killing of five civil rights and labor activists by Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis occurred with foreknowledge of local police and the FBI. Despite extensive television footage of the murders, no one was ever convicted. For nearly a quarter century, the city of Greensboro has lived in the shadow of these events. Its long history at the forefront of the civil rights movement-the Woolworth's sit-ins of 1961-had been cut short. Mistrust and finger pointing has continued to this day, leaving a polarized community still grappling with the ripple effects of the killings. Now the survivors have convinced the North Carolina community to finally get to the bottom of the alleged conspiracy. To accomplish this, they have amassed a coalition of support, and will stage a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. This film provides background on the killings and the progression of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

LOUIS A. ABELMAN received support for Heal My People, a feature-length documentary film that addresses the ongoing epidemic of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It portrays the lives of women recovering from rape. The war that has gripped the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed an estimated four million people since 1994, when one million Hutu exiles fled into the country following the Rwandan genocide. The conflict's scars run deep, but perhaps none more so than those inflicted by the campaign of sexual violence waged against Congo's women and girls. In the past five years there have been tens of thousands of rapes, reported by girls as young as five, and women as old as 85. This is their story.

SIGNE BAUMANE received support for Birth, a 10-minute animated short that addresses the universal fear of childbirth, which is a transforming experience for every birth-giving woman. This will be a traditional hand-drawn animated film on textured paper with watercolored backgrounds. The film will be a visual poem, equating fear of childbirth with the universal fear of change.

ANDREW BERENDS received a grant in support of a feature-length documentary, The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq, set against the violent backdrop of war and the religious texture of Shia Islam. It tells the story of a family's grief after the killing of the oldest son and breadwinner. After years of hard work, Ra'ad, an Iraqi portrait photographer, saved enough money to open his own shop. On the night of the opening, while volunteering to guard the ancient Imam Kadhim mosque in the Shia neighborhood of Kadhimiya, he was shot and killed by an American patrol. Longing for revenge, Ra'ad's brother Ibrahim dreams of joining the Shia uprising against the American occupation. But as the only male left in the family, he must take on the role of breadwinner. This is his and his family's story.