Past
Grantees

Katarzyna Plazinska received $30,000 in support of False Positive. False Positive is the story of David, a successful professional, who undergoes a crisis around his commodified existence. A mysterious disaster helps him confront the vast emptiness around him.

Iva Radivojevic received $30,000 in support of Aleph. Aleph is a magical cinematic journey with ten characters that steer us from one to the other and to ten different locations around the world. Their collected stories serve as pieces of a splintered labyrinth that leads us to an understanding of the unimaginable universe, where all of human experience resides: the Aleph.

Rachel Elizabeth Seed received $30,000 in support of A Photographic Memory. In A Photographic Memory, a daughter attempts to piece together a portrait of her mother, an avant-garde journalist and a woman she never knew. Uncovering the vast audio-visual archive Sheila Turner-Seed produced, including lost interviews with iconic photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and others, the film explores memory, legacy and stories left untold.

Alisi Styles received $24,236 in support of The Kite (working title),  a dramatic foreign language short-film set against the backdrop of 1980’s pre-military coup Fiji. The story is about a Pacific father and daughter navigating life and their new identities as immigrants in a new land.

Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, New York, received $24,000 over two years as fiscal sponsor in support of Ni'Ja Whitson's development and production of Time Trickle ‘Cross You (The Hunted).

New York Live Arts, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for 7 Daughters of Eve / Sibyl Kempson, New York City, received $20,000 over two years in support of the creation and production of The Securely Conferred, Vouchsafed Keepsakes Of Maery S. and Sasquatch Rituals in 2017 and 2018.

John Akre, Minnesota, received $10,000 to support Ben and Dopey, an animated feature film about the friendship of a twenty-something downtown Minneapolis street musician and an animated character created by his mother, an underground filmmaker. It will be told in a variety of animation techniques, including animating some parts of it on the streets of downtown Minneapolis with collaboration from the public.

Alwan for the Arts, New York City, received $10,270 as fiscal sponsor for a four-week Jerome@Camargo residency in 2017 for Amir ElSaffar, New York, New York.

Northern Lights.mn, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for Aniccha Arts/Pramila Vasudevan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $26,000 over two years in support of the development and production of 3600 Cuts in 2017 and 2018.

E.G. Bailey, Minnesota, received $15,000 to support Keon, a 25-minute narrative short. The film follows Keno and his brothers, young African Americans negotiating the demands of family, friends and dreams when they are confronted by two officers.

DAVID GARRETT BYARS was awarded $25,000 in support of the documentary No Man's Land. Bitter antagonism between right-wing militia and the federal government has boiled over into rebellion and bloodshed. No Man's Land follows this insurrection, from inception to demise, and the elements that made it possible.

Mengqian Chen, Minnesota, received $14,095 to support The Island, a 4-minute animated short inspired by American author Carson McCullers’ book The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. The Island will use mixed media animation to tell a simple story about the struggling relationship of a one eyed giant and a bird.

Anji Suave Clubb, Minnesota, received $25,000 to support Nomad Meets the City, a 90-minute documentary feature. What happens when a traditional culture rapidly urbanizes? Through the lenses of individuals, this film will look at a society in flux as more and more Mongolian nomads leave behind their herds and struggle for a different life and opportunities in the city.

Cecilia Maria Cornejo, Minnesota, received $10,000 to support Ways Of Being Home, a documentary exploring issues of displacement and belonging as experienced by the transnational community of Mexican immigrants living in Northfield, Minnesota.

Camille de Galbert, New York City, received $20,000 in support of Margot, which follows the inner journey of a young woman struggling to reconnect with reality as she delves through layers of her subconscious and key moments from her childhood taking a unique approach to the narrative form by twisting it around the finger of poetic surrealism.

JULIANE DRESSNER was awarded $25,000 in support of the documentary PERSONAL STATEMENT. Enoch, Christine and Karoline dream of being the first in their families to go to college and are determined to bring their peers with them. As peer college counselors in struggling schools, they have taken it upon themselves to close the achievement gap, guiding their friends through the college process, even as they are applying themselves.

JIM FINN was awarded $25,000 in support of the experimental project The Drunkard's Lament, a 60- to 70-minute video that looks like a fictional episode of a Soviet television program made during the slow collapse of the communist system. The program will be made up of three parts: the narrator’s talking head with 80’s video effects, handmade 16mm film scenes created to look like damaged fragments of an early Soviet cinema Wuthering Heights film adaptation and additional video portraits of the British moors and miniatures that were especially made for the program to supplement the missing film footage.

Michael Forstein, Minnesota, received $30,000 to support Days of Awe, a 90-minute feature narrative. Threatened with incarceration, a troubled, rebellious teen is subjected to experimental wilderness therapy where he is confronted by a zealous young guide convinced he can save anyone -- whether they want to be saved or not.

New York Foundation for the Arts, as fiscal sponsor for Maria Hassabi, received $21,500 to support a two-week Jerome@Camargo residency at Camargo Foundation.

LILY FRANCES HENDERSON was awarded $25,000 in support of the documentary This Much We Know. In the aftermath of a boy's suicide, a writer attempts to help his grieving parents find a reason for his death, while the city of Las Vegas fights to protect itself from nuclear catastrophe.