Past
Grantees

Oscar Hernandez-Topete, New York City, received $10,000 to support the production of Oakland, Eastside Story, a 16-minute narrative short inspired by the filmmaker's own childhood about one Mexican-American boy's loss of innocence in 1980s Oakland, California during a period of racial tension between Mexicans and Blacks.

Springboard for the Arts, as fiscal sponsor for Katie Ka Vang, received $12,000 to support the development and production of Katie Ka Vang’s Final Round in 2016.

Rini Keagy, Minnesota, received $20,000 to support Ordinal (SW/NE), a single-channel experimental film. Valley fever, an airborne disease endemic to the southwestern United States, is the intersection of dust, wind and plague. Conjuring ancient mythology and literature, and using micro-biological and geo-physical simulations, Ordinal (SW/NE) explores this valley fever and the environmental forces affecting humans and the earth.

Gabriella Kessler, New York City, received $30,000 in support of Prison Show, a documentary about a small local Texas radio station with a call in show for prisoners and their families that unveils the tentacular reach of the US penal system, whose grip goes far beyond prisons, and from which it is impossible to escape.

Rachel Knoll, Minnesota, received $10,000 to support 60.77° N, 148.68° W, a documentary telling the story of how the community of 222 people living inside a one building city in Alaska interact on a micro scale while disconnected from the rest of the physical world and how they recently have been able to interact globally through digital interfaces during a technological era.

New York Live Arts, as fiscal sponsor for Joanna Kotze, received  $24,000 ($12,000 per year for two years) to support the development and production of I Love Panorama.

Elliot Malcolm and Joe Davis, Minnesota, received $7,970 to support Loud North: A Twin Cities Spoken Word Exploration (working title), a 24-minute documentary. Through personal testimony and performance footage from the Twin Cities' diverse artist community, these filmmakers will tell the story of the spoken word scene, and explore its unique contributions to the contemporary form.

Performance Zone/The Field, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for Christina Masciotti, Queens, New York, received $10,000 to support the development and production of Raw Bacon From Poland in 2017. 

Performance Zone/The Field, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for Juliana May, Queens, New York, received $10,000 in support of the development and production of development and production of Shoplifter at the mill in 2018.

ASH MAYFAIR (PHUONG ANH NGUYEN) was awarded $25,000 in support of the narrative project The Third Wife. In 19th century rural Vietnam, 14 year-old May is given away in an arranged marriage and becomes the third wife to her older husband, a man brought up to believe that power is about control. In this tale of lost love and hidden desire inspired by a true story, we see through the eyes of a girl forced to grow too quickly into a woman.

Albert Milgrom, Minnesota, received $25,000 to support Rediscovering John Berryman, a documentary telling the story of a troubled genius who found notoriety as a leading 20th century American poet who is just now being rediscovered by a new generation after his nationally honored mid-century reputation had gone into decline.

Virginia Mohler, New York City, received $30,000 to support the production of Radium Girls, a narrative feature based on a true story set in 1927, that follows the Cavallo sisters, Bessie (19 yrs) and Jo (21 yrs), who paint glow-in-the-dark watch dials at the American Radium Factory.

Rachelle Mozman, New York City, received $9,645 To support the production of Opaque Mirror, a 15-minute experimental film based on Mozman’s fantasies of the short time Paul Gauguin travelled to Panama.

Kevin Obsatz, Minnesota, received $25,000 to support Northside Showdown, a John Carpenter-inspired pulp thriller in the era of Black Lives Matter. Jaquan is a mild-mannered sporting goods salesman whose younger brother is abducted by rogue cops. He uncovers a ritualistic cult of human sacrifice and must face off against the sinister deputy police chief.

Andrea Pallaoro, New York City, received $30,000 in support of Monica, the intimate observation of a 52-year-old transgendered woman who returns to her Kansas hometown to take care of her dying mother, who is in the advanced stages of breast cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease, and whom Monica has not seen in over 35 years, since being kicked out of her own home as a teen.

Beth Peloff, Minnesota, received $8,500 to support Searching for Feminists, an animated documentary exploring the generational differences in the attitudes that women have toward feminism. Through a combination of audio interviews and a variety of animation techniques, the artist will weave together the voices and stories of women under the age of thirty and over the age of sixty-five in an effort to reconcile the feminism of the future with the feminism of the past and explore the commonalities of experiences across the generations.

Junauda Petrus and Mychal Fisher, Minnesota, received $10,000 to support Sankara, a web series (7 episodes ranging in length from 10-15 minutes) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that follows the lives of a community of young, complex, wise, transcending Black and Brown folk who are navigating their inner depths, love relationships, laughter and wildness in ways that are both tender and profound.

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, as fiscal sponsor for Katy Pyle, received $12,000 to support the development and production of Sleeping Beauty & The Beast.

Dempsey Rice, New York City, received $15,000 in support of The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks, a documentary film that brings to life ten years of extraordinary conversations with author and neurologist Oliver Sacks, M.D., painting a portrait of his pursuits and his uniquely agile mind.

New York Live Arts, as fiscal sponsor of Jen Rosenblit, received $12,000 to support the creation and production of Clap Hands.