Past
Grantees

Joua Lee Grande is a filmmaker, photographer and community educator whose goal to highlight underrepresented perspectives and communities drives her work. She produces documentaries and edits the news part-time at WCCO TV 4 News. She has produced short documentaries such as Legislating from Home and Laos Girls Teen Project. Grande was a 2019 Diverse Voices in Docs Fellow through Kartemquin Films and Community Film Workshop of Chicago. She is a member of collectives such as A-Doc and Brown Girls Doc Mafia and a community educator and worker. She teaches media production and related arts at the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network and other institutions throughout the Twin Cities. She is currently in early production for her first feature documentary Spirited.

Fellowship Statement

I believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth, and that storytelling serves as a tool to share versions of the truth. I utilize documentary filmmaking as a tool to elevate voices, perspectives and experiences from communities that are either underrepresented or misrepresented in the larger society. My work often pushes into topics that are deemed uncomfortable such as menstruation taboo and guest-daughter traditions. My goals are to build connection, draw out commonalities amidst human differences, and push viewers into places of discomfort so they can engage in conversations that ultimately lead to positive change. I am a big believer in contributing to a community that lifts others up to tell their own stories. So much of what I learn in my own journey to become a stronger filmmaker, I willingly share with others.

Benjamin May’s directorial debut, The Legend of Swee’ Pea, premiered at DOC: NYC and played at over 40 festivals worldwide, winning five Best Documentary Feature awards and two Best Director awards. His second feature, Wet House, an immersive film about the largest harm reduction facility for chronic alcoholics in the US, is distributed by 1091Pictures and Saboteur Media. Ben's work has been funded by grants from the McKnight Foundation, St. Paul Cultural Star, and the Jerome Foundation.

Fellowship Statement

As a documentary filmmaker, I am most interested in subjects and environments we might consider strange or remote—not because they are inherently more interesting or offer more conflict—but because I believe we are all a lot more similar than we are different. Everyone is susceptible to abandonment, failure, and loss. And because film is a deeply intimate endeavor it is the ideal medium to probe our proximity, question our biases, and examine the constructions we take for granted.

Humans are robust, but life is fragile. Working as a neuroradiologist for the past ten years, I have learned that, despite our powerful tools to observe the nature of life, truth is elusive, and certainty is non-existent. As a physician and a filmmaker, I find this idea both terrifying and inspiring and it is the crux of my work.

Producer, director, writer, editor and educator James Curry has been active in filmmaking for over 25 years. Educated at Full Sail, The American Film Institute and the Vermont College of Fine Arts where he earned his MFA in Film, he has continued to work as a producer, writer, director, editor on numerous projects in Los Angeles and Minneapolis ranging from trailers, commercials, PSA's, epk's and music videos as well as broadcast for NBC, FOX and news for ABC.

Directorial projects for clients included documentary work for Prince's Life O' the Party. His short film Westbound was selected for the 2016 New York Short Film Festival, the Twin Cities Black Film Festival and the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Film Festival. His last documentary masterjam was the focus of a panel convened at the 2019 Denton Black Film Festival and won Best Documentary at the 2018 Twin Cities Black Film Festival.

Jennifer Kramer is an award-winning director, producer and writer. Her narrative feature film, The Sandbox, screened in 15 film festivals worldwide and garnered seven awards. Her work has exhibited at the Weisman Art Museum and the Walker Art Center. She received the 2016 Jerome Foundation Travel/Study grant for her documentary film in Mexico, currently in production. She is a recipient of the 2019 MN State Arts Board (MNSAB) grant for her series about women behind famous men and the 2020 MNSAB Artist Initiative grant. Kramer has served as a grant panelist, juror for film festivals, and guest speaker at the University of Minnesota, School of Journalism.

Maribeth Romslo is a director, cinematographer, and producer who believes that well told stories have the power to change the world. Her award-winning films have played at festivals across the globe. Recent projects include an original documentary series (Handmade*Mostly) for Reese Witherspoon’s new media platform called Hello Sunshine, a conceptual dance film (Kitchen Dance) about the work of women, and a documentary about student free speech in America (Raise Your Voice).