Past
Grantees

Nadav Kurtz (he, him, his) is an Israeli/Japanese/American filmmaker and editor born in Israel and raised in Europe and the United States. His work has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, True/False Film Fest, Sheffield Doc Fest and more, and has been showcased by the Criterion Channel, POV, and the New York Times’ Op-Docs. His directorial debut, Paraíso, won Best Documentary Short at multiple international festivals and was short-listed for an Academy Award. His direction of 35 short accounts of immigration won him three Gold Pencil awards at The One Show. Kurtz was named in Filmmaker Magazine’s 2020 “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and was a Points North Fellow at the 2021 Camden International Film Festival. He is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective.

Project Statement

When Omar was six years old, his father Sam produced Street Thief—a fictional feature film about a burglar. Only weeks before the film’s premiere, Sam was arrested for an armed robbery and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Now twenty-two, Omar struggles under the weight of his father’s long absence, while Sam, still incarcerated, hopes to reach Omar through a creative collaboration on a screenplay. Through Kurtz’s intimate relationship with Omar’s family—whom he met while editing Street Thief—this hybrid documentary draws on a wealth of personal archival, behind-the-scenes footage, and 16mm dailies from the film Sam produced before his arrest. It follows Omar’s coming of age as he seeks freedom from his past, reckoning and reconciling on the way to healing his relationship with his father.

As a descendant of immigrants displaced by conflict, Eunice Lau (she, her, hers) is drawn to stories about the journey of the immigrant and the profundity of hyphenated identities. It’s this inheritance that makes her cognizant of injustice and makes her storytelling personal. Her feature documentary Accept the Call, set in Minnesota’s Somali community, explores the impact of injustice and intergenerational trauma. It aired on PBS’ Independent Lens after screening at acclaimed film festivals. Her work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Woodstock Film Festival, ITVS, Chicken & Egg Pictures, North Point Institute, and YouTube Impact Lab. A Masters of Fine Arts in film graduate from NYU, Lau was born and raised in Singapore and now lives in Queens on Lenape land.

Project Statement

Son of the Soil is a documentary film about the exigency of our ecocide told through the story of David Buckel, a lawyer-turned-environmentalist who set himself on fire in the name of climate change. Once celebrated for being a public defender of LGBTQ rights and for creating America’s largest hand-powered compost sites, David’s suicide captures the trauma and impact of climate change on our psyche. By documenting David’s journey as he struggled against the political expedient defunding of his cherished compost site, Lau’s documentary reveals how our profit-driven economy compels politicians to pay lip service to the climate movement. The film is also a love story to the world, capturing the zeal of his protégé Domingo Morales as he expands composting across public housing in NYC.

Sonia Malfa (pronoun flexible) is a filmmaker who incorporates her love of the surreal, culture, and nature with a passion for visual poetry and storytelling. Malfa’s short experimental documentary Simone: A Survivor’s Story won a Clio Award, Webby Award (Jury), and was shortlisted at the 1.4 Awards, One Show Awards and Kinsale Shark Awards. It also screened at the Atlanta Film Festival. Her narrative short, Close Your Eyes, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Malfa has been awarded the NYSCA Individual Artist grant and was selected for the DGA/AICP Commercial Director’s Diversity Program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in American Studies (Gender and Race Relations).

Project Statement

Following the death of her father, a young poet seizes the opportunity to escape her controlling mother by embarking on a magical, cross-country journey. It’s Always Sunny is a queer coming-of-age road trip drama of a young, Black woman’s empowering journey of self-discovery. The film creates a distinct cinematic style that blends poetry and narrative drama exploring storytelling beyond genre molds. Co-written by Sonia Malfa and Trae Harris, the film will be Malfa’s feature directorial debut with Trae Harris performing the lead character, Sunflower.

Dean Colin Marcial (he, him, his) is an international filmmaker working in New York and Manila. His award-winning films have been screened at Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW, Sitges Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and Slamdance. Several of his shorts are Vimeo Staff Picks and Short of the Week selections and featured on VICE, CNN, and Filmmaker Magazine. He co-founded Calavera USA in 2010. This Brooklyn-based production company’s credits include All That I Am (SXSW Special Jury Prize 2013, distributed by Gunpowder & Sky), Fishtail (Tribeca Film Festival 2014, distributed by Netflix), and Yearbook (Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize 2014 and 25+ awards, 125+ festivals). In 2017, he was a recipient of the Tribeca All Access Grant and Tribeca All Access Alumni Grant and shortlisted for the Russo Brothers Fellowship.

Project Statement

Green Gorillas chronicles the rise and fall of an impassioned eco-terrorist group over an explosive decade in the Philippines. When they were young, they were reckless—and when they grow up, they face off.  Jess, Eddie, and Emilia were best friends, a love triangle, and the leaders of an environmental action group who called themselves the Green Gorillas. They staged protests and demonstrations by day--and by night, they organized tree-spiking, tree-sitting, and sabotage. At the heart of the film are visionaries whose ideals collide. Their emotions and history run deep. Three people, who long to be together, but keep themselves unrequited. In Tagalog this is called “hugot”—a deeply-felt aching inside your bones and body, a wistful longing for something that may never be.

Writer/director Kate Marks (she, her, hers) comes from a long line of tricksters. Her tricky films Pearl Was Here (65 million YouTube views), Manic (NYTVF Best Drama), Miracle Maker (Queens World Best Short), 7 Day Gig, and Homebody have screened at Tribeca Film Festival, Slamdance, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, PBS, HBO Go, and more. Past fellowships include the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Academy Nicholl Award, Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and Project Involve, and the HBO ACCESS Directing Fellowship. After graduating from Brown University, Marks spent nine years writing and directing plays in NYC. She then went on to get her Master of Fine Arts in film directing at CalArts. Additionally, she is a mom, a teacher, and a stilt-walker. www.katemarks.net

Project Statement

The Cow of Queens is an adventure/comedy/coming-of-age mash-up about a father (played by Rob Morgan) and his daughter who embark on one last adventure to save a cow that has broken loose from a local slaughterhouse: running free on the streets of Queens. Chasing an impossible dream like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, they contend with the Butcher who wants his damn cow back and the dad’s cancer, which promises to separate this inseparable duo. Inspired by personal experience (with cancer, not cows), The Cow of Queens is a story about love and the ways we rally for each other when shit hits the fan. It’s about characters having fun in the midst of terrible pain. It’s about finding comedy in the middle of drama. It’s about celebrating the best of humanity in the worst of times.

Hedia Maron’s (pronoun flexible) films highlight the absurdity of life and give voice to weirdos and outcasts. Maron is interested in uncovering deeper truths through humor, unexpected imagery, and an emotional investigation into subjects, which often include family and friends. Maron’s films have screened at Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Documenta, SXSW, Outfest, Tribeca Film Festival, New Museum, Anthology Film Archives, The Jewish Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Tensta konstahll, and Queens Museum.

Project Statement

Before Us is a feature-length documentary that reflects on 1960s counterculture, adoption in North America, and changing family structures. The film takes an unconventional approach to the adoption narrative, uncovering the ramifications of Maron’s family secrets and placing them within the context of a counterculture that devalues women and children. Before Us has finished principal photography and Maron is working on contextualizing her family’s story within the larger cultural moment through voice-over and archival footage.

John Mbanda (he, him, his) is a Rwandan-American filmmaker and an ex-refugee. Mbanda lives and works in Minneapolis, Portland, and Kigali, attempting to tell stories of the unheard in a documentary format. The 20-year-old is currently working on a full-length documentary that tells the story of a Rwandan refugee family assimilating to the west. The film follows the family’s journey, highlighting the challenges that come with assimilation.

Project Statement

Red Earth is a full-length, featured documentary that tells the story of a Rwandan refugee family that is relocating to the west through a lottery.

Kristian Mercado Figueroa (he, him, his) is a Puerto Rican filmmaker from Spanish Harlem. His psychedelic reggaeton short film, Nuevo Rico, won the Animation Jury Award at SXSW 2021, and in 2019 his short film/music video Pa’lante won a Jury Award at SXSW. In 2020 his screenplay Hawkbells won Slamdance’s Screenwriting Award. He has been the recipient of awards and grants from Cinereach (2020) and others. In 2020, Kris received official selection at SXSW 2020 for the Grammy-nominated Colors by Black Pumas and “Miami Nights Comedy Special” for Hannibal Buress. His work can be seen on Netflix, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and more. He’s currently working with HBO and A24. Mercado’s distinct voice addresses issues of identity, family, and systemic oppression across race and class.

Project Statement

Mataron A Pedro (They Killed Pedro) is a narrative film about a Puerto Rican man attending Harvard and leading labor strikes against a white Chief of Police and white Governor in the early 1930s. The compelling moments in this story range from an epic sugar cane workers strike in the backdrop of a burning plantation field to a husband and father putting his life on the line to defend his people. The film explores the question: “For whom has democracy been crafted in America?” It explores the themes of class struggles, family, colonialism, and the justice system.

Yasmin Mistry (she, her, hers) is an Emmy-nominated animator and filmmaker. Her work has been displayed worldwide, including showings at the United Nations and White House as well as at SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, and more. She is the recipient of grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, Puffin Foundation, Riverside Sharing Fund, and Harnisch Foundation and was a two-time finalist for funding from the ITVS Diversity Development Fund. Films from her documentary shorts series about foster care have been featured in over 140 film festivals and nominated for more than 80 awards. In 2018, Mistry received the CASA Hero Award for her advocacy work, giving youth in the child welfare system an opportunity to be heard.

Project Statement

Together (working title) is a film about a Vietnamese-American woman’s efforts to reconcile her tumultuous childhood by exploring her family history. This journey leads to the discovery of two sisters, a legacy of childhood abuse, and a forced confrontation with the haunting question: “How do you heal when you don’t know the truth?” Blending personal interviews, verité footage, and animation, this feature-length documentary explores family separation and trauma while questioning the destructive notion that seeking help is a sign of weakness instead of a path to empowerment. These sisters’ stories weave a dynamic narrative, demanding changes to the ingrained social hierarchies which perpetuate intra-familial violence.

Atlas O. Phoenix (they/them/theirs) is a director, writer, producer, actor, and editor. “At this point in my filmmaking journey, as I embrace becoming trans-masculine, at 50, I want to create films that not only explore the darkness of the soul; I want to examine its flight to the light.

Queer filmmakers are an enormous inspiration to me because our stories are powerful and are about overcoming obscene social obstacles based on our sexual orientation and gender expression. For some, this includes a radical bias towards the color of our skin. If we are vigilant about rejecting tropes, cliches, and tokenism, queer cinema will continue to evolve into a powerful and inspiring force for good in the world.”

Project Statement

Beautiful Boi is an experimental, narrative documentary. This genre-bending film is about Phoenix’ transition at 50 and their mental health journey over 34 years. As Phoenix transitions, they have many questions that range from being seen by men as a potential threat to questioning their spirituality. Their experience with the surgeries and hormone replacement therapy are part of the journey, but not the whole journey. Phoenix shares their gender transition to create a legacy of this mental, physical, sexual, and spiritual journey. This legacy may be someone else’s survival guide.

Maribeth Romslo (she/her/hers) is a director, cinematographer, and producer who believes that well-told stories have the power to change the world. Her films have played at festivals from Toronto to Mumbai. 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; a historical fiction content series (Spark) to inspire girls interested in STEM; and a documentary about student free-speech in America (Raise Your Voice).

Project Statement

Growing Up In A Pandemic is a multimedia storytelling project that focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth. The project pairs audio stories told by youth with animation that supports and enhances the content of the stories.

Rafael Samanez (he, him, his) was born in Brazil to Peruvian parents. He resides in Queens, NY. His previous work as a community organizer inspires his films which delve into the intersections of gender, race, migration, and class. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the City College of New York in 2019 and received a 2018 Princess Grace Award/Honoraria. Rafael was a John Grist Documentary/BAFTA New York Scholar and a top finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in 2020. His film Out of the Shadows won Best Documentary in the 2019 Cityvisions Film and Video Showcase. It appeared in nine film festivals, including the Urbanworld Film Festival and the New York Latino Film Festival. Alongside filmmaking, Samanez teaches media production at the City College of New York.

Project Statement

My Existence is Resistance is a verité-style docuseries covering the life and work of three influential transgender women of color who break down barriers in New York City. Amidst a global pandemic, they lead their communities in the fight for equal housing, healthcare, jobs, political representation, and lives free of violence. Having learned early how to survive the trials life threw at them with quick wit, creativity, and boundless resiliency, these heroines are poised to carve a new path for trans people. We follow their journeys closely as they make bold moves to lead their lives in their truths, harness internal strength during hard times and overcome setbacks on their paths to greatness.

Suneil Sanzgiri (he, him, his) is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker whose work spans experimental video and film, essays, and installations and contends with questions of identity, heritage, culture, and diaspora related to structural violence. He graduated from MIT with a Masters of Science in Art, Culture and Technology in 2017. Sanzgiri’s films have screened extensively around the world, including the New York Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Sheffield Doc Fest, IndieLisboa International Film Festival, Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra, The Viennale International Film Festival Vienna, LA Film Forum, e-Flux, 25 FPS Festival, and won awards at BlackStar Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, VideoEx Festival, and Images Festival. Sanzgiri has participated in residencies and fellowships, including SOMA, MacDowell, Pioneer Works, and was named in Filmmaker Magazine’s 2021 “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

Project Statement

Two Refusals (working title) is a personal journey through ancestry, anti-colonialism, and harbingers of dissent across India and Africa, inspired from the myths of an unlikely source—Portugal’s oldest work of epic poetry Os Lusíadas, or The Lusiads—repositioning key elemental and mythological figures to ask the question, “How can one refuse an empire?” The film weaves together personal reflections of Sanzgiri’s family history as freedom fighters against the occupying Portuguese forces in Goa with stories of liberation and resistance across the Goan diaspora. This film focuses on the bonds of solidarity that developed across India and Africa against the Portuguese Empire.

Nova Scott-James (she, her, hers) is a filmmaker, artist, and creative coach from Harlem, NYC. Her childhood experiences of being flooded with the sounds and culture of jazz have impacted her creative aesthetic greatly as her work honors improvisation, altered states of consciousness, ritual, and collaboration. Scott-James is also a reiki practitioner and dedicated intuitive worker—she uses these abilities to serve people as a director and creative coach by guiding them in honoring their creative genius.

Project Statement

Wild Darlings Sing The Blues (And it’s a Song of Freedom) is a feature-length documentary following the Wild Darlings, a queer healing arts collective of black women and non-binary activists, as they embark on an epic road trip from New York to a former slave plantation in Virginia. The Darlings are tasked with harnessing their “healer within” to bless the plantation land, honor their ancestors and explore their experiences of racial and gender-based violence. They create a performance art homage to The Blues.

Illya Szilak (she, her, hers) is a writer, artist, director, and creative producer. Shaped by her experiences as a physician, her richly collaborative, multidisciplinary art practice explores mortality, embodiment, identity and belief in an increasingly virtual world. Her longtime artistic partner is Cyril Tsiboulski (he, him, his). Their first virtual reality piece, Queerskins: a love story (2018), received a Peabody Futures of Media Award for transmedia. Their second, Queerskins: ARK, which features live dance performance was developed at The Venice Biennale College V.R. Lab. Their most recent work, In My Own Skin (2021), premiered at CPH:DOX festival. It combines handmade textiles, photography, wearable avatars, and virtual architecture. Szilak continues to work as a doctor, currently caring for inmates at Rikers Island, NYC.

Project Statement

Fly Angel Soul is a short experimental narrative film shot within virtual reality. It tells the story of Sebastian, a young gay physician estranged from his rural Catholic Missouri family, who, having moved to Mali to heal the sick, is diagnosed with AIDS. Inspired by a quote from Meister Eckhart “(let us) rejoice in the everlasting truth in which the highest angel and the soul and the fly are equal,” Fly Angel Soul is shot in real-time, from the unique points of view of three networked virtual cameras adopting the “roles” of the eponymous characters. The “human” p.o.v. will be that of a live cinematographer moving through the virtual set. Thus, in Fly Angel Soul, “liveness” resides in the “embodied” cameras even more so than in the actors in the story. Finding commonality with video games and live performance, Fly Angel Soul explores the potential for virtual production techniques to expand 2-D cinematic language.

Jingjing Tian (she, her, hers) is a Chinese American filmmaker based in NYC. Born in Northeast China, she immigrated to Texas at the age of nine, where she learned to speak with a twang, wore a belt buckle, and discovered her Asian American identity. Tian explores these identities and the themes of autonomy and oppression in her work and her life. Writing and directing are therapy for her. A Sundance Uprise Grantee, she is working on her first feature film, Kid C. Her short films have been screened at Nitehawk Cinema with MoMA, Cleveland International Film Festival, Bentonville Film Festival, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, and Museum of the Chinese in America. Her work has been profiled in Paper Magazine, AM New York, BuzzFeed, High Country News, South China Morning Post, and more.

Project Statement

A character and emotionally driven film, Kid C is a narrative feature that follows Lee during her first year as a Chinese immigrant in a small town in Texas during the late 1990s. Cracking under the pressures of volatile parents, Lee, a rambunctious 10-year-old, attempts to reclaim a sense of childhood with her best friend John, an African American boy. But when she accidentally reveals a secret that he shares, their friendship is threatened and life begins to collapse. Drawing from field research and personal experiences, Kid C explores a child’s agency in the face of parental abuse and intergenerational trauma.

Kazua Melissa Vang (she/her/hers) is a Hmong American filmmaker, photographer, teaching artist, and producer based in Minnesota. Vang production-managed Nice, an independent pilot, and official selection for the Indie Episodic Category at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. She co-founded the Asian Pacific Island American Minnesota Film Collective (APIA MN Film Collective). Her first short film, Rhaub, was an official selection at the 2018 Qhia Dab Neeg Film Festival in Saint Paul, MN. Vang received the Forecast Public Art Early-Career Artist Project Grant and developed a short experimental film, Hmong Ephemera, as a writer/director. She is a producer for Hmong Organization, a comedic web series.

Project Statement

The Chaperone is a semi-autobiographical comedic short film that follows Ghia Na, a teen who must accompany her older sister Hlee Anne when they are out of the house. Ghia Na serves as the chaperone while Hlee Anne rendezvous with her boyfriend in the park. Set amidst the backdrop of the mid-90s and the strict rules that governed Hmong girls’ bodies, this film follows Ghia Na as she befriends other “younger sister” chaperones.

Taryn Ward (he, him, his) is a filmmaker and writer currently working and living in Brooklyn, New York. His often deadpan-centric narrative-based filmmaking tends to revolve around the quotidian and the idiosyncrasies of the everyday layabout. Ward’s films have been screened in the Fast Forward Film Festival, NewFilmmakers at Anthology Film Archives and Atlanta Film Festival.

Project Statement

Ward’s upcoming comedic film Broken Goods follows the story of an aloof man named Vincent who, in addition to struggling with a sugar addiction, becomes a full-time test subject for clinical drug and product test trials in lieu of working a steady nine to five. Despite the risk, there’s a small fortune to be made when donating one’s body to experimental research—and instead of working more hours at his retail position, Vincent finds this risk worth the reward. Driven mostly by its satirical tone and existential character study, Broken Goods also underscores the relationship between mind and self as well as one’s relationship to both state and labor.

Deacon Warner (he, him, his) is a documentary filmmaker and youth media instructor. In 2020 he joined the COMPAS roster of teaching artists. Warner has made numerous short documentaries, including Bee-Sharp Honeybee, 56, and Peaceful Warriors: on the road with Vets for Peace. The Co-op Wars, his first feature film, premiered in May 2021. In addition to his independent film work and teaching, Warner was the Youth Programs Director at FilmNorth for twelve years, developing the media program to include in-school residencies, summer camps, and after-school programming. Before working at FilmNorth, he was a social studies teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Project Statement

Rethinking Security is a documentary film about a community creating a nonviolent model for safety. With the guidance and expertise of Nonviolent Peaceforce (N.P.), community groups and social justice organizations in the Twin Cities are actively creating a force of community members trained in nonviolent strategies to provide community protection. This effort was set off by the protests and conflicts following George Floyd’s murder amidst a global pandemic. N.P. and local partners in the Twin Cities are developing trained volunteers and a communication system allowing rapid responses when violent situations emerge. This film will use verité style footage, following the efforts of the lead organizers, along with news reportage as context for events. Rethinking Security offers a look at a possible future where mutual protection and nonviolence replace our current model of armed protection.