Sponsored Projects
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When Jazzy learns that Syriah is moving away, she confronts the heartbreaks of growing up and the realities of the adult world. A spiritual successor to their previous film, The Unknown Country, Maltz's collaboration with producer Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux results in an emotionally resonant coming-of-age drama that deeply immerses the audience in the lives of these two young girls.
Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer/Producer/Cast: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux
Producer/Cast: Miranda Bailey
Producer: Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton, John Way, Vanara Taing, Tommy Heitkamp
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Jimmy in Saigon explores the mysterious life and death of James Austin McDowell, a Vietnam veteran who died at age 24 in 1972 as a civilian in Saigon. Painting an elegiac portrait, director Peter McDowell uncovers family secrets surrounding Jim’s drug use and sexuality, getting to know his brother who died when Peter was only 5 years old.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Peter McDowell
Producer: Lucia Palmarini
Producer: Peter Schulman
Composer/Producer: John McDowell
Executive Producer: Dan Savage, George Guerra, Corey Tong
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Three kids from the hood find an alien spaceship and take it on a joyride. Now they must decide to help the world that never cared about them, or escape into the unknown.
Project type: Fiction Short
Director: Raymond Carr
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This #metoo / #timesup feature about an aspiring rock star fights a mental breakdown along the road to stardom while pursued by a dysfunctional romantic. Drawn together and torn apart through humor, heartache and hope, the two grapple with the healing power of friendship and the damage wrought by demons of childhood.
Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director/Producer: Sherrie Richman
Writer: Christopher Kawika Brown
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Ava fights to maintain her own family, career and health while safeguarding her younger brother, Darryl, during his prolonged manic episode.
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Sharona D’Ornellas
Producer: Catrina Del Re
Director of Photography: Nicholas Bupp
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Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Kelly Richardson
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Without power for six months following Hurricane Maria, and dependent upon importing materials from overseas for their public elementary school students, a small mountain community in Puerto Rico begins to transition towards autonomy by transforming an abandoned building next to the school into a solar-powered factory where they will build the items they once imported.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Gabriel Coss
Producer: Emma Crow-Willard
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Six women emerge from the shadows of the California cannabis industry to go legal. As farmers, entrepreneurs and activists, these modern-day superheroes battle government bureaucracy, corporate interests and risk financial ruin in order to fight for the industry they helped create and for the survival of their community.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer/Writer: Chris J. Russo
Consulting Producers: Sarah Olson, Stephen Israel
Producer: Michael J. Katz
Executive Producer: Shauna Harden
Cinematographer/Producer: Christian Bruno
Editor/Writer: Tamara Maloney
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After 60 years of marriage Amir (87) and Lara (78) both of the Druze faith, get divorced following a foolish argument. According to Druze belief, they are forbidden to see or speak to one another until the day they die. Lara moves across the street with her son and family to start her life anew, while Amir stays at home to cope with his solitude.
Project type: Fiction Feature
Co-Director and Writer: Yaron Yarkoni
Producer: Baher Agrabiya
Co-Director and Writer: Liat Dahan Yarkoni
Co-Writer: Hamed Sharoof
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In a ballroom called Paradise, in the aftermath of World War II, a beguiling Hawaiian singer dances with a returned American soldier and debates the dignity of the American dream. But when his dance tickets run out, she is left with a harsh choice – for when the dancing stops, this man will die.
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Brayden Yoder
Producer: Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy
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The Last Whaling Station is a feature length documentary film that follows the journey of Iranian artist and activist, Anahita Babaei, and American filmmaker Micah Garen, as they try to end whaling in Iceland.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Directors/Producers: Micah Garen and Anahtia Babaei
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After making a suicide pact, Sunday and Gigi go on their last road trip together, leaving behind their failed careers and relationships. Sunday’s grip on reality slowly unravels, as her decision to renege on the pact haunts her every move.
Project type: Fiction Feature
Writer/Director/Actress: Spade Robinson
Producer/Director of Photography: Ayana Baraka
Production Design: Vanessa Plazo Lazo
Costume Design: Whitney Kyles
Composer: Sherri Chung
Executive Producer: Angela Edmond
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This documentary uses the long-standing satirical University of Chicago’s Latke Hamantash Debate as a framework to explore Jewish culture, revealing both the seriousness and utter absurdity of one of the most passionately debated topics in history.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Executive Producer: Amy Krause
Editor/Post Production Producer: David Beerman
Animator/Graphic Designer: Marilyn Zornado
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Bettina, a recent LA transplant and struggling actress-turned-babysitter, must chauffeur precocious preteen Wynn, to a sleepover in Laurel Canyon. There’s just one problem — she barely knows how to drive a car.
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Producer/Actor: Bettina Bresnan
Director:Tyler Cunningham
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A scrappy brown high schooler must fight her way to be Elle Woods when the lead of her school's production of Legally Blonde: The Musical gets seriously injured ten minutes before showtime.
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Producer: Maya Vyas
Director: Kirsten Hoang
Producer: Alyssa Callahan
Associate Producer: Sari Arambulo
Associate Producer: Nicole McCullough
Associate Producer: Ruhi Mansey
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In a time of racial upheaval and a multitude of woes affecting marginalized communities, a young, African American filmmaker journeys to the heart of the Black experience to find the answer to a daunting question: Is the Black church dead?
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Rafiq J Nabali
Producer: Joe Howell
Producer: Mahalia Latortue
Producer: Nancy Howard
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Lauren thinks she’s awoken a monster. Faced with skepticism from the only person she trusts, she asks herself: can she believe what she sees or has she lost her mind?
Project type: Fiction Short
Writer/Director: Carrington Walsh
Co-Producer/AD: Claire Liu
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When sisters Alex and Claire learn of their abuser’s death, they journey to a New Zealand settlement to witness his burial.
Project type: Fiction Short
Director: Aileen O'Sullivan
Writer/Producer: Mary Sewell
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In the aftermath of their venerated father’s death, two brothers travel to Europe to learn about his childhood experiences during the Holocaust that shaped a man they never fully knew.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director: Michael Gil
Producer/Editor: Nicholas Manting Brewer
Producer: Emily Grandcolas
Director of Photography: Feixue Tang
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Leveling Lincoln brings back to the forefront the first case in the Northern USA, where a school was torn down in the quest for equal rights in education. Mrs. Taylor vs. The Board of Education of New Rochelle, NY – 1961, was a landmark case brought by Lincoln School parents. Many still remember and speak on camera of this pivotal case, their childhood after the case, and how it relates to today’s educational struggles.
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Director/Producer: Arden Teresa Lewis
Producer/Assistant Director: Tinks Lovelace, Bag O' Bones Collective