Advocacy group Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM) has presented it inaugural BGDM Sustainable Artist Grants and the BGDM Black Directors Grants. According to Deadline, the grants come with $10,000, mentorship, and tailored industry connections. “For both grants, BGDM sought filmmakers at a crucial juncture in their creative lives, with a clear understanding of how financial and professional support, as well as individually curated mentorship, could propel them to the next stage of their career.”
The Sustainable Artist Grant provides five BGDM members at any level the resources they need to focus on their work and advance their careers. It is designed for filmmakers whose “talents dovetail with their clarity of purpose as an artist, engagement and dedication to community building, and strong potential to make a meaningful contribution to an evolving and expanding documentary field.” The recipients are Mireya Guzman-Ortiz, Rebeca Huntt, Chithra Jeyaram, Sara Nodjoumi, and Jean Rheem.
The Black Directors Grant backs “documentary projects by Black directors from within BGDM whose demonstration of craft, storytelling ability, and unique point of view reflects and uplifts some aspect of the Black experience or perspective.” This year, there was a special interest in stories exploring the racial justice demonstrations of 2020.
The Black Directors Grant awardees are Luchina Fisher (Untitled Gary & Gia Documentary), Carrie Hawks (“Inner Wound Real”), Laura Kamugisha (“Hyphen”), Ashley O’Shay (“Southmont Drive”), and Cariba Party and Nadja Odi Thomas (Untitled Documentary Feature).
Both grants’ recipients were selected by a jury comprised of BIPOC nonfiction storytellers, writers, academics, industry leaders, and curators including filmmakers Sabrina Schmidt Gordon and Farihah Zaman, and “POV” co-producer Nicole Tsien.
“In the last five years, Brown Girls Doc Mafia has created a vibrant online community of over 4,500 members, launched the BGDM Member Directory for discovering BIPOC women/non-binary filmmakers and executives, and implemented numerous programs advocating for members’ access, visibility, creativity, growth, sustainability, and power in the documentary film industry,” said BGDM Founder and Director Iyabo Boyd. “Today, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to add grantmaking to our portfolio of initiatives that bolster the creative and professional development of this community and spur change in the documentary field at large.”
