“Beach Rats” writer-director Eliza Hittman and “Nuts!” helmer Penny Lane both have something to celebrate. They’ve scored grants from non-profit org Rooftop Films, Variety reports. The filmmakers received Garbó NYC Feature Film Grants, which include a $15,000 cash prize.
Rooftop helps support New York City filmmakers and musicians by providing grants, renting equipment at low costs, and organizing screenings. They’ve previously backed projects such as Gillian Robespierre’s “Obvious Child” and Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBenet.”
According to the source, “Hittman will use the money support her new film, ‘A,’ and Lane will use it on her next project, an untitled film about religious activism.”
Other grantees include Elizabeth Lo, who will be co-directing her debut feature, and Joanna Arnow (“Bad at Dancing”).
Both Hittman and Lane scored positive reviews for their latest features.
Hittman’s “Beach Rats” follows a Brooklyn-based teen as he experiments with drugs and explores his sexuality. Hittman won Sundance’s U.S. drama directing award this year for the film. “I think there is nothing more taboo in this country than a woman with ambition, and I am going to work my way through a system that is completely discriminatory towards women,” she said in her acceptance speech. “And Hollywood, I’m coming for you.” Her other credits include feature “It Felt Like Love” and shorts “Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight” and “Second Cousins Twice Removed.”
Lane also scored an award at Sundance award for her most recent feature, 2016’s “Nuts!” The doc centers an eccentric surgeon whose claim to fame was a miracle cure for impotence: transplanting goat testicles into his patients. When we asked Lane her advice for other female directors, she emphasized the importance of community. “You need your peers. My ‘professional network’ is more than what those words sound like. It has become the most important family I’ll ever have — a group of mostly women who are the greatest support, inspiration, and advice (and fun) ever,” she said. “Our Nixon,” “The Voyagers,” and “The Commoners” are among Lane’s other credits.
