Six documentaries from women directors will receive $150,000 in grants from the 2018 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. From Tribeca Film Institute (TIF), Gucci, and the Oath Foundation, the fund offers financial support and year-round guidance from TFI to feature docs depicting important social issues, particularly those that affect women and girls.
The grant recipients were chosen by a jury featuring documentarian Dawn Porter (“Trapped”), “Grown-ish” actress Yara Shahidi, VP of Array Tilane Jones, producer Sue Kroll (“A Star Is Born”), VICE Impact’s Katherine Keating, and filmmaker Bryn Mooser (“Baseball in the Time of Cholera”).
The selected projects explore everything from women challenging incumbents for political office (Rachel Lears’ “Knock Down the House”) to midwives working against the backdrop of the Muslim-Buddhist conflict in Western Myanmar (Hnin Ei Hlaing’s “Midwives”) to Central American women going on a yearly journey to find lost children (Marialuisa Ernst’s “A Place of Absence”). The documentaries also tackle subjects such as women’s lives post-incarceration (Jennifer Redfearn’s “Reentry”), Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane María (an untitled doc from Cecilia Aldarondo), and women police officers attempting to improve the Minneapolis Police Department (Deirdre Fishel’s “Women in Blue”).
The Oath Foundation will also back the impact distribution and strategy campaign work for two of the docs, “with the objective of having those films attain maximum reach and achieve social change.”
“At a time of extreme social divisiveness both nationally and abroad, we are proud to be able to grant these filmmakers the opportunity to tell such important stories through the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund,” said Amy Hobby, Executive Director of TFI. “These films tackle issues from around the world, and the backgrounds of the directors and producers reflect a wide diversity of those with important stories to tell.”
“I had a fantastic time reviewing the nominated documentaries,” added Shahidi. “The depth and breadth of each film took us around the globe, exploring topics, many of which are undercovered and underexplored by news and other outlets. Each filmmaker was successful in brilliantly and engagingly approaching each topic with empathy.”
Synopses and credits for the 2018 Gucci Tribeca Doc Fund recipients are below, courtesy of TFI.
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
Directed by Rachel Lears
Produced by Robin Blotnick & Sarah Olson
In 2018, a young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada and a registered nurse in Missouri join a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. Without political experience or corporate money, these women are attempting to do what many consider impossible — until one of them pulls off the most shocking political upset in recent American history.
MIDWIVES
Directed by Hnin Ei Hlaing (Snow)
Produced by Ulla Lehmann and Mila Aung-Thwin
The Rohingya are a primarily Muslim minority community confined to a small region in Western Myanmar. With barely any access to services, they are being persecuted by the Buddhist majority. The film portrays two midwives, one Buddhist and one Muslim, who defy the brutal ethnic divide while working side by side in a makeshift medical clinic.
A PLACE OF ABSENCE
Directed and Produced by Marialuisa Ernst
A Place of Absence follows the “Caravan of Women,” a group of 40 brave women from Central America who embark on an epic annual bus journey in a desperate search for their children. Their children, like 70,000 others, have disappeared without a trace while attempting to cross the US-Mexico border.
REENTRY
Directed by Jennifer Redfearn
Produced by Tim Metzger
In a midwestern state, battered by both the opioid crisis and high incarceration rates, three mothers prepare to return from prison to their communities and families. As they struggle to mend relationships with their children after years of separation, their stories show how poverty, drugs, and incarceration are destroying family ties, and how women working together can help each other rebuild their lives.
UNTITLED PUERTO RICO DOCUMENTARY
Directed and Produced by Cecilia Aldarondo
Produced by Ines Hofmann Kanna
Executive Produced by Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook
Untitled Puerto Rico Documentary is a kaleidoscopic portrait of the aftermath of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico.
WOMEN IN BLUE
Directed and Produced by Deirdre Fishel
Produced by Beth Levison
Executive Produced by Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker
A high-profile police shooting rocks the Minneapolis Police Department, and its reform-minded first female chief is forced to resign. Following three women officers who carry on the fight to transform the MPD and restore community trust — Women in Blue explores gender, violence and policing in America.
