Keisha Rae Witherspoon, Assia Boundaoui, Diane Paragas, Ekwa Msangi are among the 63 artists across 10 creative disciplines named as 2022 United States Artists Fellows. The directors account for four of five film fellows, and will receive unrestricted $50,000 cash awards “to continue to strengthen and enrich their communities and the film industry,” per a press release announcing the news. “USA Fellowships are awarded to artists at all stages of their careers and from all areas of the country through a rigorous nomination and panel selection process.”
Witherspoon’s first short film, “T,” a portrait of a Miami festival that honors the dead, won the 2020 Golden Bear at Berlinale and screened at Sundance, AFI, and New Directors/New Films, among others. It won audience awards for best short at the BlackStar and New Orleans film festivals. “T” and “1968 < 2018 > 2068,” her short drawing on excerpts from the book “Black Quantum Futurism: Theory and Practice,” are part of the Criterion Channel’s Afrofuturism program. She is cofounder of the Third Horizon Film Festival, a Caribbean film, art, and music festival that takes place annually in Miami.
Boundaoui is best known for “The Feeling of Being Watched,” her doc exploring FBI surveillance in her Muslim American community. After premiering at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, the doc was nationally broadcast on PBS’ “POV.” Her debut short film about hijabi hair salons for HBO Documentary Films premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Paragas’ debut narrative feature, “Yellow Rose,” a 2019 coming-of-age story about an undocumented Filipino American teen pursuing her dream of becoming a country music singer, won over a dozen grand jury and audience awards and was released theatrically by Sony Pictures. She co-directed the 2012 doc “Brooklyn Boheme,” a look inside the black arts movement that rose out of Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Msangi premiered “Farewell Amor,” her feature debut, in competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Sundance/Amazon Producers Award. The story of an immigrant family in the U.S. who reunite after 17 years was acquired for distribution in North America by IFC Films and worldwide by MUBI and Netflix. Her short credits include “Soko Sonko” (“The Market King”) and “Farewell Meu Amor.”
“After another year facing the challenges of the pandemic, artists once again demonstrate their deep commitment to uplifting those around them and nurturing their communities,” said Lynnette Miranda, Program Director of United States Artists. “The 2022 USA Fellows were selected for their remarkable artistic vision, their commitment to community – both in their specific communities and their discipline at large – and the potential to influence future generations.”
A Chicago-based arts funding organization, United States Artists has awarded more than $36 million to artists across the country since 2006. Head over to the org’s website to check out all of the 2022 fellows.
