The San Francisco Film Society has announced the ten finalists for the 2016 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Six of the ten projects contending for $75,000 are directed or co-directed by women. The ten finalists were pulled from an application pool of more than 2000 entries.
The SFFS Documentary Film Fund was created “to support singular nonfiction film work that is distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters, and an innovative visual approach.”
The finalists include Tina Brown and Dyana Winkler’s “United Skates,” an exploration of the roller rink underground subculture in the U.S., and “Whose Streets?” a portrait of activists fighting for racial justice in Ferguson, co-directed by Sabaah Folayan.
A number of the women-centric docs also sound promising: “Woman in Motion” centers on Dolores Huerta, the young Latina woman who cofounded the country’s first farm worker’s union, and “For Akheem” follows a 17-year-old girl in St. Louis who aspires to graduate from the country’s only court-supervised public high school.
The winners will be announced in mid-September. The women-directed and co-directed projects are listed below, with details and synopses provided by the San Francisco Film Society.
“By a Thread”
Rina Castelnuovo and Tamir Elterman, directors; Hilla Medalia, producer.
“By A Thread” tells the story of Muhammad (Muhi), a Palestinian child from Gaza who is transferred at birth to a hospital in Israel where he lives out his entire life, confined for security restrictions. The film explores Muhi’s contradictory world in which he is treated, raised, and saved by his people’s enemy.
“Mudflow”
Sasha Friedlander, director.
Indonesian villagers fight for justice in the wake of a massive exploding mud volcano resulting from gas drilling gone wrong. The film unfolds against the backdrop of Indonesia’s historic 2014 presidential election as the world’s third largest democracy is put to the test. The election offers hope, but will real change happen?
“PC594: The Art of Rebellion”
Libby Spears, director.
“PC594” is the portrait of Lydia Emily, a uniquely challenged artist, activist, and single mother, and her inspiring struggle for creative expression, political insurrection and domestic fulfillment. Fighting a degenerative disease while raising a daughter with autism, Lydia dares the world to stop her from painting the murals of beauty and dissent that give her life voice.
“The Rescue List”
Alyssa Fedele and Zachary Fink, codirectors.
“Children of Volta” follows the incredible journey of two boys in Ghana as they escape from slavery, spend a year in a hidden rehabilitation shelter, and are eventually reunited with their families. Meanwhile, the man who rescued them goes back on a covert rescue mission to liberate more children. For him, the work is personal.
“United Skates”
Tina Brown and Dyana Winkler, co-director/producers.
“United Skates” follows an underground subculture growing inside our country’s last standing roller rinks. The story is told through the eyes of two unassuming leaders as they battle in a racially charged environment to save a community and culture still undiscovered by the American mainstream, before it disappears.
“Whose Streets?”
Damon Davis and Sabaah Folayan, codirectors; Jennifer MacArthur, producer.
“Whose Streets?” chronicles the lives of Ferguson activists who remain part of a movement for racial justice long after Mike Brown’s killer goes free. Personal and dynamic, this is a protest film that goes beyond the sensational tropes of local news. The directors use a combination of interview and vérité footage in the streets and homes of activists leading the charge against police brutality in the United States.
