Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) has announced the 2016 recipients of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and its subsection, the AOL Charitable Foundation Award. Seven projects have been chosen to receive $150,000 in grants, and six of them, or 86 percent, are directed or co-directed by women. These programs are designed to support docs that highlight global social issues and the lives of women, so this apparent commitment to funding female filmmakers, who are underrepresented both in the U.S. and abroad, is fitting. The fund offers filmmakers production and finishing finances.
Three out of four of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund winners are women-directed projects, and all three of the AOL Charitable Foundation Award winners feature a woman at the helm.
The grantees were selected by a jury of industry experts including Academy Award winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Saving Face”) and Dede Gardner, president of Plan B Entertainment.
Among the Gucci Tribeca winners is Carol Dysinger’s “One Bullet Afghanistan,” which centers on a boy shot in a residential street in Afghanistan, his mother, and the relationship between the matriarch of the family and Dysinger.
Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s “Radical Brownies” is an AOL Charitable Foundation Award winner. The doc is a portrait of Radical Monarchs, a group of eight to 12-year-old girls of color who earn badges by serving as LGBTQ allies, seeking environmental justice, and supporting Black Lives Matter.
“At a time of extreme social divisiveness both domestically 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 and the AOL Charitable Foundation Award,” said Amy Hobby, Vice President of Artist Programs at 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.”
Sara Link, President of the AOL Charitable Foundation, emphasized the importance of gender equality on-screen and behind-the-scenes. She commented, “A key pillar of the AOL Charitable Foundation’s mission is centered on improving the lives of women, girls, and underserved youth through cultivating creativity around the world. Recognizing that women and girls are often underrepresented in the stories that are written, produced, and directed, we are proud to work with the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and Tribeca Film Institute to tell these life-changing stories that are deeply captivating to a global audience.” Link summarized, “By supporting the work of these ground-breaking filmmakers, it is our aim that their experiences and messages help to empower women and girls from all backgrounds.
The fund has supported more than 73 films in its nine years of existence, providing more than $1 million in grants. A press release notes, “This year the jurors unanimously decided to give larger quantities of financial support to fewer films than in years past in an effort to effect the greatest impact on the grantees’ capabilities to bring their important stories to audiences.”
Check out all of the female recipients and info about their projects below, with plot summaries courtesy of a press release.
2016 Recipients of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
“The Infiltrators,” Directed and Produced by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera. “The Infiltrators” is a docu-thriller that tells the real — and surreal — story of a group of immigrants in America who got themselves apprehended by Border Patrol to ‘infiltrate’ secretive, for-profit detention centers, and to help other detained immigrants get free.
“My Country, No More,” Directed and Produced by Rita Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling. Generations of family farming tradition go up in flames as the North Dakota oil boom leaves human memory, culture, and identity scorched in its wake. “My Country, No More” follows one family’s path of resistance, raising a fundamental question: what are we willing to sacrifice in our pursuit of progress?
“One Bullet Afghanistan,” Directed and Produced by Carol Dysinger; Produced by Su Kim. One bullet, fired into darkness, hits a boy on a residential street in Afghanistan sending him into the path of a woman filmmaker following the American military. This begins an intimate, longitudinal look at a family in crises through the eyes of its matriarch — Bibi Hajji — and an accidental friendship between two women, worlds apart.
2016 Recipients of the AOL Charitable Foundation Award
“Marriage Cops,” Directed and Produced by Cheryl Hess and Shashwati Talukdar. In a small city in Northern India unhappy couples seek relationship advice in the most unlikely of places.
“Radical Brownies,” Directed and Produced by Linda Goldstein Knowlton; Produced/Edited by Katie Flint; Executive Produced by Grace Lee. Radical Brownies follows the creation of a troop of 8 to 12-year-old girls of color — the Radical Monarchs — in Oakland, CA. A social justice-oriented alternative to the Girl Scouts, the Monarchs still earn badges — not for sewing or selling cookies, but for units on Black Lives Matter, Radical Beauty, being an LGBTQ Ally, and Environmental Justice.
“What Walaa Wants,” Directed by Christy Garland; Produced by Anne Köhncke. Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in prison, Walaa is determined to become one of the few women on the Palestinian Security Forces — a big challenge for a girl who breaks all the rules.
