Directory of Sponsored Projects

ROCKY FLATS is a feature documentary about an under-the-radar yet crucial environmental story - of the massive amount of nuclear waste left in the American landscape by the Cold War. The film follows events now unfolding in Colorado, where a contentious fight has erupted over the fate of the lands around the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility. Late in 2018, the federal government opened Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, 6,500 acres that once surrounded the most notoriously mismanaged nuclear weapons plant in U.S. history. The government claims that the lands are free of plutonium contamination, but a growing coalition of scientists, citizens, environmental groups, and physicians are vehemently disagreeing. They know that for decades, Rocky Flats leaked radioactive plutonium into the air, soil, and water of surrounding areas - long suspected to be the cause of the high rates of cancer in these communities. While a 1989 FBI raid closed down the plant forever, citizens of Colorado are still fighting to unearth the truth about Rocky Flats - including the lasting impacts it has had on their lands and towns. ROCKY FLATS follows five characters who are leading this fight, and by the end of the year, their efforts will open a Pandora's Box the federal government hoped had closed long ago. ROCKY FLATS is the story of one of the most decisive years in the recent history of our nuclear weapons program, in the process shedding crucial light on one of the most pressing environmental stories of our time.

In July of 1950, the FBI arrested Miriam Moskowitz and her boss Abe Brothman. Although the prosecution couldn’t make an espionage charge stick, newspapers headlined the conviction of two dangerous A-Bomb spies in cahoots with the treacherous Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (executed for espionage in 1953). Miriam, who was having an illicit affair with Abe, refused to take the stand for fear the affair would be revealed, thus giving up her only public opportunity to defend herself. Fast-forward more than sixty years. Miriam is age 97, and still a convicted felon. Her age shows, but it is masked by her feisty personality. After decades, Miriam has come forward to reveal her past--and clear her name. The Conviction of Miriam Moskowitz follows Miriam as she seeks justice and personal vindication. She pursues legal recourse, political clemency, and even appeals to the general public and historians to reconsider her place in American history. But in clearing her name, Miriam faces questions and evidence long buried. Is she really a victim of the 1950s era of McCarthy hysteria? Or is there some truth to the charges against her? In exploring Miriam’s past, the film explores the injustice of 1950s America while raising questions about the lengths people are willing to go to ensure they are remembered the way they want to be. And set against current relations with Russia and espionage, it raises interesting questions about international espionage and the effects this has on American society and politics.

Alejandra, an Indigenous, transgender woman from Oaxaca, Mexico escaped violence in her hometown and fled to the U.S. 28-years-ago. Today, Alejandra prepares for several long-awaited events in her life before her first homecoming trip: her gender-confirmation surgery, completing a degree, opening a restaurant and making peace with the Catholic Church. Alejandra's lifelong quest for a safe place through her intersecting identities has turned her into a beacon of solidarity to many and a testament to the importance –and sometimes limits- of solidarity.

Funny, touching, and thought-provoking, this visually stunning film is a unique, layered and untold story of an intrepid feminist daughter seeking her late father’s radical artistic spirit with a fresh approach to contemporary issues relating to environmental and technological challenges, and a memorable psychedelic visual collage of style and sound.

ALL WE’VE GOT is a feature-length documentary that shines a light on a group long at the center of fights for social justice - LGBTQ women. Often dismissed by their peers, subject to social and economic inequality, and rarely acknowledged in the larger culture, this film tells stories about LGBTQ women’s communities, cultures, and social justice work through a particular lens - the spaces they create, from bars to bookstores to arts and political hubs. And this documentary comes at a time when many of those spaces are closing. Access to space is an epicenter of inequality in the US. Though most people know this issue best when it comes to homes, it also has a dramatic impact on social groups who rely on physical spaces to meet, build connections, and form political alliances. On this journey you’ll meet the couple who recently took ownership of a lesbian bar in Oklahoma City. You’ll see performances by and hear from queer and trans artists carrying on the traditions of a 30-year old queer arts venue in New York City. You’ll sit down with queer Latinas who help run one of the oldest and most politically progressive community organizations in San Antonio, Texas. And you’ll join a table of volunteers, including one of the founders, at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Brooklyn, NY. You’ll hear additional insights from scholar Jen Jack Gieseking, as well as two women who helped shape the Trans Ladies Picnics, social gatherings created by and for trans women.

Just so you know, this documentary will have lots of vaginas. Not just mine, all different kinds. This series is my attempt to show the world the way I think, what I see, how I construct my reality. My reality includes cancer and rape. I’m not alone: 1 in 6 women have been the victim of rape or attempted rape, and 1 in 8 women have or will be diagnosed with cancer. This is my story, told through my female gaze, the lens of my experiences: the teacher who sent me 100 letters in 8th grade, the rape I experienced at 15, the silencing that followed, another assault by a boyfriend, the way these events reverberated throughout my life and affected my sense of self, my sexuality, my art, my friendships, and my kids. I hope it is proof that our darkest moments are the most illuminating. And I hope it shows that humans will do almost anything to heal themselves. It's a love story--of what it truly takes to accept myself and love others in a world that treats women like shit.

In NORMAL ISN'T REAL, four young adults share their stories of coming to terms with their learning disabilities and ADHD. They differ in backgrounds, strengths, schools, and career choices, but each has become an expert on themselves and what they need to succeed. Viewers witness their talents, frustrations, and strategies for managing their challenges. The results are inspiring and instructive.

Razing Liberty Square follows three female protagonists fighting for the soul of one of the last African-American neighborhoods in Miami, historic Liberty Square. Best known as the real-life location for the Oscar-winning film Moonlight. A fiery principal of a school that grew out of necessity for at-risk kids who can’t attend public school, she is saving them one by one, keeping her ideals and refusing to sell out. An 86-year old preservationist who will not give up the last tangible piece of Miami’s black history and a single-mom turned housing activist who won’t be bought or intimidated out of her home. They are defending their community against the onslaught of ‘Climate Gentrification’ since their neighborhood literally sits on the highest and driest land in Miami, a city under threat of rising sea levels due to Global Warming. And now after years of neglect by the city, developers are circling the neighborhood like buzzards. With Miami being one of the most diverse but also most segregated cities in the country, Razing Liberty Square encapsulates the past and future of public housing, putting human faces on the housing crisis. Their success and failures speak to one of the biggest questions of our time: is fair housing in our cities a basic human right?

Seven days after Trump’s inauguration, his Muslim ban was a stunning assault on civil liberties — but more extraordinary still was the ACLU’s counter-attack. Thirty hours after the order was signed, attorneys emerged from a Brooklyn courthouse with fists raised high, triumphant at the court’s first check on the president’s power. This was but the opening salvo in the fight to defend our constitutional rights. The Trump administration has since moved to expel transgender soldiers, roll back voting rights, separate refugees from their children, and force teens to carry unwanted pregnancies. But at each affront, an ACLU lawyer is fighting back. In this modern-day David vs Goliath story, these self-described “freedom nerds” battle an unpredictable adversary with unlimited resources. While the court battles rage, controversy threatens. In Charlottesville, the ACLU’s defense of white supremacists’ right to march — and the ensuing murder of a counter-protester — brings fierce condemnation and inflames a debate around limits on free speech. For nearly a hundred years the ACLU has defended the First Amendment, especially for those with whom they disagree. In today’s polarized political climate, this is difficult political terrain to navigate. THE FIGHT is the inside story of human struggle at a moment of national crisis.

Today, women make up less than one quarter of all those employed in STEM occupations in the United States. These numbers are much worse for women of color: Asian, black women and Latinas made up slightly less than 10% of working scientists and engineers in the United States in 2015. Science is supposed to be built on objectivity, and yet, most researchers agree that these bleak numbers are evidence of deep bias. Over the course of careers, small slights add up to prevent many women from achieving leadership positions in STEM fields. And sometimes, tragically, brilliant women drop out altogether. But now, the terrain is shifting. This film chronicles the groundswell of women scientists who are changing the face of science in the United States and around the world. Using dogged research techniques and careful data collection, these women are not only contributing to our understanding of what keeps women scientists down, but advocating for a more diverse and inclusive future for all. The film will take a novel, collaborative approach to its storytelling, allowing the scientists themselves to guide the narrative of the film. Science is therefore both the subject of the film, and also — through our three main characters — its guiding sensibility, providing viewers a deeper understanding of what it takes to be a scientist. Equal parts insightful and inspiring, this film will illuminate both the hard data and the very human stories of women in science.

Set in Berlin and New York, FROM HERE interweaves the stories of Tania, Miman, Sonny and Akim – artists and activists raised in the Global North to parents from the Global South. This longitudinal documentary accompanies them as they move from their 20’s into their 30’s, facing major turning points: fighting for citizenship, creating a family, surviving violence, and finding creative expression. As each individual’s journey unfolds, they all face exclusion and the search for identity while learning to define belonging for themselves. Beautifully shot over the course of seven years, the film weaves back and forth between their lives. It offers intimate and tender portraits of these global citizens envisioning new possibilities of belonging, in a world increasingly hostile to their existence. The film is complemented by a robust transmedia and education initiative that includes a web platform, workshops, curricula, and live events. Learn more: reimaginebelonging.org

This is the unveiling of the Mother of Hollywood... In the age of the feminine awakening...

IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM takes us back to the glory years of Balanchine’s New York City Ballet through the remembrances of his former dancers and their quest to fulfill the vision of a genius. Opening the door to his studio, Balanchine’s private laboratory, they reveal new facets of the groundbreaking choreographer: taskmaster, mad scientist, and spiritual teacher. Today, as his former dancers teach a new generation, questions arise: what was the secret of his teaching? Can it be replicated?

When Martina Radwan, an accomplished cinematographer, meets sixteen-year old Baaskaa on a film shoot about homeless kids in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, she decides to intervene. She sets him up with a foster family and supports him financially. Initially successful in helping Baaskaa, Martina takes on two more teens, Nasaa, a girl, and Vanni, a boy. Unprepared, but determined, she becomes the teen’s unofficial, long-distance surrogate mother and advocate, encouraging them to heal and change. Despite their language barrier, cultural differences and physical separation, this unlikely family by choice develops a deep, intimate bond. With the iconic steppes of Mongolia as the background, the film will delve deep into the country’s rich culture, social issues, and the youths’ gains and painful losses. As Martina evaluates her successes and failures, the film will not only explore the question of how to support neglected, underprivileged and underrepresented children, but also when and how to act as a human and global citizen. One doesn’t have to travel far to find teens like Baakaa, and Nasaa and Vanni. This film allows the young powerful voices, which are generally ignored, to be heard and to inspire us to overcome boundaries, personal as well as cultural ones and to broaden our definition of community and family within the global world we are living in. The Roar of a Lion Club, a personal documentary, is told mostly chronologically, to cover an eight-year period of this coming of age story, employing a three-act structure, using primarily verité scenes.

Karisa’s city-life is interrupted when his Grandma back home is called a witch. Returning to his rural village In coastal Kenya to investigate, he finds a frenzied mix of consumerism and colonialist Christianity is turning hundreds of families against their elders, branding them as witches as a means to steal ancestral lands. As Karisa delicately navigates between his disputing aunties and uncles, the love for his Grandmother and her fearless spirit must overcome the imminent danger of the accusations against her. The inevitable universal theme of how land is divided when an elder dies is entangled by the chaotic mixture of traditions of the past with the newly imposed influence of western values and religion. The understated power of women, alongside the resilience of family and community, shines above all else, despite the growing threat of greed and inter-generational alienation.

Ex Libris is a hybrid non-fiction film incorporating animation, collage, and first person narrative to frame my grandfather’s story as he did: through his collection of exlibris, an art form now almost forgotten. Exlibris, or bookplates, are small limited edition prints, commissioned to commemorate the people, places and times of the collector. Those graphics marked and commemorated what was most meaningful to my grandfather. On the surface, he was an ordinary man caught in extraordinary circumstances – Vienna in the early 20th century, a time of cultural and political ferment; the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Nazi occupation of Vienna. He was also an eccentric dreamer who created a personal iconography, a vibrant universe parallel to his everyday life as a neighborhood pharmacist. The bookplates, which contain great visual beauty and narrative expressiveness, will be the center of the film. Through animation, hand-drawing, and collage they will be illuminated, manipulated, and re-imagined. The film will reconfigure my grandfather's world and refract it through high-definition video, super 8mm film, archival footage, family photographs, and cityscapes. Marco’s diaries provide a narrative spine; allowing his rich, observant voice to offer content and commentary. A companion book and interactive website where collectors can upload images and stories of their exlibris will enlarge the scope of the film and support my intention to ignite a renewal of exlibris culture.

The ripple effects of over four million women who demonstrated worldwide in January of 2017 for women’s rights are placing women’s activism front and center. Women are on the move, responding with motivation to the deep challenges of the 2017 election here in the U.S. and crises around the world. Looking back, today's women are not the first to feel they live at a moment of crisis or to respond with action. For more than a century, women - from Jane Adams to Coretta King to Malala Yousafzai, and in 2017, to the founders of the Women’s March - have organized globally to speak and act for peace and justice. What better way to empower today’s women than to review 100 years of accomplishments in advancing women’s voices and leadership? We think a brilliant, efficient and highly effective way to do this is work from the expertly researched and grounded play, Most Dangerous Women. In the movie, rich archival images of headlines, photos, video, and protest signs set context for the times, enlivening historic stories while contemporary activists and artists perform the actual words women spoke, shouted and sang, beginning with international protests of WW1 and extending to the Women’s March of 2017. Performers and audiences connecting with their future-oriented foremothers’ past actions represent new generations, creating a fresh space where histories and dreams collide to envision and enact new ways of being. Stirring music from the play helps drive the film narrative.

Homecoming, a character-driven documentary shot in verité style tells the intergenerational story of two women, Johnny Frisbie and Amelia Borofsky, as they cross the Pacific to return to their remote childhood home of Pukapuka. The film follows their riveting return to this spiritual, animistic atoll. Homecoming takes 86 year-old Johnny and 40 year-old Amelia not only on a physical voyage across the Pacific, but also on a spiritual journey to find what is most true in their lives in the land itself and the Pacific ocean that unites them. In Pukapuka, the film shows them walking barefoot on the sunken reef, trolling for diminishing tuna, sinking their feet in the taro patches, and reconciling time with memories. Located in the Cook Islands, Pukapuka follows a Polynesian way of life lost to other Pacific islands. Pukapukans here have survived with nature for centuries despite the threat of sea level rising. The community has little contact with outsiders or tourists. Homecoming tells the viewer to a unique place where time is circular. The past and present collide. Dreamtime and reality intersect. The quest of each character – to reconcile different worlds and cross spiritual dimensions – binds them together, and provides the dramatic arc of the film. Interwoven in visual metaphor the film follows Johnny and Amelia’s journey over three acts – the film opens with both women already landed on their magical childhood atoll, both in their element tracing the past. The beginning of Homecoming dives into the personal journeys of