While fiscal sponsorship is a component of the program, unlike other sponsoring organizations, we also provide a suite of support services such as tailored consultations, discounts to our workshops and webinars with leading industry professionals, and other essential resources.
In the last 5 years, WMM’s Production Assistance Program has helped 194 films reach completion and assisted filmmakers in raising more than $46,000,000 from government, foundation, corporate or individual, and crowd-funded sources. Since its inception, the program has been a part of raising more than $100,000,000 and helping more than 1,000 films to completion.
Films and filmmakers we have supported have been nominated for or won Academy Awards for the last 22 years, including Oscar-winning documentary CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras, STRONG ISLAND by Yance Ford, SUGARCANE by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, TO KILL A TIGER by Nisha Pahuja, THE ETERNAL MEMORY by Maite Alberdi and THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK by John Hoffman and Christine Turner, the last two of which were directed by PA alum. The program has also supported critically acclaimed fiction features like FAMILIAR TOUCH (dir. Sarah Friedland), Dee Rees’ PARIAH, I CARRY YOU WITH ME (dir. Heidi Ewing, prod. Mynette Louie), FAREWELL AMOR (dir. Ekwa Msangi, prod. Huriyyah Muhammad, Sam Bisbee, Josh Penn), and THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (dir. Marielle Heller). We’re thrilled to continue to have a large presence at the Sundance Film Festival, including GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT (Dir Michèle Stephenson), LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING (dir. Lisa Cortés), Sandi Tan’s SHIRKERS, which won the World Cinema Documentary Competition Award for Best Directing, and most recently SEEDS (dir. Brittany Shyne, prod. Danielle Varga), which won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. In addition to Sundance, films supported by our program premiere at major festivals like Berlin, Tribeca, CPH:DOX, and SXSW.
FIND PROJECTS AND FILMMAKERS TO SUPPORT
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[ID] => 119616
[title] => First We Bombed New Mexico
[text] => FIRST WE BOMBED NEW MEXICO is the untold story of thousands of American citizens who were radiated by their own government. Never warned, acknowledged, or compensated, the New Mexico Downwinders have silently suffered generations of cancers. FIRST WE BOMBED NEW MEXICO follows Tina Cordova, a dynamic Latina business woman and cancer survivor, who has catalyzed a grassroots movement in south-central New Mexico to seek justice for the Native and Latinx communities who have suffered from the 1945 Trinity Test.
[logline] => 75 years after the world's first nuclear bomb - codename Trinity - is secretly detonated in southern New Mexico, a Latina cancer survivor catalyzes a movement demanding justice for a legacy of lethal radiation.
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First We Bombed New Mexico
75 years after the world's first nuclear bomb - codename Trinity - is secretly detonated in southern New Mexico, a Latina cancer survivor catalyzes a movement demanding justice for a legacy of lethal radiation.
Learn more
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[title] => Family Treasures Lost and Found
[text] => One of the tragedies suffered by Holocaust survivors and their descendants is loss of history. For some, this is partly due to the decisions of survivors not to talk about their prewar lives and persecution before and during World War II. A cascade of heartache can impact later generations; they must balance their need to know with respect for the privacy of relatives and their desire to protect them from the pain of reliving terrible experiences in the process of disclosing them. Our one-hour documentary traces how Karen first delved into inherited papers and had them translated. We demonstrate how she followed leads from them and scoured the Internet. We travel to Europe with her to real-world archives and cities family members frequented. Our film reveals the complexity and joy of Karen’s quest, and the satisfying knowledge gained from it.
Family Treasures Lost and Found shows how a few righteous individuals, at great personal peril, helped save Karen’s mother. Our film also shows the importance of a free press, in the case of Karen’s father, local reporting. This is so important now, as authoritarians worldwide attack journalists. Thus, our film reflects many issues related to freedom.
Family detective stories fascinate people. PBS’s Finding Your Roots, is in its ninth year. Over 3 million subscribe to Ancestry.com, which includes Newspapers.com. Many determine their DNA through genetic testing. Because Karen has used many tools and services to unravel the past, she can feed those hungry for information on how to do it.
[logline] => Journalist Karen A. Frenkel is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Her mother spoke of her wartime ordeal, but her father was silent. Karen embarked on a five-year quest to fill in the gaps, honor her parents and lost relatives, and ensure that memories would endure. This became an exciting detective story as she searched online and real-world archives and visited cities to better understand silence and loss.
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Family Treasures Lost and Found
Journalist Karen A. Frenkel is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Her mother spoke of her wartime ordeal, but her father was silent. Karen embarked on a five-year quest to fill in the gaps, honor her parents and lost relatives, and ensure that memories would endure. This became an exciting detective story as she searched online and real-world archives and visited cities to better understand silence and loss.
Learn more
Array
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[ID] => 129331
[title] => Firelighters: Fire Is Medicine
[text] => Our relationship with fire is out of balance, leading to catastrophic wildfires. FIRELIGHTERS follows Yurok and Karuk burning rights activists as they share their knowledge and provide solutions to this global problem.
Between lightning strikes and Indigenous burns, most landscapes in North America were shaped by fire for centuries. Indigenous people had, and still have, deep knowledge of the art of using fire. For most of the 20th century, U.S. federal fire policy was guided by a strategy of fire suppression, which has been one of the main causes of current catastrophic fires. Native Americans face persecution and penalty when they try to use fire in line with their traditions—even on public lands where they often hold treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather.
A follow-up to the successful film Apache 8, produced in 2011, FIRELIGHTERS follows the transformative work of women leaders from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes who are building educational resources to share indigenous practices and create policies to take back indigenous burning rights.
[logline] => Our relationship with fire is out of balance, leading to catastrophic wildfires. FIRELIGHTERS follows Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa burning rights activists as they share their knowledge and provide solutions to this global problem.
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Firelighters: Fire Is Medicine
Our relationship with fire is out of balance, leading to catastrophic wildfires. FIRELIGHTERS follows Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa burning rights activists as they share their knowledge and provide solutions to this global problem.
Learn more
Array
(
[ID] => 500
[title] => The Feeling of Being Watched
[text] => Update: the INVERSE SURVEILLANCE PROJECT
For over two years THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED team has been designing and producing the INVERSE SURVEILLANCE PROJECT, an immersive co-created new media installation designed and produced by the Arab and Muslim American communities in the Chicagoland area. The installation will take the form of a life-sized labyrinth that will be the canvas for an immersive community archive experience that repurposes the thousands of records collected during a decade of FBI surveillance (as depicted in the film) as a site of collective healing and a reclaiming of narrative. To learn more, visit InverseSurveillance.com
All donations through WMM will now go to support The Inverse Surveillance Project. Thank you for your support!
In the Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago where director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. While investigating their experiences, Assia uncovers tens of thousands of pages of FBI documents that prove her hometown was the subject of one of the largest counterterrorism investigations ever conducted in the U.S. before 9/11, code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal.” With unprecedented access, THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community fell under blanket government surveillance.
[logline] => When journalist Assia Boundaoui investigates rumors of surveillance in her Arab-American neighborhood in Chicago, she uncovers one of the largest FBI terrorism probes conducted before 9/11 and reveals its enduring impact on the community.
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The Feeling of Being Watched
When journalist Assia Boundaoui investigates rumors of surveillance in her Arab-American neighborhood in Chicago, she uncovers one of the largest FBI terrorism probes conducted before 9/11 and reveals its enduring impact on the community.
Learn more
Array
(
[ID] => 163885
[title] => Flood
[text] => In her first feature film, Katy Scoggin returns to her childhood home to reconnect to her religious father. He has spent decades refuting the theory of evolution, while she has embraced science since her college days.
Katy encounters her father at a turning point: her sister’s family is moving, and her parents plan to follow. The household goes into upheaval with the packing of home videos, class notes, and old Bibles. Through these relics, Katy sees how all of her family members' beliefs have changed--except for her father's.
Thus a rift widens, and a dramatic question emerges: How do you stick together as a family if your beliefs have grown worlds apart?
[logline] => Katy returns to her childhood home to attempt to reconnect to her evangelical father, years after leaving the Christian faith. What could possibly go wrong?
[image] =>
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)
Flood
Katy returns to her childhood home to attempt to reconnect to her evangelical father, years after leaving the Christian faith. What could possibly go wrong?
Learn more
Array
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[ID] => 136509
[title] => Familiar Touch
[text] => Collaborating with a real assisted living facility as our primary location and with their residents as supporting cast and crew, we will engage hybrid documentary approaches to this narrative feature's production to shape our film through intergenerational collaboration with older adults.
Before production, Sarah will facilitate an introduction to filmmaking workshop for the residents. This workshop will support and encourage the creative expression of the residents hosting us as visitors in their home while allowing them an opportunity to get to know and become comfortable with our crew. Each department head will facilitate one session of the workshop during prep so that the residents learn about each facet of filmmaking. The workshop will culminate in filming short hybrid scenes of their daily life at the assisted living facility.
During production, we will invite these residents to join us as both our cast, as supporting characters and background, and our crew, as consultants in the production design, costumes, and HMU departments. The integration of this creative aging workshop throughout our production process will ground both our collaborative ethics, realism, as well as the anti-ageist politics of our film.
[logline] => Familiar Touch is a coming of (old) age film. It follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting desires and self-narratives amidst her shifting age identity and memory.
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Familiar Touch
Familiar Touch is a coming of (old) age film. It follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting desires and self-narratives amidst her shifting age identity and memory.
Learn more
Array
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[ID] => 63131
[title] => Fencing for the Edge
[text] => Nerds, divas, and jocks alike will compete for the high school fencing championship in New Jersey. Leading up to the controversial state finals between Bernards and Columbia, the girls discover why sports have taught them life’s most important lessons. Filmed in a verite style, we witness the importance of sports in young girls’ lives. Columbia High School of Maplewood is the perennial powerhouse of the state and welcomes all types of kids onto its diverse team. Lead by a highly competitive coach, Bernards High School of Bernardsville is ranked by The Star Ledger as the #1 team in the state going into the season. We experience their year as members of the team go through practices, team dinners, tournaments, school, and adolescent life. Each girl has her own reasons for competing in the sport, which doesn’t penalize them for their race, economic, or gender. When the girls put on their masks, their individual life goals are what drives them to score and beat their opponents.
[logline] => FENCING FOR THE EDGE follows the emotional and physical journeys of two girls’ teams as they compete in the world’s largest high school fencing league.
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Fencing for the Edge
FENCING FOR THE EDGE follows the emotional and physical journeys of two girls’ teams as they compete in the world’s largest high school fencing league.
Learn more
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[title] => Flashing
[text] => Internationally renowned experts and regular women from around the world share experiences of and treatments for menopause. Featuring doctors, researchers, and traditional healers from the USA, India, Denmark, Uganda, and Japan, and addressing why this universal life transition is still shrouded in secrecy and shame.
Currently envisioned as a 90-minute feature documentary and open to exploring the project as a limited 6-part series.
[logline] => How women around the world experience and address menopause - a critical and understudied realm of women's sexual health and reproduction.
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Flashing
How women around the world experience and address menopause - a critical and understudied realm of women's sexual health and reproduction.
Learn more
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[title] => Fanny Palmer Project
[text] => Set against the backdrop of a bustling 19th-century New York City, this non-fiction film chronicles the extraordinary life and artistic journey of Frances Flora “Fanny” Palmer (1812-1876), a pioneering lithographer whose ground-breaking prints for the celebrated firm Currier & Ives captured the spirit of a burgeoning nation. During her time, Palmer’s images adorned more homes, schools, and businesses than that of any other artist, living or dead. Yet, her name has largely been lost to history. Fanny Palmer's story is one of grit and determination, as she became a trailblazer for women's autonomy. At the same time, Palmer’s personal challenges and triumphs give greater depth and resilience to her remarkable life.
[logline] => Meet Fanny Palmer, the most famous artist you've never heard of. In the 1850s, Fanny fearlessly chartered her own course in the male-dominated field of lithography. Her legacy transcends art, serving as an inspiration to women today striving for financial and professional independence in a world stacked against them.
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Fanny Palmer Project
Meet Fanny Palmer, the most famous artist you've never heard of. In the 1850s, Fanny fearlessly chartered her own course in the male-dominated field of lithography. Her legacy transcends art, serving as an inspiration to women today striving for financial and professional independence in a world stacked against them.
Learn more
Array
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[ID] => 119542
[title] => Finding Your Laughter
[text] => In her deeply personal documentary, comedian Arlieta Hall reveals the complexity of being a caregiver. She channels her creativity in many ways, including spending slow, quiet time caring for her dad at his home as well as telling her stories on the comedy stage. Through intimate verité footage filmed by co-director Brittany Alsot, Arlieta’s raw self-tape confessionals, and comedy show footage, Arlieta breaks the taboo around Alzheimer’s, bringing awareness and offering comedic storytelling tools for dealing with a relative with Alzheimer’s, which is a problem so many people struggle with in silence, especially on Chicago’s under-resourced Southside.
The film follows Arlieta, her father Milton, and Charmaine (Milton’s wife and fellow caregiver) through the ups and downs of daily life. Milton often thinks he’s the principal and Arlieta is the student and Charmaine is his secretary who gets the day off. Through family photos and reminders of his past exploits in music and religion, Arlieta travels with Milton between the past and present.
In the US alone, nearly one in five Americans provided unpaid care to an adult with functional or health needs in 2020 and yet 23% of Americans say caregiving has made their health worse (AARP May 2020). When caregiving ends up being harder than she expected, Arlieta turns to improv and learns to treat Milton like her scene partner by supporting whatever role he plays in the moment. This could be principal/student, officer/truant, father/son, or—in more lucid moments—father/daughter. At the beginning of Finding Your Laughter, we see Arlieta using improvisation in a subtle conversational way which allows her to enter the world of confusion with Milton by supporting what he says to validate him. We see Milton start conversations that go all over the place and Arlieta consistently employs the “yes, and…” technique that is the cornerstone of improvisation to keep him engaged. Through watching Arlieta and Milton interact in the verité and cell phone footage, the audience witnesses how to be patient and supportive to a person with Alzheimer’s, even if they have no idea what this person is saying.
At the same time that Milton’s health is declining, Arlieta’s career is ascending. She becomes an improviser, sketch and stand-up comedian who performs comedy about her father and her life, both of which provide her emotional relief. By sharing these real-life stories, she finds new success and connection with audiences. We will see Arlieta, with the help of her “bonus mom” (step-mom) Charmaine, working on developing and expanding the material she performs at each stand-up show. When Arlieta needs to process something that happened with her dad, she crafts it into a joke and workshops it on the stand-up stage—allowing her to change the story into something positive and return to working with Milton with patience.
Eventually, Arlieta and her ‘bonus mom’ Charmaine must provide 24/7 support. In effect, Arlieta says through tears, the father she loves has become a 2-year-old. We will see through Arlieta’s own filming of daily struggles how, after some time, improvisation isn’t working anymore and has become tricky for Arlieta and Milton as it is harder for him to engage with her. Instead of using complete sentences Milton begins to use gibberish and eats with his hands. Due to Alzheimer’s, he doesn't sit long and wanders off, which makes it frustrating for Arlieta to care-give and communicate with him. When alone, Arlieta gets real about her struggles with her own exhaustion, anger, and despair. We see her raw emotions expressed in the unflinching video diaries, as well as how she remains committed to caring for her father with grace, respect, and laughter.
The film is not trying to sugarcoat Alzheimer’s or the gritty and exhausting reality of caregiving; we are shedding light on how hard it can be. As Arlieta keeps turning to comedy, the audience finds relief along with her, and a new improvisational perspective on life opens up: one that acknowledges that laughter doesn’t cure all ills, but by taking in life’s fullness, we can stay in the moment to find meaning and healing.
[logline] => Finding Your Laughter follows Chicago comedian Arlieta Hall who is learning to use her own resources—stand up comedy and improvisation—as tools for both her own mental health and to be a caregiver for her father who is fading from Alzheimer's disease.
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[link] => https://www.wmm.com/sponsored-project/finding-your-laughter
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Finding Your Laughter
Finding Your Laughter follows Chicago comedian Arlieta Hall who is learning to use her own resources—stand up comedy and improvisation—as tools for both her own mental health and to be a caregiver for her father who is fading from Alzheimer's disease.
Learn more
Array
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[ID] => 127328
[title] => Fire Tender
[text] => FIRE TENDER tells the story of Yurok tribal members returning to traditional fire ways. Margo Robbins is a grandmother, cultural educator, healer, and Indigenous fire practitioner who is fighting for the Yurok Tribe’s return of fire sovereignty—the right to utilize fire for tribal land stewardship outlawed by settlers. Margo works to overturn one hundred years of environmentally devastating anti-fire policies that have put Yurok lands at risk and prevented access to the natural resources needed for clean water, foodstuff, and materials needed for traditional lifeways.
As the director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, Margo is among the first to restore cultural
burning practices in North America. Margo knew that to make regular cultural burning a reality she would have to straddle two worlds of fire: the ancient fire traditions of her ancestors and settler wildland fire.
Throughout the film, we come to understand that Margo’s commitment to fire runs much deeper than merely preventing catastrophic fires and is rooted in a commitment to tribal sovereignty, ceremony, and survivance.
Led by Yurok women, and told from the perspective of Margo’s multigenerational family, FIRE TENDER explores how the silencing of Indigenous voices has left a scar on the land and suppressed opportunities for new growth—both on the forest floor and for those committed to the protection of Mother Earth.
[logline] => Yurok Tribal Members return fire to the land toward cultural and ecological healing.
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Fire Tender
Yurok Tribal Members return fire to the land toward cultural and ecological healing.
Learn more