Directory of Sponsored Projects

Now a book and a movie! A bright 16-year-old with big dreams, elfin faced, Edith Grosman, her sister, Leah, and 999 other innocent young women reported for national service duty and ended up in Auschwitz. “There was nothing there when we arrived. It was an empty place!” Why take girls? If you want to destroy a race of people annihilate fertile, young women. Archival footage and photographs of rare documents reveal: a camp regime of starvation—the equivalent of one tin of cat food per day, per girl; the Slovak government’s payment to the Nazis of $200.00 per girl. Juxtaposing B&W footage with color, children tell their mothers’ stories: Marta was sterilized by Dr. Mengele, her daughter was adopted. Ill with Typhus, Ida’s friends hid her in mounds of clothes. The beautiful Helena Citronova had an affair with SS Franz Wunsch. Postcards sent to and from Birkenau reveal a dramatic correspondence that ends abruptly. On Chanukah 1942, 10,000 women were taken to the gas, Edith’s sister, Leah, was one. Afterwards “the camp was empty.” “We weren’t even adults. We were teenagers, young enough to throw temper tantrums, now we were seeing girls our age dying.” Now 94, Edith asks, “Why do intelligent people hate? War serves no one.” It takes a minion of ten men to say Kaddish; our film ends with women saying Kaddish in the very place where Edith’s sister and thousands of other girls, died. “I will do anything to remember the girls.” Will you?

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.

Heat ripples off the undulating dunes as the dust settles in China’s Gobi Desert - the aftermath of a dust storm. Meng Tao lets out a sharp whistle, then pushes forward on her motorbike, herding sheep through the dunes at sunset. The yellow desert gives way to a patch of green – Meng’s desert oasis home. Inside her tin house, a layer of sand covers everything. She picks up a broom and begins to sweep, a twice-daily ritual in this dusty land. Hwangsa: Colour of the Wind is a feature documentary that paints a vivid and surreal portrait of a shapeshifting monster that rises from the deserts of Western China and the people who live in its shadow. This monster can be enormous and daunting, or it can be next to invisible. This monster is dust, the protagonist of the film, and a phantom that haunts every frame, threading together the stories of the film’s characters, each embroiled in a battle of survival or adaptation to a rapidly changing climate. The film unfolds as a cinematic journey across a series of landscapes along the geographic path of the dust as it blows over the Asian continent, from China to Korea to Japan, and ultimately across the Pacific to North America. Through intimate stories, the film’s characters fit together as pieces of a larger mosaic, each adding a layer of complexity to the story of the dust that can’t be contained in one country, culture or continent.

Marianne takes its name from the national icon of the French Republic which portrays the Goddess of Liberty, to explore the lives of France’s ongoing existential concern: Muslim women and their place in the public sphere. Legislated, judged, and regulated in public spaces French Muslim women are spoken about at length but rarely given the opportunity to speak in the mainstream conversation surrounding feminism, laïcité (France’s version of secularism) and Islam – or any other topic for that matter. Marianne aims to contribute towards the effort to redress this imbalance. It does so with unprecedented access to French Muslim women’s lives from across the country. Seven of these women from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, hijabis/non-hijabis, Muslim-born and converts- open up and allow us to see them in all their vibrancy and nuances. A back-to-the land horticulturalist with an inter-racial family, a “mipster” (Muslim hipster) who shaves her head as a protest to the required removal of her scarf at work, an upper class blonde medical student convert, a public school teacher turned opera singer, a gritty lawyer from the banlieues, a social media influencer, and a once homeless single mother now serving in UK council. Coming from different walks of life, they challenge the dominant French French narrative of a uniform group, defined by oppression and a backwards worldview. Through their respective journeys and points of views, the film questions the concepts of laïcité, universal feminism, liberty, and French identity as they have been defined.

A nuanced look at how two communities of color navigate an uneven criminal justice system, anchored by one polarizing New York City case.

day-to-day lives of people directly impacted by the 2013 Dominican Republic Supreme Court decision that strips Dominican birthright citizenship from individuals of Haitian heritage. The film challenges fixed notions of cultural identity and demonstrates how the ruling is a continuation of the violent history of a racial system that plagues the collective imagination rooted in colonial thought. We follow Rosa Iris, a Dominican with Haitian ancestry determined to represent her community as she runs for local office. She is met with continuous death threats and a handful of characters facing the hardship of statelessness. One such individual is Elena, a young woman forced to function below the radar and avoid confrontation at all cost. There is Juan Tcheofilo, who had all his citizenship documents in order, but nevertheless was denied his birthright forcing him to flee to the mountains of Haiti leaving behind his wife and children. Contrasting all these characters is Gladys, a warm, middle-aged grandmother with a proud Dominican ancestry and complete dedication to the removal of Haitians and their descendants from her country. By putting a human face to the plight of stateless individuals, Hispaniola examines the broader ramifications of racism and xenophobia. What is at stake for the Dominican government to guarantee its fragile spot in the modern world? Are denationalization of its citizens and apartheid-like measures the desperate solution of a community unable to grapple with its painful history of slavery, racism and anti-blackness?

Selvi, like so many girls living within India’s patriarchal culture, is forced to marry at 14, only to find herself in a violent marriage. One day in deep despair, she chooses to escape, going on to become South India’s first female taxi driver. We first meet Selvi at a girls’ shelter in 2004 – timid, soft-spoken, a fresh runaway from a difficult life. Over a ten-year journey, we see a remarkable transformation as Selvi finds her voice and defies all expectations – learning to drive, starting her own taxi company, leading educational seminars, and much more. This character-driven story highlights the challenges that millions of devalued women and girls in India face. In a society where women are often considered expendable or worthless, Selvi is exceptional – a charming, strong, and utterly courageous young woman who moves beyond the pain she’s experienced to create a new life.

Narrated by Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker, MAESTRA (Spanish for teacher) explores the experiences of nine of the women who, as young girls, helped eradicate Cuban illiteracy within one year. Interweaving recent interviews, archival footage, and campaign photos, this lively documentary includes one of the first Cubans of her generation to call herself a feminist and one of the first openly proud members of Cuba’s LGBT community. With wit and spirit, all recall negotiating for autonomy and independence in a culture still bound by patriarchal structures. Eight years in the making, MAESTRA highlights the will and courage that made the monumental endeavor possible and the pivotal role of women’s and youth empowerment in building a new society.

Set in Berlin and New York, With Wings and Roots 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

SOORA accompanies a group of Iranian feminists who have been working with abused women from different regions, social classes, religions and educational backgrounds for years. In 2016, in an attempt to raise awareness for women issues and to end the acceptance of brutality against women, they founded an NGO called "SOORA“. Each of our protagonists has her individual knowledge and motivation. But their goal unites them. They want to generate attention for the issue of domestic violence. They want to enable a discussion in society. And they want parliament to pass a new law that will finally turn domestic violence into a crime. With their campaign "Stop Domestic Violence“ they help victims of domestic violence to overcome their shame so they can open up and break the silence. The four SOORA members take us on a tour through Iran – from Tehran to the southern, northern, western and eastern regions where we will experience different ways of living in Iran. We will learn about its diverse traditions and about the ways in which male power is executed with the support of the law. SOORA - BREAKING THE SILENCE deals with the emotional and political struggle of enforcing women's rights in Iran. We learn more about the mechanisms of the Iranian legal system and its repressions. But following our strong female characters also gives hope that their campaign is a valuable contribution to a social change in Iran.

In the early 20th century, propelled by a popular belief in eugenics, the U.S. proposed sterilization as a means of controlling the overpopulation in Puerto Rico. Over the years, it became a Puerto Rican woman’s preferred choice of contraception. It was so routine, it was called simply, la operación (the operation). Reproductive Choices: Revisiting La Operación takes a nuanced look at sterilization’s impact on 20th century Puerto Rico by exploring the factors that led women to choose it as a means of birth control.

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.

At the intersection of the northern Mexico desert and the plains of Southwest Texas exists a symbiotic community. Here, people’s lives are spread across the margins of two countries, connected by a bridge and a river that they all travel. Following a journalist capturing the changing political landscape, a lone crusader promoting international kayaking while the local rag-tag kids splash by the river banks, a mother straddling a life in two countries to keep her family together, and the quotidian moments of the lives lived in between two nations and their cultures, The In Between offers an intimate portrait of a place and its people at the heart of Mexican-American identity.

PERSONAL STATEMENT is an observational, feature-length documentary about three high school seniors who are determined to get their entire classes to college, even though they aren't even sure they are going to make it there themselves. They are working as college counselors in their three schools because many of their friends have nowhere else to turn for support. They struggle and they stumble, but refuse to succumb to the barriers that prevent so many low-income students from attending and graduating from college. Karoline, Christine and Enoch spend much of their senior year helping their peers get to college, even though they must overcome obstacles of their own that could easily prevent them from going to college themselves. The film follows them through their senior year and into college as they attempt to navigate the college process on a terribly uneven playing field. The film sheds light on both the systemic barriers that keep so many young people from attaining a college degree, and the power that already exists within historically marginalized communities to address problems of inequality. The film's engagement and impact campaign seek to use the film to support efforts to increase access to college for low-income students by encouraging more young people to persist to college and building support for more resources to close the college counseling gap and to eliminate other systemic barriers to college. Additional information about the film, including the film's trailer, can be found on the film's website.

"In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Kavery Kaul unfolds the fascinating story of the first South Asian male immigrants to the U.S. who married African American women and made a home in the black community. Following the journey of a descendant of one such union, from her hometown of New Orleans to India, Kaul discloses the rich admixture of these cultures while simultaneously exploring issues of American immigration. " - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University "The men were Indian Muslims; their wives were African-American Christians. Together, they built families in an America that held them all at arm’s length. A granddaughter of this vibrant cultural tangle journeys across deep divides of culture to India. Hers is a remarkable quest in search of her grandfather’s village and family a world apart." - Filmmaker Kavery Kaul

Food is a central part of people’s lives, a social experience that engages communities around the globe. Based on that premise, Feed Me a Story, the transmedia project - film, interactive and performative - created by the interdisciplinary artist Laura Nova and the interactive media artist Theresa Loong, explores the diverse multicultural and intergenerational character of the United States through cooking. Feed Me a Story combines different media, from fleeting public interventions, documentary video, video animations to a website and the development of a memory collection App, connecting with people from different cultural background and ages. Using a re-fashioned airline cart fitted with an iPad and video camera, they travel and intervene in public spaces, meeting people and collecting their stories and memories related to food. The project ranges from the Essex Street Market in New York City during Thanksgiving, where they engaged with vendors and customers and created video recipes like Irma’s combination of Mexican Mole with Turkey, Cara’s Norwegian Lefse, and Michael’s Californian sushi, to a documentary video cookbook created with the Laguardia Senior Center. Underneath these interventions, there is a process of research on the history and characteristics of the places they work in order to be able to engage with the local communities. They have also partnered with art and cultural institutions in New York like the Brooklyn Museum and Museum of Chinese in America. All their experiences are available on their website.

Mariluz Canaquiri says her river is the “ɨa” (ee-ah)—the center, life force and mother. Her river deep in Peru’s Amazon provides her with fish to eat, water to drink, a transport route and a place to swim and relax. But it is also much more. Underneath the surface live the Karuara, which means “people of the river” in Kukama, Mariluz’s native tongue. If a person disappears in the river and their body is never found, it means they have transformed into a Karuara. These spiritual beings live in underwater villages in a parallel universe. They lounge in hammocks made of boa constrictors, smoke sardines and wear crayfish watches, stingray hats and catfish shoes. Behind their playfulness, the Karuara are powerful spirits. When their human relatives are ill or in trouble, the people of the river are called upon to heal and provide help. But oil pipelines, hydroelectric dams and other mega development projects threaten the river and the spiritual world beneath the surface. The indigenous people’s survival depends on the Karuara spirits: they have co-existed for centuries. One cannot live without the other and both are guardians of the river and forest. This film follows Mariluz, a remarkable Kukama grandmother, and her community, as they struggle to adapt to the modern world and save their river and culture.

American filmmaker Heather Tenzer embarks on a journey to find out why a group of devout New York and Jerusalem rabbis are engaged in an intifada (Arabic for ‘uprising’) against Israel and in support of Palestinians. Founded 80 years ago in Jerusalem, Neturei Karta is the only religious Jewish group publicly speaking out in support of Palestinian rights. As a result of their activism, they’re regularly beaten on the streets. This feature-length documentary, equal parts memoir, investigative, and historical, combines narration, home movies, interviews, and archival films to tell the story of Tenzer’s journey into Neturei Karta’s community. Tenzer first encounters Neturei Karta when she is a teen marching in New York’s Israel Parade. “Free Palestine!” they chant. “Just ignore them!” the rabbi of her school urges. For many years, she does. Tenzer reunites with Neturei Karta years later in Jerusalem. What’s motivating these socially conservative Yiddish-speaking religious men to protest Israel’s bombing of Gaza?” she wonders. Intrigued, she attempts to unravel the mystery of their activism, where it comes from – a story she never learned in religious school. She follows four activists inside their Jerusalem and New York communities and on their travels to Gaza. Through the lens of their diverse, intergenerational voices, the rabbis share compelling stories, offering a nuanced narrative about their unique history.