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
Dis-Ease
For centuries, the “war on disease” has been a metaphor we live and die by. But what if it weren’t a war?
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A Double Life
The filmmaker goes on a journey of discovery to unravel the mystery of her uncle’s past as a civil rights activist lawyer and political fugitive and his alleged involvement in an alleged prison escape attempt which left six people dead, his 13 years as a political fugitive and his return in 1984 to stand trial and gain his acquittal in 1986, returning to his legal aid work after 15 years. The film presents a multi-layered portrait of a turbulent era and the role of one individual seeking justice for others and later for himself.
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Ex Libris, A Life in Bookplates
EX LIBRIS is an animated documentary film tracing the intimate, intricate world my grandfather created and lost in Vienna between the two world wars, and the exploding universe he reflected in his diaries.
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Grassland
Exploring the failures of the criminal justice system from a unique angle, GRASSLAND follows a young Latino boy who puts his single mother's illegal marijuana business at risk when he befriends the new neighbors.
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the bomb
the bomb is a critically acclaimed immersive film, music, and art installation that puts viewers in the center of the story of nuclear weapons. It explores their immense power, their perverse allure, and the inherent danger at the very heart of them. An installation version of the bomb is currently touring museums, galleries, film festivals, and academic institutions.
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Untitled NY Dance Film
A raw, cinematic, experimental dance film, that features New York’s avant guard arts scene, and encapsulates the life a New York artist through a mash up of original choreography, music, verite documentary, and magical realism.
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Jinwar
Jinwar is a feature documentary about a Syrian mother’s complex relationship with her children, one of which she had to abandon in order to save the other one.
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The Dead Zone
Every day, half a million forgotten Americans languish in THE DEAD ZONE, the limbo between arrest and conviction. Innocent people die in jail and can be held for years because of the profit motivated pretrial detention system. But four extraordinary people are trying to offer a blueprint for change.
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Here, the Silence is Heard
Gabriela's family escaped the Chilean dictatorship when her grandfather's life was in serious danger. 50 years later, Gabriela, who has inherited the trauma despite her being raised in Spain, returns to reopen the doors of the home they left behind.
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Reproductive Choices: Revisiting La Operacion
A documentary challenging the long-held belief that the U.S. government forced Puerto Rican women to be sterilized; the truth is more complex and examining the evidence from the women themselves casts a whole new light on this story.
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Aftermath
AFTERMATH revisits the wrenching, highly-publicized hate crime documented in Emmy-nominated THE BRANDON TEENA STORY, 25 years later. Through the eyes of a community grappling with the impact of Brandon’s life and death, the film explores loss, growth and life for LGBTQ individuals in Heartland America.
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#WhileBlack
Witnesses who filmed the deaths of George Floyd, Philando Castile, and others, step forward in this ground-breaking documentary about the police brutality videos igniting global movements. Few realize how witnesses must battle online trolls, surveillance firms, and exploitative social media platforms turning their pain into profit.
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ARTIFACTS
The life of a successful yet isolated photographer changes as she learns how to cope with a rare visual disease.
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The Island in Me
Homecoming follows two women Johnny Frisbie and Amelia Borofsky who, after decades away, return to their beloved childhood atoll of Pukapuka in the South Pacific. The film reveals a unique story of love, survival and indigenous resiliency in the midst of rising tides and migration.
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My Color
My Color is a fantastical documentary window into the lives and minds of loveable misfits using color to escape, heal, and empower.
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Caribbean Queen
Q must go against their family to become the first gay Carnival queen in Brooklyn’s Carnival parade with the help of his genderqueer bestie.
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Made in Ethiopia
Flamboyant Chinese businesswoman Motto needs every bit of mettle and charm she can muster to drive forward the biggest Chinese industrial park in Ethiopia. Having staked their future on the promise of industrialization, Ethiopian farmer Workinesh and factory worker Beti - like their country - find themselves at a crossroads.
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