SFFS Awards $100,000 to Innovative Documentary Filmmakers

"Cutie & the Boxer."

The San Francisco Film Society today announced the three winners of its inaugural SFFS Documentary Film Funds grants. A total of $100,000 will be awarded to help cover post-production costs of the filmmakers' documentaries.

Recipients include Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson for "An American Promise," which follows two African American boys attending school in the Upper East Side; Priya Desai and Ann Kim for "Match +," a film exploring the cultural issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and marriage in India; and Zachary Heinzerling for "Cutie & the Boxer," a chronicle of a love story between two Japanese artists.

The winners were chosen out of 13 finalists by a panel including director Amanda Micheli of Runaway Films, Film Society patron Sharon Malcolmson, producer Dave Winton of Winton/duPont Films, SFFS Golden Gate Awards Manager Audrey Chang and SFFS Director of Filmmaker Services Michele Turnure-Salleo. The grant was made possible due to a donation by Malcolmson and her husband.

The SFFS Documentary Film Funds grants will be awarded once a year until 2013. The Film Society has awarded $870,000 to filmmakers since 2008 and expects to award up to a total of $2.5 million through 2013.