San Francisco Film Society Selects Winners for Fall 2015 Filmmaking Grants
Ruben Guevara
The San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) has just announced the winners of its bi-annual Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF) filmmaking grants. The award, which totals $270,000, will be spread out among seven lucky production teams to help fund and finalize their gestating narrative film projects, no matter what stage of production they’re in. The San Francisco Film Society’s successful, long running grant program, which started back in 2009, has already raised over $3 million dollars to assist burgeoning filmmakers demonstrating a professional and economic impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community.
“Many of these films are in their earliest stages, and it’s always exciting to lend our support at the inception of a great project,” said Filmmaker 360 Director Michele Turnure-Salleo. “A number of the projects that we’ve placed early bets on are nearing completion—like ‘The Fixer’—and it’s immensely satisfying to follow a film we care about all the way through its creative process. We can’t wait until all of these films are where ‘The Fixer’ is now—on the verge of being ready to be shared with the world.”
The Fall 2015 SFFS/ KRF Filmmaking Grant Winners are:
“The Fixer” – Ian Olds, writer/ director; Paul Felten, co-writer; Caroline von Kuhn, producer – $75,000 for post-production.
An Afghan journalist is exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime, he gets drawn into the backwoods of this small town—a shadow Northern California where sex is casual, true friendship is hard to come by and an unfamiliar form of violence burbles up all around him.
“Freeland” – Mario Furloni and Kate McLean, co-writer/directors; Laura Heberton, producer – $25,000 for packaging
In the last season of black market marijuana growing before legalization, a mother and daughter must reconcile their differences in order to survive in an increasingly inhospitable world.
“Little Woods” – Nia DaCosta, writer/ director/ producer; Rachael Fung, producer – $25,000 for packaging
Ollie sneaks into Canada to get medication for her terminally ill mother and other residents in her overwhelmed oil boomtown. She is caught and forced to stop her illegal business, even though it means leaving the people she aids with no better options. When her estranged sister Deb asks for her help, Ollie has to decide whether or not it’s worth it to help her when it will put both of their lives at risk.
“The Lusty” (working title) – Silas Howard, writer/ director; Antonia Crane, co-writer; L.A. Teodosio, producer – $35,000 for screenwriting
In San Francisco in the late 1990s, an army of strippers at the Lusty Lady confront dangerous labor practices and go on to create the first exotic dancers’ union in the world. Based on a true story.
“Ma/ddy” – Devon Kirkpatrick, writer/ director – $35,000 for screenwriting
In this dark comedy, life after death takes on a whole new meaning for a genderqueer widow following the loss of their wife.
“Over The Eaves” – Brent Green, writer/ director; Thyra Heder, co-writer; Carly Hugo, Matt Parker and Alexandra Pitz, producers – $50,000 for preproduction
A young boy living on a farm begins inventing strange, hand-made machines to ease the family’s hard labor, but his ambitions quickly grow. When his most daring invention backfires and changes life on Earth forever, the townspeople struggle to understand whether he has done them harm or shown them what they have been missing.
“Reza and the Refugees” – Aaron Douglass Johnston, writer/ director/ producer; Laura Wagner, producer – $25,000 for packaging
A ragtag team of Middle Eastern political refugees in Holland enters the Eurovision song contest in an effort to save their friend from deportation and certain death.
To learn more about the SFFS/ KRF Filmmaking Grant, click here.
READ MORE: San Francisco Film Society Selects Winners for 2015 Hearst Screenwriting Grant Award
