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IFP Announces Project Forum Titles for the 41st Edition of IFP Week
Handheld IFP, Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today the 150 films, series, digital and audio projects to be showcased at the Project Forum this September. The Project Forum, says IFP, is “the only international co-production market in the U.S. featuring stories for multiple platforms and hosting over 3,000 pre-scheduled artist & industry meetings dedicated to moving those projects forward. In addition, IFP Week presents a multi-day slate of talks, public screenings and events celebrating bold and singular storytelling in all its forms. Approximately 300 directors, writers, producers, executive producers and other creators will attend the event this year to pitch their projects to a wide range of industry.” This year’s mix takes in both narrative and nonfiction works, both features and series.
“We are thrilled to launch the 41st edition of IFP Week with a renewed commitment to celebrating independent storytellers,” said Jeffrey Sharp, IFP Executive Director, in the press release. “As the content industry shifts, and opportunities emerge for new and diverse voices, IFP finds itself squarely in the middle of the conversation yet again in its historic role at the forefront of discovery. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this year’s event for what promises to be an unforgettable week.”
The slate was curated by IFP’s full-time program staff, including Milton Tabbot, Senior Director of Programming and Charlotte Reekers, Senior Program Manager, Non-Fiction and Fiscal Sponsorship (for Spotlight on Documentaries) and Zach Mandinach, Director of Narrative Programming, and Gabriele Capolino, Senior Manager, Episodic and International Programming (for No Borders).
IFP Film Week and IFP Week Project Forum take place from September 15 – 19 in Brooklyn. The full list of selected projects is below.
IFP Project Forum Complete List – 2019 IFP Week
No Borders International Co-Production Market
Presenting a mix of 68 narrative features and series (digital, limited, and traditional) from development through post-production, this section includes emerging and established storytellers from the U.S. and around the world.
Narrative Feature Films
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt directed and written by Raven Jackson and produced by Maria Altamirano. Through lyrical portraits evoking the texture of memories, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt viscerally and experientially explores the life of a Black woman in the American South, from her youth to her older years. (Drama)
Bait directed, written, and produced by Jamie Ruddy. In a prosperous suburb in 1986, New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl discovers her father is a child molester and has been using her as bait. Will she protect him or tell the truth? (Based on a True Story)
Beast Beast directed and written by Danny Madden, produced by Benjamin Wiessner, Matt Miller, and Tara Ansley, and executive produced by Alec Baldwin, Casey Bader, and Jim Cummings. Three interweaving stories of youth navigating identity, first love, petty crime, and gun violence in a southern town. (Drama)
Belonging directed by Zoe Sua Cho, written by Hannah Park, and produced by Simone Ling. Two marginalized, complicated women–one old, the other young–befriend each other through the cultural stigma of smoking and, seeking a sense of home, journey from the suburbs of Seattle to the heart of Seoul. (Drama)
Bluets directed and written by Hannah Peterson and produced by Taylor Shung. A group of inner-city teenagers struggle and thrive during the last two weeks of high school when a spiral of events ruptures their social circle. (Drama)
Cinema Sabaya directed by Orit Fouks Rotem and produced by Maya Fischer. Rona, a 30 years old fledgling film director, teaches a group of Arab and Jewish women in a coexistence Center how to document their lives. (Drama)
Clare (working title) directed and written by Lauren Minnerath. After the untimely death of her brother, a high school senior grapples with her grief, college applications, and a perilous new friendship with her high school French teacher. (Coming of Age)
The Cow That Sang a Song About the Future directed and written by Francisca Alegría, produced by Bruno Betatti, and executive produced by Matías De Bourguignon, Vania Catani, Katrin Pors, Tom Dercourt, and Casey Bader. Agonizing animals foretell the future of a family as they learn to heal their most profound wounds. (Drama)
Coyote Boys directed and written by Haley Anderson. After his brother dies, seventeen-year-old Trey joins a train hopping punk on an odyssey into off-the-grid America, retracing his brother’s steps. (Coming of Age)
Crestone directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler, written by Marnie Ellen Hertzler and Corey Hughes, and produced by Riel Roch-Decter and Sebastian Pardo. In the desert of Crestone, Colorado, a group of SoundCloud rappers live in solitude, growing weed and making music for the internet. When an old friend arrives to make a movie, reality and fiction begin to blur. (Hybrid)
The Dam written and directed by Brett Michael Innes and produced by Paulo Areal, Schalk Willem Burger, Brett Michael Innes and Claudia Noble-Areff. South Africa, 1985. A colored man has to prove his innocence after the bus he drives crashes in the Westdene Dam, killing 42 white children. (Drama)
The Day Between written, directed, and produced by Aisling Chin-Yee. A love story, a ghost story, and a psychological drama about how a single tragic event can change one family’s future or split it into two. (Drama)
Entroncamento directed by Pedro Cabeleira, written by Pedro Cabeleira and Diogo S. Figueira, and produced by Vasco Esteves. Mustang returns to his hometown looking for a sense of belonging but is drawn to the life of crime he had left behind. (Drama)
Estado del Imperio written and directed by Amat Escalante and produced by Nicolás Celis, Fernanda de la Peza and Amat Escalante. A young man starts working at the summer country house of a family of opulent celebrities and becomes a pawn of their disfunction and criminality. (Drama)
Eyimofe (This is My Desire) directed by Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri; written by Chuko Esiri, produced by Melissa Adeyemo, Arie Esiri, and Chuko Esiri; executive produced by Maiden Ibru, Toke Ibru, Ziad Zoueihed, Oskar Ibru, Christopher Ibru and Kayode Akindele. In Nigeria, two Lagosians who work to better the lives of their families as tragedy and fate intervene. (Drama)
The Final Print directed by Woojin Jang and produced by Sunhee Han. In Berlin, a lonely South Korean photographer photographs a North Korean couple. After they die suddenly, she wanders the city searching for the film roll. (Mystery)
Freeland directed and written by Kate McLean and Mario Furloni, produced by Laura Heberton, and executive produced by Gill Holland. Forced to go legal, an outlaw pot farmer fights to preserve her way of life. (Drama)
The G directed by Karl R. Hearne. A dark thriller about a tough, mysterious woman hellbent to get revenge on the corrupt legal guardian who destroyed her life. (Dramatic Thriller)
Grasshoppers directed and written by Brad Bischoff and produced by Justin Nijm and Lisa Rudin. Star-crossed immigrant lovers wander their gated community drink by drink. (Drama)
Great Yarmouth written and directed by Marco Martins and produced by Filipa Reis. Social thriller reflecting on modern-day slavery occurring in contemporary Europe and the UK post-Brexit, through the tragic love story of Portuguese migrants Tania and Jorge. (Dramatic Thriller)
Hank directed by David Jacobson, written by King Orba, and produced by Madeleine Molyneaux. Told in a series of flashbacks prompted by a journalist’s questions, Hank tells the story of poet and raconteur Charles “Hank” Bukowski’s first love affair. (Drama)
Higher directed and written by Kirsten Tan. As a mysterious flood rises through an apartment building, its residents fight for survival and resources, setting off an absurdist satire of interlocking short stories grappling with morality, truth and justice. (Drama)
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul directed and written by Adamma Ebo and produced by Adanne Ebo. In the aftermath of huge scandal, Trinity Childs, the first lady of a prominent and respected Southern Baptist megachurch, attempts to help her pastor-husband rebuild their now borderline non-existent congregation. (Dark Comedy)
I Know You from Somewhere directed and written by Andrew Fitzgerald and produced by Molly Conners and Amanda Bowers. A publicly shamed woman fights to rebuild her reputation, only to be drawn deeper into the world of online trolls and internet celebrity. (Dark Comedy)
Invasions written and directed by Sophie Jarvis and produced by Tyler Hagan. After discovering what she believes to be an invasive insect in a peach, a pregnant cannery worker must convince her community that the danger it poses is very real. (Dramatic Thriller)
Karaoke King directed and written by Fede Gianni and produced by Lara Costa-Calzado and Tatiana Bears. Two brothers leave their village after an earthquake to start anew in Rome but as they come of age their brotherhood is put at risk. (Drama)
La Fiebre directed by Mateo Bendesky and produced by Mateo Bendesky and Agustina Costa Varsi. Forced into an exorcism by her overbearing parents, 17yo Ornella is convinced only re-possession by the Devil will cure her. (Dark Comedy)
Leche directed and written by Gabriella Moses and produced by Marttise Hill, Julius Pryor, and Shruti Ganguly. Nina, a 10-year-old Dominican with albinism, dreams of blending in amongst her peers until a series of miraculous events put her in the spotlight and make her the target of a jealous classmate’s witch hunt. (Drama)
Légua written and directed by Joao Miller Guerra and Filipa Reis and produced by Filipa Reis. A middle-aged woman decides to take in her old sick friend. As her health deteriorates, their relationship sours. Will they find regeneration in the face of death? (Drama)
Love Runs Wild directed and written by Christopher Radcliff. An Asian-American teenager’s obsession with a Korean boy-band takes her down a path of increasingly disturbing behavior, with shocking and disastrous consequences. (Dramatic Thriller)
Mariela Al Revés directed and written by Sarah Salovaara. A recently separated, fifty-something housewife takes to Havana, Cuba to tepidly explore her newfound interest in women through the local sex tourism industry. (Dark Comedy)
Nanny directed and written by Nikyatu and produced by Nikkia Moulterie. An African nanny is haunted by a violent presence, threatening to shatter the American dream she’s constructed for the arrival of the child she left behind. (Drama)
A Nightmare Wakes directed and written by Nora Unkel and produced by Robert Menzies, Gabriel Rosenstein, and Devin Shepherd. An adaption of the novel Frankenstein as told through the life of its author, Mary Shelley. As she creates her masterpiece, she gives birth to a monster. (Dramatic Thriller)
Nothing Ever Happened directed by Gonçalo Galvão Teles, written by Tiago Santos, and produced by Luís Galvão Teles. Lisbon suburbs. A family tries to survive the pain after a tragedy: a son loses his life, a grandfather loses his ground, a father loses his wife. (Drama)
The Panopticon directed by Jim Loach, written by Jenni Fagan, produced by Alysia Maciejowska, and Lindsay McGee, and executive produced by Camilla Bray. Funny, intelligent and violent teenager Anaïs is transferred to a unit for criminalized teens and forms unexpected bonds with the tribe of forgotten youngsters inside. (Drama)
The Persian Version directed, written, and produced by Maryam Keshavarz and executive produced by Caroline Kaplan and Natalie Difford. When a big, raucous Iranian-American family gathers in NYC for the patriarch’s heart transplant, a shocking secret is uncovered and catapults the estranged mother and daughter into an exploration of the past that traverses decades and continents. (Dramedy)
Queen of Wands directed and written by Deborah Esquenazi and produced by Daniel Chalfen. A gay phantasmagoric coming-of-age story set in the Gulf—Violet, a Cuban-American teen, struggles with her sexuality, as her uncle deteriorates from the AIDS virus. (Southern Gothic)
Sannyasa directed by Shawn Snyder and written and produced by Shawn Snyder and Jason Begue. A retiree in suburban South Florida fixates on Hindu notions of non-attachment and fancies he might spend his final chapters as a wandering Western monk. (Drama)
Sin La Habana directed and written by Kaveh Nabatian and produced by Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette and Ménaïc Raoul. An Afrocuban ballet dancer seduces a tourist in order to keep the woman he truly loves.
Stampede directed and written by Sontenish Myers. Set on a southern plantation in the 1800s, a young slave girl has telekinetic powers she cannot yet control. (Sci-Fi)
The Surrogate directed and written by Jeremy Hersh and produced by Julie Christeas, Jonny Blitstein, and Taylor Hess. The results of a prenatal genetic test complicate the relationship between a surrogate/egg donor and the couple for whom she’s carrying. (Drama)
The Starling Girl directed and written by Laurel Parmet and produced by Kara Durrett and Kevin Rowe. A Christian fundamentalist teenager starts an affair with a beloved church leader and pushes her sexual exploration to both exciting and disturbing ends. (Coming of Age)
Tazmanian Devil directed and written by Solomon Onita, Jr.; produced by Frank Cohen, Karl Soelter, and Tricia Woodgett; and executive produced by Bryan “Birdman” Williams, Benny Boom, and Gerald Rawes. After moving to Arlington, Texas, a 19-year-old Nigerian immigrant struggles to balance his conflicting desires of joining a college fraternity and bonding with his strictly religious father. (Coming of Age)
Tiger Girl directed and written by Andrew Thomas Huang. Haunted by a tiger lurking in the attic, a repressed teenage girl learns that the tiger upstairs is the tiger within waiting to be unleashed. (Coming of Age)
Umi directed and written by Erik Shirai and produced by Masako Tsumura and Filippo Campo. Nourished by the sea, still, the waters will come for you and those you love. Then, in your unending grief, you must find her. (Based on a True Story)
The Unknown Country directed and written by Morrisa Maltz, produced by Laura Heberton and Lily Gladstone, and executive produced by Gill Holland. An unexpected invitation from her estranged Lakota family sends a grieving young woman on a road trip through the Midwest. (Drama)
The Villager directed and written by Alexis Jacknow and produced by Chris Ohlson. The mother of a school shooter accidentally becomes pregnant again later in life and must start over in the angry town that holds her responsible. (Drama)
Wit Gesigte (Pale Faces) directed and written by Chantel Clark. In 18th century South Africa, the daughter of an exiled Imam uncovers colonialism’s darkest secrets when she travels to the remote estate of a mysterious Dutch Commissioner to plead on behalf of her persecuted community. (Horror)
Narrative Series
1850 created and executive produced by Lara Stapleton and Rachel Watanabe-Batton, written by Lara Stapleton, produced by Djaka Souare and Rachel Watanabe-Batton, and directed by Julie Dash. 1850 is about the great American taboo, race mixing, and the wild upheaval that was New Orleans. (Historical Fiction)
Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women created by Nana Darkoa Sekiyamah, Nosarieme Garrick and Malaka Grant, written by Nosarieme Garrick and Malaka Grant, and directed by Nosarieme Garrick. Under the watch of shady aunties, social media frenemies, and God himself, African women in New York navigate through sex, love, and relationships. (Dark Comedy)
Asylum created by Kelsey Egan, Neil Brandt and Bridget Pickering and produced and executive produced by Neil Brandt, Kelsey Egan, Bridget Pickering and Josephine Rose. After anti-tech terrorists trigger a global blackout, first-world refugees fight for asylum in southern Africa while a guilt-ridden scientist guards the key to rebuilding the world. (Sci-Fi)
Bulge Bracket: created, written and directed by Christopher Au, produced by Christopher Au and Christine Kwon, and executive produced by Christopher Au, Cindy Au and Kevin Lin. A young woman begins her career at a prestigious investment bank. Wall Street is more ridiculous and sexist than she ever imagined. (Drama)
Dearborn created, written and directed by Suha Araj, Amber Fares and Darine Hotait and produced by Suha Araj, Amber Fares, Shruti Ganguly and Darine Hotait. Leaving an epic career failure behind in New York, Gloria takes a leap of faith to renew her life in her hometown, Dearborn, Michigan. (Comedy)
Did You Ever Have a Family written by Jay Riedl and produced by Noah Haeussner and Sloane Klevin. Did You Ever Have a Family, adapted from the best-selling novel, follows a trio of female characters coping with grief after an unimaginable tragedy. (Drama)
Dumpsters written, directed and produced by Blaise Godbe Lipman. A queer, crime, love story, Dumpsters is a contemporary L.A. noir set in today’s gay meth epidemic. (Mystery)
The Gallery of Madame Liu Tsong created and written by Amanda Lee Koe and Kirsten Tan and directed by Kirsten Tan. A thrill-seeking gallerist who solves art-world mysteries discovers that her biggest unsolved case is herself. Art is subjective. So is the truth about her past. (Drama)
Half/Life: created, written and produced by Dana Fares and Katie Ryan and directed by Lizzy Sanford, and executive produced by Channing Adler. Total strangers and complete opposites, two women discover their fugitive father’s double life. On the hunt for him, the sisters dodge danger while unearthing the truth of the past. (Dark Comedy)
How Ya Like Me Now written by Craig T. Williams. Hip hop pioneer Kool Moe Dee struggles to keep his music relevant with the emergence of a new rival on the scene, LL Cool J. (Drama)
Level Up created and written by Dallas Rico and executive produced by Eugene Rhee. Sick of the single life, a black gay nerd and the queer best friend he’s in love with fumble through their situationship across half-gentrified Brooklyn. (Comedy)
Lucy(fer) written, directed, produced, and executive produced by Amanda Hanna-McLeer. In the midst of her parents’ divorce, a young girl spends a week with her religious grandmother and her underground world of numbers running and Santeria. (Drama)
Manar created and written by Melis Aker, directed by Esra Saydam, and produced by Melis Aker and Esra Saydam. Suspicion incriminates the community of Bay Ridge when a local white mother believes that her missing son is the executioner in an ISIS video. (Dramatic Thriller)
Matilha written by Edgar Medina and Guilherme Mendonça, and executive produced by Edgar Medina. A small-time crook tries to rehabilitate himself, but everything ends up going wrong. (Thriller)
Operation Dulcinea created and written by Pedro Lopes and produced by José Amaral and Rosa Palma. The quixotic raid carried out by 24 men who seized the packet boat ‘Santa Maria’ to challenge and expose two Iberian dictatorships to the world. (Historical Fiction)
Road to Zion created and written by Andrew Reid and Jeremy Palmer and produced by Courtney Grace. An undocumented Jamaican immigrant gets seduced by a local kingpin’s offer to run a college campus drug operation in exchange for a free education. (Drama)
Second Fiddle written and directed by William D. Caballero. After bombing his audition for a youth orchestra sleepover camp for rich white teens, an underprivileged yet ambitious 14-year old Latino violinist navigates through a new social reality, where last chair means least popular. (Comedy)
Tenebris created and written by Mauricio Leiva Cock and David Figueroa, produced by Juan Diego Villegas, and executive produced by Juan Diego Villegas, Mauricio Leiva Cock and David Figueroa. Gabriel, a washed-out TV host, famous for his ability to interact with the paranormal, and Clara, his assistant, will face dark forces while trying to resurrect his career. (Horror)
Transmania written and produced by Tovah Leibowitz and executive produced by Ryan Cunningham. The absurdities of modern queer life told through original sketches and digital shorts. (Comedy)
Who’s Annie? created, directed, and executive produced by Sophia Peer, written by Sophia Peer and Annie Sicherman, and produced by Randy Stulberg. After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties. Watch Annie tackle many roles, including playing herself. (Comedy)
Spotlight on Documentaries
Presenting 75 documentary features and nonfiction series ranging from an early financing stage (i.e. early development/production) to those nearing completion (i.e. in postproduction or rough-cut stage), this section includes emerging and established artists in nonfiction from the U.S. and around the world.
Documentary Features
Adam’s Apple directed, written, and produced by Amy Jenkins. The director and her teenage transgender son, Adam, collaboratively trace his transition in an exploration of what characterizes “maleness” for today’s gender-redefining youth.
Aftermath directed by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir, produced by Anya Rous, and executive produced by Jessica Devaney. The intimate follow-up to The Brandon Teena Story, Aftermath looks at the impact of the life and brutal death of Teena on his community and LGBTQ lives in the heartland.
AZ House directed by Anna Oliker and produced by Barak Heymann. In a Jerusalem suburb, fifteen young American drug addicts, abandoned by their ultra-orthodox Jewish families, share both pain and great hope that Eric, another recovering addict, will save them from death.
Beba directed by Rebeca Huntt and Sofia Geld, written by Rebeca Huntt, and produced by Sofia Geld and Nora Christiani. Set in New York City, Beba tells the personal history of a young Afro-Latina who is uncompromising in her commitment to learn to love every part of herself and to thrive in the face of social strife.
Bella directed by Bella Graves and Adam Dietrich and produced by Susan Bedusa and Douglas Tirola. When 23-year-old Bella returns home to help her parents move, she uncovers the truth behind an unsettling series of events from her childhood.
Black Mothers directed by Débora Souza Silva and produced by Débora Souza Silva, David Felix Sutcliffe, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon. Violence. Outrage. Impunity. Repeat. Black Mothers follows two women working to disrupt the cycle of racist police violence within our country’s judicial system.
The Charley Project directed by David Fine and produced by Babak Khoshnoud, Clare Richardson, and Adam Uhl. Meaghan Good remembers almost every case in her database of 13,000+ missing persons. Autism gives her this power, but dark childhood memories also persist.
Cocasphere directed and written by Jeff Stimmel and produced and executive produced by Diana Holtzberg. Everyone thinks they know Coca-Cola, but they really don’t. Environmentalist Bart Elmore takes us from the drink in your hand to a world in crisis.
Commuted directed by Nailah Jefferson and produced by Darcy McKinnon. Danielle Metz was sentenced to triple life plus twenty years, but after 23 years her sentence was commuted; now she seeks forgiveness and purpose.
The Dilemma of Desire directed and written by Maria Finitzo; produced by Maria Finitzo, Diane Quon and Cynthia Kane; and executive produced by Barbara Kopple. The Dilemma of Desire explores the clash between the external power of gender politics and the equally powerful imperative of female sexual desire.
Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen directed and written by Sam Feder, produced by Sam Feder and Amy Scholder, and executive produced by Laverne Cox. The extraordinary rise of transgender visibility has been met with unprecedented backlash. Disclosure explores depictions of transgender people throughout the history of film and television.
Disturbing School directed by Garrett Zevgetis and produced by Ariana Garfinkel and Jeff Consiglio. A cop drags a teenager from her desk in a viral video and lives derail as a community reckons with the reality of school safety.
An Elephant in the Room directed by Katrine Philp and produced by Katrine Sahlstrøm and Benn Wiebe. At Good Grief in New Jersey, groups of children meet to act out, adapt, and through play, come to understand how to live with the grief over a dead parent.
The Eyes to See directed and produced by Ian Cheney and Sharon Shattuck. The Eyes to See explores the science of bias and chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists.
Frank Bey: You’re Going to Miss Me directed by Marie Hinson, produced by Trevite Willis, and executive produced by Thomas Dwyer. In 1977, Frank Bey quit singing after a deal gone wrong with James Brown. Now, the aging soul singer returns to the stage and finally, to Nashville.
Going Back directed and written by Jono McLeod, produced by John Archer, and executive produced by Olivia Lichtenstein. Ever dreamed of living your life over again? Brandon, age thirty, went back to his old high school and passed himself off as sixteen.
Handheld directed by Rebekah Maysles and produced by Laura Coxson. Handheld is the final Albert Maysles film, using personal archives and never-before-seen footage — a film portrait through the lens of its creator.
Hateland directed by Paul Lovelace and produced by Jessica Wolfson and Sam Douglas. Hateland exposes how the US government has systematically ignored right-wing extremism over the past decade and why that has led us to a domestic crisis.
How To Steal a Country directed by Rehad Desai and Mark Kaplan, written by Anita Khanna, and produced by Zivia Desai, Rehad Desai and Anita Khanna. The unfolding story of the #GuptaLeaks and how investigative journalists took on state capture.
The Inventory directed and written by Ilana Coleman and produced by Jamie Gonçalves and Makena Buchanan. Families seek justice for their forcibly disappeared relatives in México, while a fictionalized committee of linguists perform an inventory of the dictionary.
Landlock directed and produced by Alex Pritz. One of the world’s last uncontacted tribes lives in delicate isolation at the edge of the Amazon rainforest. When illegal land thieves descend on their territory, a vigilante activist and indigenous militia must join forces to protect the land and the uncontacted within it.
The Last Out directed by Sami Khan and Michael Gassert, and produced by Sami Khan, Michael Gassert, and Jonathan Miller. Three young Cuban baseball players leave their families and risk exile to train in Central America and chase their dreams of playing in the Majors.
The Liegnitz Plot directed by Dan Sturman; written by Gary Gilbert; produced by Dan Sturman, Dylan Nelson, and Gary Gilbert; and executive produced by Bill Guttentag. Part detective story, part comedic heist, The Liegnitz Plot is about the quest to find a priceless stamp collection and the Nazi who stole it.
Lydia Lunch – The War Is Never Over directed by Beth B, produced by Beth B and Kathleen Fox, and executive produced by Beth B. Lydia Lunch – The War Is Never Over is the first career-spanning documentary of No Wave icon Lydia Lunch’s confrontational, acerbic and always electric artistry.
Make Me Famous directed by Brian Vincent and produced by Heather Spore. A madcap romp through the 1980s N.Y.C. art scene amid the colorful career of ambitious painter, Edward Brezinski, hell-bent on making it.
Mayor directed and produced by David Osit. Mayor follows a charismatic leader’s quest to build the city of the future in a land paralyzed by its past.
Memphis directed by David Zucker and produced by David Zucker, Benjamin Edelman, and Luke Terrell. Captured over four years with vérité intimacy, from Texas to Italy, Memphis follows Memphis DiAngelis—a millennial with cerebral palsy —on his tumultuous coming-of-age journey in search of work, love and independence.
Milisuthando (Working Title) directed and written by Milisuthando Bongela and produced by Marion Jill Isaacs. Milisuthando—a black South African unaware of apartheid until it ended—explores how blacks and whites first lived together after 342 years of racial segregation.
Million Dollar Block directed by Diane Hodson and Jasmine Luoma and produced by Diane Hodson, Jasmine Luoma, and Shantel Palacio. With the future of public housing at stake, Million Dollar Block peers inside Van Dyke Houses, a development on the precipice of change.
Murders That Matter directed by Marco Williams and produced by Marco Williams and Maia Harris. Murders that Matter documents Movita Johnson, an African American, Muslim, mother who doggedly attempts to stem the gun violence in Philadelphia’s African American communities.
Naz directed by Ana Naomi De Sousa and Omar El-Khairy and produced by Elhum Shakerifar. Naz reflects on the life and times of British-Yemeni boxer Prince Naseem Hamed, one of the most successful and entertaining sporting icons of the 1990s.
Noggins directed and written by Noah Hutton and produced by Kellen Quinn. With diseases and disorders on the rise, Henry Markram declares in 2009 that he will build a simulation of a human brain within ten years.
North by Current directed and written by D’Angelo Madsen Minax and produced by Felix Endara. Trans filmmaker, D’Angelo Madsen Minax, returns to his rural Michigan hometown following the death of his 2-year old niece. Navigating incarceration, addiction, religious fervor, and multiple forms of loss, Madsen creates a relentless portrait of an enduring pastoral family.
Obsessed with Light directed and produced by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum and executive produced by Susan Margolin. What do Alexander McQueen, Taylor Swift, Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec have in common? They were inspired by Loïe Fuller, pioneer of modern dance and trailblazing innovator.
Our Land, Our Altar directed by André Guiomar, produced by André Guiomar and Mafalda Rebelo, and executive produced by Luís Costa. The demolition of a neighborhood affects the identity of a community and the sense of belonging, forcing its people to react.
A Place of Absence directed and produced by Marialuisa Ernst. This poetic film follows director Marialuisa’s journey with Anita and Leticia, Central American women traveling to Mexico with the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants.
A Place to Learn directed by Kevin Shaw and produced by Kevin Shaw, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, and Rachel Dickson. When a successful black elementary school is threatened to be replaced by a new high school that favors the community’s wealthier residents, parents, students and educators fight for the elementary school’s survival.
Punch 9 for Harold Washington directed and written by Joe Winston, produced by Raymond Lambert and Sonya Jackson, and executive produced by Bob Hercules. The story of how Harold Washington became Chicago’s first African-American mayor, and inspired future political leaders, including Barack Obama.
Red Heaven directed and produced by Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe. Six people live for one year in a NASA psychological experiment, simulating the first human habitat on Mars.
River of Grass directed, written, and produced by Sasha Wortzel. A time traveling guide channeled by the land recounts the Everglades’ violent past and warns of Florida’s precarious future as diverse people navigate the present.
Run with It directed by Nomi Talisman and Dee Hibbert-Jones and produced by Nomi Talisman, Dee Hibbert-Jones, and Amilca Palmer. Run with It examines the crisis in the criminal justice system through the eyes of a young man mentored by his uncle from death row.
The Sacred & The Snake directed by Sara Lafleur-Vetter and Jonathan Klett, produced by Romin Lee Johnson, and executive produced by Tracy Rector. After Standing Rock, a fiery street medic, a Lakota matriarch, a two-spirit activist, and a youth leader in recovery rise again and continue their fight.
Senseless directed by Guy Davidi, produced by Hilla Medalia and Sigrid Dyekjær, and executive produced by Sigrid Dyekjær. What does it mean to grow up in a place that forces you to go against your own values?
Sirens directed and written by Rita Baghdadi, produced by Rita Baghdadi and Camilla Hall. On the outskirts of Beirut, five young women navigate friendship, identity and the pressure to conform in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
Skin of Glass directed by Denise Zmekhol, written by Leah Mahan and Ellen Bruno, and produced by Denise Zmekhol, Leah Mahan, and Amir Soltani. Filmmaker Denise Zmekhol begins a journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality when she discovers her father’s architectural masterpiece is now the country’s tallest high-rise favela.
Some Days You’re the Dog, Some Days You’re the Tree directed and produced by Chelsea Moynehan and Andrew Moynehan. An intimate look at boxing trainer Pete Brodsky’s tenuous relationship with his fighter, Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin.
Speak No Evil directed, written, and produced by Jason Lapeyre and executive produced by Ben Braun. In 1965, Donald Lang was arrested for murder. Lang was deaf, could not speak, and did not sign, read or write. He was defended by Lowell Myers, the only deaf lawyer in America.
The Spies Who Loved Me directed and written by Yvonne Welbon and produced by Yvonne Welbon and Leo Chiang. A Wikipedia entry linking Welbon to undercover MI6 & CIA operatives creates a thrilling exposé on citizen-surveillance and the impact of fake news.
States directed and produced by Daria Vaisman and David Soll. Cyber diplomats, a shadow World Cup, and the birth of a new country cast light on an absurd international order.
The Strait Guys directed by Rick Minnich, written by Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood, and produced by Gunter Hanfgarn. Two feisty American seniors join forces with Russian visionaries to dare the impossible: linking the USA and Russia across the Bering Strait.
Supply Chain directed and written by Alex Tyson and produced by Alex Tyson, Saleem Ali, and Maya E. Rudolph. From the eye of a cryptocurrency gold-rush, Supply Chain traces four minerals through a cycle of physical and digital mining—and environmental devastation—to tell the story of the human impulse to mine for treasure.
Takeover! directed by Emma Francis-Snyder and produced by Emma Francis-Snyder and Tony Gerber. Bronx. 1970. To the NYPD they were a street gang; to the FBI they were a national threat; to their community they were the last hope.
The Three Lives of David Wong directed by Diane Paragas and produced by Leslie Norville. In 1980s New York City, a group of activists come together to fight for the freedom of a wrongfully convicted undocumented Chinese prisoner.
Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl directed and written by Julie Dash, produced by Julie Dash and Rachel Watanabe-Batton, and executive produced by Rachel Watanabe-Batton. In search of her authentic self, a South Carolinian Geechee girl wakes up in Paris another starving writer living at the Beat Hotel; after her travels, her best-selling cookbook changes how the world sees women, race and food.
Two Gods directed by Zeshawn Ali and produced by Aman Ali. A Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in Newark brings two young men under his wing to teach them how to live better lives.
Untitled Ady Barkan Documentary directed by Nicholas Bruckman and produced by Amanda Roddy. A young father diagnosed with ALS uses his tragedy as a tool to fight for health care, launching the most unlikely political movement in a generation.
Untitled Dwarfism Project directed and produced by Julie Wyman and executive produced by Anya Rous, Nic Novicki, and Jessica Devaney. When a new pharmaceutical treatment promises a “cure” for dwarfism, controversy flares within the Little People community about dwarf pride, identity, and culture.
Untitled Hostage Siege Project directed, written, and produced by Stefan Forbes and executive produced by Sam Pollard. The longest and most violent hostage siege in NYPD history.
Untitled Stasi Documentary directed by Gabriel Silverman and Jamie Coughlin and produced by Jamie Coughlin. East Germany built a surveillance state by weaponizing citizens’ private data. Thirty years later, a victim of the secret police investigates his file and confronts those who betrayed him.
Untitled Storm Lake Project directed by Jerry Risius, produced by Beth Levison, and executive produced by Katy Bettner. Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen fights to protect his rural town from powerful local and national forces while his family newspaper hangs by a thread.
Untitled Wrongful Conviction Documentary directed by Zoe Potkin; produced by Zoe Potkin, Sam Bisbee, and Theadora Dunlap; and executive produced by Kate Barry, Katie Couric, Tony Goldwyn, Vanessa Potkin, and Sanaa Hamri. Framed for murder by “mafia cops,” wrongfully incarcerated for 19 years, Barry Gibbs was finally set free only to discover his nightmare had just begun.
An Uphill Battle directed by Erin Trieb and produced by Meredith Hogan. A team of young women in Afghanistan defy their country’s repressive culture and find freedom in the mountains when they climb their country’s highest peak.
Valorous Sparkles directed by Aragon Yao and produced by Mario Gajo. Valorous Sparkles is a self-reflective documentary about the will of a young Chinese director to express his own sexual identity in Europe.
Washashores directed by Mischa Richter, produced by Lizzie Nastro, and executive produced by Emily Mortimer. Washashores is a film about a Provincetown, MA, seen lovingly through the eyes of a local who is exploring how and why this particular town has fostered a community full of tolerance and artistic spirit.
Non-Fiction Series
The Bones directed by Jeremy Xido and produced by Ina Fichman. In the wake of a dramatic court case, United States of America v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton, players with lucrative stakes in the international dinosaur bone trade are caught between commerce and science.
Bootstraps directed by Deia Schlosberg; produced by Deia Schlosberg, Kyle Cadotte, and Michael Premo; and executive produced by Deia Schlosberg and Conrad Shaw. What does guaranteed economic security actually look like? What would everyday Americans do if they had it? Bootstraps explores human nature under Universal Basic Income.
Calvary directed by Jason Stefaniak and produced by Jason Stefaniak and Jillian Stricker. Calvary juxtaposes landscapes of racial, political, corporate, and war violence to yield insight into the creation of cultural values and the manufacturing of historical lies.
Celluloid Dreams directed and written by Ilinca Calugareanu, produced by Mara Adina, and executive produced by Ilinca Calugareanu and Mara Adina. American movies beyond the multiplexes of the western world.
Kids, Life and Rock ‘N’ Roll directed by Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder, written by Till Schauder, and produced by Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder. A coming-of-age docuseries that follows three preteens in their stubborn pursuit to form a professional band while growing up in Brooklyn.
Next Generation Sex directed and produced by Julie Bridgham and Rebecca Haimowitz and executive produced by Julie Bridgham, Rebecca Haimowitz, and Rachel Lears. A character-driven, documentary series delving into unflinching teen stories around sexuality for this moment, through their lives and words.
Racist Trees directed by Sara Newens and Mina Son and produced by Sara Newens, Mina Son, and Joanna Sokolowski. Racial tensions reignite in Palm Springs as a historically Black neighborhood fights to remove a wall of trees that many residents believe represent discrimination.
A Town Called Victoria directed and written by Li Lu and produced by Li Lu, Anthony Pedone, Louise Henderson, and Samir Chiali. On the night of the “travel ban,” a mosque in Victoria, TX is torched. Facing such hate, a community must decide how to go forward together.
Untitled CHICAGO Series directed by Margaret Byrne and produced by Margaret Byrne and Rachel Pikelny. A retired detective accuses the Chicago Police of fabricating documents to cover up the wrongful murder convictions of dozens of Latino men, some still incarcerated.
Up for Debate directed by Judy Lieff and produced by Judy Lieff and Theo Rigby. N.Y.C. Teens fully woke to broken politics model hope as they debate hot button topics inside the largest urban debate league in the U.S.
