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Catapult Reveals 2024 Development Slate with 15 New Projects
The Mammoths That Tried to Escape the Kingdom of Elrik Khan Catapult Film Fund, which provides non-fiction filmmakers with early stage funding and mentorship, announced today its 2024 Development Grant recipients. Through its flagship program, the California-based nonprofit will help launch 15 new projects from around the world, including stories from China, India, Iran, Mexico, Russia, and across the United States. As noted in a press release, half of the projects are by film teams of color and more than 80% are directed by women and nonbinary filmmakers. The projects were selected from a competitive pool of 900 applications, a record high for the organization.
Each film team will receive a grant of $25,000 and dedicated advising from the Catapult team as they create materials to unlock critical production funding. Catapult will continue to provide support throughout each project’s lifecycle, including additional funding through momentum and consulting grants and immersive mentorship through its Rough Cut Retreat partnership with True/False Film Fest. In 2024, Catapult distributed over $500,000 to documentary artists across its programs including nearly $100,000 in rapid response funding to grantees in need.
“It has always been central to Catapult’s mission to support talented filmmakers seeking to launch thought-provoking work that elevates and advances cultural dialogue,” said Megan Gelstein, Catapult Co-Director and Chief Program Officer. “We are in an undetermined era for documentaries, and the state of nonfiction work in the marketplace is fragile. As such, we at Catapult feel it’s urgent to safeguard global independent voices who are so essential to the highest democratic ideals. Each of the films has a distinct approach to storytelling and a powerful cinematic voice — this particular group of creative adventurers will undoubtedly take viewers to new places and we are excited for what comes next.”
Since 2010, Catapult Film Fund’s Development Grant has supported over 200 film teams with more than 92% of projects going on to completion. Recent films include 2024 Sundance Special Prize winner Sugarcane (2021 Development), directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie, produced by Emily Kassie & Kellen Quinn, and 2024 Primetime Emmy Award-winner Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Story (2017 Development), directed and produced by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, produced by Tommy Oliver; and 2024 News & Documentary Emmy winner Eat Your Catfish, co-directed by Noah Amir Arjomand, Adam Isenberg and Senem Tüzen. Catapult is proud to be among the first supporters of critically-acclaimed documentary films such as: Oscar® Award-winner American Factory (2016 Development support), Oscar®-nominated All That Breathes (2019 Development support), and Oscar®-nominated Crip Camp (2016 Development support). The Catapult Development Grant is made possible with support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation.
More information on the 2024 projects can be found below, as well as on Catapult’s program website.
Selected Grantees
Director/Producer: Jane M. Wagner
Producer: Carrie Weprin
A night security guard and his AI chatbot create an online refuge where humans and machines coexist, free from the harsh judgment of the outside world.
Director/Producer/Editor: Cecilia Brown
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Winslow Crane-Murdoch
A Bird with a Knife explores the 50-year mystery surrounding thousands of cattle mutilations across the American West. Following a veteran investigator, an Oregon sheriff, and the ranchers whose cases they’re working to solve, this film is about folklore, faith, and the stories we tell when no absolute truth exists.
Writer/Director: Natalia Almada
Producers: Josh Penn, Esther Robinson
A magical-realist, science-fiction documentary about beauty and grief. Captions Will Be Needed is filmmaker Natalia Almada’s cinematic response to living with a rare cancer during an era that believes in technology’s omnipotent power to answer all questions.
Director: Amanda Micheli
Producer: Serin Marshall
Click & Clack is the story of the Magliozzi brothers, two working-class MIT grads who accidentally expanded their ramshackle mechanic shop and turned it into a cultural phenomenon: Car Talk, the most successful entertainment show ever on National Public Radio.
Director/Producer: Violet Du Feng
Producers: Joanna Natasegara, Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, James Costa
In a country where eligible men greatly outnumber women, three serial bachelors join an intensive 7-day dating camp led by one of China’s most sought-after dating coaches, in what may be their last-ditch effort to find love.
Director/Producer: Sahra Mani
Producers: Maéva Savinien, Frédéric Corvez, Delphine Maury, Alemberg Ang
In 1984, over two million Afghans fled to Iran to escape the Soviet-Afghan War. Among them, one family embarked on a unique journey: searching for a missing teenage son. Dream of Grape Gardens follows the intertwined stories of a mother and daughter, each on individual journeys marked by unspoken words.
Director: Ora DeKornfeld
Navigating complex cultural landscapes and high-risk environments, fixers play a crucial yet often unseen role in global journalism and film. Rich with detailed observations and surprising humor, FIXERS plunges us into the life and work of these unsung heroes.
Director: Yoruba Richen
Producer: Christalyn Hampton
The film examines the 1975 groundbreaking case of Joan Little who was one of the first women in U.S history to be acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault. Little was a Black incarcerated woman who killed a white guard who was trying to rape her.
Director: Rohan Ranganathan
Producers: Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen
In the vast, colorful chaos of the Mumbai film industry, in the midst of overwhelming social and family pressure, an aging actor makes a final attempt to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing an iconic villain.
The Mammoths That Tried to Escape the Kingdom of Elrik Khan
Director/Co-Writer/Producer: Tamara Kotevska
Director of Photography/Co-Writer/Producer: Jean Dakar
In the northernmost part of the Yakut Tundra, Vladik, a young Dolgan reindeer herder is at a crossroads when he has to make a decision to either follow his father’s footsteps by continuing the traditional nomadic lifestyle or join the modern mammoth tusk hunters in search of the arctic gold.
Director: Alex Pritz
Producer: Will N. Miller
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence offers a cosmic perspective on humanity’s long-term survival, as told through three interwoven storylines in Northern California.
Director/Producer: Sharon Liese
Producers: Sasha Alpert, Paul Matyasovsky
A small, family-run newspaper in Kansas is raided by police in an overt attempt to stop the paper from reporting on their corruption. The raids, resulting in the death of the newspaper’s 98-year-old co-owner, received international condemnation. A year later, new information raises questions about the impetus for the raids.
Untitled Alexandra Billings Project
Director/Producer: Nico Opper
Producer: Jude Harris
At 63, Alexandra Billings is one of very few transgender performers with a successful Hollywood career. A mixed-race woman living with HIV, she overcame homelessness and addiction to become a trailblazing actress and activist. This bold and whimsical documentary follows her latest feat – mounting an original musical on Broadway.
Directors/Producers: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
Memory and imagination become the playful and poignant vehicles for a journey about love, loss and legacy.
Untitled Twin Athletes Documentary
Director: Georgina Cammalleri; Producer: Gannesh Rajah
Untitled Twin Athletes Documentary follows the De Jesús sisters, identical twin athletes from Puerto Rico, whose audacious switch at the 1984 LA Olympics shattered their lives overnight. Wishing to rewrite their story, they must confront their past and each other.
About Catapult Film Fund
Catapult Film Fund supports nonfiction filmmakers with critical early-stage funding and mentorship to launch distinctive, story-driven, and cinematic films. Founded in 2010, Catapult has awarded over $5.5 million in direct grants to over 250 film teams through its artist-centered programs including support for research, development, and rough cut. Over 90% of Catapult-supported films go on to completion. For more information, visit catapult film fund.org.
