The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) Sloan Filmmaker Fund has given a total of $170,000 to five film projects that integrate science into cinema.

At awards last night during the Tribeca Film Festival, the following winners were announced:

COCKEYED
The darkly comic story of a man going blind while struggling with his drug addict brother and a bad girlfriend.
Director: Jodie Foster
Screenwriter: Ryan Knighton
Producer: Jody Hotchkiss
Grant amount: $40,000

BANKER TO THE POOR
A man sets up an innovative micro loan banking system in Bangladesh.
Director: Marco Amenta
Screenwriter: Sergio Donati
Grant amount: $40,000

THEY’RE PLAYING BASKETBALL
A hopeless basketball team uses mathematical formulas to turn athletic misfits into champions.
Screenwriter/Producer: Sam Lobel
Producers: Marc Lebowitz, Kerry Barden
Grant amount: $15,000

EXPERIMENTER: THE STANLEY MILGRAM STORY
Yale professor Stanley Milgram conducts notorious obedience experiments with disturbing moral questions.
Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Producer: Jennifer Fox
Grant amount: $35,000

SUGAR PILL
Two men struggle physically and emotionally during experimental drug trials.
Writer/Director: Lisa Krueger
Producers: Ted Hope, Anne Carey
Grant amount: $40,000

The selection committee was comprised of film-maker Marc Abraham, molecular biologist Dr Bonnie Bassler, producer Sarah Green, actress Famke Janssen, medicine Nobel Prize winner Dr Eric Kandel, economics Nobel Prize winner Dr Robert Engle, and producer John Hart.

The fund is supported by the Alfred P Sloan Foundation, which also supports projects at other festivals including Sundance and The Hamptons. Sloan has worked with Tribeca since its inception eight years ago.

Doron Weber, Sloan program director, said: “This is one of the best crops of science films we’ve seen, demonstrating once again that science and technology offer fertile ground for film-makers willing to dig beneath the surface and find the common human stories and passions that drive us to understand ourselves and improve our lot in the world.”

In addition to the financial support, film-makers will receive development assistance and mentoring from film and science experts.

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