Sundance Institute has announced the 28 projects selected to receive an unrestricted grant from Sundance Institute Documentary Fund including Rita Baghdadi’s follow-up to her Thessaloniki 2022 selection, Sirens.
This granting cycle’s recipients represent all stages of the process, with five projects in development, 15 in production, seven in post-production, and one completed project in its impact campaign.
Baghdadi’s Stallions (Mor) profiles horse riders in search of their dreams on the Moroccan coast and is in development, as is Knocking On Heaven’s Door (Can-USA-NZ-UK-Arg) from Jonathan Qu and Kevin Feiyang Li, about a Christian astrophysicist who endures a battle with cancer and races to build his last great balloon telescope
Seyi Adebanjo’s Afromystic (USA-Nigeria-Bra) is in production and centres on LGBTQ+ Yorùbá practitioners searching for post-colonial liberation, while Safira Moreira’s Cais (Bra), in post-production, follows a grieving woman reflecting on her mother’s life through travel.
The funding allocation is nearly $500,000 more than the amount offered last year due to new support from John Templeton Foundation, which joins existing backers Open Society Foundations, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
This year’s recipients include the first grantees selected by the Sundance Institute | Sony Music Vision Initiative, a new partnership between the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Sony Music Entertainment, funded by Sony Music’s Global Social Justice Fund.
Through granting and engagement opportunities, including educational sessions on music in film, the initiative is aimed at elevating documentary film projects by BIPOC filmmakers that ”demonstrate a significant music component or innovative approach to audio and sound”.
More than half of the grant proposals came from outside the United States, with the final group representing 25 countries. The majority of projects (92%) hail from artists from historically marginalised communities, and 60% are from first-time feature directors.
Development
Basketball Heaven (USA), dir. Resita Cox; Knocking On Heaven’s Door (Can-USA-NZ-UK-Arg), dirs. Jonathan Qu, Kevin Feiyang Li; Stallions (Mor), dir. Rita Baghdadi; Strange Sea (Azer), dir. Lala Aliyeva; The Blue Sweater With A Yellow Hole (Ukr-Fr-Czech), dir. Tetiana Khodakivska.
Production
#WhileBlack (USA-Can), dirs. Sidney Fussell, Jennifer Holness; Afromystic (USA-Nigeria-Bra), dir. Seyi Adebanjo; Untitled Africa Project, dir. name withheld; Coach Emily (USA), dir. Pallavi Somusetty; Conscious (UK), dir. Suki Chan; Dreams Of A Dark Sky (India), dir. Anmol Tikoo; The First Plantation (Barb-USA); Good Fire (USA-Gre), dirs. Roni Jo Draper, Marissa Lila; House Of Earth (Nth Mac-USA), dir. Ljubomir Stefanov; Jaripeo (Mex-USA), dirs. Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig (supported by Sundance Institute | Sony Music Vision Initiative); Life In The Shadows (Afg-Belg-Ger), dir. K.D.; Mother Wit (USA), dirs. Rajvi Desai, Te Shima Brennen; Timepass (India-USA), dir. Roopa Gogineni; Untitled Philippines Project (Phil-USA), dir. PJ Raval; Walker (USA), dir. Amy Bench.
Post-Production
Art After-Life (USA-Arg), dir. David Romberg; Backside (USA), dir. Raúl Paz Pastrana; Blacked Out Dreams (USA), dir. Adeleke Omitowoju: Cais (Bra), dir. Safira Moreira; Hawa (Fr-Neth-Afg-Qat), dirs. Najiba Noori, Ali Rasul Noori; Leap Of Faith (USA), dir. Nicholas Ma; Vestibule (USA), dir. Riley Hooper.
Impact
Songs From The Hole (USA), dir. Contessa Gayles (supported by the Sundance Institute | Sony Music Vision Initiative).
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