Rooftop Films Announces Twenty Grant Awards
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Saturday, 08 April 2023 11:17
- Written by A&E Contributing Editor
Rooftop Films, a New York cultural institution and home for independent films for over twenty-four years, announced the awarding of twenty cash and service grants to independent filmmakers, including two Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film Grants.
Generously supported by the James Levine Foundation, the grants were presented to Lucy Walker (Bring Your Own Brigade) and Ben Mullinkosson (The Last Year of Darkness). The directors will each receive $15,000 towards their respective long-form documentary film projects.
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These artists join the ranks of past Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantees, an illustrious group of award season favorites including Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Kirsten Johnson's Dick Johnson is Dead, and Bill & Turner Ross' Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets—in addition to Petra Costa's Academy Award-nominated The Edge of Democracy, Benh Zeitlin's beloved Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Gillian Robespierre's indie darling Obvious Child.
Lucy Walker is a two-time Academy Award nominated documentarian whose works include Waste Land (2010), the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011), and Devil's Playground (2002). Her latest film tackles the urgent wildfire crisis.
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The Last Year of Darkness is Ben Mullinkosson's second feature length documentary. In 2018 his film, Don't Be a Dick About It, was an Audience Award winner at 2018 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and distributed for a limited theatrical run by Oscilloscope Laboratories. In The Last Year of Darkness, five partygoers relentlessly search for themselves in the night, trying to savor the last moments of anonymity before the Chinese government shuts down their underground sanctuaries and pulls them out of the darkness forever.
Other 2020 feature film grantees include Nikyatu Jusu, NANNY; Luke Lorentzen, Untitled Spiritual Care Documentary; Nicholas Bruckman, Not Going Quietly; Jean Pesce, Cuttlefish; Sierra Pettengill, RIOTSVILLE, USA; Michal Palmieri and Donal Mosher, Untitled Justin Vivian Bond Project; Jing Wang, Ride with Delivery Workers; Sami Khan & Michael Gassert, The Last Out and Laura Moss, birth/rebirth.
Rooftop Films Senior Programmer Dominic Davis says, "We are thrilled to honor all of our alumni grantees this year and are especially proud to note that our grantee awards recognize eleven projects directed or co-directed by women and seven directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color."
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Rooftop Films Executive Director Nadine Goellner says, "Rooftop Films is proud to be able to support the work of independent filmmakers during these times. With the generous support of our partners, including the James Levine Foundation, and new production service grants from elkind Lighting & Camera and Irving Harvey, we are offering critical resources to our filmmakers that will serve as a catalyst for moving their work forward. Congratulations to all of our award recipients."
James Levine of the James Levine Foundation notes, "The Last Year of Darkness questions the presence of a police state and it's corrosive effect on the social psyche and I cannot even fathom the scope of Bring Your Own Brigade… it is such a personal, relatable story."
Rooftop Films recently partnered with NYFF, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, New York Hall of Science, and Museum of the Moving Image to offer drive-in screenings at their Brooklyn and Queens Drive-in venues.
For more information, including a full list of this year’s grantees, award details, and film synopses, visit rooftopfilms.com/filmmakers-fund-grantees.
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Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film Grants
Ben Mullinkosson, The Last Year of Darkness
Five partygoers relentlessly search for themselves in the night, trying to savor the last moments of anonymity before the Chinese government shuts down their underground sanctuaries and pulls them out of the darkness forever.
Lucy Walker, Untitled Wild Fire Documentary
Told through dramatically riveting and emotional characters-drive vertié, this feature documentary is a combination of dynamic investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through hellish and deadly fires gripping the world.
To see a full list of this year's grantees, award details and film synopses, visit rooftopfilms.com/filmmakers-fund-grantees.
About Rooftop Films
Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers. In addition to their annual Summer Series, Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, rents equipment at low-cost to artists and fellow non-profits, and supports screenings citywide with the Rooftop Films Community Fund. At Rooftop Films, we bring underground movies outdoors. For more information and updates, please visit their website at rooftopfilms.com.
About The Rooftop Filmmakers Fund
Year after year, Rooftop Films extends support to independent filmmakers beyond film exhibition through the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund Grants. The Rooftop Filmmakers Fund uses community and partner support to provide grants to filmmakers whose work has screened at Rooftop Films previously. A portion of all ticket sales and film submission fees is set aside and given back to selected filmmakers to help with their future productions, forging a bond between audiences and artists in a unique cycle of exhibition and production. For additional information on other grantees, visit rooftopfilms.com/filmmakers-fund-grantees.
