Gucci Tribeca Documentary fund gives moviemakers artistic and financial freedom.

documentary fund

Funding a feature film is never easy. Funding a documentary is even more of a challenge. The good news is that even for those of us who aren’t independently wealthy, there are more viable strategies now than ever. You can go the way of Indiegogo or Kickstarter and crowdfund your documentary. Or you can take a more traditional tact and apply for grants like the Gucci Tribeca documentary fund.

Over the weekend, the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) and Gucci unveiled the 2013 recipients selected for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. The Documentary Fund provides production and finishing finances, year-round support and guidance to moviemakers with feature-length films highlighting and humanizing critical issues of social significance from around the world. Nine projects have been selected from 500 submissions from 60 countries to receive a total of $150,000, to be administered by the Tribeca Film Institute.

The 2013 projects were selected by a jury comprised of: Brian Sirgutz (SVP of Social Impact at AOL/Huffington Post Media Group); Jada Pinkett Smith; Molly Thompson (SVP, A&E IndieFilms); Olivia Wilde; and director Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence, God Loves Uganda). Below is a break-down of this year’s talented moviemakers.

  • Run and Gun, Directed and Produced by Marshall Curry (2008 GTDF grantee for If A Tree Falls). A 32 year old American from Baltimore carries a gun in one hand and camera in the other as he documents his experience as a rebel fighter in the Libyan revolution.run-and-gun
  • On a Knife EdgeDirected by Jeremy Williams; Produced by Eli Cane. Set against a background of rising racial tension and protest, a Lakota teenager learns first-hand what it means to lead a new generation and enter adulthood in a world where the odds are stacked against him.
  • Perry V. SchwarzeneggerDirected & Produced by Ryan White & Ben Cotner. In 2010, opponents of gay marriage blocked the broadcast of a federal trial challenging Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. That case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, where it will rule for the first time on the rights of gay Americans to marry.
  • The Shadow WorldDirected by Johan Grimonprez; Produced by Joslyn Barnes, Anadil Hossain & Driss Benyaklef. The Shadow World is a feature documentary that explores the international arms trade, the only business that counts its wins and losses in human lives. Based on the book by Andrew Feinstein.
  • SilencedDirected by James Spione; Produced by Daniel Chalfen; Executive Produced by Jim Butterworth. Four whistleblowers fight to reveal the darkest corners of America’s war on terror, challenging a government that is increasingly determined to maintain secrecy.
  • Unlocking The CageDirected by DA Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus; Produced by Rosadel Verela & Frazer Pennebaker. Renowned animal rights attorney Steven Wise wants to break through the legal wall that separates animals and humans. His lawsuit, the first of its kind, will demand the most basic of personhood rights – those of bodily integrity and liberty – for an animal of a species that has been proven to have advanced cognitive capabilities, transforming the status of the animal from that of a mere “thing” to a “person” possessing rights that protect him from abuse and captivity.unlocking-cage
    For more information on the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, click here. For more information on how to subscribe to MovieMaker Magazine, click here.

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