The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds has issued completion grants and no-interest loans totaling CAD$172,000 (US$166,000) to nine documentary projects, including Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (pictured) and three films from EyeSteelFilm.

In its eleventh round of disbursements, the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds continues to assist Canadian documentary filmmakers with financial support “at critical stages in their projects,” the organization said.

The funding cycle will have a second round this year, with the application process set to open again for submissions in September.

In other Hot Docs funding news, August 16 is the deadline for the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund’s funding cycle for the year. Professional filmmakers residing and working in continental African countries are eligible to apply.

Edited descriptions for the eight Shaw Media-backed projects, provided by Hot Docs, follow below:

Completion grants (totaling $122,000):

The Chameleon

Director: Ryan Mullins
Producers: Bob Moore, Mila Aung-Thwin
Production Company: EyeSteelFilm

Called the James Bond of Ghanaian journalism, Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ unorthodox methods are infamous throughout the country, yet his face remains unknown to the public. The Chameleon takes audiences behind the scenes as Anas pursues criminals and stands up against corruption.

The Motherload

Director and Producer: Cornelia Principe
Executive Producer: Bob Culbert
Production Company: Border City Pictures

The Motherload explores the issues, challenges and triumphs experienced by working mothers who are trying to do it all.

Certifiable: Life in the Brockville Psych

Director: John Kastner
Producer: Silva Basmajian
Production Company: J S Kastner Productions

The film follows four patients through a year of treatment at the Brockville Mental Health Centre, whose goal it is to prepare mental patients who committed violent crimes to be released back into the community from the moment they arrive.

Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story

Director: Barry Avrich
Executive Producer: Barry Avrich, Mike Reid, Jeremy Frommer, Rick Schwartz
Producer: Mike Reid
Production Company: Melbar Entertainment Group

Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story explores the life of a visionary, public relations master, recluse and self-destructive optimist creator of Penthouse magazine.

Development grants (totaling $5o,000):

Gift

Director: Robin McKenna
Producers: Peter Wintonick, Bob Moore
Production Company: Necessary Illusions/EyeSteelFilm

Gift is an essay film and transmedia project inspired by Lewis Hyde’s classic bestseller The Gift. Chronicling gift-based cultures around the world and challenging the logic of global capitalism, the film inspires the question: is life about getting or giving?

Shadows

Director: Patrick Reed
Co-Director and Co-Producer: Michelle Shephard
Producers: Peter Raymont
Production Company: White Pine Pictures

Shadows follows a young man’s attempt to escape the shadows of his past.

A Heartbeat Away 

Director: Jon Ornoy
Producer: Betsy Carson
Production Company: Face to Face Media

A Heartbeat Away looks at an astonishing new advance in artificial heart technology with the potential to significantly alter the treatment of heart disease and affect human longevity.

The Last Bluesmen 

Director: Daniel Cross
Producers: Bob Moore, Mila Aung-Thwin
Production Company: EyeSteelFilm

The Last Bluesmen explores the Deep South to find the last of the Blues-Devils musicians and bring them together to tell their stories and play their music in a dynamic-spiritual process.

N.I.A.

Director: Charles Officer
Executive Producers: Bershire Axis Media, Ron Mann
Production Company: Canesugar Filmworks, Berkshire Axis Media

This dramatic documentary is a story about forgiveness and explores the remarkable journey of a political activist coming to terms with exile.