Marcus Lindeen’s The Acali Experiment and Patricio Guzmán‘s The Pearl Button (pictured) are among 33 documentaries that are to receive support from the Sundance Institute Documentary Films Program.
The Sundance Documentary Fund this year shifted to a “limited rolling open call” and encouraged filmmakers to submit applications when their project was ready to be shared. Films will continue to be supported on a rolling basis.
Submissions are to remain open throughout the year. Filmmakers are encouraged to submit for consideration when ready to do so.
Grants are awarded for projects that are in development, production, post-production or at the audience engagement stage. Recent projects to receive support from the program include Laura Poitras‘ Academy Award-winning doc Citizenfour, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)ERROR and Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land.
“We eliminated deadlines, embraced risk-taking in form, filmmaker and subject matter, but we stayed true to our core purpose of discovering contemporary stories of meaning and moral purpose,” said Rahdi Taylor, Film Fund director, in a statement. “Overall the selections are characterized by risk, inclusion and innovation as well as addressing the most vital conversations of our time.”
Full project descriptions of this year’s grantees can be viewed here. All projects are listed below:
Development
The Acali Experiment (Sweden)
Director: Marcus Lindeen; Producer: Erik Gandini
Afterglow (Hungary)
Director: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi; Producer: Julianna Ugrin
Casting JonBenet (Australia/U.S.)
Director: Kitty Green; Producer: Scott Macaulay and Kitty Green
Shirkers (U.S./Singapore)
Director-Producer: Sandi Tan
Three Identical Strangers (UK)
Director: Tim Wardle; Producer: Grace Hughes-Hallett
Untitled Kronos Project (U.S.)
Director: Sam Green
Untitled Prison Project (U.S.)
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Producer: Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix, Roger Ross Williams
Yoghurt Utopia (UK/Spain)
Directors: Anna Thomson, David Baksh; Producer: Adrian Pennink
Young Men and Fire (U.S.)
Director: Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski; Producer: Kyle Dickman
When God Sleeps (U.S/Germany)
Director: Till Schauder; Producer: Sara Nodjoumi & Till Schauder
Whose Streets? (U.S.)
Director: Sabaah Jordan and Damon Davis; Producer: Flannery Miller
Production
All These Sleepless Nights (Poland/UK)
Director: Michal Marczak; Producer: Marta Golba, Michal Marczak, Julia Nottingham, Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa
Audrie & Daisy (U.S.)
Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk; Producers: Richard Berge and Sara Dosa
Cecilia (India)
Director-Producer: Pankaj Johar
Eagle Huntress (UK/Mongolia)
Director: Otto Bell; Producer: Stacey Reiss and Sharon Chang
Forgiveness (UK)
Director: Elizabeth Stopford; Producer: Nicole Stott
Greywater (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Unay
The Keepers (U.S.)
Director: Ryan White; Producer: Jessica Lawson
Untitled Newtown Documentary (U.S.)
Director: Kim A. Snyder; Producer: Maria Cuomo Cole, Kim A. Snyder
Untitled Reef Project (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Orlowski; Producer: Larissa Rhodes
Post-Production
Almost Sunrise (U.S.)
Director: Michael Collins; Producer: Marty Syjuco
The Event (Ukraine/Russia)
Director: Sergei Loznitsa; Producers: Sergei Loznitsa & Maria Choustova
Holy Cow (Azerbaijan/Germany/Romania)
Director: Imam Hasanov; Producer: Andra Popescu, Veronika Janatkova, Stefan Kloos
Maman Colonelle (France/DR Congo)
Director: Dieudo Hamadi; Producer: Christian Lelong
Markie in Milwaukee (U.S.)
Director: Matt Kliegman; Producer: Matt Kliegman and Zac Stuart-Pontier
The Pearl Button (El Boton de Nacar)
Director: Patricio Guzmán; Producer: Renate Sachse
Proposition for a Revolution (India)
Directors: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla; Producer: Anand Gandhi; Co-Producer: Ruchi Bhimani; Exec. Producer: Joris van Wijk
The Reagan Years (U.S.)
Director: Pacho Velez; Producer: Sierra Pettengill
Teatro (U.S./Italy)
Director: Jeff Malmberg; Producer: Chris Shellen
They Call Us Monsters (U.S.)
Director: Ben Lear; Producer: Sasha Alpert and Gabriel Cowan
Audience Engagement
1971 (U.S.)
Director: Johanna Hamilton; Producer: Marilyn Ness
Enter the Faun (U.S.)
Director & Producer: Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright; Executive Producer: Véronique Bernard
Sundance-ESPN Films Fellow
Shot in the Dark (U.S.)
Director: Dustin Nakao Haider; Producers: Daniel Poneman, Daniel Dewes, Derek Doneen, and Ben Vogel