Awarded Grants

To amplify the voices of people directly impacted by gun violence and mass incarceration in order to show that wealth inequality and racism are at the root of both.

To create significantly more accessible musical recording labs where youth who have been impacted by violence or incarceration can learn audio production while developing career skills and expressing their emotions in supportive spaces.

$30,000 will go towards the final cut of the film as well as film festival expenses. The remaining $1,570 will go towards BlackStar’s fiscal sponsor fees.

This "Untilted" documentary explores the culinary culture of immigrant farm workers that comprise the backbone of the US food system and power the Vermont dairy farm industry. The farmers' lack of access to transportation, coupled with the presence of ICE in their communities and the fear of deportation, means that accessing ingredients to prepare traditional meals is difficult or impossible. The film also follows the story of an underground network of women who bring popular Central and South American ingredients to rural dairy farms throughout the state, connecting farmworkers back to homemade meals and to one another.

To follow up on the success of the “Images in Quarantine” issue of Motivos magazine and highlight the amazing photography produced by students as the country is emerging from the COVID-19 quarantine.

To support Reparation Station, a series of short video episodes that explore the idea of reparations in both practical and absolutely fantastical ways. Based on the Latin root of the word, 'repare': to make ready again, this series asks how Black artists are getting ready again.

To support "Trading Stories," a comedy-drama short film that explores the themes of redemption, healing, and acceptance. The film follows Declan Townsen, a young writer who reluctantly moves back to his hometown in Vermont. There he learns that his estranged mother has slipped out of remission and she’s deliberately kept this news from him. Through yoga, tough conversations, and trading stories, a family tries to rebuild.

To support an experimental study circle, research collective and grounding space for deep reflection and interpretation of the life and legacy of the anti-fascist Trinidadian cultural worker, Claudia Jones. The project will culminate in a film based on the eponymous figure, who was a Harlem based labor organizer, journalist, mentee of W.E.B DuBois, communist party leader, ‘proto-feminist’ and author of “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Women” (1949). Jones’ activism and writing led to multiple arrests, extensive FBI surveillance through the Smith and McCarran Acts, and her imprisonment and deportation to the United Kingdom. During her time in London, Jones deepened her relationship with the burgeoning West Indian, African and South Asian communities, created the West Indian Gazette and founded the first diasporic Caribbean Carnival—the Notting Hill Carnival.

To support a film about a man with a green thumb and a big presence who recounts his journey out of addiction as a thread emerges among other gardeners in West Philadelphia. People share their realization that talking to plants aids them in surprising ways.

A film profile about Eric McPherson, a prolific jazz drummer born and raised in New York. The film will explore the history of jazz in relation to New York City, revealing how an immersive jazz and hip hop culture of the 60's and 70's directly influenced McPherson's work. In comparison to the commodification of these cultures today, the filmmaker will explore how talent needs to be nurtured both inside and outside a classroom.