Awarded Grants

The 2020 film grant will support "Smile4Kime," a collaborative auto-ethnographic documentary. The film explores the mental health journeys of two women: Kime, an African American woman who lived with dissociative identity disorder after a series of sexual assaults and Elena (the director), a Puerto Rican woman dealing with depression and grief after the death of Kime. The film incorporates interviews, experimental/performance footage, and animation to explore grief, friendship, and intimacy across mental illness, considering important themes of race, gender, and mental health.

The 2020 film grant will support "One Way," a narrative short film about Eli, a 17-year old Black boy navigating his identity at the intersection of street life, bike culture, and a family conflict with deep roots.

Providing matching dollars to seven local newsrooms—Hidden City Philadelphia, Next City, PA Post, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Spotlight PA, Tarbell, WHYY, PBS 39 / WLVT—in support of this year-end giving campaign.

The 2020 film grant will support "Ave Maria," a documentary that follows a Puerto Rican celebrity chef who cooks to save the spirit of his homeland in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the catastrophic breaking point for an island ensnared by colonial-era laws and an insurmountable debt. Could something as intrinsic as food be the key to Puerto Rico's future?

Providing matching dollars to seven local newsrooms—Hidden City Philadelphia, Next City, PA Post, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Spotlight PA, Tarbell, WHYY, PBS 39 / WLVT—in support of this year-end giving campaign.

Providing matching dollars to seven local newsrooms—Hidden City Philadelphia, Next City, PA Post, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Spotlight PA, Tarbell, WHYY, PBS 39 / WLVT—in support of this year-end giving campaign.

The 2020 film grant will support "La Lucha Sigue." The documentary centers immigrant rights leaders who are calling for the Berks Detention Center, one of three prisons that detain immigrant children, to close. Characters such as a mother from Mexico who is teaching her kids about social movements, and an elder who spent part of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp, explain how the immigration industrial complex has impacted various communities of color. The characters portray how to hold elected officials accountable and organize on a local level through art, storytelling, and creative actions.

For BlackStar Film Festival general operating support.

Support for local women filmmakers of color, to help create a virtual community, where members can interact online, learn, share content, maintain their web presence and continue to create content.

The 2020 film grant will support "InVade" which tells the story of an 8-year-old boy who is detained along with his father during an ICE raid. The father and son are separated, prompting the son to escape and venture out to find him.