GFEM | Council on Foundations' 2012 Film and Video Festival Program
Now in its 45th year, the Council on Foundations Film + Video Festival is the premier showcase for grantmaker-funded media. This year’s slate of films embodies the dynamic power media can have to raise awareness and reflect change. The Film & Video Festival showcases films, videos and television programs that have received support from foundations, corporate giving programs and donor networks with the aim of encouraging grantmakers to use media to advance their philanthropic goals.
All films demonstrate excellence in the craft of storytelling, and the selection committee gives special consideration to projects that demonstrate innovative strategies for distribution, outreach, public education and civic engagement such as multi-platform distribution through websites, social networking or mobile applications; distribution through schools, libraries or the meetings and conferences of nonprofit organizations; or other comprehensive distribution/engagement plans.
Each year, one or two films are presented with the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film & Digital Media. Named in honor of a man who broke traditional molds of documentary filmmaking and put excellence and innovation at the forefront of his work, the Henry Hampton Award honors the very best in foundation-funded media. This year's award was presented to The Interrpupters.
For more information see http://www.fundfilm.org/.
2012 FIlm + Festival Selections
Fambul Tok a film by Sara Terry, Libby Hoffman, and Rory Kennedy
Sin Pais (Without Country) a film by Theo Rigby
Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejia’s house looking for someone who didn't live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were undocumented and became deeply entangled in the U.S. immigration system. With intimate access and striking imagery, this film explores the complexities of the Mejia’s new reality of a separated family.
Watch the trailer.
The Learning a film by Ramona Diaz
American teachers established the English-speaking public school system in the Philippines100 years ago. Now, in a striking turnaround, American schools are recruiting Filipino teachers. This film is the story of four Filipino teachers who come to Baltimore hoping to use their earnings to transform their families’ impoverished lives back home. However, the women’s idealistic visions of the job soon collide with Baltimore’s tough realities.
Watch the trailer.
Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale a film by Marilyn Ness
What if your life-saving medicine contained deadly viruses—and the drug manufacturers, the government, and your own doctors knew but failed to warn you? This film chronicles how a “miracle” treatment for hemophilia became an agent of death for 10,000 Americans, as well as the hemophilia community’s powerful and inspiring fight to right the system that failed them and make it safer for all.
Watch the trailer.
No Tomorrow a film by Roger Weisberg and Vanessa Roth
Risa Bejarano was the subject of a recent PBS documentary, "Aging Out," about teenagers leaving foster care. In a shocking turn of events, Risa was brutally murdered, and the film about her last year of life unexpectedly became the centerpiece of a dramatic death penalty trial. "No Tomorrow" takes viewers inside the suspenseful trial and challenges their beliefs about capital punishment.
Watch the trailer.
Cafeteria Man a film by Richard Chisolm
After several angry kids brought their horrible cafeteria food to the Baltimore City School Board, food expert and chef Tony Geraci came to town as the new food and nutrition director. His plan: feed kids healthy, locally-sourced meals, teach them nutritional awareness, and offer them vocational opportunities in the world of food. “Cafeteria Man” chronicles Geraci’s tenacious efforts to kick-start school reform in Baltimore.
Watch the trailer.
Better This World a film by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway
The story of Bradley Crowder and David McKay, who were accused of plotting to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, “Better This World” is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime, and betrayal. It follows the radicalization of these boyhood friends while getting to the heart of the war on terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America.
Watch the trailer.
Where Soldiers Come From a film by Heather Courtney
From a snowy, small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, this film follows the four-year journey of childhood friends who join the National Guard after graduating from high school. It offers an intimate look at the young Americans who fight our wars, the families and towns they come from—and the way one faraway conflict changes everything.
Watch the trailer.
Enemies of the People a film by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath
The Khmer Rouge slaughtered nearly two million people in the late 1970s. Yet the “killing fields” of Cambodia have remained largely unexplained—until now. Thet Sambath, an investigative journalist who lost his family in the conflict, spent a decade gaining the trust of the men and women who perpetrated the massacres. The film includes shocking testimony from the foot soldiers who slit throats and from Pol Pot’s right-hand man, the notorious Brother Number Two.
Watch the trailer.
The Power of Two a film by Marc Smolowitz
“The Power of Two” offers an intimate look at half-Japanese twin sisters, their lifelong battle with the fatal genetic disease cystic fibrosis, survival through miraculous double lung transplants, and improbable emergence as authors, athletes, and global advocates for organ donation. Featuring expert interviews and deeply personal testimony from the twins, the film provides unprecedented insight into the personal and societal aspects of this modern medical miracle affecting millions worldwide.
Watch the trailer.
The Interrupters, a film by Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz, and Zak Piper
The Interrupters is the powerful story of Ameena, Eddie, and Cobe,
three antiviolence crusaders from CeaseFire Chicago who use
bravado, humility, and humor to protect their communities and
“interrupt” the cycle of violence they once perpetuated.
Shot over the course of a year, the film captures their profoundly
important work and reveals their inspired journeys from criminals
to courageous allies for peace. From acclaimed producer-director
Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and best-selling author Alex Kotlowitz,
The Interrupters has “put a face to a raging epidemic and an
unforgivable American tragedy,” according to the New York Times.
Saving young people from self-destruction and reclaiming our
communities from the grip of violence is everyone’s business.
The Interrupters is the catalyst for this important conversation.
Our School a film by Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma
Three Roma children from a small Transylvanian town participate in a project to desegregate the local school, struggling against indifference, tradition, and bigotry with humor, optimism, and sass. This film is a captivating and often funny story about hope and race, as well as an elegy about generational prejudice and squandered opportunities.
Watch the trailer.
To Be Heard a film by Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan, and Eddie Martinez
This award-winning PBS production tells the story of three Bronx, N.Y., high school students and three innovative, courageous educators who develop a unique program using literacy and poetry to empower young people through language. In our country—where two thirds of all those enmeshed in the penal system are functionally illiterate and only one in eight adults can read well enough to understand the U.S. Constitution—"To Be Heard" helps show why we are in need of new approaches to these problems.
Watch the trailer.
Freedom Riders a film by Stanley Nelson
This film is the powerful, harrowing, and ultimately inspirational
story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May
until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked
their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for
simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through
the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders
met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their
belief in nonviolent activism.
Watch the trailer.
