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Tribeca Film Institute Announces Grant Recipients in Second Year of Trailblazing TFI New Media Fund

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Sep 4, 2012, 13:29

Six Interactive, Non-Fiction, Transmedia Projects Awarded Total of $400,000 for Pushing Storytelling Boundaries and Promoting Social Change

(New York, NY) The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) in partnership with Ford Foundation's Just Films Initiative today announced the grant recipients for the 2012 TFI New Media Fund. This diverse assortment of interactive, non-fiction, transmedia projects explores everything from Guatemalan street gangs to rural West Virginia community issues to collaborative problem-solving facilitated by a robot named Laika. The six projects from the U.S. and around the world have been awarded between $50,000 and $100,000 apiece, with funding effective immediately. In addition to receiving financial support, grantees will also take part in regular peer-to-peer meetings as well as a lab to help them develop their projects and build engagement with audiences.

Through TFI and the Ford Foundation's long-term partnership, the TFI New Media Fund supports non-fiction film projects that go beyond traditional screens, exploring storytelling that is interactive, multi-platform and participatory. All projects will activate audiences around issues of contemporary social justice and equality. The grant program is part of TFI's broader, increasing commitment to contributing to the emerging field of interactive storytelling.

The recipients of grants totaling $400,000 are:

Alma, A Tale of Violence
Key Participants: Miquel Dewever-Plana, Isabelle Fougère, Hugues Micol, Sebastien Brothier
Description:In a moving confession of a former member of one of Guatemala's most violent gangs, Alma tells her story in a unique interactive web/tablet concept in which the viewer moves between two screen levels, a face-to-face experience and a visual evocation of Alma's recollections.

Immigrant Nation
Key Participants: Theo Rigby, Kate Mclean
Description: Immigrant Nation uses personal narratives to give users multiple entry points into the divisive issue of immigration in the U.S. Through the intersection of documentary film, user-generated storytelling and social mapping, this project provides a platform for users to create, share and explore personal immigration stories.

Laika's Adventure
Key Participants: Lance Weiler, Janine Saunders
Description: Laika's Adventure is an ongoing, experiential, educational story world that plugs into Connected Sparks, an online social change platform for children. Laika, a traveling robot, facilitates collaborative problem solving among students, teachers, storytellers and a global audience. At its core, Laika's Adventure looks to harness the power of storytelling, technology and creativity to inspire micro-actions of change.
More information: http://robotheartstories.com

 New Day New Standard
Key Participants: Anjum Asharia, Abdulai Bah, Leo Burd, Sasha Constanza-Chock, Alexandra García, Becky Hurwitz, Marisa Jahn, Christine Yvette Lewis, Marc Shavitz
Description: New Day New Standard is a new media public art project bridging advocacy and narrative by telling the story of a new movement for workers' rights. Created by REV-, New Day New Standard  involves a creative Spanish/English audio campaign, accessible by web and telephone call-in, that informs domestic workers and their employees about the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights.
More information: http://www.rev-it.org/projects/newday.htm

Hollow
Key Participants: Elaine McMillion, Jeff Soyk, Tricia Fulks, Eric Lovell, Michelle Miller, Megan Bowers
Description: Hollow is a hybrid community participatory project and interactive documentary that addresses the issues of rural America through the eyes of Southern West Virginians.
More information: http://www.hollowthefilm.com

Question Bridge
Key Participants: Chris Johnson, Bayeté Ross-Smith, Kamal Sinclair, Hank Willis Thomas, Jesse Williams
Description: Question Bridge: Black Males is an innovative transmedia art project that facilitates a dialogue between a critical mass of Black men from diverse and contending backgrounds; and creates a platform for them to represent and redefine Black male identity in America. Question Bridge will use a mobile application and robust website to create sustainable extensions of the current video installation in order to reach a wider audience.
More information: http://questionbridge.com

The jury awarding the grants was comprised of notable figures whose accomplishments span the worlds of technology, film, media and the arts. Jurors included Frank Rose (author of The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories), Steve Coulson(Creative Director, Campfire),Andrew Devigal(Multimedia Editor, The New York Times),Marc Schiller (Founder of Wooster Collective and CEO of BOND Strategy and Influence), Ian Inaba (Executive Director of Citizen Engagement Lab), Aina Abiodun (Founder and CEO, StoryCode), and Lina Srivastava (Strategist, Activist, Transmedia Designer, Writer).

"The Tribeca Film Institute is delighted to support a second round of interactive projects in partnership with the Ford Foundation," said Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives. "This is such an exciting time to be exploring new kinds of storytelling and new methods of engaging audiences around issues of social justice. Together with events like TFI Interactive, this work is reframing what non-fiction storytelling can do to spark dialogue across disciplines, push narrative boundaries and reach new and diverse audiences. We congratulate the new recipients and look forward to working with them as they develop their projects."

"We continue to witness the power of storytelling in addressing the most relevant topics of today in unique and experimental forms," said Orlando Bagwell, director of the Ford Foundation's JustFilms initiative. "The opportunities to inform and engage audiences on complex issues are limitless and the variety and diversity of these projects embody the potential to advance social justice."

Added juror Frank Rose, "Thanks to TFI and the Ford Foundation, documentary filmmakers are getting the funding and direction they need to take their stories beyond the screen and into people's lives. Welcome to the future of storytelling."

The TFI New Media Fund in 2011 was complemented by TFI Interactive, a one-day event held during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival that brought together speakers from film, journalism, games, design and education to explore this new landscape and discover how different industries and disciplines can cross-fertilize and learn from each other. Speakers included Baratunde Thurston (author of How To Be Black), Steve Coulson (Campfire), Jake Barton (Local Projects), Gabriel Dance (The Guardian), Alyce Myatt (NEA) and Michelle Byrd (Games for Change). The event was a great success with a standing-room-only live audience as well as online viewers. Another edition of TFI Interactive is planned for the next edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, which runs April 17-28, 2013.

Resources:

http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org
http://www.fordfoundation.org
http://www.fordfoundation.org/justfilms