As awards season finally comes to a close and spring arrives in full swing, today we’re excited to celebrate and welcome our newest cohort of six incredible Fellows into the 2024 Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, supported by founding sponsor Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity. Now in its third year, the program provides direct support to emerging and mid-career Black or African American filmmakers.
Over the course of the twelve-month program, Amplifier Fellows will receive bespoke support to propel their careers and a selected project forward both creatively and strategically, as well as customized mentorship pairings including a Netflix executive as an industry advisor and also a board member from Film Independent.
Each Fellow will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, and financial and coaching in partnership with The Jill James. Each Fellow will also receive a $30,000 unrestricted grant (!) to provide sustainability and/or support their creative endeavors.
Over the course of the twelve-month program, Amplifier Fellows will receive bespoke support to propel their careers and a selected project forward both creatively and strategically, as well as customized mentorship pairings including a Netflix executive as an industry advisor and also a board member from Film Independent.
Each Fellow will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, and financial and coaching in partnership with The Jill James. Each Fellow will also receive a $30,000 unrestricted grant (!) to provide sustainability and/or support their creative endeavors.
- 3/13/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Film Independent has named the Fellows and projects selected for the 2024 edition of its Amplifier Fellowship, a program that provides direct support to emerging and mid-career Black or African American filmmakers. They are Zandashé Brown (The Matriarch), Moira Griffin (The Prince of 7th Ave: The Legend of WilliWear/Willi Smith), Crystal Kayiza (The Gardeners), Mobolaji Olambiwonnu (Chosen Fathers), Avril Speaks (Pure), and Monique Walton (Anita).
Over the course of the year-long program, supported by Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity, Fellows will receive bespoke support to further both their career and current projects as well as customized mentorship pairings with a Netflix executive and board member from Film Independent. Each will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, financial and business advisement in partnership with The Jill James, and a $30,000 unrestricted grant, intended to support the sustainability of their creative endeavors.
“The Amplifier Fellowship provides...
Over the course of the year-long program, supported by Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity, Fellows will receive bespoke support to further both their career and current projects as well as customized mentorship pairings with a Netflix executive and board member from Film Independent. Each will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, financial and business advisement in partnership with The Jill James, and a $30,000 unrestricted grant, intended to support the sustainability of their creative endeavors.
“The Amplifier Fellowship provides...
- 3/13/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The Gotham Film and Media Institute and HBO Documentary Films have set the inaugural cohort and mentors for their Documentary Development Initiative, first announced in June.
Those selected as participants are Zeshawn Ali, Brit Fryer, Juan Pablo González, Melanie Ho, Crystal Kayiza, Jasmín Mara López, Amber Love, Khaula Malik, Habiba Nosheen and Mobolaji Olambiwonnu. Creatives serving as mentors include Cecilia Aldarondo, Geeta Gandbhir, Tj Martin, Smriti Mundhra, Matt O’Neill, Sam Pollard, Alex Stapleton, Jennifer Tiexiera, Rudy Valdez and Matt Wolf.
Related Story Disney Directing Program Unveils 2022-2023 Participants Related Story Sidney Poitier Set For Posthumous Icon Tribute At 2022 Gotham Awards Related Story Oscar Contender 'All That Breathes': When Birds Fall From The Skies Of Delhi, Two Brothers Come To Their Aid
The Documentary Development Initiative was designed to bolster storytellers who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+ and/or storytellers with disabilities, by providing them with the resources necessary to develop thought-provoking,...
Those selected as participants are Zeshawn Ali, Brit Fryer, Juan Pablo González, Melanie Ho, Crystal Kayiza, Jasmín Mara López, Amber Love, Khaula Malik, Habiba Nosheen and Mobolaji Olambiwonnu. Creatives serving as mentors include Cecilia Aldarondo, Geeta Gandbhir, Tj Martin, Smriti Mundhra, Matt O’Neill, Sam Pollard, Alex Stapleton, Jennifer Tiexiera, Rudy Valdez and Matt Wolf.
Related Story Disney Directing Program Unveils 2022-2023 Participants Related Story Sidney Poitier Set For Posthumous Icon Tribute At 2022 Gotham Awards Related Story Oscar Contender 'All That Breathes': When Birds Fall From The Skies Of Delhi, Two Brothers Come To Their Aid
The Documentary Development Initiative was designed to bolster storytellers who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+ and/or storytellers with disabilities, by providing them with the resources necessary to develop thought-provoking,...
- 11/16/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Film financier Peter Samuelson and showrunner-director Jonathan Prince have joined forces to launch PhilmCo, a production and distribution banner designed to produce socially-conscious movies and TV shows with a built-in philanthropic component.
Samuelson and Prince are working with private investors to fund the development of a range of projects that are about to be shopped to studio and network partners. The content backed by PhilmCo will focus on issues and causes that allow creative partners to build in calls to action to address the problems illustrated by the story.
Prince said issue-oriented content in the past has rarely taken the step of directly connecting audiences to charitable donations or social actions to capitalize on awareness. This will be a primary focus of PhilmCo which aims to knit together a network of appropriate nonprofit, charitable and philanthropic partners to help support each project and benefit.
“We’re all great storytellers, we...
Samuelson and Prince are working with private investors to fund the development of a range of projects that are about to be shopped to studio and network partners. The content backed by PhilmCo will focus on issues and causes that allow creative partners to build in calls to action to address the problems illustrated by the story.
Prince said issue-oriented content in the past has rarely taken the step of directly connecting audiences to charitable donations or social actions to capitalize on awareness. This will be a primary focus of PhilmCo which aims to knit together a network of appropriate nonprofit, charitable and philanthropic partners to help support each project and benefit.
“We’re all great storytellers, we...
- 10/8/2021
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Dreamseeker Media Releases ‘Ferguson Rises’ Trailer
Dreamseeker Media, in association with Films With a Purpose, Yoruba Saxon and PhilmCo, released a trailer for “Ferguson Rises,” opening Sept. 17 at Laemmle Monica, with a national rollout following.
Directed by Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, the film explores the aftermath of the protests in Ferguson after the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. Highlighting diverse voices of community members, from residents to police officers to business owners, “Ferguson Rises” chronicles the 400-day protests and rise of Black Lives Matter.
Sandra Evers-Manly, Tj Martin, Gigi Pritzker, Kai Bowe, and RZA executive produce, with David Oyelewo and Jessica Oyelowo serving as producers.
Watch the trailer below.
The Redford Center Awards Additional Grant Funding to Six Environmental Impact Documentary Projects
The Redford Center announced that six environmentalist documentary features in the current Redford Center Grants cohort will receive a total of $295,000 in second-year funding. “Demon Mineral,” “Impossible Town,...
Dreamseeker Media, in association with Films With a Purpose, Yoruba Saxon and PhilmCo, released a trailer for “Ferguson Rises,” opening Sept. 17 at Laemmle Monica, with a national rollout following.
Directed by Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, the film explores the aftermath of the protests in Ferguson after the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. Highlighting diverse voices of community members, from residents to police officers to business owners, “Ferguson Rises” chronicles the 400-day protests and rise of Black Lives Matter.
Sandra Evers-Manly, Tj Martin, Gigi Pritzker, Kai Bowe, and RZA executive produce, with David Oyelewo and Jessica Oyelowo serving as producers.
Watch the trailer below.
The Redford Center Awards Additional Grant Funding to Six Environmental Impact Documentary Projects
The Redford Center announced that six environmentalist documentary features in the current Redford Center Grants cohort will receive a total of $295,000 in second-year funding. “Demon Mineral,” “Impossible Town,...
- 9/14/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
PBS announced the fall slate of “Independent Lens,” the documentary anthology series presented by Itvs. The new season will premiere on October 11.
The films cover a host of social justice topics, such as how racial injustice affects families, the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, generational trauma in Indigenous communities and more.
The first film in the lineup is “Cured,” directed by Patrick Sammon and Benett Singer. It focuses on the psychiatrists and activists central in the opposition of the 1970s idea that homosexuality was a mental illness. After that is Mobolaji Olambiwonnu’s Tribeca audience award-winning “Ferguson Rises” about a father and son organizing a movement after the police killing of Michael Brown Jr.
Additional films in the slate include Jerry Risius and Beth Levison’s “Storm Lake,” about a family-run newspaper in Iowa struggling to keep its small town informed, and “Duty Free,” about filmmaker Sian-Pierre Regis taking his 75-year-old...
The films cover a host of social justice topics, such as how racial injustice affects families, the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, generational trauma in Indigenous communities and more.
The first film in the lineup is “Cured,” directed by Patrick Sammon and Benett Singer. It focuses on the psychiatrists and activists central in the opposition of the 1970s idea that homosexuality was a mental illness. After that is Mobolaji Olambiwonnu’s Tribeca audience award-winning “Ferguson Rises” about a father and son organizing a movement after the police killing of Michael Brown Jr.
Additional films in the slate include Jerry Risius and Beth Levison’s “Storm Lake,” about a family-run newspaper in Iowa struggling to keep its small town informed, and “Duty Free,” about filmmaker Sian-Pierre Regis taking his 75-year-old...
- 8/12/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Festival ran from June 9-20.
2021 Tribeca Festival announced revenge thriller Catch The Fair One and Blind Ambition as audience award winners on Thursday (June 24).
Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Catch The Fair One played in the US Narrative Feature category and centres on a Native American woman’s search for her missing sister. Second place went to Pan Nalin’s Spotlight Narrative selection Last Film Show.
Warwick Ross and Robert Coe’s Documentary Competition entry Blind Ambition took the top prize in the documentary category and tells of four friends who leave Zimbabwe for South Africa and become top sommeliers. Second...
2021 Tribeca Festival announced revenge thriller Catch The Fair One and Blind Ambition as audience award winners on Thursday (June 24).
Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Catch The Fair One played in the US Narrative Feature category and centres on a Native American woman’s search for her missing sister. Second place went to Pan Nalin’s Spotlight Narrative selection Last Film Show.
Warwick Ross and Robert Coe’s Documentary Competition entry Blind Ambition took the top prize in the documentary category and tells of four friends who leave Zimbabwe for South Africa and become top sommeliers. Second...
- 6/24/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The just-concluded Tribeca Festival, which offered signs of the industry and culture bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic, drew solid crowds both in person and online, according to new data from organizers.
About 100,000 people attended the 250-plus events held over 12 days, everything from screenings to performances to talks. Tribeca, whose 2020 edition was wiped out by Covid-19, became the first major North American fest to host in-person events. It opened and closed, respectively, with In the Heights and Dave Chappelle‘s untitled documentary. Like the majority of films at this year’s fest, they were both world premieres.
With limits on in-person ticket sales, the decision was made to mount an ambitious online offering, Tribeca At Home. The online hub for a wide range of features, shorts, conversations, filmmaker Q&As and other material racked up 115,000 overall views, the festival said. The streaming app was distributed on Roku and other platforms,...
About 100,000 people attended the 250-plus events held over 12 days, everything from screenings to performances to talks. Tribeca, whose 2020 edition was wiped out by Covid-19, became the first major North American fest to host in-person events. It opened and closed, respectively, with In the Heights and Dave Chappelle‘s untitled documentary. Like the majority of films at this year’s fest, they were both world premieres.
With limits on in-person ticket sales, the decision was made to mount an ambitious online offering, Tribeca At Home. The online hub for a wide range of features, shorts, conversations, filmmaker Q&As and other material racked up 115,000 overall views, the festival said. The streaming app was distributed on Roku and other platforms,...
- 6/24/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Michael Brown Sr., father of Michael Brown, who was killed in Ferguson, Mo. by a police officer at age 18, has appeared in his fair share of documentaries and recorded countless interviews since his son’s death in 2014. But there was something about “Ferguson Rises,” filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu’s take on the Brown family’s story, that felt different.
“It’s giving us fathers a voice,” Brown tells Variety, joined by Olambiwonnu and the film’s producer David Oyelowo to discuss the new doc. “The media runs right to the woman — it’s okay, that’s what they do — [fathers are] supposed to be the strength and take it, take it, take, it. But we hurt, too.”
That’s why Brown says he is honored to be at the center of this new narrative about his son’s life, his death and how the events of Aug. 9, 2014 impacted the citizens of Ferguson, before...
“It’s giving us fathers a voice,” Brown tells Variety, joined by Olambiwonnu and the film’s producer David Oyelowo to discuss the new doc. “The media runs right to the woman — it’s okay, that’s what they do — [fathers are] supposed to be the strength and take it, take it, take, it. But we hurt, too.”
That’s why Brown says he is honored to be at the center of this new narrative about his son’s life, his death and how the events of Aug. 9, 2014 impacted the citizens of Ferguson, before...
- 6/18/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Stacey Abrams has been tapped to receive the inaugural Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice award as part of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
The new award named for Belafonte — the Emmy-winning actor, activist and civil rights leader — is intended to recognize individuals who have used storytelling and the arts to enact change in their communities.
Abrams, in addition to her work as a politician and voting rights activist, also produced last year’s gripping documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” which illuminated America’s history of voter suppression. As such, Tribeca announced that Abrams will be honored for her “outstanding leadership, service and commitment to fighting against injustices through her work as a political leader, voting rights activist and novelist.”
“We are proud to salute the brilliant and inspiring actor, activist and friend, Harry Belafonte with this award created in his honor,’” said Tribeca Chief Content Officer, Paula Weinstein.
The new award named for Belafonte — the Emmy-winning actor, activist and civil rights leader — is intended to recognize individuals who have used storytelling and the arts to enact change in their communities.
Abrams, in addition to her work as a politician and voting rights activist, also produced last year’s gripping documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” which illuminated America’s history of voter suppression. As such, Tribeca announced that Abrams will be honored for her “outstanding leadership, service and commitment to fighting against injustices through her work as a political leader, voting rights activist and novelist.”
“We are proud to salute the brilliant and inspiring actor, activist and friend, Harry Belafonte with this award created in his honor,’” said Tribeca Chief Content Officer, Paula Weinstein.
- 5/13/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Quartermain Media, a digital content company specializing in branded works created alongside African American influencers, has partnered up with SAG-aftra to partake in the labor union’s recently-inked Commercials Contracts initiative.
SAG-aftra, a labor union that represents roughly 160,000 entertainment and media professionals, announced its new Commercials Contract in May -- an overarching agreement with the ad industry at large that guarantees performers in ads fair wages, safe working conditions, and access to health insurance and retirement benefits.
The partnership with Quartermain means that all of the company's digital series and branded content productions will offer these benefits. Quartermain is a full service studio that seeks to connect advertisers with top African American influencers and filmmakers, including YouTube stalwart Tre Melvin (pictured above), Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, Steven Butler, Dikega Hadnot, and more.
“
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
SAG-aftra, a labor union that represents roughly 160,000 entertainment and media professionals, announced its new Commercials Contract in May -- an overarching agreement with the ad industry at large that guarantees performers in ads fair wages, safe working conditions, and access to health insurance and retirement benefits.
The partnership with Quartermain means that all of the company's digital series and branded content productions will offer these benefits. Quartermain is a full service studio that seeks to connect advertisers with top African American influencers and filmmakers, including YouTube stalwart Tre Melvin (pictured above), Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, Steven Butler, Dikega Hadnot, and more.
“
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
- 12/2/2019
- by Geoff Weiss
- Tubefilter.com
When Patrisse Khan-Cullors spoke to IndieWire, she sounded tired, but that’s hardly surprising. Life gets busy when you’re the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement: Since its creation in 2013, her activism and life have been the subject of national attention.
Recently, however, Cullors decided to join up with French digital media company blackpills to localize her influence in Los Angeles and produce “Resist,” a docu-series on the community’s efforts to thwart a $3.5 billion jail expansion plan.
Directed by Tani Ikeda, Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, and Nathalie Johns, the 12-episode series focuses on the Justice L.A. and Dignity & Power Now campaigns (the latter of which was founded by Cullors) as they protest the proposed jail expansion and call for a reform of the prison system.
So far, “Resist” has been well-received, with screenings of the series being held in both Europe and the United States. “Folks were moved,...
Recently, however, Cullors decided to join up with French digital media company blackpills to localize her influence in Los Angeles and produce “Resist,” a docu-series on the community’s efforts to thwart a $3.5 billion jail expansion plan.
Directed by Tani Ikeda, Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, and Nathalie Johns, the 12-episode series focuses on the Justice L.A. and Dignity & Power Now campaigns (the latter of which was founded by Cullors) as they protest the proposed jail expansion and call for a reform of the prison system.
So far, “Resist” has been well-received, with screenings of the series being held in both Europe and the United States. “Folks were moved,...
- 4/13/2018
- by Bailey Mount
- Indiewire
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