BREAKING THROUGH THE LENS - FINALISTS 2020
EACH OF THE FOLLOWING feature PROJECTS ARE SEEKING FINANCE to COMPLETE PRODUCTION IN 2021.
Hover over images to reveal PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS AND DIRECTOR BIO
FINANCE PLAN, BUDGET AND SCRIPT AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Project Highlights
• The first project to combine Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew languages.
• TVE (Spanish public television) 2020 selected project.
• Finalist for SGAE 2019 Julio Alejandro Film Screenplay Award.
• Producer's credits include TU HIJO, ADIOS, the Oscar-nominated short MADRE and TV show PAOUITA SALAS.
• Key Cast includes Cecilia Suarez (PERFECTOS DESCONOCIDOS) and Luis Tosar (QUIEN A HIERRO MATA).
ALEGRIA
DRAMA | SPAIN
Alegría is a journey through social and religious diversity, where three women who, each in her own way, want to break with social impositions in a city as unique as unknown: Melilla.
Producer:
Clara Nieto
DirECTOR:
Violeta Salama
Violeta Salama holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a Master's degree in creative documentary from the Universidad Aut6noma de Barcelona. She moved to Vancouver in 2007 to pursue a post-graduate degree in film production at the Vancouver Film School. There she began working in second production units such as THE L WORD and SMALLVILLE. In 2009, she returned to Madrid to work on television series CREMATORIO and AMAR EN TIEMPOS REVUELTOS. Violeta transitioned to cinema with Antonio Chavarrfas to make DICTADO as assistant director, followed by BLANCANIEVES by Pablo Berger and EL SEXO DE LOS ANGELES by Xabier Villaverde. In 2013 Jaime Rosales included some pieces directed by her in his film BEAUTIFUL YOUTH. She has collaborated as script supervisor with directors such as Manolo Martin Cuenca and Mateo Gil.
• BIRTH/REBIRTH participated in the 2020 Sundance Screenwriting Lab.
• Director Laura Moss named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
• Moss' short film FRY DAY was acquired by Criterion and is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.
• BIRTH/REBIRTH was awarded a development grant by Rooftop Films/The Adrienne Shelley Foundation
BIRTH/REBIRTH
PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR | USA
A psychological horror film about motherhood and creation, inspired by Mary's Frankenstein. The film is centered around two female protagonists, a single mother and a childless forensic pathologist who are bound together by their relationship to a re-animated little girl.
PRODUCER:
Mali Elfman
DIRECTOR:
Laura Moss
Laura Moss is an AICP-award winning filmmaker from New York City. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, an IFP Emerging Storyteller and has earned jury awards for her films at Tribeca, SXSW, Melbourne International Film Festival and Hollyshorts. Her recent project, the pilot of the sci-fi/comedy series, 'neurotica' (starring Karen Gillan and Jon Bass), premiered this April at the Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Director for a Comedy Pilot at Seriesfest. She was a fellow at the 2020 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, developing her horror feature 'Birth/Rebirth', an all-female redux of the Frankenstein myth.
Project Highlights
• SFFILM grant recipient, Hamptons Screenwriters Lab participant, IFP Emerging Storytellers participant, NYU Purple List and NYU Production Lab selection.
• Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Christian Sprenger attached.
• Director Jessica dela Merced featured in Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
• Merced's short film, WAIT TIL THE WOLVES MAKE NICE which acts as a prelude to CHICKENSHIT, premiered at SXSW and won the Grand Jury Prize in Detroit's Cinetopia International Film Festival.
CHICKENSHIT
YOUTH ADVENTURE | USA
With the help of a scrappy group of boys, 11-year-old Phoenix sets out on a dangerous mission to save her Detroit neighborhood from arsonists and prove herself to her father.
PRODUCER:
Mickey Valles-Schiff
DIRECTOR:
Jessica dela Merced
Jessica dela Merced is a Filipina American writer/director from San Francisco. She was a director in the Disney ABC directing program and one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film. She is a graduate of NYU's grad film program where she received the Spike Lee Fellowship. Her award winning thesis film HYPEBEASTS, written under the mentorship of Lee, aired on PBS. Her short film, "Wait 'til the Wolves Make Nice," premiered at SXSW and won the Grand Jury Prize in Detroit's Cinetopia International Film Festival. Her feature script CHICKENSHIT is a winner of the NYU Purple List, a San Francisco Film Society grant recipient, and a Hamptons Screenwriters Lab participant. Her latest short PHONY, executive produced by Paul Feig, premiered at SeriesFest 2019.
Project Highlights
• Awarded a $50,000 grant from New York Foundation of the Arts inaugural Women's Film Fund.
• Accepted into Women Make Movies production assistance program and finalist for ITVS funding.
• World-leading advocate, law changer and expert in violence-against-women Laura Richards attached as E.P. • Strong interest from Wondery to produce a 6-part companion JENNIFER, 42 podcast. • Working with NYC-based Mighty Oaks animation studio, who have experience creating for Netflix, HBO and NBC.
JENNIFER, 42
ANIMATED TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY | USA
The dramatic story of Jennifer Magnano, a Connecticut mother of three, and her family's battle to escape dad Scott's brutal violence and coercive control. Voiced by Jennifer's three children, a series of shocking acts turn Jennifer's struggle into a life-and-death game that she cannot win.
PRODUCER:
Katie Hyde
DIRECTOR:
Elle Kamihira
Elle Kamihira is a multi-disciplinary director and producer. After graduating from Ingemar Bergman's alma mater Sodra Latin in Stockholm, Elle honed her creative skills in independent film and commercial production in LA and NY. Drawn to the challenges of large-scale media integration and the museum as a storytelling space, Elle's credits include award-winning introductory theater WHO WE ARE at the National Museum of the American Indian and signature films for Museum of the American Revolution. Other credits include feature film JACK & HIS FRIENDSt (Arrow Entertainment Group), documentary MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS (Lifetime) and ROCKY HORROR SHOW on Broadway. JENNIFER, 42 is Elle's first documentary feature film.
Project Highlights
• Awarded Best Project at Tokyo Talent Campus in Japan. • Recipient of Next Masters Development Grant in Japan.
• Recipient of Audience Award at Torino FilmLab Frameworks in Italy.
• Cinemart Selection at International Film Festival & Awards Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
• Film Development Council Philippines Film Market Selection, winning Post Production & Equipment Support.
KODOKUSHI
DRAMA | Philippines, Japan, Malaysia
A middle-aged Japanese salaryman risks everything and moves to the Philippines to escape the fate of kodokushi—the lonely death.
PRODUCER:
Lorna Tee
DIRECTOR:
Janus Victoria
Janus Victoria is a Filipino filmmaker born and based in Manila. She has been working in Philippine media for more than a decade, beginning in print and moving to broadcasting, where she currently works as a director and writer for I-Witness, the longest-running documentary program in the country. A fellow of the Asian Film Academy and Tokyo Talents, Janus has independently produced five short films. Her first film, Hopia Express, a story about a young migrant woman from China and a disgruntled Filipino call center agent set in Manila's Chinatown, premiered at Cinemanila International Film Festival in 2006. Since then, she has been writing and producing films about urban life that juxtapose dissimilarities between cities and depict how people and places interact. Her debut feature project, Kodokushi, is set in two cities at odds with each other: Tokyo and Manila.
Project Highlights
• Lora Campbell is a Canadian Screen Nominated Director.
• Selected for the Women in the Director's Chair Career Advancement Module 2019.
• Executive Producer Lauren Grant named by Hollywood Reporter one of 15 Talents to Watch.
• Editor Christine Armstrong won Special Jury Award at SXSW 2018 for THE NEW ROMANTIC.
• Celebrated Cinematographer Gayle Ye's films have played at TIFF, Cannes and festivals all over the world.
LET’S DO THIS
COMEDY | CANADA, USA
A Queer ensemble buddy comedy where four best friends with student loan debt looming over their heads attempt the heist of a breakfast television show giveaway despite their complete lack of know how or skill.
PRODUCERS:
Fonna Seidu
Lauren Grant
DIRECTOR:
Lora Campbell
Lora Campbell is a transgender non-binary (they/them) Canadian Screen Award nominated director from Newfoundland, Canada. A graduate of the Atlantic Filmmaker's FILM 5 Program, the National Screen Institute and the Canadian Film Centre's Producers Lab, they also work as a film educator. In 2016 they directed over 150 digital episodes for The Beaverton Digital which garnered them a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Cross Platform Project in 2017. In 2018 they created, directed and produced numerous digital series including #interns, as well as Yoga 101 and Soul Decision Comedy for CBC Comedy. In 2018 Lora received two rounds of development funding for Let's Do This and 40 Acres from the Harold Greenberg Fund. In 2020 they go to camera on Karen Chapman's Village Keeper and RT Thorne's 40 Acres, both of which were originally funded by the Telefilm Talent to Watch Program.
Project Highlights
• Meryl Streep champions LILLY in Hollywood Reporter article.
• Expressed interest from Embankment (foreign sales) and Roadside Attractions (domestic distribution)
• Screenplay for LILLY is an ATHENA LIST winner (The Blacklist for female protagonist led scripts)
• Feldman was awarded the NYWIFT Ravena/ grant for female filmmakers over 40 toward directing LILLY
LILLY
DRAMA | USA
Based on the remarkable life of Fair Pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, LILLY is a thrilling political drama about a poor tire factory worker, cheated of a fair wage because of her sex, who finds the power within, risking all that she has, to fight for justice against powerful, entrenched corporate and governmental systems.
PRODUCER:
J Todd Harris
DIRECTOR:
Rachel Feldman
Rachel Feldman is an accomplished director and writer. LILLY is the nexus of her professional, personal, and political
passions. Feldman has directed over 75 broadcast episodes and movies including her most recent shows: CRIMINAL
MINDS (CBS), BLUE BLOODS (CBS), THE ROOKIE (ABC), and the pilot and full season of MGM's new series THE
BAXTERS. Feldman has written features and pilots for eOne, Freeform, Lifetime, Scott Free and more. Her pilot KINKS
was selected for the 2019 MIP Cannes In Development Initiative, and also won the 2020 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch, and
the WGA Drama Queens Best Pilot. You can find her full bio and credits at www.rachelfeldman.com and follow her on
Twitter @WomenCallAction.
Project Highlights
• Daresha inked a co-production deal with /TVS for an 86-min version of MAMA BEARS in September 2019.
• MAMA BEARS was accepted into the 2020 Film Independent Documentary Lab and the Women In Film / Sundance Institute Financing Intensive.
• Daresha's feature documentary CHAVELA about iconic lesbian singer Chavela Vargas premiered at Berlinale 2017 and was named the best Latin American documentary of the decade by "CineArte" magazine.
• Pedro Almadovar champions CHAVELA in an Indiewire article saying “I cry till the very last frame.”
MAMA BEARS
DOCUMENTARY | USA
The lives of conservative, Christian mothers are utterly transformed when they decide to accept their LGBTQ children. Spread throughout the country but connected through private Facebook groups, they call themselves "mama bears" because they fight ferociously for the civil rights of their children and the entire LGBTQ community.
PRODUCER:
LAURA TATHAM
DIRECTOR/Producer:
Daresha Kyi
Daresha Kyi writes, produces, and directs film and television in Spanish and English. A graduate of NYU Film School, in 2018 she directed the short documentary TRANS IN AMERICA: TEXAS STRONG which garnered over 3.5 million online views, won 2 Webby awards, and won an Emmy. In 2017 she co-directed CHAVELA, an award-winning feature documentary which premiered at Berlinale and screened in over 40 countries. In 2015 she produced Kristina Wong's HOW NOTTO PICK UP ASIAN WOMEN. In 1992 Daresha won a Tri-Star Pictures fellowship to attend the directors' program at the AFI Conservatory based on her award-winning short LAND WHERE MY FATHERS DIED, co-starring Isaiah Washington. Daresha's films have been funded by ITVS, NEA, NYSCA, and many other foundations. Currently a fellow with A Blade of Grass and Film Independent, she is a former fellow of Creative Capital, Firelight Media Documentary, and the Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator labs.
Project Highlights
• MOUTH won the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Screenplay in the 2015 BlueCat Screenplay Competition
• MOUTH landed on the 2015 Tracking Board "Hit List" of best unproduced screenplays.
• Kimi wrote and directed SUGAR, a short proof of concept for MOUTH, which had a successful festival run.
• Kimi was selected for the 2019 Film Independent Episodic Lab in Los Angeles.
MOUTH
DRAMA, PSYCHOSEXUAL THRILLER | USA
When Covid cuts her academic year short and foreign-exchange student Raina is forced to move in with the family that she babysits for, she soon realizes that the mysterious patriarch may be more of a threat than the pandemic.
PRODUCER:
Isabel Marden
KIM BAILEY
DIRECTOR:
Kimi Lee
Kimi Lee is a multi-racial writer, director and graduate of Stanford University's Film and Media Studies program. She began her career as a Story Editor curating short-form content for Snapchat, Inc., before transitioning full time to screenwriting. Kimi's feature script, MOUTH won the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Screenplay in the 2015 BlueCat Screenwriting Competition, and subsequently landed on the Tracking Board's 2015 "Hit-List" of best unproduced screenplays. Ki mi's award winning short films SUGAR and KAMA'AINA have travelled the film festival circuit internationally, and have premiered on Newness and Short of the Week, among others. Kimi was most recently staffed on the Amazon Studios + Blossom Films drama series THE EXPATRIATES, based off the NYTimes best-selling novel and Netflix's LOCKE AND KEY based on the popular graphic novel. She was also a participant in Film lndependent's 2019 Episodic Lab, and landed on the 2019 Young and Hungry list of Hollywood's top new writers. Kimi is repped by UTA and Kaplan Perrone.
Project Highlights
• Winner of Open SEA Fund Award 2019 in Thailand.
• Winner of Sorfond Award 2019at Busan Asian Film Market.
• Winner of Special Mention at Talents Tokyo 2019 and selected for NYU Purple List 2020.
• Official Selection at Berlinale Co-Production Market 2020.
• Official Selection of Cannes La Fabrique de Cinema Du Monde 2020.
SKIN OF YOUTH
drama | USA, VIETNAM
San and Nam court the criminal underworld of 90s Saigon to find enough money for San's gender reassignment surgery. The young lovers are unaware that the price they have to pay will test their love and the limit of their humanity.
PRODUCER:
Ngoc Tran
DIRECTOR:
Ash MayfaiR
Ash Mayfair was born in Vietnam and educated in the UK and the US. She received an MFA in filmmaking at NYU Tisch. The screenplay for her first feature, THE THIRD WIFE, was a recipient of the Spike Lee Film Production Fund in 2014. Ash Mayfair is an alumna of the NYU Purple List in 2014. The Third Wife premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and won the NETPAC Jury Award for Best Asian Film. The Third Wife has since garnered multiple awards including the Otra Mirada Award at San Sebastian IFF, a Special Mention for Best Feature Film at the Milano IFF, a Gold Hugo for Best Director at the Chicago IFF, a Special Jury Award from the Minsk IFF Listapad, the Golden Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film at the Kolkata IFF, the Best Artistic Contribution at the Cairo I FF, the Youth Jury Award Comundo at the Fribourg IFF and the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Sarasota IFF. Most recently, Ash Mayfair was nominated for the Someone To Watch Spirits Award.