THE LEF FOUNDATION

NEW ENGLAND FORTUNATE TO HAVE THE LEF FOUNDATION

LEF Foundation Benefits Independent Filmmakers and Five Organizations that also Support New England Filmmakers with $350,000 in Grants

By Carol Patton

The LEF Foundation, as part of its Moving Image Fund program, has awarded $150,000 to five non-profit media arts organizations including The Center for Independent Documentary, The Color of Film Collaborative, WGBH Local Productions, Filmmakers Collaborative and Central Productions. This boost to the independent film community follows a most welcomed third annual round of grants from the Foundation and its Moving Image Fund to independent film and video artists in New England. This year’s awards total over $200,000 to 26 individuals bringing the total Moving Image Fund grant this year to $350,000. The Foundation has also announced its commitment to continuing grants under this fund beyond its initial three years.

The LEF Foundation is a private family foundation that supports the creation and presentation of contemporary work in visual, media, and performing arts primarily in the New England and Northern California geographic regions. LEF funds projects of creative merit, cultural resonance, and timeliness, reflecting a belief in the value of experimentation and in the important role that art and its practice hold in society.

“The goal of the multi-year program,” states LEF Director Lyda Kuth of the LEF awards to non-profit media arts organizations, “is to further Boston’s reputation as an effective and vibrant place for the production of independent film projects. By investing in key, non-profit producing organizations, LEF hopes to encourage a stronger system of production support for those Boston filmmakers whose work exists outside of the commercial mainstream.” The focus on organizations that nurture the individual artist and the creation of work is consistent with the LEF Foundation’s mission to facilitate contemporary art production in the region.

Phase I of the project, which began in May 2003, brought together the five organizations with outside experts in a series of meetings. Over the course of nine months, the group explored how to strengthen the nonprofits’ skills, knowledge, and resources for providing production assistance in what is a rapidly changing landscape. The organizations also began to identify ways of working together to reduce programming overlap and to pursue collaborative opportunities that would benefit the larger field of independent filmmaking in Boston. A good suggestion is that if you have an affinity with any of the five grant winning organizations, check in with them to find out how what they will offer may benefit you.

First year implementation grants, awarded in June 2004, constitute Phase II of the program. Informed by the collaborative discussion and planning, each organization is using their grant to build on core strengths and implement new strategies that will improve the quality of production support each organization offers. The organizations, and the projects they are undertaking in Phase II, are: The Center for Independent Documentary, Sharon, MA, whose mission is to co-produce and distribute high-quality documentaries about contemporary social and cultural issues, will increase administrative support and produce a handbook that addresses most “frequently asked questions” posed by documentary filmmakers. Filmmakers Collaborative, Waltham, MA, which supports the production of independent film and videos on social, cultural, political, racial and environmental issues will create an online resource program that increases filmmakers’ access to current information about funding, business planning, distribution, and emerging technologies.

Bonnie Waltch, Filmmakers Collaborative’s Executive Director said “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be part of a concerted effort to help groom and grow local filmmakers and connect emerging filmmakers with established ones. We’re very excited about using this grant to expand Filmmakers Collaborative’s services and become a broader, more-inclusive organization for local filmmakers.”

The Color of Film Collaborative, Roxbury, MA, which supports independent filmmakers of color, will use the LEF Foundation grant to develop a mentorship program for filmmakers of color, as well as a mini-grant program that provides modest but timely support to projects at different stages of production. WGBH Local Productions, Boston, MA, whose mission is to create high quality programs that reflect the interests and experiences of Boston’s diverse communities, will apply LEF funding to its new Filmmaker-in-Residence program. This program provides two residencies per year in which independent filmmakers are given a working space, access to technical equipment and support, and editorial guidance to complete or advance their independently funded projects. Central Productions, Cambridge, MA, which seeks to advance an emerging filmmaking community and contribute alternative bodies of work within the culture of the moving image, will develop and maintain an Advisory Board

that offers seasoned mentorship to emerging narrative filmmakers.

These organizations will continue to meet as a peer network, to share knowledge and identify opportunities for future collaboration. As an institutional member of the Creative Economy Council, LEF is playing a leadership role in the Council’s Film Working Group. Comprised of both non-profit and business members, this effort is focused on increasing collaborative and innovative practices of the New England film industry. The LEF Foundation’s targeted investment in non-profit media organizations is part of a larger vision to advance the growth and development of film as a creative economic industry in New England.

In 2002, LEF established The Moving Image Fund (MIF), which is awarded to independent film and video makers in the region, particularly for the more challenging work that does not easily find its niche in the marketplace. Lyda Kuth, states “by funding an array of new works, the foundation creates a sense of possibility for contemporary artists, encouraging them to continue to produce work in New England.”

Boston- based filmmaker Ellie Lee (see IMAGINE cover story February 2002), whose film THE ROAD HOME received pre-production support from the LEF Foundation, commented that “as a result of LEF’s early stage support, I was able to complete my first independent feature that went on to receive the juried Creative Promise Award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. None of this would have been possible without LEF’s risk-taking support.”

In addition to its commitment to emerging filmmakers in the region, the Moving Image Fund also supports renowned New England filmmakers such as Ross McElwee and Frederick Wiseman. Overall, this year’s recipients reside in 13 communities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine. The Moving Image Fund met its goal to fund across lines of genres and production size, awarding grants to such diverse projects as Michal Goldman’s major documentary work AT HOME IN UTOPIA and Max Coniglio’s hand drawn animation THE DAILY PLANNER.

LEF funded 26 projects this year totaling $200,000. They are:

In Pre-Production:

Karen Aqua, Twist of Fate, $5,000, an experimental animation.

Alane Brodrick, Aviary, $5,000, a multi-layered experimental film.

Cozette Carroll, Fatal Interview, $5,000, an experimental narrative.

Sarina Khan Reddy, My Father’s Taj Mahal, $5,000, a documentary.

Cristina A. Kotz Cornejo, Soledad, $5,000, a narrative.

Lauren Moye, Windy Acres, $5,000, a regionally based comedy.

Marlo Poras, Gambian Wedding, $5,000, a documentary feature.

Larry Shea, P’Town Project, $5,000, an experimental/personal rumination.

Martha Swetzoff, Perfect, Kind-Hearted Wickedness, $5,000, a drama.

Sabrina Zanella Foresi, At the Seams: Yoko Kato, $5,000, an exp. documentary.

In Production:

Nancy Andrews, The Haunted Camera, $15,000, an experimental narrative.

Cherry Arnold, Buddy, An American Story, $10,000, a documentary.

Andrew Bujalski, Mutual Appreciation, $10,000, a narrative film.

Abigail Child, The Future Is Behind Us, $8,000, an experimental construct.

Max Coniglio, The Daily Planner, $6,000, an animated film.

Steve Gentile, Never Live Above a Psychic, $5,000, an animated short.

Michal Goldman, At Home in Utopia, $10,000, a documentary.

Ross McElwee, Mariah and Adrian, $20,000, an autobiographical documentary.

Lisa Perkins, Secret Intelligence: The Red Hot Mind of Hedy Lamarr, $10,000, a documentary.

Ben Russell, The Twenty-One Lives of William H. Bonney, $8,000, an experimental narrative.

James Rutenbeck, Saint Patrick Parish, $15,000, a documentary film.

Ann Steuernagel, Audio Visions, $3,000, a three-part experimental video work.

Frederick Wiseman, Idaho Legislature, $15,000, a documentary film.

In Distribution:

Laura Coleslaw, STAY UNTIL TOMORROW, $5,000, a narrative feature whose “film-within-a-film”

framework chronicles the escapades of its female protagonist, a transcontinental drifter

Julie Mallozzi, MONKEY DANCE, $5,000, a documentary about three children of Cambodian

refugees coming of age in Lowell, MA and reconciling their parents’ culture with their uniquely

American possibilities

Steven Subotnick, THE GLASS CROW, $5,000, an animated film featuring the flight of a crow

through the landscape of the Thirty Years War, a religious conflict that devastated Central

Europe in the 17th century

To read full descriptions of each of these deserving and intriguing grant-winning projects or to learn more about the LEF Foundation and how you may submit a project for a LEF Foundation grant consideration, visit www.lef-foundation.org PUB

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