The Gates Foundation rewards a Garbage Dream

Mai Iskander's documentary Garbage Dreams, grantee of Chicken & Egg, has not only made a phenomenal impact on the festival circuit and garnered 14 awards in the process, but has now caused quite a stir amongst one of the most prestigious philanthropic organizations in the world. Today, Chicken & Egg were delighted to learn that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a pledge of $1 million to support the work of The Spirit of Youth Association, the non-governmental recycling organization profiled in the documentary.

At the International Sustainability Conference in Cairo, attendees were treated with a screening of Garbage Dreams. Melanie Walker, Senior Program Officer for Special Initiatives, Global Development Program of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shared the impact Garbage Dreams had on the foundation: “We never had a movie screening at the Gates Foundation. . . This year maybe a month and a half ago, since we heard about this film, we invited Mai [Iskander] to come screen the film [Garbage Dreams] for us at our foundation.” Melanie Walker said as she addressed the audience, “as you mentioned, it [Garbage Dreams] is very eye-opening. Because you can hear about it, but then you see it and it becomes very much more real and you can start to think about ways to try to help and be involved. We are privileged to have had that opportunity. . . Our goal is to try empower groups such as these and others around the world.”

This is what keeps Chicken & Egg incubating and hatching. Films have an ability to communicate and ignite an audience like no other medium and create real impact. Melanie Walker has really exemplified here just how STORY LEADS TO ACTION.


MORE ABOUT THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH ASSOCIATION:
The Spirit of Youth Association, is an association of Zaballeen from Manchiet Nasser. SOY runs the community based Recycling School for Zaballeen youth; spreads the concept of waste segregation, recycling and renewable energies; and advocates for the garbage collectors community, in particular their integration into the formal sector of Cairo’s solid waste management. Ezzat Naem Guindy, the executive director of the Spirit of Youth Association said in response to receiving the award: “We are honored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for honoring us as Zaballeen. . . We will use these funds to build the capacity of our team, the capacity of our people, and to spread income generating projects and awareness such as the source segregation campaign . . . So that Garbage Dreams becomes a reality".

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GARBAGE DREAMS at www.garbagedreams.com


In the pictures:
1) Melanie Walker (Gates) announces Gates Foundation Award - Left to Right: Ezzat Naem Guindy (SOY); Melanie Walker (Gates); Laila, Nabil, Osama and Adham of "Garbage Dreams;" Mai Iskander

APPLY to BAY AREA VIDEO COALITION AWARDS

BAVC's MediaMaker Awards are open for the 2010 round of applications for four lucky filmmakers, with a closeby deadline of November 30 by 5pm PST.

"The award offers in-kind training and post-production grants for independent artists with a particular focus on supporting emerging artists and under served communities. The Awards are designed to give independent artists direct access to the latest digital media technologies"


Letters of inquiry and nominations should be sent to: Wendy Levy, Director of Creative Programming.

For more information go to their website here, where you can apply on line.

Also next year BAVC's Producer Institute will be held Friday, May 28, 2010 through Sunday, June 6, 2010, when 8 projects will receive rigorous mentorship on how to fully embrace the emerging forms of multi-media platforms and integrate these new formats in their work.

'The Producers Institute for New Media Technologies is a ten-day residency for eight creative teams (independent producers or public broadcasters) with a shared goal of developing and prototyping a multi-platform project inspired by, or based on a significant documentary project. The intention of the Institute is to develop socially relevant media projects for emerging digital platforms. Producers participate in high-level industry roundtables, intense one-on-one project development with technical mentors, new media storytelling workshops, and hands-on prototyping of their ideas. The participants adapt and develop film, video, and audio content for delivery using a range of interactive formats, including but not limited to video game applications, interactive, web-based experiences, mobile streaming, multi-user communities, and new educational software. '

For further criteria by which to apply please visit their website here or contact BAVC's Director of Creative Programming Wendy Levy.

The 2010 application deadline is 5pm PST on Friday, January 15.

Cinereach's Winter Grant Cycle is Open!

Cinereach's Winter Grant Cycle is now open for submissions! The deadline is not far away, set for the 1st of december so get prepping on those LOI's asap.

Cinereach is looking for underrepresented individual narratives that provoke dialogue and reveal new perspectives, across national borderlines. They grant over $500,000 a year to feature films at all stages of production, ranging from $5,000 - $50,000. For more information on the application process please visit Cinereach's homepage here

One of Chicken & Egg's very own executive produced films, Rose & Nangebire, currently in post-production, is an example of a previous grantee of Cinereach.

Rose and Nangabire (Nonfiction) by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel
When war came to Rose Mapendo’s village in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she was separated from her five-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Over a decade later, mother and daughter are reunited in Phoenix, Arizona, where they must face the past and build a new future. The film was selected as one of eight projects for The Good Pitch at IFP’s Independent Film Week and just received a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE: Day 3

Two days of intensive workshops, sharing and, ultimately, caring for one another's projects at the REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE retreat made for a riveting final day at the 92Y Tribeca. Here, the six filmmakers were given opportunity to share and "pitch" their projects to interested nonprofit organizations and funders invited by Working Films.

Stephanie Wang-Breal (Wo Ai Ni Mommy) takes us through the day:
In the morning, each of the six filmmakers were given 10 minutes to present a clip from their work and talk about their community engagement plans:



After lunch, the filmmakers had "Quick Quality Time" (Speed dating without the awkward connotations) with attending nonprofit organizations and funders to brainstorm about possible collaborations:



At the end of the day, both the filmmakers and attendees were asked to share what they learnt from the workshop. Kate Gottlieb Kingswell, from Girls Scouts of the USA, really summed up the sentiment we wanted involved parties to be able to derive from the experience.



We are really proud of the progress our filmmakers made over the course of three days, as evident in Stephanie's thoughts here.



But that's not all! Working Films had invited a group of students from the Bronx, who write and perform poetry, known as the Power Writers to come and witness the day. They listened, engaged and ended our day for us with some poetry they had written from what they had learnt. Yes, they had written this over the course of a few hours - not a single person wasn't left unmoved by their extraordinary abilities.
Check them out on the Chicken & Egg Youtube Channel here.

Thanks to my colleagues at Working Films, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund and 92Y for really creating a space for filmmakers to say "I don't know" and nonprofits to say "I can help!"

The filmmakers who took part were: Jesse Epstein (Body Typed Series), Dawn Valadez (Going on 13), Jessica Cele (It's Not About Sex), Selena A. Burks (Saving Jackie), Louise Vance and Libby Scancarello (Seneca Falls) and Stephanie Wang-Breal (Wo Ai Ni Mommy).

REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE: Day 2

There's something stirring here in Chappaqua on day two of REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE as six filmmakers begin to move beyond the brainstorming sessions we held yesterday in order to create some very concrete, specific asks to pose to potential partners on the final day of our 3 day workshop tomorrow.

When asked how their approach had evolved thus far, the Seneca Falls team exclaimed: "you can outreach all you want but I realized that the people you are talking to will say "so what?", outreach is about reaching - not grabbing."

The growing, stretching, learning and confidence-building we have been doing over the last two days will culminate tomorrow at the 92Y Tribeca where non profits and funders will have a chance to meet, learn and get on board with these brilliant projects with extraordinary messages.

Tomorrow we will:
• Introduce and illustrate to non-profits and funders working on girls’ issues the effectiveness of film as a tool for advancing their organizational priorities and mission, emphasizing the wide range of ways in which film can be used and viewed.

• Explore partnerships between filmmakers and non-profits, and between non-profits that are not yet working together, that will result in real change in the lives of girls.

• Learn from non-profits about the incentives and barriers that exist to their use of media to advance their organizational priorities.

Selena is ready to bring it on. Watch the video here. Bring on tomorrow!

ROOFTOP NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR 2010

Chicken & Egg has a lotta love for Rooftop Films commitment to nurturing the finest supportive independent filmmaker community NYC ever did see, with over 25,000 in audience numbers throughout 2009! So we are very excited by the prospect of next years 2010 summer series starting in May, in light of their recent announcement that they have already begun accepting film submissions.

Rooftop films does all in its power to help filmmakers get their films screened with an open and accessible application process. Not only do they screen up to 200 films a year, they strive to create the most engaging environment and supportive audience for budding filmmakers to screen their work. The films are all screened outdoors, embedded in enhancing surrounding New York scenery and strategically organized around themes, moods, regions, genres to complement each others work.


The screening atmosphere itself is one-of-a-kind, like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and once we showed the film a lot of doors opened for us in the film world, and continue to. It’s safe to say that without this festival we wouldn’t have the opportunities we now have to get our film out there.
--Michael Palmieri, October Country

Get your early bird submission in before the December 5th and it will only cost you $9 ($4 for WAB members) and receive TWO free tickets to a regularly priced Rooftop Films screening.

Later deadlines:
Regular: $15, postmarked by January 15, 2010
Late: $20, postmarked by February 15, 20010
Without A Box Extended: $20, March 1, 2010*
* Without A Box members only.


Please read all of our guidelines and regulations prior to sending in your submission.
Then you can mail any submissions to:

Rooftop Films
PMB 401
285 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215

If you have any questions regarding submissions, please email program director Dan Nuxoll at submit@rooftopfilms.com.


For the past 13 years, Rooftop Films has been committed to providing a venue, an audience, and a community for the wide array of short and feature length films that are underserved by conventional commercial distributors, industry-run festivals, art galleries, and repertory theater retrospectives. We show comedies, dramas, experimental shorts, animation, videos, short and feature documentaries and political films, and home movies and found footage, as well as many of the most interesting new independent narrative feature films.. We want films that tell us about where you live and how you live, and we seek independent movies with original ideas, regardless of production values. We screen the work of experienced professionals, long-time amateurs and first-time filmmakers alike. We also strongly encourage submissions by women and people of color. We show films of all genres, formats, and lengths, as long as they're daring, creative, and unique.

Filmmakers as Changemakers

Before you head over to the 92Y Tribeca on Nov 19th for the "Best Practices" workshop with LIONESS at STORY LEADS TO ACTION you may want to stop in next Monday to the New School where directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers will be leading a 'Filmmakers as Changemakers' discussion on successful outreach methods, hosted by IFP as part of their 'Industry Connect: New Outreach Strategies for Social Issue Documentaries' programme. The panel will began at 7:30 pm in the New School (Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street , 5th Floor) followed by celebratory cocktails in honor of the awarding of IFP's 'The Fledgling Fund Outreach & Community Engagement Grant for Social Issue Documentaries' new outreach grant.




Other speakers participating will be Sheila Leddy, Executive Director of The Fledgling Fund, Joy Ilem, Assistant National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans; and Julie Cloutier, Publicist at Sunshine Sachs & Associates. The panel will be moderated by Barbara Abrash, Director of Public Programs at NYU’s Center for Social Media, and Board Member, The Fledgling Fund.


Admission is FREE but please RSVP here http://rsvp.ifp.org

If you are not currently an IFP member, please RSVP to dgiacomo@ifp.org

IFP is a member-based organization with year round programs, like this Industry Connect, designed to support independent filmmakers in everything from fiscal sponsorship to film festival guidance. Join or renew your membership today! http://www.ifp.org/members/membership.php