About the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund provides finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which highlight and humanize issues of social importance from around the world. Funded films are driven by thoughtful and in-depth storytelling, bolstered by a compelling visual approach.
As mainstream media moves away from in-depth coverage of world affairs, domestic issues and social conflicts, the documentary has become an important and much needed tool to draw attention to the serious issues facing our world today. At the same time, the craft of the documentary is expanding in exciting directions, merging diverse points-of-view with new technologies and responding to the immediacy of the internet.
Funding
In 2011, the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, through the Tribeca Film Institute, offered grants ranging from $10,000 – $25,000. 2011 projects were selected by a jury consisting of Jessica Alba, Amir Bar-Lev, Wendy Ettinger, Frida Giannini, Edward Norton and Mariane Pearl. The committee chose the recipients from finalists selected by TFI. In addition to funding, grantees will each receive year-round support from TFI, including one-on-one guidance and consultation, helping each film to reach completion and enter the marketplace in the best possible position.
The grantee projects for the 2011 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund are:
- An American Promise (Director, Michele Stephenson & Joe Brewster)
- Caught in the Net (Directors, Shosh Shlam & Hilla Medalia)
- Democrats (Director, Camilla Nielsson, Producer, Henrik Veileborg)
- The Great Invisible (Producer/Director Margaret Brown, Producer, Jason Orans)
- Untitled Global Health Documentary (Director, Kief Davidson)
- Charge (Director, Mike Plunkett)
Films funded through the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund examine larger issues through engaging stories including: an intimate portrayal of how race and privilege are experienced by African American middle class families in the US today; three teens living in China who receive treatment for the classification of internet addiction; the creation of a new constitution in Zimbabwe; an inside look at the Gulf Coast through characters who work in the oil and fishing industries; the story of a remarkable public health charity operating in the world's poorest countries; and a look at today’s Green Revolution through the increasing conflict over lithium.
New this year, the PPR Corporate Foundation for Women’s Dignity & Rights has joined the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and created the Spotlighting Women Documentary Award, which will annually provide funding of $50,000. Three film projects that illuminate the courage, compassion, extraordinary strength of character, and contributions of women from around the world have been chosen for the inaugural award.
The projects that will collectively receive $50,000 total in funding for the inaugural 2011 Spotlighting Women Documentary Award are:
- Barefoot Engineers (Directors, Jehane Noujaim & Mona El Daeif)
- Justice for Sale (Directors, Ilse & Femke van Velzen)
- The World Before Her (Director, Nisha Pahuja)
The new Spotlighting Women Documentary Awards will expand the reach of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund illuminating the courage, compassion, extraordinary strength of character, and contributions of women from around the world including: the story of three women who go on a life-changing journey to become solar engineers; a courageous woman and her husband who fight for justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and the stirring conflict surrounding beauty pageants in India.
Guidelines
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund seeks feature-length documentaries that are in production or post-production with the intended premiere exhibition in late 2012 or 2013. Eligible films highlight the most critical, important stories affecting the world we live in today told in a humanizing, illuminating way. We are looking for films which challenge the status quo not just as it pertains to subject matter but also in form. Films should be able to exist on multiple distribution platforms and should resonate with a wide audience.
Questions
For more information about the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, please visit our Rules and Regulations and FAQs, or contact us at contact us at documentary@tribecafilminstitute.org or 212.274.8080 x28.
