About the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund
The TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund supports innovative film and video artists with documentary or mixed media projects who are living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America and work independently of larger producers in their efforts to reach a larger audience. Whether through unconventional forms or more traditional means, Latin artists are encouraged to invent, explore and redefine visions and stories that reflect their diverse cultures.
The artists supported by the Fund range from the filmmaker who is aiding the development of the field by exploring new ways of storytelling, to the filmmaker who comes from a community -- or is working in a medium -- traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream.
In 2011 the fund was awarded to four selected films who will each receive $10,000 in grants and guidance by TFI. The jurors included Benicio Del Toro, Paola Mendoza and Mónica Lozano, and the winners were announced at the TFI Awards Luncheon during the Tribeca Film Festival.
- The Battle for Land (Colombia), Directed by Juan Mejia: The Battle for Land delves deep into the complexities of mass displacement pushing us past prevailing ideas where displacement is seen as an aberration of war, and progressively revealing a more intricate and terrifying picture. It is above all a journey deep into the heart of uprooting and the dark side of progress.
- Cocaine Prison (Bolivia), Directed by Violeta Ayala: Trying to establish a cocaine business inside Bolivia's craziest prison an unlikely friendship develops, between two 'little fish', a young ambitious trafficker and a middle-aged cocaine worker fighting for release, personifying the country's love affair with cocaine.
- Toys (Mexico), Directed by Alba Mora-Roca: Toys explores how a family's peculiar love for toys helps children overcome the effects of violence in Mexico. It follows a Mexican-Japanese family who, having gathered the largest toy collection in Latin America, travels north to do workshops with victims of the violence generated by fighting drug cartels.
- When Two Worlds Collide (Peru), Directed by Heidi Brandenburg: and Mathew Orzel: An indigenous leader forced into exile and facing 20 years in prison for resisting the environmental ruin of Amazonian lands by big business. Refusing to surrender he continues his quest, shedding light on conflicting visions shaping the fate of the Amazon and the climate future of our world.
As an extension of the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund, Heineken will fund a Heineken Voces Grant which will continue the mission of the Fund, but further its reach by supporting a Latin American artist who is living in the United States. The Heineken grantee will be in production of a feature length film that focuses on cross cultural understanding in the USA. The grant will total $10,000.
For more information about the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund, please visit our Rules and Regulations and FAQs, or contact us at latinfund@tribecafilminstitute.org or 212.274.8080.
