About the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund
The TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund supports innovative film and video artists living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America whose works reflect their diverse cultures in the documentary or mixed media form. 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.
The 2012 fund was awarded to four selected films who will each receive $10,000 in grants and guidance by TFI. The jurors included producer Fernando Rovar; Cynthia Lopez, Vice-President of American Documentary/POV; and actor/filmmaker Ricardo Darin (The Secret in Their Eyes, The Aura, Nine Queens).
City of the Caesars (Chile), Directed & Produced by Francisco Hervé, Edited by Andrea Chignoli -- Two conspiracy theories. Two ordinary men. Wisdom, immortality and natural resources are at stake in a mythical place somewhere in Patagonia.
Cuando los Muertos Estan Mas Secos/When the Dead Are Drier (Bolivia), Directed & Produced by Claudio Araya Silva and Produced by Yara Morales Rivera -- In the eighties, more than 50 women committed suicide in a small peasant community. Hermenegildo and Pedro return to their community, attempting to retrace the paths of memory regarding the deaths of their wives. The trip aims to unravel the mystery surrounding the life and death of these women.
Elena (Brazil), Directed & Produced by Petra Costa - The film recounts the journey of Petra, a young Brazilian woman who dreams of becoming an actress but is warned not to do so by her mother. Against these admonitions, Petra moves to New York City where the reasons why she was advised against this path begin to unfold.
The Shark’s Eye (Argentina), Directed by Alejo Hoijman and Produced by Gema Juarez Allen -- Summer is coming to Nicaragua and Maycol and Bryan will start to learn their families’ trade, shark hunting. In a place where traditional trades disappear in favor of drug trafficking, these two boys choose their future. A coming of age film set in the forgotten Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
As an extension of the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund, the Heineken VOCES grant provides two additional grants to narrative and documentary projects helmed by Latino filmmakers (over the age of 21) who live and work in the United States. The mission of the grant is to encourage American Latino filmmakers to redefine, invent, explore and create visions and stories that reflect their diverse cultures. 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.
The winners of the first-ever Heineken VOCES grant include Cristina Ibarra's Las Marthas (documentary) and Diego Araujo's Feriado (Holiday). Learn more about the grant.
See photos from our party at the Tribeca Film Festival to celebrate the 2012 grantees.
[Photos (Left-Right): City of Caesars, Elena, Feriado, Las Marthas, The Shark's Eye, When The Dead Are Drier.]
