TFI Sloan Filmmakers & Projects

GLOW WORMS (2003 Grantee)
Nancy Isaak, Writer

A touching and inspirational story of grade-school girls 
who are passionate about science.

BENJAMIN GARRETT (2003 Grantee)
Jonathan Morano, Writer

An ambitious story of loss and redemption told through the 
unlikely bond of a 12-year-old genius and a 20-year-old misfit.

BROKEN CODE (2004 Grantee)
David Baxter, Writer
Rose Ganguzza, Executive Producer

Explores scientist Rosalind Franklin's contribution to the groundbreaking discovery of DNA, as seen through the eyes of Franklin’s friend, Anne Sayre.

FACE VALUE (2004 Grantee)
Gretchen Somerfeld, Producer / Writer
Uli Edel, Director
David Baxter, Producer
Rose Ganguzza, Executive Producer
Jose Rivera, Screenwriter

In 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr, along with composer George Antheil, patented frequency hopping, an invention which became the forerunner to most wireless communication today.

HUBBLE (2005 Grantee)
Shawn Lawrence Otto, Screenwriter

Based on original research, as well as the book by Gale E Christianson, it is the magnificent story of one of history’s greatest and most flawed geniuses and the even more magnificent universe he sought to map: Edwin Hubble and the Big Bang Theory.

LOVE IS BRILLIANT (2005 Grantee)
Penny Penniston, Screenwriter

A romantic comedy with a brain, it chronicles the romance between two physicists who fall in love despite spouses, neuroses and their firm collective belief that there is no such thing as destiny.

THE STARRY MESSENGER (2006 Grantee)
Kenneth Lonergan, Screenwriter

Tells the story of a 43-year-old astronomy teacher who finds himself drowning in the mundane routines and disappointments of everyday life. 

CHALLENGER (2006 Grantee)
Nicole Perlman, Screenwriter

Examines the role that Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman played in the investigation into the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. 

PROJECT MUSTARD (2006 Grantee)
Dan Zeff, Writer
Andrew Bendel, Producer

The comic imagining of what would have happened if the British entered into the 1960s race between Russian and the USA for the moon. 

A FIRST CLASS MAN (2007 Grantee)
David Freeman, Writer

A fictional examination of the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan. 

ALVA (2008 Grantee)
Alex Lyras, Screenwriter
Michael Dorian, Screenwriter

Was Thomas Edison the world’s greatest inventor, or a clever thief with a pioneering acumen for marketing? Alva focuses on the most tumultuous period of Edison’s life: the race to make the first mass-produced light bulb and the power wars that followed.

FACE VALUE (2008 Grantee)
Gretchen Somerfeld, Producer / Writer
Uli Edel, Director
David Baxter, Producer
Rose Ganguzza, Executive Producer
Jose Rivera, Screenwriter

In 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr, along with composer George Antheil, patented frequency hopping, an invention which became the forerunner to most wireless communication today.

KITTY HAWK (2008 Grantee)
Joshua Astrachan, Producer
Lucy Barzun Donnelly, Producer
Gill Holland, Producer
Tim Kirkman, Writer/Director

The astonishing story of the Wright Brothers - aviation pioneers and American originals.

A NOBLE AFFAIR (2008 Grantee)
Anil Baral, Producer
Kathryn Maughan, Screenwriter

As Marie Curie is nominated for a Nobel Prize, her affair with a married man creates a scandal that ruins her reputation, causes her to flee France, and becomes the main obstacle to the very prize which will prove her a scientist in her own right, independent of her late husband.

RADIOACTIVE BOY SCOUT (2008 Grantee)
Greg Harrison, Writer/Director
Danielle Renfrew, Producer

Based on the true story of a 16-year-old boy scout in Michigan who, in 1995, attempted to build the core of a nuclear reactor in his backyard shed and was shut down by the federal government.

BANKER TO THE POOR (2009 Grantee)
Marco Amenta, Writer/Director
Simonetta Amenta, Producer
Sergio Donati, Screenwriter

A man sets up an innovative and revolutionary bank, "the Grameen," in Bangladesh to lend tiny sums to the poorest people, without asking for guaranties. At the beginning nobody believes in him. Economists and scientists think he is a fool and will fail quickly. After 15 years, the world realizes his invention is one of the most important of the 21st century.

THEY'RE PLAYING BASKETBALL? (2009 Grantee)
Sam Lobel, Writer/Producer
Marc Lebowitz, Co-Producer
Kerry Barden, Co-Producer

An experiment in equality inspires an unconventional coach and a reclusive math professor to revolutionize the game of basketball through egalitarianism and algorithms. Known as “The System,” and it is an unyielding attack of mathematics against conventional sports wisdom — a frenzied game of ordered chaos that transforms a rag-tag team of scholars into conference champions.

COCKEYED (2009 Grantee)
Ryan Knighton, Screenwriter
Jody Hotchkiss, Producer
Susan Cartonsis, Producer
Jodie Foster, Director

Adapted from Knighton's highly acclaimed memoir with the same title, the story is tough, tender, and darkly comic as Ryan crashes into life while going slowly blind, and trying to save his brother Rory from drugs, alcohol, and a really bad girlfriend. In the end Ryan finds his own way forward and a wonderful woman who makes him stronger by refusing to pity his tangled life and loss of sight.

EXPERIMENTER (2009 Grantee)
Michael Almereyda, Writer/Director
Ted Hope, Producer
Anne Carey, Producer

Experimenter attempts to come to terms with Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments, whose results remain unsettling, controversial, and relevant to this day.

SUGAR PILL (2009 Grantee)
Lisa Krueger, Writer/Director
Ted Hope, Producer
Anne Carey, Producer

Darol is just looking for another paycheck when he enters a locked medical facility to test a drug that has never been in humans before. By the time it’s over he will never be the same.

THE DEVIL'S TEETH (2010 Grantee)
Paul Atkins, Director
Brett Wagner, Screenwriter
Grace Atkins, Producer
Nicolas Gonda, Producer
Terrence Malick, Executive Producer
Emanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, Director of Photography

On a forbidding island off the coast of San Francisco, a journalist finds purpose when she joins two scientists in their struggle to protect the world's most misunderstood predator: the great white shark. Based on a true story.

FUTURE WEATHER (2010 Grantee)
Jenny Deller, Writer/Director
Kristin Fairweather, Producer
Jennifer Dubin, Executive Producer
Cora Olson, Executive Producer
Perla Haney-Jardine, Cast
Lili Taylor, Cast
Amy Madigan, Cast
Bill Sadler, Cast

When she's abandoned by her eccentric single mom, a 13-yr-old loner grows fixated on environmental disaster, forcing her and her grandmother to confront each other and the things they can't control.

HABER (2010 Grantee)
Daniel Ragussis, Writer/Director
Bogdan Tomassini-Büchner, Producer
Christian Berkel, Cast
Juliane Kühler, Cast

The true story of how the father of modern agriculture became the father of chemical warfare.

MAP OF THE UNIVERSE (2010 Grantee)
Tim Firth, Screenwriter
Dan Futterman, Screenwriter
Nick Barton, Producer
Suzanne Mackie, Producer

An astronomer is poised to make scientific history in his quest to find an outer solar planet – until his findings are disputed by a prodigiously talented, eccentric teenaged star spotter.

MIDNIGHT SUN (2010 Grantee)
Christopher Eigeman, Writer/Director
Jesse Eisenberg, Cast
Kate Bosworth, Cast

The story of Los Alamos and the creation and testing of the atom bomb, as seen through the eyes of two young scientists drafted into service, and their wives.

OBSELIDIA (2010 Grantee)
Diane Bell, Writer/Director
Chris Byrne, Producer
Matthew Medlin, Producer
Zak Mulligan, Director of Photography
Ken Morris, Producer
Michael Piccirilli, Cast
Gaynor Howe, Cast
Frank Hoyt Taylor, Cast

On his quest to catalogue critically endangered occupations, a librarian joins forces with a silent film projectionist, and together they journey to Death Valley to interview a maverick scientist who is predicting the eminent end of the world.

A BIRDER'S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING (2011 Grantee)
Rob Meyer (Director, Screenwriter)
Luke Matheny (Screenwriter)
Paul Miller (Producer)
Dan Lindau (Producer)

Still reeling from the recent death of his mother, and on the eve of his father's remarriage, teen birdwatcher David Portnoy convinces his friends to join him on a road trip to find what he believes is an extinct duck.
 

EL DIABLO ROJO (2011 Grantee)
Brent Hoff (Screenwriter, Producer)
Malcolm Pullinger (Producer)
Todd Hagopian (Producer)

Called down to investigate a mysterious disappearance of fish in the Sea of Cortez, a marine biologist and his team discover a super swarm of "El Diablo Rojo" squid and must risk their lives to prevent a looming ecological catastrophe. Based on true events.

A NOBLE AFFAIR (2011 Grantee, also a 2008 Grantee)
Anil Baral (Screenwriter, Producer)
Kathryn Maughan (Screenwriter)
Neda Armian (Producer)

As Marie Curie is nominated for a Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking work in chemistry, her affair with a married man creates a scandal that ruins her reputation, causes her to flee France, and becomes the obstacle to the prize that will prove her a scientist in her own right.

PHOTOGRAPH 51  (2011 Grantee)
Anna Ziegler (Screenwriter)
Darren Aronofsky (Producer)
Ari Handel (Producer)
Rachel Weisz (Producer)

A poignant retelling of Rosalind Franklin's involvement in the controversial race for the double helix in the 1950s, and of the discovery that truly shaped her: the beating of her own romantic heart. NOTE: This is an adaptation of Ziegler's Sloan-awarded stage play of the same name.

TALKING BOOK (2011 Grantee)
Lara Shapiro (Screenwriter, Director)

A technophobic, newly divorced woman falls into the chaotic world of a 1970's hi-tech startup company. She joins forces with an eclectic group of programmers, the visionary Ray Kurzweil, and musician Stevie Wonder to sell the Kurzweil Reading Machine, a computer that reads books out loud for the blind.

TELEVISIONARIES (2011 Grantee)
Evan I. Schwartz (Screenwriter)
Jonathan Sheldon (Producer)

In an epic battle of wits between two of the 20th century's most influential figures, a genius inventor faces off against a shrewd tycoon for control over a world-changing new technology. Based on the book The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television by Schwartz.

COMPUTER CHESS (2012 Grantee)
Andrew Bujalski (Screenwriter, Director)
Houston King (Producer)
Alex Lipschultz (Producer)

This film focuses on a computer chess tournament in the '80s, transporting viewers to a nostalgic moment when the battle of technology versus the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs.

RESONANCE (2012 Grantee)
Dara Bratt (Screenwriter, Director)
Keiran Dick (Screenwriter)
Andrew Fierberg (Producer)
Robert Gerber (Executive Producer)

Two damaged young men trying to reclaim their lives, push each other to the breaking point until they realize that only their friendship will save them.  Portraying the crossroads of neurology and psychiatry, the film examines how the brain's functioning affects the way we interact, and how medical science treats brain abnormalities.

UNMANNED (2012 Grantee)
Casey Cooper Johnson (Screenwriter, Director)
Casey Fenton (Producer)
Peter W. Singer (Story By)
Sevdije Kastrati (Cinematographer)

A young Air Force drone operator struggles to balance the stresses of going to war for the first time with the challenges of being a good father and husband, as he commutes each day between suburban family life and a new style of war fought by remote control. The short version of this film received an earlier Sloan Foundation production grant and is premiering at this year’s Festival.