Austin Film Society Awards $112,000 to Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund & Travel Grant Recipients
Agnes Varnum | Aug 17, 2009 | Comments 6
(Austin, TX) - The Austin Film Society is very proud to announce the recipients of its 2009 Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund (TFPF), which this year gave away $102,000 to 25 projects from emerging Texas filmmakers. In addition to cash grants of $90,000, AFS gave away $6,000 worth of Kodak film stock, $5,000 in in-kind services from Seattle-based Alpha Cine Labs and a surprise $1,000 in-kind services grant from local effects house TexFX.
AFS’s Texas Filmmakers’ Travel Grant program disbursed another $10,000 in cash in small stipends to 19 Texas filmmakers traveling to major film festivals throughout the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
2009 marks a significant milestone for the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, which has now given out over $1 million to 272 film and video projects since the program began in 1996.
Berndt Mader’s narrative feature FIVE TIME CHAMPION received one of two $10,000 grants from the 2009 TFPF. This coming of age film recently completed shooting in Smithville, Texas and its cast includes Texas Film Hall of Fame inductee Betty Buckley (CARRIE, TENDER MERCIES), Jon Gries (NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE) and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, TOMBSTONE).
61 BULLETS, the new documentary feature from CRAWFORD director David Modigliani, also received a $10,000 grant for production. The film follows 74-year-old Dr. Carl Weiss Jr.’s mission to exonerate his father Carl Weiss, who since 1935 has been believed responsible for the assassination of fiery Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long.
David & Nathan Zellner received over $8,000 in Kodak film stock and Alpha Cine Labs services in support of production for their new narrative feature PARDON MY DOWNFALL, which follows fictional country band The Jibcutters on their final tour as they “burn through drugs, booze, bandmates, record producers and women in their ramshackle Winnebago with a one-way ticket to Trainwreck City.”
Two $7,000 grants were also given out – to Kyle Henry (ROOM, UNIVERSITY, INC) for his narrative feature FOURPLAY, an omnibus-of-four-shorts about sexual transgressions, and another to Erik Mauck (ZOMBIE GIRL: THE MOVIE) and Chelsea Hernandez for their documentary THE ROAD TO LIVINGSTON about the family members who make trips, sometimes logging thousands of miles, to visit their loved ones on death row in Livingston, Texas.
Projects from outside of Austin also fared well this year. Grants went to two filmmakers in Fort Worth (James Marsh’s doc/narrative hybrid feature POTLATCH and Greg Kwedar’s documentary short THE LONG FIGHT) and to filmmakers in San Antonio (Steve Acevedo’s narrative short SUPERMEX), Denton (Scott Thurman’s documentary STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION) and Houston (Daniel Stuyck’s experimental documentary THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY).
“Raising these funds is the toughest part of our job, and we appreciate all of the individuals and corporations who gave this year and made the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund possible for a 14th year,” AFS Executive Director Rebecca Campbell said.
“Seeing such a variety of exciting projects in story and style, from every region of Texas, was invigorating,” said the 2009 TFPF review panelists, filmmakers So Yong Kim (TREELESS MOUNTAIN, IN BETWEEN DAYS), Todd Rohal (THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE) and Mike Plante, the Director of Programming for the CineVegas Film Festival. “We are thrilled to be able to help these projects in some way by connecting them with the wonderful AFS program, whether they are just starting out, in the thick of production or trying to successfully complete post-production. We can’t wait to see the finished films.
AFS Director of Artist Services Bryan Poyser administered the 2009 TFPF and he was assisted by TFPF coordinators Rachel Ecklund, Ben Powell and Tommy Stuart.
Special thanks to the sponsors of the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund: the Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Austin Cultural Funding Program, Alpha Cine Labs, Kodak, the Four Seasons Hotel, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and TexFX.
Photos (300 dpi) available upon request.
61 BULLETS
David Modigliani
80 min documentary
$10,000 production
ALONG RECOVERY
Justin Springer
90 min documentary
$5,000 production & post-production
AMERICA’S PARKING LOT
Jonny Mars
100 min documentary
$1,000 production
BURNED
Emily Pyle
69 min documentary
$5,000 post-production
$1,000 TexFX services
FIVE TIME CHAMPION
Berndt Mader & Ezra Venetos
100 min narrative
$10,000 post-production
FOOTOGRAPHY
Nick Smith
85 min documentary
$1,000 production & post-production
FOURPLAY
Kyle Henry
85 min experimental narrative
$7,000 production
HOME
Sean Gallagher
100 min narrative
$1,100 production
LEAVING THE ARK
Minor Wilson
50 min documentary
$1,000 production
$2,500 Alpha Cine Labs services
LONG ISLAND
Amy Grappell
20 min experimental documentary
$2,000 post-production & distribution
THE LONG FIGHT
Greg Kwedar
24 min documentary
$3,500 post-production & distribution
NO NO: A DOCKUMENTARY
Jeffrey Radice
90 min documentary
$2,000 production
PARDON MY DOWNFALL
David Zellner & Nathan Zellner
90 min narrative
$5,750 Kodak film stock
$2,260 Alpha Cine Labs services
THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY
Daniel Stuyck
47 min experimental documentary
$1,400 post-production & distribution
POTLATCH
James Marsh
80 min documentary narrative
$3,000 production
THE ROAD TO LIVINGSTON
Erik Mauck & Chelsea Hernandez
56 min documentary
$7,000 post-production
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
Scott Thurman
52 min documentary
$2,000 production
SUNKEN GARDEN
John Fiege
90 min narrative
$5,000 production & post-production
SUPERMEX
Steve Acevedo
9 min narrative
$2,000 production
THE THIRD DAY: FEASTER SUNDAY
Jason Wehling
80 min animated narrative
$5,000 production
THIRD JETTY
Kim Hall
10 min narrative
$2,000 production & post-production
TWO TRINITIES
Sandra Guardado
56 min documentary
$3,000 production
UNTITLED GAY RETIREE DOCUMENTARY
PJ Raval
90 min documentary
$5,000 production
$250 Kodak film stock
$240 Alpha Cine Labs services
VANILLA: THE SACRED ORCHID
Curtis Craven
27 min documentary
$2,000 post-production
THE YOGURT SHOP MURDERS
Claire Huie
90 min documentary
$4,000 post-production
Filed Under: Artist Services • Press Room
About the Author: Agnes Varnum is the communications manager of the Austin Film Society, as well as a freelance writer and film programmer. She is the primary contributor to doc it out.
Looks like an amazing line up of recipients. I am super excited about STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION and the experimental doc THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY. I love experimental and those that address issues in education. Maybe those two can work together and create a experimental education piece; just so I can have 2 of my favorite viewing pleasures in one. Pass the word along.
Hmm…once again, looks like this is the second year docs get the majority of funding. Perhaps this grant should be renamed TDPF for Texas Documentary Production Fund.
Wow. I’m not alone then. I was very exited to see the results this year for the recipients of the grants until I actually noticed the lack of funding narrative films have gotten from the panelists for the last two years. I agree completely, the name of this grant should be changed. Out of 25 recipients 17 are documentaries? Completely unbalanced. Eight narratives got money and out of those 8 only 4 are over 80 min. TFPF also talks about helping first time filmmakers yet there are 3 clear recipients who are well past that mark. TFPF also talks about preferring full-length films yet the remaining 4 narratives are shorts. I think the panel completely ignored these claims. By looking at the results from the past two years, documentaries seem to be more relevant than narratives. I want to be clear though, that I am sure the winners of the these grants are more than capable filmmakers and will put the money to good use. My complaints are NOT in any way against them, they are expressing what seems to be the lack of equality between the types of films the TFPF grant awards.
[...] CLICK HERE to visit the Austin Film Society web page for full TFPF recipient details. [...]
Thanks for your comments, Nicole and Robert. While it is true that this year and last, the majority of projects the panel chose to fund were documentaries, in years past (2007, 2005, 2003, 1998, 1997, 1996) the majority of projects funded were narratives.
We have always had an independent panel that makes all funding decisions. We urge them to strike a balance between genres, between experience levels, between regions of Texas, etc., but it’s always ultimately their call. We want them to choose the projects they feel strongly about, rather than basing their decisions on strict guidelines imposed by AFS. This keeps the process fresh and the selections unpredictable. 16 of the 25 grants given out this year went to filmmakers who have never received a TFPF grant before, some of whom are making their first film and quite a few who had applied multiple times before. To me, that is incredibly gratifying.
Robert, I am curious to know where you have heard or read that TFPF prefers full-length films? We have always encouraged filmmakers making projects of all lengths and genres to apply. Any “preference” as far as shorts vs. features vs. docs vs. narratives, changes from year to year based on the panelists’ decisions, not our rules or guidelines.
Like I said, I appreciate your thoughts about the program. If you would like to contact me directly to discuss anything else, feel free to email me at bryan@austinfilm.org.
-Bryan Poyser,
Director of Artist Services, AFS (ie. the guy who administers TFPF)
Thanks for the consideration. Alleyway Art will apply again next year. Please check out the web series as it unfolds. Episodes 1 and 2 are both online. http://www.themisadventures.tv
Take care…