Fellow Organization’s & Filmmaker’s Highlights and Funders/Grantees Announcements:

WISDOM GONE WILD director, Rea Tajiri, moderated by Dr. Jason Karlawish, University of Penn Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center.

CLICK IMAGE FOR Q&A during Arts on the Mind Festival

FRIEND OF SIFT: Filmmaker REA TAJIRI 
Film WISDOM GONE WILD 
ARTS on the MIND 
Sunday, April 21, 2024
4pm
Philadelphia Film Center

Seven-time award-winning documentary feature WISDOM GONE WILD returns to Philadelphia for a one-night-only special screening event at the ARTS ON THE MIND Festival! The film, was just shown on PBS’s Emmy-Award winning documentary series POV and is a poetic, non-fiction film about Rose Noda, a Japanese American woman living with dementia as she travels in time through the memories of her life. 

Please join us on Sunday, April 21st at 4 pm at the Philadelphia Film Center for the screening followed by an in-person conversation with Director Rea Tajiri (Associate Professor, Temple University, Theater, Film, and Media Arts) and Dr. Jason Karlawish, Director of the Penn Memory Center and a reception.

The event is hosted by: the Philadelphia Film Society, Penn Medicine, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and ARTZ Philadelphia.

Use promo code ARTSGONEWILD for a ticket discount. Get tickets here. 

Synopsis: Wisdom Gone Wild  tells the remarkable story of Rose Tajiri, a Nisei woman who at the end of her life, following the onset of dementia, reinvents herself through her interactions with her daughter/care partner, bestowing a new name and identity on herself, altering her past along with her present. It is radically intimate, funny, and at the same time does not shy away from being painfully honest about living with dementia. Filmmaker Rea Tajiri puts her mother’s storytelling wisdom at the heart of this film. Wisdom Gone Wild offers a different story about aging, and about living with dementia: rather than centering a disease, the film centers Rose’s perspective, in its form and its content, telling the story of a life to be valued, rather than a problem to be willed away. 

Director’s Bio: Rea Tajiri, is a Philadelphia based documentary filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist whose critically acclaimed career spans over 35 years.  Poetic, subtly layered and politically engaged, her work advances the exploration of forgotten histories, multi-generational memory, landscape and the lives of Nikkei.

CLICK IMAGE FOR TRAILER

Post from 2023

FRIEND OF SIFT: Filmmaker REA TAJIRI 
Film WISDOM GONE WILD 
National Broadcast Premiere POV on PBS
Monday, November 20th at 10pm EST/ 7pm PST

POST UPDATE: 1/22/2024
View excerpts of the SICK WIT IT Health & Wellness Symposium (12/16/23) – including SIFTer  Eboni Zamani lecturing on the “Listen To What I Say” Report Findings and Recommendations.

SICK WIT IT WEBSITE

We hope you remember SICK WIT IT when it existed as a limited-series podcast during the pandemic, a way of telling true life stories about Black women superheroes who have gone through health crises and learned to thrive and fight for their wellness against a sometimes unforgiving medical establishment.  Well now…

THE FIRST-EVER SICK WIT IT HEALTH & WELLNESS SYMPOSIUM 

Date: Sat. Dec. 16, 2023

Time: 11am -3pm at

Venue: The Painted Bride Art Center (5212 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19139)

Details: Led by Philly’s Stephanie Renée (VibeMistress & CEO, Soul Sanctuary Inc.)  The Bride opens her doors and arms to uplift health and wellness as a priority for
Philadelphia creatives.  The program includes featured speakers, tabling from local practitioners, yoga and meditative exercises, holistic health vendors, film screenings (COVID1619), featuring local artists and health-related topics, and a designated time for personal testimonials on health challenges and to grieve the loss of loved ones.  MORE INFO/FREE REGISTRATION

SIFTer Eboni Zamani will present her LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY REPORT

CINESPEAK: Magic, Memory, and Making Time For Elders: Filmmaker Rea Tajiri on Wisdom Gone Wild

WISDOM GONE WILD – SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Winner: Honorable Mention, Best Documentary Feature, Austin Asian American, 2023
Winner: New Cinema Award, Berwick Film and Media Festival, 2023
Winner: Audience Award, Best Documentary, Blackstar Film Festival, 2022
Winner: Jury Award, Honorable Mention, Best Documentary, Blackstar Film Festival, 2022
Winner: Grand Jury Prize, San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2022
Winner: Jury Award, Best Documentary Feature, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, 2022Winner: Audience Choice, Best Documentary, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, 2022
Official Selection: CAAMFest, Retrospective Spotlight, 2023 
Official Selection: Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection: FREEP Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection: Chicago Asian American Showcase 2023
Official Selection: Diaspora Film Festival, Incheon, South Korea, 2023
Official Selection: Slamdance, Unstoppable Section, 2023
Official Selection: International Competition at IDFA, 2022
Official Selection: DOC NYC, American Lives Section, 2022O
fficial Selection: Centerpiece Film, San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2022
Official Selection: Documentary Competition, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, 2022
Official Selection: DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection: Seattle Asian American Film Festival, 2023
Official Selection: New York Asian International Film Festival, 2023

Independence Public Media Foundation Announces $500,000 in 2023 Local Filmmaker Fund Grants

PHILADELPHIA, October 26, 2023—The Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF) announces $500,000 awarded to 23 film projects through its Local Filmmaker Fund. The Fund awards one-year grants to support filmmakers across the Greater Philadelphia region with the development of their films and to gain skills to further hone their craft.

IPMF partners with an alternating panel of local filmmakers and film advocates to select each year’s Local Filmmaker Fund recipients. This community-led grant-making process aligns with IPMF’s vision to share and shift power with the community in pursuit of justice and equity. 

Read IPMF Program Officer Nuala Cabral’s conversation about the local film landscape with Kristal Sotomayor, a local filmmaker who facilitated the Fund decision-making process.

Here are Recipients of the 2023-2024 Local Filmmaker Fund grant:

CONGRATS SIFTERS:

CHASING DIA directed by Stephanie Malson. Chasing Dia centers on a ten-year-old Black girl’s (Dia) first summer camp experience and her parents’ pending divorce. On the first and last day of camp, Dia discovers a series of astrological riddles amongst the things she’s brought from home. Each piece of the riddle leads Dia on a wild chase that includes serendipitous encounters with people who offer clues to the riddle while teaching Dia about community, love, friendship, and forgiveness. ($30,000)

SHATTERED directed by N. Rae Shaw. For the production of Shattered, an experimental documentary about seven black women attempting to escape stereotypes thrust upon them and build new realities. ($10,000)

 THE COLORED GIRLS MUSEUM  provides SIFTMedia a home space for  office/meetings/screenings/workshops and storage space.  The museum’s location (4613 Newhall St, Philadelphia, PA 19144) is being challenged.  They may not get their license renewed. 

Community Meeting was held: Sunday, Oct 22,2023 12-4pm 

Click  for WHYY ARTICLE outlining the issues for Colored Girls Museum 

FUND FILM FUTURES Fundraiser

Date: Thursday, November 30, 2023

Time: 7:00 – 9:30pm

Venue: World Cafe Live ( 3025 Walnut St. Philadelphia PA 19104)

Details:  Celebrate & support Big Picture Alliance’s youth filmmaking programs!

Fund Film Futures is a fundraiser to support Big Picture Alliance’s youth filmmaking programs across Philadelphia. This event brings together our diverse network of community members, industry partners and civic leaders to celebrate the work of our young filmmakers and ensure ALL youth have access to digital media education and career pathways. The evening includes a mixer with food, music, and silent auction, followed by a screening and awards presentation honoring special guests. All proceeds directly support BPA’s pathway of school, summer, and workforce programs which provide hundreds of Philly youth access to digital media tools, creative community and professional mentorship – empowering them to define their own narrative from script-to-screen and from curiosity-to-careers.

Schedule:

7pm VIP Mixer (includes food, drinks and music) +silent auction 

8pm Screening & Awards Presentation

9:30pm Fundraising Announcement and End of Program

9:30-10pm Networking +DJ and dancing

HIGHLIGHTS FROM BPA FUNDRAISER 2022

PhillyCam: PEOPLE POWER MEDIA FEST  Oct 20-23, 2023

#PPMFest is about showcasing creativity that vibrates through the PhillyCAM network and the impact that reverberates, supporting historically marginalized communities with access to equipment, facilities, training, support and a distribution platform to amplify their voices.

Celebrate and connect with a community of media shakers, content innovators, and neighborhood storytellers.

PhillyCAM is looking for Instructors

PhillyCAM Instructor Interest Form

Thanks for your interest in PhillyCAM. We are always interested in building our roster of instructors for core technical classes and special topic offerings. Our workshops are offered to our community members in a range of formats and styles, from one night only to weekly 6-10 week sessions. We love offering special topic workshops that highlight the expertise of professional media makers in our region. Workshops are offered in person and virtually. Instructors are paid as contractors at a rate of $50-$75/hour depending on experience and the specialization of the workshop. PhillyCAM is a non commercial community media center that supports members to gain technical proficiency, develop their artistry and create audio or video content for PhillyCAM’s community media platforms. We want to encourage members to become lifelong learners, and to understand the steps involved in producing and distributing their own media.  COMPLETE THE FORM

Black Public Media’s Open Call

Black Public Media’s annual Open Call is our chance to celebrate the complexity of the Black experience through story. This year, we will support projects in two key ways: production funding and participation in our 360 Incubator+ (a workshopping opportunity with peers in the field). 

• This year’s Open Call is for feature-length documentaries and shorts (nonfiction or scripted) that are currently in pre-production, production, or post-production and intended for public media distribution. Selected projects will receive production funding to advance the work. There are no limits on the subject area. However, they encourage work that will promote discourse and engage audiences around a critical social issue. Up to three (3) proposals will receive awards ranging from $20,000 – $50,000 as well as an invitation to pitch for an additional award of up to $100,000 at PitchBLACK in April 2022. APPLY before Mon. Sept 26th

Philly JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS

Click image above for details 

Accepting short film, feature film or TV pilot, which must be in an advanced stage of pre-production, production or post-production.

Dr. José Luis Ruiz, President of MACEF, who indicated that two winners will be selected to receive $10,000 each, noted that “this initiative is consistent with the organization’s mission to change the distorted, false narrative of Mexican-Americans. Because films, TV, and streaming series have a tremendous impact on the narrative, perception, and reputation of our community, MACEF, a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization, believes this will help create the much needed change.”

The resources provided by this filmmaker production grant and awards will serve to promote a more authentic representation of this community, showcasing Mexican Americans and Chicanas/os as a valued and proud population of American society.

Eligibility and Submissions Process

2022 Illuminate The Arts Grant created by the Philadelphia City Council

The 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant is a means to aid in the recovery of Philadelphia’s arts and culture community from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant is a total of $1.5M to be distributed to Philadelphia’s individual artists, small and mid-size nonprofit arts organizations, and small creative enterprises. The grant seeks to financially uplift Philadelphia’s creative sector and support disadvantaged communities, particularly Philadelphia’s Black and Brown communities, that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant also seeks to support Philadelphia’s most underserved communities.

Created by Philadelphia City Council, the funds for the 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant came from the City’s General Fund and will be distributed by OACCE with support from the Arts and Culture Task Force to provide relief to the arts community quickly and efficiently.

Who can apply? READ MORE

 cinéSPEAK is partnering with Tiny Room For Elephants for a 
LIVE SCORING EXHIBITION called THE CITY AIN’T LOUD ENOUGH
We’re looking for short films and DJs/musicians/composers that are open to remixing and live-scoring their films for a live audience. Ideally, the filmmaker/composer pair should be familiar with each other’s work, with a previous collaboratorship under their belt. 

The Philadelphia Foundation: Art Works, the inaugural program from the Forman Arts Initiative

Four community-based organizations will be selected annually to receive two-year, unrestricted grants.  Awards will range from $50,000-$150,000 annually and can be used to support any aspect of an organization’s mission.  Organizations will be chosen based on how closely their work aligns with Art Works‘ programmatic goals.  READ MORE / REGISTER 

The Black List and Warby Parker launch
“The Writer’s Vision Grant”

Three writers in film, television, and theater will be awarded $20,000 each to either film a short proof of concept based on their feature, develop a new work for the stage, or develop and write an original pilot.  Writers may opt in for consideration on the Black List website.

The Writer’s Vision Grant will foster and celebrate scripts that harness and explore creativity, diversity, inclusion, empathy, and innovation in their storytelling.

Evaluation Deadline*: July 15, 2022
Submission Deadline: August 15, 2022
Grant Recipients Notified: September 16, 2022

This partnership marks the sixth year of collaboration between the Black List and Warby Parker. In previous years, Warby Parker presented Black List Live!, a series of live readings of unproduced scripts including CHARMING by Elliot Owen, featuring Rachel McAdams and Adam Scott; SAVING CHAPLIN by Justin Shady, starring Jon Hamm and Randall Park; and EL FUEGO CALIENTE by Ben Schwartz, starring Schwartz and Don Cheadle.

Check out our FAQ for more information on how to obtain hosting and evaluations at no cost, and for more details on the program.

Make a note of the deadline and don’t miss your chance! The Black List and Warby Parker are excited to continue our partnership with this new opportunity to support up-and-coming writers in film, television and theater.

Additional questions can be addressed to support@blcklst.com.

ART WORKS Special Initiative Grant 
PhiladelphiaFound.Org

Art Works is a $3-million grant program for community-based organizations and emerging artists that is designed to support arts, culture and creativity — particularly those working with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) individuals and those in other under-served communities. Art Works, the inaugural program from the Forman Arts Initiative, will provide direct grants to artists and organizations that shine a light on Greater Philadelphia’s rich diversity.  READ MORE/SUBMIT

Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Opens Applications for Second Annual Mentorship Lab

  Click Image for More Info…

Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series, the first Academy qualifying festival devoted to women filmmakers, will offer you an opportunity to produce the pilot for a web series or a short film!

You will receive $5,000 to produce the first episode of your web series, which you can use as a calling card to attract a producer and other film opportunities. You will be guided on your journey in learning the art of creating a high quality micro budget film. Story is Queen. 

Be prepared to begin production and shooting of your web series project or short film shortly after you are selected as the Reel Sisters Fellow!

DEADLINE: January 31, 2022

Announcement: March 7, 2022.

Web Series Genres or Short Film: Animation, Documentary, Narrative, Comedy & Sc Fi.

You will retain full production and copyrights to your film. Just list Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series in your production credits. READ MORE

Announcing the launch of the
Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange

The community-grounded accelerator program will provide grant funding and training to Philadelphia-area media entrepreneurs of color

Applications are now open for the Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange, a new accelerator program, designed in partnership with community members, to support the region’s BIPOC media entrepreneurs through training, one-on-one coaching, and grantmaking.

The Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange focuses specifically on the urgent need and opportunity to support and advance more media entrepreneurs of color to ensure communities prosper and news businesses thrive and grow sustainably on their own terms

Self-identified media makers whose businesses are beyond the concept stage of development are encouraged to apply. The program is open to both entrepreneurs and “intrapreneurs,” those working inside of news and media organizations with enterprising endeavors. 

Click here to apply and you can visit this page for details on Exchange programming, eligibility details, and more.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, January 18 at 11:59 p.m. EST. 

Please register here to attend a Zoom-based information session on Thursday, January 13 at noon EST with Community Catalyst Jos Duncan Asé, Diana Lu of the Knight-Lenfest News Transformation Fund, and Mara Zapeda of Zebras Unite . 

The Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange is supported by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, and the Independence Public Media Foundation.

“Philly media entrepreneurs embody the vision of brotherly love and sisterly affection not only in the content they develop, but also in how they run their business and collaborate with communities,” said Roxann Stafford, managing director of the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund. “We are excited to continue to support the journeys of these great community business leaders.” 

The Exchange programming, developed and led by co-op Zebras Unite in partnership with  Black and Brown Founders, each past leaders of successful new business accelerators, will begin in February. Participating businesses will receive $10,000 each and training in community-powered journalism, branding and marketing, audience and partnership growth, financial modeling, raising capital, executive leadership and emotional resilience. Each participant will also receive personalized coaching to help advance their goals. 

In addition, participants will have the opportunity to receive follow-on grant funding to help execute their plans. A total of $80,000 will be available to be shared between the grantees. More details on the grant process can be found HERE. 

Big Picture Alliance CINEMANIACS – Students Exploring
The Craft of CINEMA

Interested Students REGISTER Now!