Consider SIFT in Your End of the Year Giving!

This year, SIFTMedia 215 (Sisters in Film and Television) turned three. The gathering of five local Black women filmmakers in need of community and support has blossomed into a 24 member collective that backs the work and careers of dozens of women of color film & media makers.

We are asking you to become part of a SIFT Giving Circle that will enable us to continue operating without foundation support. By committing $10, $25, $50 or more per month you will help sustain SIFT so that we can continue to do the work that no one else is doing in the region, supporting and advocating for professional Black and Latinx Women filmmakers who make socially conscious films that our democracy desperately needs to see come to light.

Since 2019 SIFT has helped to garner over $1,000,000 to create an infrastructure for women of color filmmakers (and other artists) in the Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic region. $800,000 of that has gone to filmmaker projects and organizations via our collective’s advocacy.

How did we do this you ask? For example, in late 2020, three SIFT members were invited by IPMF to be part of a panel that nominated 18 projects for $400,000 in support of local independent filmmakers.

The impact of SIFT has changed the way regional funders and organizations see Professional Women of Color Filmmakers. Through informal meetings, such as conversations with our Resource Strategist Nadine Patterson, we have garnered more resources for the entire field of Philadelphia artists and women filmmakers.

That work has opened the door to filmmakers at Independence Public Media Foundation. Eboni Zamani has worked with the City of Philadelphia’s Art and Culture Task Force to change the way the arts are funded and co-authored a ground- breaking analysis. It is used by foundations and city agencies to diagnose how to integrate funding for artists through various programs.

SIFT has increased the respect and opportunities available to Women of Color and Non-Binary Femme Filmmakers. Our Social Media Manager LeAnne Lindsay applies and promotes the work of SIFT members and other women of color and helps to give this important class of filmmakers a sense of community and professional level support that is only provided through our collective.

Our Program Director Nikki Harmon weaves yearly programs for professional development of the regional independent filmmakers. Where many Philadelphia organizations provide assistance for first time filmmakers, SIFT supports professionally trained, emerging, and proven filmmakers often locked out of opportunity due to gender, race, age or class.