2014 TFI New Media Fund Recipients Announced

TFI in partnership with the Ford Foundation's JustFilms Initiative has announced the grantees for the 2014 TFI New Media Fund.

Selected from a pool of 208 submissions, the multi-platform projects promoting social change range from covering Peru’s unconsented sterilization policy to gender-based sexual violence in India. This year, for the first time, two additional projects will receive development funding.

The five developed docu-projects from around the world have been awarded between $50,000 and $100,000 apiece, with funding effective immediately. In addition to receiving financial support, grantees will also take part in regular peer-to-peer meetings and a lab focused on interactive storytelling to help them develop their projects and build engagement with audiences.

This year's jurors included Jake Barton (Principal and Founder of Local Projects), Sheila Leddy (Executive Director, Fledgling), Charles Melcher (Founder and CEO, Melcher Media and Founder and Director, Future of Storytelling), Dawn Porter (Founder, Trilogy Films), Hank Willis Thomas (Photographer) and Deanna Zandt (Co-Founder/Partner, Lux Digital).

The recipients of grants totaling $400,000 are:

DO NOT TRACK TEAM MEMBERS: Brett Gaylor--Author, Director, Consultant; Sebastien Brothier--Creative Director; Maxime Quintard--Technical Director; Alexandre Brachet--Upian Producer;  Margaux Missika--Upian Producer; Marianne Levy-Lebond--Arte Producer; Alexander Knetig--Arte Producer; Hugues Sweeney--NFB Producer; Louis-Richard Tremblay--NFB Producer

EDITORIAL TEAM MEMBERS: Simon Bouisson--Director of "Tracked"--web documentary; Zineb Drief--Investigate Journalist; Vincent Glad--Journalist; Virginie Raisson--Scientist An interactive, evolutive and participative documentary program investigating online tracking and how data mining and the personalization of the Internet affect us and our worldview.  

THE OAKLAND FENCE PROJECT TEAM LEADER: Wendy Levy--Director, New Arts Axis

TEAM MEMBERS:  Technology Lead: Eric Doversberger--Manager and Strategist, People Analytics, Google; Augmented Reality Lead: Anselm Hook, Samsung Accelerator; Data Lead: Steve Spiker, Director of Research & Technology, Urban Strategies Council, Founder, Open Oakland; Photography Lead: Chris Johnson, Professor of Photography & Fine Arts, CCA, Co-Director Question Bridge; Web Agency: Four Kitchens; Mobile/Augmented Reality: Metaio

A large-scale interactive photography exhibit and website designed to unite and activate Oakland; each image comes to life through an augmented reality app that triggers video stories, music and embedded data, enabling real and virtual audiences anywhere to create, volunteer, buy, learn and connect.

PRIYA’S SHAKTI CORE TEAM MEMBERS: Ram Devineni--Producer, Director and Co-Writer; Lina Srivastava--Transmedia Producer and Impact Strategist; Dan Goldman--Comic Book Designer; Vikas K. Menon--Co-Writer

ADDITIONAL TEAM MEMBERS: Christian Popp--Co-Producer; Rene Veron--Music and Sound; Shubhra Prakash--Voice-Over and Narration; Shikha Bhatnagar--Gender-Based Violence Advisor; Eleonore Boissinot--Associate Producer; Steve Zeitlin--Educational Advisor; Meena Alexander--Advisor; Yusef Komunyakaa--Advisor; Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky--Advisor; Enrico Cullen--Advisor; Jessica Medling--Advisor; Tushar Prakash--Film Production

A mortal woman and the Goddess Parvati fight against gender-based sexual violence in India and around the world in this layered storytelling project and augmented reality comic book, supporting the movement against patriarchy, misogyny, and indifference through love, creativity, and solidarity.  

QUIPU TEAM LEADERS: Rosemarie Lerner--Director, Maria Court--Director, Sebastian Melo--Executive Producer, Ewan Cass-Kavanagh--Creative Technologist

TEAM MEMBERS: Sandra Tabares--Producer, Nicolas Landa - DoP, Matthew Brown--Academic Advisor, Karen Tucker--Academic Advisor, Alejandra Velez--Production Assistant, Esperanza Huayama--Field Producer

Inspired by the Quipu, the knotted thread communication system of the Inca Empire, this interactive documentary bridges the digital divide, connecting phones to the web to collect and share first-hand accounts of people affected by Peru’s unconsented sterilization policy, which targeted more than 300,000 people.

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: CAPITALISM VS. THE CLIMATE TEAM MEMBERS: Katie McKenna--Project and Engagement Lead;  Mike Robbins--Creative Technologist, Helios Design Labs; Alex Wittholz--Creative Director, Helios Design Labs; Heather Grieve--Producer, Helios Design Labs; Alex Kelly--Impact Producer, This Changes Everything; Michael Premo--Impact Producer, This Changes Everything

DOCUMENTARY TEAM: Avi Lewis--Director; Joslyn Barnes--Producer; Mary Lampson--Editor

Forget everything you think you know about climate change. The truth is that it’s not just about carbon—it’s about capitalism. Inspired by the new book by Naomi Klein, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING offers a transformative vision of what climate change can do for us: provide the galvanizing urgency to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.  The project’s interactive platform will invite and facilitate real-world participation, reflecting how the ideas behind THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING are being brought to life around the world: on the front lines of social movements, through an emerging ‘next economy’ built on environmental and economic justice principles, and in classrooms, media and art.

The two projects receiving development funding are:

THE ENEMY Key participants: Karim Ben Khelifa, Chloe Jarry THE ENEMY challenges two combatants from opposite sides to observe each other. This project, at the crossroad between neurosciences, artificial Intelligence and storytelling, takes us on an extraordinary odyssey through some of the most contested conflicts of the world to acknowledge people's humanity.

SINGLE RWANDAN SEEKS SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP Key participants: Jacqueline Kalimunda, Kivu Ruhorahoza An interactive journey into the quest for love and resilience in Rwanda. This project enables the user to move from a series of interactive romantic short films on to an immersive website to explore the geography of love in Rwanda.

Next round of submissions for the TFI New Media Fund open on September 5.

[Photo: Do Not Track]