Announcing the 2016 TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund Grantees

Today we are excited to announce the two phenomenal projects selected as 2016 grantees of the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund! This year’s recipients will receive a total of $150,000 in grants to support their projects, with topics ranging from a primatologist in Madagascar to an American anthropologist working for a military initiative in Iraq. The TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund, providing funding and professional guidance in support of innovative and compelling films focusing on science, math, and technology, has now given more than $1.3 million dollars to filmmakers.

This year’s winning projects were chosen by a distinguished jury of arts and science professionals: producer Caroline Baron (Mozart in the Jungle, Capote), Heather Berlin, PhD (Neuroscientist and host of CUNY TV’s Science Goes to the Movies), Jeanne Garbarino, PhD ( Director of Science Outreach at The Rockefeller University), director and producer Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison Of Belief, We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks), producer Lawrence Mattis (Vanishing on 7th Street, Spare Parts), actress Rose McGowan (Charmed, Chosen, Planet Terror), and Laura Snyder, PhD (author of 'The Philosophical Breakfast Club' and 'Eye of the Beholder', Professor of Philosophy at St. John's University in New York City).

The two films awarded grants, which offer a fresh take on scientific themes, are:

The Burning Season: Directed by Claire McCarthy, written and produced by Jenny Halper, produced by Kate Sharp.  A primatologist brings her daughter to a remote region of Madagascar, where her determination to save endangered lemurs puts their relationship – and safety – at risk.

Human Terrain: Directed and produced by Parisa Barani, written by Jennifer Blackmer. An American anthropologist working in Iraq for The Human Terrain System, a military initiative that embeds social scientists in combat units, is accused of treason for befriending an Iraqi woman and helping her survive.

For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit: http://www.sloan.org