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International Documentary Association Unveils Enterprise Production Grants (EXCLUSIVE)

The International Documentary Association has unveiled 13 films receiving $850,000 in funds as part of its Enterprise Documentary Fund production grants.

The titles, announced Monday at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival in Washington, D.C. are “After Sherman,” “Aftershock,” “Body Parts,” “Driver,” “Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard,” “Hossain,” “Magic & Monsters,” “Razing Liberty Square,” “Riotsville, USA,” “Testament,” “Untitled Amazon Documentary,” “Untitled Free Speech Project” and “Untitled Stasi.”

Nausheen Dadabhoy and Jialing Zhang were named as recipients of the Logan Elevate Grants of $25,000 each. Supported by The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Logan Elevate Grants support emerging women filmmakers of color.

“With unique vision and voice, these grantees confront us with complicated truths about our pasts, presents and futures, recalling for me Maya Angelou’s famous quote: Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better,” said Carrie Lozano, who was director of the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund and recently joined Sundance as director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program.

“This slate of films urges us–with passion, craft , dignity and diligence–to know and to do better,” she added.

The IDA grants receive major support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They are designed for feature-length documentary films telling “urgent, revelatory” stories underpinned by rigorous journalistic approaches and exemplary artistic achievement. They were selected from over 300 applications, and will receive additional resources and expertise through IDA and its partners Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the UCLA Documentary Film Legal Clinic and Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors.

“The Enterprise Fund carries on the legacy of the MacArthur Foundation’s four-decade-long history of supporting independently produced documentary films,” said Kathy Im, director of the journalism and media program at MacArthur. “In an era of soundbites, clickbait, polarization, and disinformation, documentaries ask us to slow down, lean in, interrogate our assumptions and prejudices, and recognize our common humanity.”

Documentaries receiving Enterprise funding are:

After Sherman (Jon-Sesrie Goff, director/producer; Blair Dorosh-Walther, producer; Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, producer)

Aftershock (Paula Eiselt, director/producer; Tonya Lewis Lee, director/producer)

Body Parts (Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, director; Helen Hood Scheer, producer)

Driver (Nesa Azimi, director/producer)

Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard (David Grubin, director/producer; Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, director/producer)

Hossain (Taimi Arvidson, director; Brette Ragland, producer; Mohamed “Micho” El Manasterly, producer; Ali Ahsan, producer)

Magic & Monsters (working title) (Norah Shapiro, director/producer; Mark Steele, producer; Elizabeth Foy Larsen, producer)

Razing Liberty Square (Katja Esson, director/producer; Ann Bennett, producer)

Riotsville, USA (Sierra Pettengill, director; Sara Archambault, producer; Jamila Wignot, producer)

Testament (working title) (Meena Nanji, co-director/co-producer; Zippy Kimundu, co-director/co-producer)

Untitled Amazon Documentary (Alex Pritz, director; Will Miller, producer)

Untitled Free Speech Project (Julia Bacha, director; Suhad Babaa, producer; Daniel J. Chalfen, producer)

Untitled Stasi (Gabriel Silverman, director/producer; Jamie Coughlin, producer/director)

Logan Elevate Grantees:

Nausheen Dadabhoy – Current production: “An Act of Worship” follows a new generation of Muslim-American women activists who have been galvanized into action while anti-Muslim sentiments are on the rise.

Jialing Zhang – Two projects in production, including “Untitled Chinese in Africa Project” which offers an insider look at a powerful Chinese industrial zone in West Africa, and the profound and complex challenges facing the local community.

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