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Sundance Documentary Film Program and Skoll Foundation Announce
Stories of Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary
STORIES OF CHANGE Partnership Objective:
Stories of Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary, is a three-year initiative of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program in partnership with the Skoll Foundation. The initiative is designed to explore the intersection of nonfiction storytelling with the growing impact of social entrepreneurship. The goal is to cultivate new knowledge networks and fund new documentary films to tell the story of social entrepreneurs as they meet the world's great challenges with creativity and innovation.
The Stories of Change Fund call for proposals was launched in the Summer of 2008. Over 300 proposals for independent feature-length documentary projects in all categories of development, production, and post-production from around the world were considered. Completed films
were not eligible.
We are pleased to announce in March 2009 that ten projects were awarded
grants of ranging up to $150,000US per film:
BACK TO SCHOOL
Producer: Julia Parker Benello
Social Entrepreneur: Sakena Yacoobi
Sakena Yacoobi's Afghan Institute for Learning, a grassroots organization she founded 12 years ago, brings education to women in Afghanistan, a country driven by war and torn
between competing ideologies.
CONNECTED
Director: Jonathan Stack
Social Entrepreneur: Aloy Chife
Nigerian entrepreneur Chife is making an unrelenting effort to shrink Africa's digital divide by bringing information technology to those who need it most.
EASY LIKE WATER
Director: Glenn Baker
Social Entrepreneur: Abul Hasanat Mohammed Rezwan
In Bangladesh, Architect Abul Hasanat Mohammed Rezwan's solar-powered floating schools are turning the front lines of climate change into a community of learning.
GREEN SHALL OVERCOME
Director/Producer: Megan Gelstein
Social Entrepreneur: Van Jones
Green Shall Overcome examines the national movement for green-collar jobs as both a pathway out of poverty for young adults and a key weapon in the battle against climate change. The film focuses on Van Jones, an Oakland, California-based African-American civil rights lawyer who helped make Oakland the first city in the nation to create a green job corps program.
POOR CONSUELO CONQUERS THE WORLD
Director: Peter Friedman
Producer: Paul Miller
Social Entrepreneur: PCI-Media Impact
Poor Consuelo Conquers the World tells the story of popular soap operas and telenovelas, now being used to combat the effects of poverty around the world.
SH*T!
Directors: Annika Gustafson and Phil Jandaly
Social Entrepreneurs: Various
This remarkable film shows viewers how to save the planet, save money while they do it, and have a laugh or two in the meantime.
THE REVOLUTIONARY OPTIMISTS
Directors: Maren Grainger-Monsen, Nicole Newnham
Social Entrepreneur: Amlan Ganguly
In the slums of Kolkata, Ganguly, a lawyer turned social entrepreneur, empowers children to become "health minders" in their communities, which causes malaria and diarrhea rates to drop, and neighborhoods to transform.
THE TEAM
Director: Patrick Reed
Producer: Peter Raymont
Social Entrepreneurs: John Marks and Susan Collin Marks
Kenyans scramble to produce a dramatic TV soap opera series, hoping taboo storylines can bridge deep ethnic divisions.
TO CATCH A DOLLAR: MUHAMMAD YUNUS BANKS ON AMERICA (WORKING TITLE)
Director: Gayle Ferraro
Social Entrepreneur: Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus, known for developing the concept of microcredit, reached seven and a half million poverty stricken families in Bangladesh with his Grameen Bank. This film profiles the Nobel Prize winner's newest location in Queens, New York, and 500 women borrowers.
YOUTHBUILD DOCUMENTARY (working title)
Director: Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern
Social Entrepreneur: Dorothy Stoneman
This feature length documentary will follow a year in the lives of out-of school young people selected for a high stakes community re-build project in North Philadelphia.
This was a one-time only RFP.
Grants were awarded based on the following criteria:
- All films highlight and /or include a contemporary social entrepreneur, their organization, and a focus on the issues in which the entrepreneurs are seeking a systemic and positive change.
- All films are feature length (over 65 minutes).
- All films are independently produced, with creative control held by the producing/directing team.
- Films display directorial vision/aesthetic and have the potential for theatrical release.
Questions regarding the Stories for Change partnership can be directed to dfpskoll@sundance.org.
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