Film Independent Announces 15 Projects Selected for 22nd Fast Track Film Finance Market, Including $20,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant Recipient

Caption/Photo Credits:

Brandon Kramer (Meridian Hill Pictures), Elizabeth Woodward (Elizabeth Woodward), Kristina Goolsby (Katherine Kendall), Jeremy Levine (Rachael DeCruz), Juliane Dressner (Clifford Levy), Lance Kramer (Meridian Hill Pictures), Miriam Shor (Ali Smith), Racheal DeCruz (Racheal DeCruz), Rajal Pitroda (Jonathan Vandiveer), Rita Baghdadi (Rita Baghdadi), Sarah Skibitzke (Bryan Donnell), Naishe Nyamubaya (Film Independent), Sue-Ellen Chitunya (Afshin Shahidi), Lucas Ford (Ramone Farrier), MG Evangelista (Bianca Catbagan), Simone Ling (Simone Ling), Diego Najera (Marc Mounier), Harris Kauffman (Harris Kauffman), Jesus Celaya (Michael Tanji), Peter Phok (Matt Doyle), Sonja O'Hara (Saint Street Photo), Devon Young (Jodi Anne), Julia Kennelly (Ellyn Jameson), Gillies MaCkinnon (Jeff Vespa), Sarit Ben Yair (Sarit  Ben Yair), Suri Ellerton (Suri Ellerton), Elizabeth Woodward (Elizabeth Woodward), Hanna Gray Organschi (Hanna Gray Organschi), Tara Sheffer (Tara Sheffer), Montana Mann (Montana Mann), Steven Snyder (Sarah Wilson Thacker), Helena Sardinha (Paula Neves), Luis Antonio Aldana (Shannon Cottrell), Miguel Angel  Caballero (Shannon Cottrell), Alexander Stegmaier (Vuk Lungulov-Klotz), April Maxey (Olivia Wong), Skylar Andrews (Skylar Andrews).

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization celebrating 40 years of the Spirit Awards, announced today that 37 filmmakers and 15 projects were selected for the 22nd Fast Track Film Finance Market taking place in person November 12–14th, 2024. The program is an intensive, four-day film-financing market in which participants are connected with established financiers, production companies, agents, managers, and other film industry professionals who can move their current projects forward. “This year’s Fast Track lineup features a dynamic mix of fiction and nonfiction projects that push creative boundaries and highlight the diverse voices shaping today’s film landscape,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We’re thrilled to connect these visionary filmmakers with key industry players at the finance market, helping them find the resources to bring their unique stories to life,” added Daniel Cardone, Manager of Nonfiction Programs. The Sloan Fast Track Grant, a $20,000 grant to support the production of a project that explores science and technology themes or characters in engaging and innovative ways, will be awarded to director Gillies MacKinnon and producers Suri Ellerton and Sarit Ben Yair for their project May Savidge Moves Her House. Previous Fast Track projects include Minding the Gap by Bing Liu and Diane Quon, nominated for an Academy Award in 2019;  Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt produced by Maria Altamirano, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for three Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2024;  Law Chen and Jonathan Hsu’s 2023 Slamdance Audience and Jury Award-winner Starring Jerry as Himself; Saim Sadiq’s Cannes Un Certain Regard and 2023 Spirit Award Winner Joyland produced by Apoorva Charan;   Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award-winning documentary United Skates; and  Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection produced by Chester Algernal Gordon, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for three Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2023. Other notable filmmakers who have participated in the program include Ana Lily Amirpour, Sean Baker, Maryam Keshavarz, James Ponsoldt, Tina Mabry, and Lana Wilson. Industry participants include: 3Pas Studios, APA / Independent Artist Group, Bankside Films, Bleecker Street, Bright West, CAA, Chrystie Street Casting, Cinetic Media, Dead Duck Films, First Gen, Giant Leap Media, Giant Pictures, Heidi Levitt Casting, IDA, Impact Partners, Kas Kas Productions, Kindred Spirit, Ley Line Entertainment, Linden Entertainment, Los Angeles Media Fund, Mandalay Pictures, Media Res, Motto Pictures, National Geographic, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Park Pictures, PASTEL, Perspective Fund, Pinky Promise, Plan B, Redefine Entertainment, Rhino Films, Rideback Rise, River Road Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, SFFILM, Searchlight Pictures, ShivHans Pictures, Sons of Rigor, Sony Pictures Classics, Sundance Institute, T-Street, Topic Studios, Tribeca Studios, Unapologetic Projects, Universal Pictures Content Group, Unnecessary Pictures, Untitled Entertainment, UTA, Visit Films, Wavelength, Winter Coat Films, Working Films and XYZ Films. Film Independent Artist Development programs promote unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through Project Involve; Filmmaker Labs (Directing, Documentary, Episodic, Producing and Screenwriting); Fast Track Film Finance Market, Episodic Directing Intensive, Fiscal Sponsorship, Amplifier Fellowship, Imaginar Producers Residency and the Imaginar TV Incubator for Fearless Latinx Creators, as well as through grants and awards that provide over one million dollars annually to visual storytellers. For more information on any of the Labs or the projects that have been developed in them, please contact artistdevelopment@filmindependent.org. Additional information can be found at filmindependent.org. The 2024 Fast Track Film Finance Market is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The following filmmakers and their projects were selected to participate in Film Independent’s 2024 Fast Track program: FICTION TRACK: Black Snake Writer/Director: Naishe Nyamubaya Producer: Sue-Ellen Chitunya Logline: In a rural village, a family eager to start a new life is forced to face their cultural identity, when the appearance of a mysterious tree coincides with their arrival in the village.   Burning Well Writer/Director: MG Evangelista Producer(s): Simone Ling, Lucas Ford Logline: In a reimagining of the Prodigal Son story, on receiving news of his mother’s illness, a young trans man returns home to mend complicated relationships and rediscover what love and family really mean.   Chalino Writer/Director: Jesus Celaya Producer(s): Diego Nájera, Harris Kauffman Logline: The story of Chalino Sanchez, who immigrated from Sinaloa to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and triggered a musical revolution by immortalizing the lives of Mexican outlaws through song.   Cottagecore Writer/Director: Sonja O’Hara Producer: Peter Phok Logline: A group of queer, polyamorous friends at an idyllic intimacy retreat face a sudden disappearance, plunging the weekend into a seductive and violent battle for survival. Marcy Learns Something New Writer/Director: Julia Kennelly Producer: Devon Young Logline: A widow is drawn to dominatrix classes after discovering her late husband's infidelity.   May Savidge Moves Her House Director: Gillies MacKinnon Producer(s): Suri Ellerton, Sarit Ben Yair Logline: England 1969. When 60-year-old May Savidge's medieval house is threatened with demolition by the council, she goes to extreme lengths to save it-deconstructing it and rebuilding it, all by herself. Rubber Hut Writer/Director: Hanna Gray Organschi Producer(s): Tara Sheffer, Elizabeth Woodward Logline: Rhode Island, 1992. An entrepreneurial ex-Pan Am stewardess opens a drive-thru condom kiosk in her Italian Catholic town and overnight becomes the local lightning rod. Tell Me A Secret Writer/Director: Montana Mann Producer: Steven Snyder Logline: Thirty-three-year-old Iranian-American, Azi Rahimi, is forced to confront a secret from her adolescence when she receives an update in a long-closed missing persons case.   The Ballad of Tita and the Machines Writer/Director: Miguel Angel Caballero Writer/Producer: Luis Antonio Aldana Producer: Helena Sardinha Logline: In the near future, Tita, an aging strawberry picker and recent widow, wages a quiet rebellion against the new AI humanoids at work that threatens her livelihood.   Work Writer/Director: April Maxey Producer(s): Skylar Andrews, Alexander Stegmaier Logline: A struggling photographer seeking independence is drawn back to sex work, igniting an intoxicating affair that could unravel her life.   DOCUMENTARY TRACK: (Untitled) Kramer Brothers Documentary Director: Brandon Kramer Producer: Lance Kramer Logline: An intimately observed story about the complex experience of a family in the aftermath of October 7th.   My NDA Directors: Juliane Dressner, Miriam Shor Producers: Juliane Dressner, Miriam Shor, Elizabeth Woodward, Hanna Gray Organschi Logline: My NDA follows three people as they decide to break their NDAs and, at extreme personal risk, go public with their stories. Through them, we see how a simple intellectual property contract has become a weapon used by those in power to silence, manipulate and control.   Nine Directors: Jeremy Levine, Rachael DeCruz Producers: Rajal Pitroda, Rachael DeCruz Logline: After being sent to prison for life at 18, Gerald—also known as “Nine”—met Henry, who raised him into the man he is today. Using the lessons Henry taught him, Gerald organized his way out of prison. Now, Gerald is on a mission to bring his 83-year-old “Pops” home while there’s still time.   Strip, Strike, Unite! Director/Producers: Kristina Goolsby, Sarah Skibitzke Logline: Can a small group of North Hollywood strippers protesting dangerous conditions achieve the unthinkable — transform their workplace into the only unionized strip club in America? Stallions Director/Producer: Rita Baghdadi Producer: Sahar Yousefi Logline: A crew of stallion riders makes dreams come true on the coast of Morocco.

ABOUT THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York-based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants in three areas: research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater, and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.  Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with a dozen leading film schools and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs with the Sundance Institute, SFFILM, Film Independent, The Black List, the Athena Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival. The Sloan Film Program has supported over 850 film projects and has helped develop over 30 feature films, including Mabel,Tesla, Radium Girls, Adventures of a Mathematician, One Man Dies a Million Times, The Sound of Silence, To Dust, Operator, The Imitation Game and The Man Who Knew Infinity. The Foundation has supported feature documentaries such as The White House Effect, Join or Die, Werner Herzog’s Theater of Thought, David France’s How to Survive a Pandemic, Picture a Scientist, Coded Bias, In Silico, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, The Bit Player, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Particle Fever and Jacques Perrin’s Oceans. It has also given early award recognition to stand out films such as Oppenheimer, Love Me, BlackBerry, Don’t Look Up, Linoleum, Ammonite, The Aeronauts, The Martian, First Man, and Hidden Figures.     The Foundation’s book program includes early support for Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the best-selling book that became the highest-grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017, and Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus, adapted for the screen in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer. For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit www.sloan.org or follow the Foundation at @SloanPublic on X, Instagram, and Facebook.  ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT For 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity, and uniqueness of vision. In addition to producing the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the organization supports creative professionals with Artist Development programs, grants, and labs. Signature mentorship program Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Education events and workshops equip filmmakers of all ages and experience levels with tools and resources. Global Media Makers, a cultural exchange program produced in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, provides career-building opportunities for international film professionals. And year-round screening series Film Independent Presents offers a robust program of unique cinematic experiences, including screenings, conversations, Live Reads, and Bring the Noise musical events. For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.