Sundance Institute Announces Final Grant Award Recipients For Stories Of Change
Sundance Institute and Skoll Foundation today announced the final five grant recipients of the STORIES OF CHANGE: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN FOCUS THROUGH DOCUMENTARY initiative, a three-year partnership designed to enable the creation of new, feature-length independent documentary films that frame, examine and amplify social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to meeting the central challenges of our time. The announcement, which includes a film about Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus among the grantees, was made at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, the premier annual conference that brings together the world’s foremost practitioners and leaders in the field.
In 2008, STORIES OF CHANGE launched a request for proposals and received more than 300 film projects filmmakers around the world interested in telling the stories of social entrepreneurs. An advisory committee, including CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, celebrated documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight, The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and Skoll Foundation senior advancement officer Sandy Herz, made recommendations. 10 films have been chosen, with the first films likely to be completed as early as 2010.
On hand for the announcement were Jeff Skoll, Founder & Chairman, Skoll Foundation, Sandy Herz, Senior Advancement Office, Skoll Foundation, Ken Brecher, Executive Director, Sundance Institute, Pat Mitchell, President & CEO, The Paley Center For Media, and Cara Mertes, Director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.
The five new STORIES OF CHANGE Grant Award Recipients are:
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.
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.
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 Calcutta, 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.
“Social entrepreneurs are working on some of the biggest challenges facing humanity: from climate change, to water scarcity, to ethnic, political and socio-economic conflicts. These visionaries have created workable solutions to tough problems, and it is critical to tell their stories, not only to inform but also to inspire,” said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of Skoll Foundation. “We are extremely pleased with the caliber of filmmaker submissions to the STORIES OF CHANGE initiative, and look forward to seeing the outcome of these unique collaborations.”
“It is truly extraordinary to be able to provide funding for these important projects in this difficult economic climate,” said Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program. “In their optimism, integrity and intelligence, the films that are launching today reflect the deep challenges we face as a global community, tempered with the ingenuity and commitment to effective, transformative change that social entrepreneurs exemplify.”
Speaking at the Skoll World Forum Opening Plenary, Sundance Institute Executive Director Ken Brecher said, ” Film is the medium for modern storytelling, and the power of storytelling as an agent for change is tremendous. The goal of STORIES OF CHANGE is to unite these creative forces and bring about not simply awareness but also solutions to the issues of our time.”
This is the third year Sundance Institute has participated in the Skoll World Forum. 2009 Sundance Filmmaker Fellows also participating in the Forum include Robert Kenner (FOOD, INC.), Gayle Ferraro (Muhammad Yunus’ Vision for America (WT)), Greg Barker (SERGIO), and Jon Alpert (BAGHDAD E.R.).