Untitled - Council on Foundations - Film & Video Festival

FILM + VIDEO FESTIVAL TASK FORCE 

Jaimie Mayer Phinney, Chair 

Trustee, Nathan Cummings Foundation 

Producer, Don’t Eat the 

Pictures Productions 

New York 

Juliette Feeney-Timsit, Vice Chair 

Director/Trustee, The French American 

Charitable Trust 

San Francisco 

2 

Ronit Avni 

Founder/Executive Director, Just Vision 

Washington, D.C. 

Cecilia Garcia 

Executive Director, Benton Foundation 

Chevy Chase, Md. 

Pam Harris 

Former Acting Executive Director 

Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media 

Oakland, Calif. 

Joy Thomas Moore 

Consultant, The Annie E. Casey Foundation 

Baltimore 

CURATOR 

Sky Sitney 

Washington, D.C. 

STAff 

Evelyn Gibson 

Director, Awards Programs 

<strong>Council</strong> on Foundations

THE COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS FILM + VIDEO FESTIVAL 

received strong submissions this year, making it all 

the more challenging to narrow 72 films down to 14 

selections. Those ultimately chosen are extraordinary 

cinematic achievements, and together they touch upon 

today’s most compelling concerns. These films represent 

a commitment by the filmmakers not only to the craft of 

visual media but to the use of film and video to inspire 

broader change—on policy, legislation, and the lives of 

individuals and community. 

The power of individuals to make a difference and 

positively affect the world is a prevailing theme in these 

films. Whether it’s an enlightening look at education, 

the long-term impact of war through the eyes of soldiers 

and civilians, or a hard look at how the criminal justice 

system handles terrorism and death penalty cases, the 

Film + Video Festival offers unique perspectives. This 

is a celebration not only of great cinema but of the 

filmmakers, organizations, and foundations that are 

bringing attention—and possible solutions—to issues 

connected by the human experience. 

I hope you enjoy each and every selection! 

Sky Sitney 

Curator, <strong>Council</strong> on Foundations Film + Video Festival 

COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS 45TH ANNUAL FILM + VIDEO FESTIVAL | 3

4 

NO TOMORROW 

Year completed: 2010 

Length: 87 minutes 

Producer/director: Vanessa Roth 

and Roger Weisberg 

Distributor: PBS 

Film website: www.pppdocs.com 

Budget: $792,441 production; 

$332,975 outreach 

Photo: Public Policy Productions, Inc. 

When Risa Bejarano was featured in the PBS documentary 

“Aging Out,” a story about teenagers leaving foster care, 

no one could have anticipated that she would be brutally 

murdered or that the film about the last year of her life would 

be the centerpiece of a dramatic death penalty trial. 

“No Tomorrow” explores the most dramatic moments in 

Judge Lance Ito’s courtroom, including a heated debate 

over the prosecutor’s use of “Aging Out” to persuade the 

jury to impose the death penalty. Although the trial focuses 

Funders: Charles A. Frueauff 

Foundation, The Fledgling Fund, 

Gruber Family Foundation, Lucius 

and Eva Eastman Fund Foundation, 

Foundation for a Just Community, 

Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Park 

Foundation, Silverweed Foundation, 

Spunk Fund 

on whether Risa’s murderer deserves to die, several leading 

death penalty experts address the broader question of 

whether the state deserves to kill him. The film-within-a-film 

perspective of “No Tomorrow” documents the filmmakers’ 

struggle with how their film is being used to influence the 

case and takes viewers inside a suspenseful death penalty 

trial to challenge their beliefs about capital punishment. 

“The Fledgling Fund is pleased to have supported the 

outreach and audience engagement initiatives of ‘No 

Tomorrow,’” say supporters Sheila Leddy and Emily 

Verellen, executive director and director of programs and 

communications. “The film provokes audiences to reflect upon 

trial processes, the issue of capital punishment, and the U.S. 

justice system as a whole and continues the discussion about 

foster care that began in the previous film, ‘Aging Out.’ We 

believe ‘No Tomorrow’ will make people think again about 

their support of the death penalty in the United States and 

ultimately start to shift public opinion more broadly about 

how we treat the accused.” 

A viewers’ guide explaining state and global death penalty 

laws and pending legislation is included in the film’s 

supplementary resources.



Producer/director: Sheila Kinkade 

and Richard Crisholm 

Distributor: The Video Project 

Chef and activist Tony Geraci came to Baltimore to put 

healthy food on the plates of the city’s schoolchildren. 

As audacious as it is practical, his vision includes school 

vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, meatless 

Mondays, and nutrition education in the classroom. 

“Cafeteria Man” tracks Geraci’s quest to change how a 

community thinks about school lunches—and by extension, 

how it thinks about its children. 

The documentary, which includes an appearance by Michelle 

Obama, chronicles an ambitious, two-year effort supported 

by parents, teachers, administrators, farmers, chefs, and 

dozens of creative students to “green” the public school diet 

for 83,000 children. As part of that endeavor, inner-city youth 

plant and harvest vegetables on the school system’s 33-acre 

teaching farm, and high school seniors develop practical job 

skills through a citywide culinary vocational training program. 

Says Janice Scangas, executive director of the Corfu 

Foundation: “We chose to provide the seed money for this 

film because it focused on educating students, providers, and 

parents on the importance of nutrition. It is our desire that 

this film will inspire positive changes in school nutrition that 

reinforce an awareness that healthy nutrition is a prerequisite 

for a healthy body.” 

Film website: www.cafeteriaman. 

com 



CAFETERIA MAN 

Funders: Corfu Foundation, W.K. 

Kellogg Foundation, Blaustein 

Group, The Park Foundation, The 

Aaron and Lillie Straus Foundation, 

Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, 

Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell 

Foundation, Philip and Beryl Sachs 

Family Foundation 

Photo: Richard Chisolm 

Betsy Ringel, executive director of the Elizabeth B. and Arthur 

E. Roswell Foundation, says that because her foundation was 

interested in transforming students’ relationship with food, 

“we wanted to capture the passion and enthusiasm of Tony 

Geraci, who was a rock star of food and nutrition.” 

“Cafeteria Man” is available on DVD for home and community 

screenings and classroom use to help raise public awareness. 

The film won the CINE Golden Eagle Award in 2011. 


6 

TO BE HEARD 



Producer/director: Roland 

Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, 

Deborah Shaffer, and Amy Sultan 

Distributor: Cargo Releasing 

(international sales agent)/PBS 

(broadcaster) 

Film website: www.tobeheard.org 



Photo: Courtesy of “To Be Heard” 

Filmed over four years, “To Be Heard” follows three teens 

from the South Bronx—Karina, Pearl, and Anthony—whose 

struggle to change their lives begins when they enroll in an 

alternative poetry workshop with a simple motto: If you don’t 

learn to write your own life story, someone else will write it 

for you. With a trio of dedicated teachers behind them, they 

are encouraged to articulate their dreams on paper and allow 

language to transform their lives. 

Funders: The Bay and Paul 

Foundations, The Fledgling Fund, The 

Agnes Gund Foundation, The Witter 

Bynner Fund for Poetry, The Lucius 

and Eva Eastman Foundation 

Supporters are enthusiastic about its message. “‘To Be Heard’ 

is an incredibly strong film that focuses on the needs of 

vulnerable youth,” says Sheila Leddy, executive director of The 

Fledgling Fund. “By highlighting the Power Writers program, 

viewers learn how high-quality initiatives can turn lives around 

and provide the creative outlets that many youth crave.” 

The filmmakers are committed to using the film to engage 

audiences—specifically youth—and inspire them to take control 

of their future. 

The Fledgling Fund partnered with Rooftop Films to host 

screenings of “To Be Heard” in New York City. They also 

sponsored poetry writing workshops and slams that allowed 

hundreds of youth to try their hands at expressing themselves 

in an entirely new way. For many, it was the first time they felt 

empowered to tell their stories in their own voices. 

“To Be Heard” has been screened at numerous film festivals 

and on PBS.

BAD BLOOD: A CAUTIONARY TALE 



Producer/director: Marilyn Ness 

Distributor: PBS Distribution 

For nearly four decades, pooled plasma blood products 

were believed to be a life-saving “miracle” treatment for the 

hemophiliac community. In actuality, they contained deadly 

viruses that became an agent of death for more than 10,000 

Americans. Worse still, drug manufacturers, the government, 

and even doctors knew the blood supply was contaminated 

but failed to warn patients. In a story told through survivors 

and family members, “Bad Blood” chronicles the powerful and 

inspiring fight to right and revolutionize the failing system. 

The film has struck a personal chord with such supporters as 

the Colburn-Keenan Foundation, a charitable organization 

dedicated to improving the health and well-being of individuals 

and families with chronic illnesses. “Our founders, Donald 

Colburn and his wife Kathy Ann Keenan, were directly affected 

by chronic illnesses in many ways. Not only does ‘Bad Blood’ 

chronicle events that were central in our founders’ lives,” says 

Sasha Zatyrka, the foundation’s executive director, “but support 

of the film was absolutely in line with the essence of the 

Colburn-Keenan Foundation’s mission.” 

“Bad Blood” already has been instrumental in reforming and 

updating screening policies for blood donors, Zatyrka adds. 

“Likewise, the film’s message has unified the various players 

with a stake in this discussion, including those with bleeding 

Film website: 

www.badblooddocumentary.com 



Funders: Colburn-Keenan 

Foundation (in memory of Donald 

Colburn), Mark and Anna Ruth 

Hasten Family Foundation, The 

Rachel Foundation/Joy and Jack 

Fishman, The John and Lisa Pritzker 

Family Fund, Shirley C. Burden 

Charitable Lead Trust, Arlin Green 

and Paula Yudenfriend/The Green 

Family Foundation, Women in Film 

Finishing Fund 

Photo: Shelby Dietrich 

disorders and gay-community organizations. This has created 

an atmosphere of collaboration and shared vision, rather 

than conflict and misunderstanding. 

“‘Bad Blood’ offers a great lesson about why it’s so important 

to never let profit become a priority over safety,” says Zatyrka. 

The film has been broadcast on PBS stations and screened in 

cities nationwide. 


8 

THE INTERRUPTERS 



Producer/director: Steve James 

and Alex Kotlowitz 

Distributor: Cinema Guild 


www.interrupters.kartemquin.com 



Kartemquin films 

A group of modern-day heroes risks their lives on the 

streets of Chicago to make extraordinary change. Meet 

“The Interrupters”—former gang members who attempt 

to disrupt violence and, at the same time, inspire hope in 

their communities. With his signature observational style, 

acclaimed director Steve James (“Hoop Dreams,” “Stevie”) 

plunges us heart-first into the lives of these fierce men and 

women who strive to put an end to a profound cycle of 

brutality that they themselves once employed. 

Funders: The John D. and Catherine 

T. MacArthur Foundation, The 

Sundance Documentary Fund, 

Richard H. Driehaus Foundation 

Shot over the course of a year when the city was besieged 

by high-profile incidents—most notably the brutal beating of 

high school student Derrion Albert—the film is an intimate 

journey into the persistent violence in our cities. “We have 

seen many different film proposals about urban violence, 

but ‘The Interrupters’ provided an unconventional approach 

to addressing the cycle of violence, which we believed was 

an important story to tell,” says Kathy Im, director of media, 

culture, and special initiatives at the MacArthur Foundation. 

“The Interrupters” has earned accolades at film festivals, 

including Sundance, but Im expects the impact to be more 

substantial. “We hope the films we support will inform and 

educate audiences…challenge preconceived notions and 

biases, and provoke some type of reaction or change in the 

viewer. More specifically, with ‘The Interrupters,’ we hope 

that the film’s engagement campaign will promote a national 

conversation around urban violence and spur audiences— 

individuals and policymakers—to consider effective ways to 

address it.”



Producer/director: Stanley Nelson 

Distributor: WGBH Educational 

Foundation 

In summer 1961, Freedom Riders boarded interstate buses 

and rode into our consciousness, risking their lives to point 

out the continuing pattern of segregation in the American 

South. “Freedom Riders” vividly evokes the sense of possibility 

and danger of the rides, masterfully balancing archival 

footage with riveting first-person accounts. The film is notable 

for its unusual detail and insights, touching on oft-omitted 

aspects of the movement, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 

refusal to participate. Also remarkable is the documenting of 

white racists, whose expressions of hatred are still shocking. 

Paul Alexander, senior vice president, corporate 

communications at Liberty Mutual, notes that the documentary 

was a rare opportunity for his company to align with the 

retelling of one of the most significant events in American 

history. “As part of our exclusive corporate sponsorship, we 

also made available four short films on our Responsibility 

Project website, each depicting the Freedom Riders’ courage, 

hope, and determination through poignant reflections of four 

people who joined with others to challenge segregation in the 

South,” says Alexander. “We can think of no more important 

way to unite our brand with quality programming that seeks 

to preserve history for future generations, while honoring men 

and women who chose to do the right thing over the easy thing, 

regardless of personal cost.” 

FREEDOM RIDERS 

Film website: www.pbs.org/wgbh/ 

americanexperience/freedomriders 

Budget: $1.5M production; 


Funders: Liberty Mutual, Alfred 

P. Sloan Foundation, National 

Endowment for the Humanities, 

Documentary Investment Group, 

Lynn Bay Dayton and Nordblom 

Family Foundation, Corporation for 

Public Broadcasting 

Photo: Courtesy of “freedom Riders” 

“Freedom Riders” has screened at numerous film festivals, 

including Sundance, where it was recognized as an official 

selection in 2010. The DVD and its companion book are 

available for purchase on the website. 


10 

THE LEARNING 



Producer/director: Ramona Diaz 

Distributor: POV | American 

Documentary 

This absorbing documentary follows four Filipino teachers 

recruited to work in the American public school system. Leaving 

behind the husbands, children, and extended families who 

depend heavily on them, Dorotea, Rhea, Grace, and Angel 

spend one year teaching in Baltimore public schools, where 

they can make up to 25 times the salaries they bring home 

in the Philippines. The four deal with unexpected classroom 

challenges and make personal sacrifices along the way. 

Film website: www.pbs.org/pov/ 

learning 



Funders: Center for Asian American 

Media, Sundance Institute 

Photo: Courtesy of POV | American Documentary 

The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), one of the 

film’s funders, is dedicated to presenting authentic Asian- 

American stories to the widest possible audience. “The 

Learning” fulfills that mission, says Sapana Sakya, public 

media director for CAAM, through an insightful story of 

contemporary Filipino immigrants that also sheds light on 

America’s larger immigrant communities. “‘The Learning’ 

strikes at the heart of many important issues—the state of 

American public education, the story of Filipino immigrants 

in the United States, and finally, the story of incredible 

women who sacrifice so much to provide a better life for their 

families.” She adds, “It gives viewers an intimate perspective 

on a whole host of issues around immigration and education 

that is quite important and relevant to American audiences.” 

It is important to highlight the stories of Filipinos and Filipino 

Americans, says Sakya, as they constitute a large segment of 

the Asian-American population; however, it is rare that we see 

their stories presented in the mainstream. This film fills the void.

WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM 



Producer/director: Heather 

Courtney 

From rural America to Afghanistan, “Where Soldiers Come 

From” tells the story of three childhood friends who join the 

National Guard and find themselves risking life and limb 

to detonate roadside bombs. Filmmaker Heather Courtney 

follows the friends over the course of a four-year journey, 

from teenagers stuck in their sleepy northern Michigan town 

to 23-year-old combat veterans trying to restart their lives in 

America. It is a poignant portrait of the young men who fight 

our wars and the families and communities they leave behind. 

“Heather Courtney is a great example of someone who 

benefited greatly from nearly all of our artist services 

programs that aim to support Texas filmmakers in every 

stage of their project, from funding through distribution,” 

says Bryan Poyser, director of artist services at the Austin Film 

Society. “Through the attention that the documentary has 

received over the last year, Heather has been invited to meet 

with the head of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., to 

discuss some of the issues that the film raises for soldiers. 

This will give Heather an opportunity to get direct access to 

some of the officials who might be able to affect change in 

the way that soldiers are treated, especially during the crucial 

time when they just return home from their tours of duty.” 


Documentary 


wheresoldierscomefrom 



Funders: United States Artists, 

Sundance Documentary Fund, Austin 

Film Society, Paul Robeson Fund 


The documentary premiered at the highly competitive and 

prestigious SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 

2011. Strong reviews and interest from that festival allowed 

the film to secure a national release, which garnered excellent 

reviews from such outlets as the New York Times. 


12 

BETTER THIS WORLD 



Producer/director: Kelly Duane de 

la Vega, Katie Galloway, and Mike 

Nicholson 


Documentary 


betterthisworld 




After childhood friends David McKay and Bradley Crowder 

made Molotov cocktails at the 2008 Republican Convention 

under the tutelage of their charismatic leader, Brandon Darby, 

their arrest led to a dramatic story that included domestic 

terrorism charges, an entrapment defense, and a surprising 

FBI informant. “The story this film has to tell about the justice 

system in post-9/11 America is vitally important,” says Josh 

Welsh, director of artist development at Film Independent, 

one of the funders behind “Better This World.” 

Funders: Sundance Institute, 

Nathan Cummings Foundation, 

Sandler Foundation, and Film 

Independent 

The film, which shows the effect of the war on terror on 

civil liberties and political activism in the aftermath of the 

September 11 attacks, has sparked intense conversation 

over the proper role of government surveillance and issues 

of entrapment. “It’s hard to gauge the specific impact these 

conversations will have,” Welsh admits, “but as we head into 

an election year, they are critical.” In the process, “Better This 

World” dissects the problems of power and authority but also 

highlights friendship, forgiveness, and love. 

“Film Independent’s mission is to champion the cause of 

independent film and support a community of artists who 

embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. So in 

supporting ‘Better This World,’ we were directly fulfilling our 

mission. Kelly and Katie are exactly the types of innovative, 

original, committed filmmakers we like to work with,” says 

Welsh of the filmmaking team behind “Better This World.” 

Supplementary materials, including downloadable discussion 

guides, lesson plans, and other resources, are available on 

the website.

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE 


Distributor: POV | American Funders: Sundance Institute, Gucci 


Documentary 

Tribeca Documentary Fund 

Producer/director: Rob Lemkin 

and Thet Sambath 


enemies 



Three decades ago, the Khmer Rouge slaughtered nearly 

two million people in Cambodia. Yet the “killing fields” 

have remained largely unexplained because survivors 

and perpetrators are reluctant to offer testimony for fear 

of retribution. An unassuming, yet cunning, investigative 

journalist, Thet Sambath—the film’s protagonist who lost 

his family—elicits testimony from the men and women who 

perpetrated the massacres. “Enemies of the People” is an 

important testament to the power of recording history, 

however brutal it may be, so that it should not be repeated. 

The film has been screened around the world, even in 

Cambodia. Its impact will be lasting, says Ryan Harrington, 

director of documentary programming for the Gucci Tribeca 

Documentary Fund. “The Tribeca Film Institute seeks to fund 

story-driven projects that highlight and humanize issues of 

social importance missing from the mainstream media. Of 

the hundreds of projects that TFI has supported, ‘Enemies of 

the People’ fits our mission perfectly.” 

The filmmakers put together an unprecedented video 

conference between Cambodian survivors living in California 

and three former Khmer Rouge perpetrators. It is what Rob 

Lemkin, the film’s codirector, calls “the end of a Cold War 

moment.” Through his work in the film, Thet Sambath was 

Photo: Courtesy of “Enemies of the People” 

honored with the 2011 Knight International Journalism 

Award. “‘Enemies of the People’ allows us to reexamine 

Cambodia’s history and rethink how to bring truth and 

reconciliation to the nation,” adds Harrington. 

The film is available for purchase on Amazon.com and for 

download on iTunes. Supplementary materials, including a 

discussion guide and lesson plan, are posted on its website. 


14 

THE POWER OF TWO 



Producer/director: Marc 

Smolowitz and Andrew Byrnes 

Distributor: GoDigital 


www.thepoweroftwomovie.com 



Photo: Twin Triumph Productions, LLC 

Anabel Stenzel and Isabel Stenzel Byrnes have more in 

common than just being identical twins—they share a lifelong 

battle with the fatal genetic disease cystic fibrosis. “The Power 

of Two” offers an intimate look into the sisters’ remarkable 

survival through multiple lung transplants and their unlikely 

emergence as authors, athletes, and global advocates for 

organ donation. 

Funders: The Film Foundation, 

Vitrolife, Inc., California Transplant 

Donor Network, Ebay Foundation 

Through interviews, archival footage, and deeply personal 

testimony from the twins and others whose lives have 

been impacted by organ transplantation, the film provides 

unprecedented insights into the multifaceted aspects of this 

medical miracle. 

“I have known both Ana and Isa for many years. They live in 

our service area and were transplanted here as well,” explains 

Cathy Olmo, community development manager of the 

California Transplant Donor Network. “Both are articulate, 

passionate, and have great compassion for others. Their story 

will help as more people make their decision to become organ 

and tissue donors.” 

Olmo hopes that the twins’ story will be a catalyst for an 

increase in organ donation as a basic human responsibility. 

“I believe as more people outside the transplant community 

have the opportunity to view the film and get to know Ana 

and Isa, they will be inspired to take action,” she says. 

“The Power of Two” won the Slate Award for Best 

Documentary earlier this year. It is being screened in venues 

around the country.



Producer/director: Sara Terry, Rory 

Kennedy, and Libby Hoffman 

Distributor: Catalyst for Peace 

Victims and perpetrators of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war 

come together in an unprecedented program of traditionbased 

truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies. As they 

revive their ancient practice of fambul tok (family talk), Sierra 

Leoneans are building sustainable peace at the grassroots— 

succeeding where the international community’s post-conflict 

efforts failed. 

Libby Hoffman, founder and president of Catalyst for 

Peace, says, “Our mission has been to identify and support 

community-owned and led peace building and reconciliation 

and share the stories of this work with the world to magnify 

its strategic impact.” The organization made a commitment 

to focus all of its giving on the fambul tok program and the 

film documenting its work. “We knew film had the potential 

to reach a much wider audience than the print and web 

storytelling that had been our focus to reach that audience 

in a way that spoke to people’s hearts,” says Hoffman. 

Filled with lessons for the West, “Fambul Tok” explores the 

depths of a culture that believes true justice lies in redemption 

and healing for individuals—and that forgiveness is the surest 

path to restoring dignity and building strong communities. 

FAMBUL TOK 

Film website: www.fambultok.com 


$1.2 million outreach 

Funders: Al Azem, Catalyst for Peace, 

Sundance Documentary Institute, C. 

Cohen Family Foundation, D. Devito/ 

Pearlman Family Foundation, Heaton/ 

Hunt Family Foundation, F. Hoffman 

Foundation, G. Gayle Embrey H. 

Compton Foundation, Chicken & 

Egg Pictures 

Photo: ftPressHires 

Judith Helfand, cofounder of Chicken & Egg Pictures, says 

of their support: “There have been many films about the 

reconciliation process in Africa, but one is dedicated to 

looking at reconciliation through a process that brings 

people back to the very thing they lost. That is, a community 

that trusts each other and commits to going through a 

painful process together to achieve something bigger.” 


16 

SIN PAIS 



Producer/director: Theo Rigby 


Documentary (broadcaster); New 

Day Films (educational distributor) 

Film website: www.sinpaisfilm.com 



Photo: Theo Rigby 

Twenty years ago, Sam and Elida Mejia left Guatemala 

during a violent civil war and moved to California with 

their one-year-old son. They had two more children, worked 

multiple jobs, paid their taxes, and saved enough money to 

buy a home. When immigration agents stormed the Mejias’ 

house, they became involved in a lengthy entanglement with 

the U.S. immigration system, which threatened to deport and 

dismantle the family. 

Funders: The Enerson Foundation 

Dick Enersen, president of The Enersen Foundation, has been 

supporting graduate-student filmmaking at Stanford since 

1999. “Our aim is frankly not to change the world but to 

enable young filmmakers to pursue their goals and reward 

those who indicate promise,” says Enerson. “Funds are 

awarded to the top three or four projects, based on aggregate 

score. Theo’s film was terrific.” 

Taking viewers through the two-week period before Sam 

and Elida’s scheduled deportation date, “Sin País” provides 

intimate access and striking imagery of the complexities of a 

separated family—parents without their children and children 

without their parents. The film was awarded the Student 

Academy Award in 2011 and has played at esteemed film 

festivals around the world.



Producer/director: Mona Nicoara, 

Miruna Coca-Cozma, and Julie 

Goldman 

Shot over the course of four years, “Our School” follows 

the attempt to integrate isolated, rural Roma (or “Gypsy”) 

children into the mainstream school system of Romania. 

Focusing on 7-year-old Alin, 12-year-old Beni, and 16-yearold 

Dana, who are already far behind the learning curve, 

the story details the children’s struggle against family 

expectations and negative stereotyping. 

According to Bernard Rorke, international research and 

advocacy director of Roma initiatives at the Open Society 

Foundations, “Our School” highlights the commonalities of 

personal dignity and shared aspirations among all people. 

“For more than 10 years, we have campaigned against school 

segregation and for full and equal access to quality education 

for Roma children,” says Rorke. “Despite the European Court 

of Human Rights ruling that segregation of Roma children 

into special schools was discriminatory and unlawful, as 

we approach the fourth anniversary of the judgment, the 

shunting of Roma children into special schools continues.” 

“‘Our School’ not only helps us see that education is a 

human right, but it offers us an extraordinary opportunity to 

look at the vestiges and long-term impact of segregation as 

it exists in the United States,” says Judith Helfand, cofounder 

Distributor: Motto Pictures OUR SCHOOL 

Funders: UNICEF Romania, 


www.ourschoolfilm.blogspot.com 



Open Society Foundations, 

Roma Education Fund, Sundance 

Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg 

Pictures, Lucius and Eva Eastman 

Fund 

of Chicken & Egg Pictures. “It is an honor to support a 

film that, at its core, is about bringing dignity to people, a 

film that creates the opportunity to see people who have 

otherwise been rendered invisible or stereotyped.” 

The film won Best U.S. Feature at the 2011 Silverdocs 

Documentary Festival. 

Mona Nicoara 


18 

THE HENRY HAMPTON AWARD 

FOR EXCELLENCE IN 

FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA

The Henry Hampton Award was launched in 2002 

by the <strong>Council</strong> on Foundations and Grantmakers in 

Film + Electronic Media (GFEM). The award honors 

foundations’ support of creative, high-quality 

productions that expand the boundaries of the use of 

media for the social good. The Henry Hampton Awardwinning 

film is selected from the pool of entries to 

the Film + Video Festival. These films and videos best 

exemplify how these media meet the goals of funders, 

which include promoting the arts, creating powerful 

tools for practitioners and programs, and bringing 

untold stories into view. 

The award is named in honor of a man who broke 

traditional molds of documentary filmmaking and 

put excellence and innovation at the forefront of his 

work. Henry Hampton (1940–98) was one of the 20th 

century’s most influential documentary filmmakers. 

His work chronicled America’s great political and 

social movements and set new standards for broadcast 

quality. Blackside, Inc., the independent film and 

television company he founded in 1968, completed 

60 major films and media projects that amplified the 

voices of the poor and disenfranchised. Hampton’s 

best known miniseries on PBS, “Eyes on the Prize,” won 

six Emmys, a Peabody, the duPont Columbia Award for 

Excellence in Radio and Television, and an Academy 

Award nomination. 

“Eyes on the Prize,” the story of the struggle for civil 

rights in the United States from 1954 to 1965, is the 

definitive television history of that era. In addition, 

Henry Hampton and the Blackside team produced 

several other landmark series, including “Malcolm X,” 

“The Great Depression,” “America’s War on Poverty,” 

and “I’ll Make Me a World.” 

The winner of the 2012 Henry Hampton Award from Grantmakers in 

Film + Electronic Media and the <strong>Council</strong> on Foundations is “The Interrupters,” 

by Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, and Zak Piper. 

GFEM is an association of grantmakers committed to advancing the field of media arts and public interest media 

funding. It serves as a resource for grantmakers who fund media programming, infrastructure, and policy, as 

well as those who employ media to further their program goals. GFEM members reflect a range of interests 

and approaches but share an interest in the key role media play in building public will and shaping civil society. 

GFEM is an affinity group of the <strong>Council</strong> on Foundations. For more information or to become a member, visit 

www.gfem.org. 

200 West Washington Square 

Philadelphia, Pa. 19106 


The <strong>Council</strong> on Foundations is a national nonprofit association of more than 

1,700 grantmaking foundations and corporations. As the leading advocate 

for philanthropy, we strive to increase the effectiveness, stewardship, and 

accountability of our sector while providing our members with the services 

and support they need to advance the common good. 

2121 CRYSTAL DRIVE, SUITE 700 | ARLINGTON, VA. 22202 

800-673-9036 | WWW.COF.ORG

Untitled - Council on Foundations - Film & Video Festival

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