Industry News
CrossCurrents International Doc Fund Theatrical Strand Awards $30,000 to Two Projects
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and the Panicaro Foundation are pleased to announce the two international doc projects receiving a total of $30,000 CAD in funding from the CrossCurrents Doc Fund International Theatrical Stream, a fund for filmmakers who are members of—or have a deep connection to—underrepresented and marginalized communities.
The two selected films are My Missing Aunt (D: Juyeon Yang I South Korea) and Redlight to Limelight (D: Bipuljit Basu I India).
"As ever, this round of the CrossCurrents International Doc Fund attracted an abundance of highly competitive applications, each offering a timely and compelling window onto a lesser-seen community," said Heidi Tao Yang, Hot Docs Director of Funds & Labs. "This year's worthy grantees are vivid reminders that the struggle for women’s rights is ongoing the world over and assumes many forms. We’re delighted to support the fund's first South Korean grantee, while the vibrancy of documentary filmmaking emerging from India continues to demand global attention."
"It is not an easy task to select grantees from such a strong pool of applications," added Caroline Birks from the Panicaro Foundation. "These two films bring a noteworthy creativity in their approaches to storytelling. The Panicaro Foundation is honoured to support and contribute to these projects."
The Panicaro Foundation launched the CrossCurrents Doc Fund International Theatrical Stream at the 2016 Hot Docs Festival to help develop understanding and appreciation of unheard voices by encouraging projects that aim to reach not only members within the community, but also expanded audiences. Since then, the Fund has allocated $260,000 CAD to 15 full-length feature projects in production by emerging filmmakers from 12 countries. In addition to funding, grant recipients will participate in professional development activities throughout the year, including labs with direct access to industry mentors, a set curriculum of workshop activities, access to the Hot Docs Forum, and to networking opportunities.
Twenty-five shortlisted projects from 11 countries were considered by the CrossCurrents International Doc Fund Committee, which included: Caroline Birks (board member, Panicaro Foundation), Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing (filmmaker, Snow Films), Samir Ljuma (filmmaker, Diverse Film Production), Hot Docs Industry (Julian Carrington, Distribution Manager & Industry Funds Programmer).
MY MISSING AUNT
Director: Juyeon Yang
Producers: Duhyun Ko, Sarah Kang
Production company: Keumyoil Film
Country: South Korea
In trying to understand her aunt’s decision to take her own life over 40 years ago, director Juyeon Yang begins to question the place of women in Korean society as well as in her own family.
REDLIGHT TO LIMELIGHT
Director: Bipuljit Basu
Producers: Nilotpal Majumdar (India), Max Tuula & Maria Gavrilova (Estonia), Uldis Cekulis (Latvia)
Production company: Bindubot Communication (India), Touch Narrative (India) Marx Film (Estonia), VFS Film (Latvia)
Country: India
A group of sex workers form a film production house in Kolkata, India. Despite opposition, they are determined to become filmmakers, resist prostitution among the second generation, and aspire to transform the redlight district into a professional film colony.