SIFF Grant for Courageous Documentary Filmmaking

Launched in May 2024, the SIFF Grant for Courageous Documentary Filmmaking provides $400,000 in funding available for Washington State documentary filmmakers, thanks to generous funding from the Satterberg Foundation.

The grants will be awarded to storytellers with projects rooted in moral courage, who take action despite the risk of negative consequences for doing so.

Read on for more information on this year's awardees, announced September 19, 2024.

From over 89 submissions, the six finalists were selected by a panel of judges spanning from notable documentary filmmakers to Washington film leaders, including:

- Nesib CB Shamah (Washington Filmmaker and Satterberg Foundation Board Member)
- Melanie Miller (Producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary Navalny)
- Derek Edamura (Northwest Film Forum Executive Director)
- Beth Barrett (SIFF Artistic Director)

Click to jump to more info on each project:

Bring Them Home

LOGLINE
Bring Them Home is a powerful award-winning documentary exploring the harrowing issue of deported veterans—a group who has honorably served yet finds themselves exiled by the very nation they defended. This gripping film reveals the harsh realities of non-citizen soldiers who confront the threat of deportation due to shifting immigration laws, intertwining personal sacrifice with national identity.

IMPACT STATEMENT
Since the inception of this film, our primary goal has been to create awareness as a step toward real solutions. The issue of deported veterans remains largely unknown to the American public, and we believe strongly that art can drive tangible change. As storytellers, we always aim to create a platform for marginalized stories to be told, and this project is no exception. Thousands of deported veterans are currently fighting to return to the country they sacrificed so much for, while those who have made it back are struggling to stay reunited with their families. With the support of this grant, we will be able to elevate this conversation and make it a national topic of discussion. There is no better place to launch than Washington, a state known for being a state of belonging.

Art has the power to open hearts, shift perspectives, and create lasting change, and that’s what we aim to achieve with this project. The men and women who have fought for this country deserve the right to stay in it, and through this film, we hope to amplify that message. This grant will allow us to complete and release Bring Them Home, while also providing resources to ensure the conversation continues long after the credits roll.

FILMMAKER BIO
Rob Young is an award-winning filmmaker, music artist, social entrepreneur, and humanitarian. As the founder of Excuse My Accent and CEO of Rob Young Productions, he creates platforms that inspire change through music, events, and film, while uplifting nonprofit cultural initiatives.

A dedicated advocate for social issues, Rob is a visionary speaker on DE&I and a creative force. His work includes the award-winning film Bring Them Home, which was screened at the United States Capitol, resulting in over 50 legislators signing on to the Veteran Service Recognition Act. This notable event was in partnership with leading nonprofits such as Immigrant Defenders Law Center, ACLU, and LULAC. The impactful documentary short stemmed from his hit record and short film Excuse My Accent, highlighting Rob's ability to harness creativity to spark meaningful conversations. His collaborations extend to many organizations including the National Alliance of Mental Illness and the Washington State Office of Equity, the first of its kind in U.S. government history.

View Website

Return to Top

Dear Aloha

LOGLINE
In the Pacific Northwest, Diasporic Native Hawaiians reveal how aloha sustains them amidst distance, loss, and longing. Meanwhile, back in Hawaiʻi, locals grapple with the history of colonization that has Hawaiians rapidly disappearing from their homeland.

View Website

IMPACT STATEMENT
I am ecstatic to bring my short documentary, Dear Aloha, back to the Pacific Northwest. Having this support from SIFF means we can provide screenings in Washington State, home to a large population of Diasporic Hawaiians. This isnʻt just about screenings; it's about creating a space for authentic, healing connections in the community that can shift the narrative of Hawaiʻi. We are so honored to be a recipient.

FILMMAKER BIO
Cris Romento is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker telling healing, joyful stories through a feminist lens. Thirty years after her ʻohana was "priced out of paradise,” she recently returned back to her hometown on Oʻahu to reconnect and make her film Dear Aloha.

Before coming back, Cris has worked overseas in Saudi Arabia and Europe, developing brand storytelling for sustainable science and startups for worldwide audiences. She has created content for eco-fashion, responsible tourism, and ocean conservation organizations. After her time as an expat, she moved to Brooklyn as a freelancer editor and director.

She currently works between NYC and Hawaiʻi, creating stories for non-profits based in Indigenous stewardship.

Return to Top

Life after Life

Life After Life

LOGLINE
A groundbreaking burial practice disrupts the funeral industry, prompting those within to rethink rituals and drive a transformative shift in our relationship with death and the environmental legacy we leave behind.

View Website

IMPACT STATEMENT
After more than three years in development and production on Life After Life, the SIFF / Satterberg Documentary Grant will give us the opportunity to make the film we set out to create so many years ago, allowing us the time and space to focus on storytelling, character development, and visual style. This grant empowers us to invest in our local filmmaking community while also launching crucial impact initiatives in partnership with death-positive community groups across the Pacific Northwest. Together with our participants, we aim to give voice to the grieving, foster community around our shared mortality, and create a personally impactful experience that weaves together ritual and environmental legacy.

FILMMAKERS
JJ Gerber - Director
JJ Gerber is a Primetime Emmy nominated creative producer and storyteller, with 10 years experience leading non-fiction projects. JJ’s feature documentary credits include the 2024 News & Doc Emmy Nominated Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi (MTV Docs 2023), Harmontown (SXSW 2014), and We Are Blood (Released by The Orchard in 2015). He was a consulting producer on the feature film Beauty Is Embarrassing (Emmy Nominee / PBS Independent Lens 2014), helping with the strategy and implementation of nationwide theatrical self-distribution with Future You Media.

JJ started MOVEMENT CONTENT in 2017 to create visceral non-fiction media. Under the banner he has produced two feature documentary films, A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari (2024 Emmy Nominee, MTV Documentary Films, 2023) and Life After Life (in production). Movement Content also produced multiple music videos for indie-pop dream-boats Generationals, an immersive gallery experience for The Seattle Symphony, and has acted as consultant for multiple short documentary films.

On the side JJ is active in community building through his role on the board of the Seattle Documentary Association, serving Seattle and the Pacific Northwest region. He is also active in leadership roles with the Documentary Producers Alliance advocating for an equitable, ethical and sustainable industry on a national level.

Clementine Briand - Producer
Clementine Briand began her film career in Paris, spending four years at a commercial production company, where she worked with brands like Coca-Cola, IBM, L’Oreal, RadioShack, and McKinsey & Co. She worked across various mediums, including corporate videos, television (CNN, BBC), and film, with projects taking her throughout Europe, the U.S., Georgia, China, Mongolia, Israel, and Libya. Upon returning to the U.S., she shifted her focus to the documentary industry, starting by producing short-form content for the Emmy award-winning ITVS. As a freelancer, she contributed to various projects, such as The History of White People, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2018 and 2019, and was a 2021 Webby Nominee for Video: Diversity and Inclusion. She also worked on Personhood, a feature documentary that premiered at Doc NYC 2020 and won the 2020 ABA Silver Gavel Award. After earning her Master's in documentary filmmaking in Berlin, she founded Farrago, an artist collective dedicated to non-fictionprojects across podcasts, digital series, and both short- and long-form content.

Return to Top

Seattle Black Panthers

Seattle Black Panthers Fight for Justice & Freedom

LOGLINE
The Black Panthers were revolutionaries before their time who fought racism, bigotry, and oppression for the freedom of all people. Seattle Black Panthers Fight for Justice & Freedom is the untold story of the Seattle Chapter in their own words. Seattle chapter co-founder and captain Aaron Dixon describes a revolutionary as one who hates oppression and fights for ALL oppressed people, regardless of their skin color. Many were only teenagers who fought for a cause larger than themselves: the freedom of all people.

View Website

IMPACT STATEMENT
Producing an independent film can be a daunting undertaking. A friend and fellow filmmaker told me that "money is king." He meant that the more resources you have, the better your chance to produce a quality film. Although there is no guarantee, it certainly makes the goal more attainable. In a period piece like Seattle Black Panthers Fight for Justice & Freedom, archival footage, images, and music from the era are critical to the success of the product. This grant got us over the hump. It represents the final fundraising amount we needed to meet our budget goal and will help pay for post-production expenses. Specifically, the cost of rights fees (archival footage, images, and music), paying contract editors, color grade, audio sync, music score, marketing, film festival fees, and distribution are the areas in which this grant will be directed.

FILMMAKERS
Rick DuPree - Director/Producer/Executive Producer
The first-time filmmaker combines experience as an educator, performer, and playwright to shape this story. He’s written a stage play about his mother’s battle with pancreatic cancer and appeared on numerous community stages over the last 15 years as a performer. He was a lead character in the short film Behind Closed Doors. He earned his B.A. in Broadcast Communications from the UW. His career began as a sports producer at KOMO TV, then as Executive Producer of KJR’s Sports Talk in 1989. He was the first black sports talk show host in Seattle.

Marques DuPree - Co-Director, Producer/Director of Photography/Editor
A music producer, freelance and studio videographer, and producer for the last ten years. He has produced music videos, short films, interviews, and promotional videos. He has recruited and led production teams and served in all the creative roles necessary to produce artistic expressions.

Aaron Dixon - Seattle Chapter Co-Founder/Producer/Historical Consultant
Mr. Dixon's experience as both the Seattle Chapter Captain and three years as lead bodyguard to Black Panther Chairwoman Elaine Brown during her tenure shape our story. In addition to authoring his book "My People Are Rising," Mr. Dixon is a frequent speaker about the Panther experience, leadership, and activism.

Elmer Dixon - Seattle Chapter Co-Founder/Producer/Historical Consultant
Mr. Dixon travels the world as a Civil Rights Activist and Diversity Consultant. Educated in Public Administration, he has 30 years of experience as a manager and trainer. His book, "Die Standing" released in July 2023, details his experience as a Black Panther.

Return to Top

Shelly’s Leg

LOGLINE
In 1970, an eccentric young stripper named Shelly Baumann loses her leg in a freak parade canon accident, then uses her settlement money to open 'Shelly's Leg' disco - one of the nation's first and most consequential openly gay spaces. Using beautiful vintage footage of Seattle, original animations and actors recreating subject interviews verbatim - Shelly's Leg aims to immerse the audience in the era it portrays and celebrate the unusual woman whose life choices helped transform an entire community.

IMPACT STATEMENT
This grant is a life-changing development for me. I will be able to pay my collaborators and get the best post-production services to complete the film.

FILMMAKER
Wes Hurley - Director
Wes Hurley was born Vasili Naumenko in Vladivostok, Soviet Union. After immigrating to the US with his mother, Hurley studied drama, interdisciplinary arts and film at the University of Washington. He has written, directed and produced dozens of award-winning queer shorts, three feature films and two seasons of "Capitol Hill", a series he created for Huffington Post which went on to be picked up for television in Europe and Canada. Hurley is a recipient of Creative Capital Award, Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture Award, City Arts Magazine's Artist of the Year and Advocate Magazine's Person to Watch. His documentary short Little Potato won Jury Prize at SXSW along with 27 other awards around the world. It can be viewed on The Atlantic website and The Criterion Channel. Hurley's autobiographical comedy Potato Dreams of America premiered at SXSW 2021 in Narrative Feature Competition and went on to win several awards including Best Screenplay at Outfest.

*Photo credit Vincent Pierce

Return to Top

View From the Floor

LOGLINE
View From the Floor is a memoir about sex, drugs and rock-n-roll without legs, as told through the life experiences of artist, singer, writer, and crip commentator Mindie Lind. Utilizing animation, music, and Mindie’s distinctive voice, this feature documentary, made in collaboration with filmmaker Megan Griffiths, will provide a radical, irreverent, and starkly personal perspective on ableism and exploitation.

View Website

IMPACT STATEMENT
Disability representation and understanding within the culture at large is currently lingering around a kindergarten level. View From the Floor is a story told through the lens of someone who has lived her whole life without legs, has academically studied the ways in which disability functions in society, is obsessed with taking these conversations to pop culture, and who has a passionate, unvarnished way of making her take accessible, resonant, and entertaining. Mindie is not just here to educate the masses—her bold moxie and imperfect twist on a flawed life is as aspirational as it is informative, and establishes a new paradigm of disability narrative. The SIFF Documentary Grant for Courageous Filmmaking opens the door for this story to be told, and gives us the means to create a film that will shake up representation, legislation, and even culture itself.

FILMMAKERS
As a musician and artist, Mindie Lind has grabbed attention in Seattle and beyond. With her southern gothic sounds, she's been named City Arts Magazine Artist of the Year, one of Seattle Magazine’s 50 Best Artists, and shared a stage with Lena Dunham and Ben Folds. She's currently contributing her unvarnished takes of the crip experience to The Stranger and continues to champion crip culture in order to create stronger visibility and more variance of the stories in the media around disability.

Follow Mindie @indielind

Megan Griffiths is a writer/director working in film and television. She has directed shows for HBO, EPIX, TNT, Hulu, USA, Fox, Netflix, and served as the producing director for season two of Amazon’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Griffiths has written and directed films which have played at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, South by Southwest, Tribeca, and the Seattle International Film Festival, and have secured international distribution. Griffiths is a member of the director’s branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and has received many commendations across her career, including the 2012 Stranger Genius Award for Film, the 2013 City Arts Film Artist of the Year, and the 2015 Seattle Mayor’s Award for Film.

Follow Megan @thecinechick

Return to Top