Durham, N.C. – December 12, 2023 – Southern Documentary Fund (SDF) has selected five projects to receive a total of $50,000 in production grants. Recipients include a diverse group of filmmakers across the South, with awards going to first-time and emerging makers currently in-production. As part of the grant, recipients are matched with established filmmakers and industry experts through SDF’s Mentorship program. The 2023 SDF Production Grant cycle is made possible thanks to generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Southern Documentary Fund Executive Director Clint Jukkala said, “We are thrilled to recognize these talented filmmakers whose projects reflect the depth and breadth of Southern stories. Through grant support and ongoing mentorship, we are honored to support these makers throughout their journey as they bring their vision to life.”
SDF received a record increase in the number of submissions from first-time, emerging and veteran filmmakers. This year’s grantees tell a wide range of stories with themes encompassing social justice, environmental justice, sports, art, gentrification and issues buried deep within the American South.
“We’re excited about this year’s recipients of the 2023 SDF Production Grant. These stories represent the spirit, the diversity, and the essence of the South that touch on a wide variety of topics and subjects ” says Southern Documentary Fund Artistic Director Christopher Everett.
SDF PRODUCTION GRANTEES – (5) $10,000 GRANTS
A CITY IN THE FOREST | Lev Omelchenko and Nolan Huber-Rhoades – Georgia
In Atlanta, a diverse social movement defends an urban forest from Cop City, a plan for the country’s largest police training facility. This film paints a prismatic portrait of the country’s most urgent social justice story, where a web of land defenders, police abolitionists, and climate justice activists fight back against police murder, militarization, and an unrelenting corporate lobby.
BASKETBALL HEAVEN | Resita Cox – North Carolina
Kinston, NC, a small, majority Black town in Eastern North Carolina, is the single greatest producer of NBA players in the world (per capita). Basketball Heaven is a poetic look at the nuanced history and communal bonds that create the gritty athletes who come out of the ‘K.’
CHIPPING AWAY: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SCULPTOR WILLIAM EDMONDSON | Mark Schlicher – Tennessee
In 1937, William Edmondson, an elderly janitor and self-taught tombstone carver from Nashville, TN, became the first African American to earn a solo exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “Chipping Away” tells the story of this visionary Black sculptor, now considered by scholars to be among the greatest self-taught artists of the 20th Century, who overcame the racial oppression of the Jim Crow era to briefly reach the pinnacle of the modern art world…before being brushed aside as a mere curiosity.
SEVEN ACRES AND A CHURCH | Caroline Josey Karoki – Georgia
When demolition threatens a historic housing project surrounding the oldest continuous Black Baptist church in America, a determined community matriarch leads the fight for preservation in Savannah, GA. With the church’s backing, Ms. Georgia Benton’s charismatic leadership galvanizes a diverse coalition of individuals, each with a stake in upholding this national symbol of faith and the community’s history and heritage. Ms. Georgia ‘gathers soldiers’ from experts, activists, community members, policymakers, and her family. Together, they rise as a powerful force to protect the church’s foundation and save the very soul of the community.
BLACK SNOW | Jose Jesus Zaragoza and Max Maldonado – Florida
“Black Snow” is a documentary film about environmental racism that focuses on the practice of sugarcane burning in the Florida Everglades. As smoke blankets low-income communities, residents unite to wage a courageous battle against the powerful sugar industry, politicians, and the state itself. Black Snow is a poignant exploration of strength, resilience, and the pursuit of environmental equality.
2023 Final Jury
Sherard Duvall: Documentary Filmmaker
Roni Nicole Henderson: Filmmaker and Artist
Anna Ray-Smith: Filmmaker and Programming Coordinator
2023 First Round Reviewers: Tom Whiteside, Dorian Gomez, Jim Haverkamp, Kate Rogers, Tory Silinski
