Khmer Rouge, West Bank, Chicago and Susan Sontag Supported by Sundance Doc Film Program Grants

If you want to get an early peek at some of the docu titles/docu subjects for future editions of the Sundance Film Festival, then grab an eyeful at the films and filmmakers that received grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. Here are the press release factoids for the 2009 grants: a record number of proposal submissions were received and considered for this round, totaling close to 900 applicants working in 61 countries. 15 feature documentary films in either development or in production/post-production will receive awards. The funded projects include nine U.S. stories, eight female directors and five first-time feature directors.

Films funded tell stories of a cinema restoration project in the West Bank, the revival of an indigenous American language after being silenced for 150 years , a Cambodian journalist ‘s attempt to understand the men and women who took part in the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, and a citizen journalist in China who uses technology and social networking to report on his country’s hidden stories. Several themes also emerge among the selected films: post-Soviet societies in transition, American criminal justice, the intersections between poverty and the environment, and celebrations of creativity and freedom of expression.

Development

REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG
Nancy Kates (U.S.)
Regarding Susan Sontag follows the life and work of the late author, critic, director, and activist.

STRONG ISLAND
Yance Ford (U.S.)
Strong Island is a personal investigation into the violent death of the directors’ brother and its devastating effect on her middle class black family.

Production/Post-Production

ALL THAT GLITTERS
Tomáš Kudrna (Czech Republic / Kyrgyzstan)
For villagers of a small town in Kyrgyzstan, the unexpected effects of a massive Canadian gold mining operation complicate understandings of the fall of communism.

AN AMERICAN PROMISE
Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster (U.S.)
In a twelve-year study, two African American boys come of age as they attend an elite prep-school in New York City from kindergarten to high school graduation.

ÂS NUTAYUNEÂN– WE STILL LIVE HERE (Working Title)
Anne Makepeace (U.S.)
The Wampanoag nation of southeastern Massachusetts revives their native tongue, a language that was silenced for more than 100 years.

BUDRUS HAS A HAMMER
Julia Bacha (U.S. / Israel / Palestinian Territories)
A Palestinian leader unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.

CESAR’S LAST FAST
Richard Ray Perez (U.S.)
The private sacrifice and spiritual conviction behind Cesar Estrada Chavez’s fight for justice and dignity for America’s farm workers is linked to a new generation of organizers leading the charge for farm worker’s rights today.

CINEMA JENIN
Marcus Vetter and Alex Bakri (Palestinian Territories / Israel/ Germany)
A Fellini-esque documentary comedy unfolds as locals launch an initiative to reopen the only cinema in the city of Jenin in the West Bank.

COOKED
Judith Helfand (U.S.)
Out of the most traumatic heat wave in U.S. history – when over 730 poor, elderly and African American Chicago residents died in a single July week in 1995 – comes a story about the politics of crisis, the specter of global warming, the long-term disaster called poverty and an inspired plan to address all three at once.

CRIME AFTER CRIME
Yoav Potash (U.S.)
A behind bars look at women in prison and the troubled intersection of law enforcement and domestic violence.

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE
Rob Lemkin and S. Thet (U.K. / Cambodia)
A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge spends a decade making friends with the men and women who directed and perpetrated the Killing Fields. He finally understands the reasons behind his country’s tragedy, but the truth comes at a price.

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE (Working Title)
Stephen Maing (U.S. / CHINA)
A young former vegetable seller inspired by a search for truth and the potential for fame travels the countryside reporting his observations and discoveries and unexpectedly becomes one of China’s first citizen reporters.

IN A TOWN CALLED OIL CITY
Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer (U.S.)
The announcement of the filmmaker’s wedding to another man leads to a plea for help from a gay teen and a quest for change in the small Pennsylvania hometown he left long ago.

RUSSIA’S PEPSI GENERATION (Working Title)
Robin Hessman (U.S. / Russia)
Communism’s crossover children adjust to their post-Soviet reality in Moscow today.

THE GEORGIAN YEAR
Nino Kirtadze (France / Georgia)
The Georgian Year takes an intimate look at a defining year for this young democracy, from the presidential elections in January 2008 to a state of chaos and war and the resulting aftermath.