Academy Awards $450,000 to U.S. Film Festivals in 2011

The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded $450,000 to 30 U.S. film festivals for the 2011 calendar year, Festival Grants Committee Chair Buffy Shutt announced today.

The Chicago International Film Festival will be the recipient of a multiyear grant for its World Cinema Spotlight program. It will receive a total of $150,000 over a three-year period. The Nashville Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival are each in the third and final year of a multiyear grant, with each receiving $75,000 in total for numerous outreach programs.

While the grants are awarded for a variety of festival programs, organizers are encouraged to submit proposals intended to make festival events more accessible to the general public, provide greater access to minority and less visible filmmakers, and help strengthen the connection between filmmakers and the general public.

The 2011 film festival grants allocations are as follows:

$50,000
Chicago International Film Festival - World Cinema Spotlight program

$30,000
San Francisco International Film Festival - World Cinema Spotlight program
Seattle International Film Festival - Asian Trade Winds spotlight program

$25,000
Mill Valley Film Festival - Youth Focus and Children's FilmFest programs
Nashville Film Festival - Outreach to multiethnic and underserved audiences
New Orleans Film Festival - Outreach and emerging filmmakers programs

$20,000
Chicago Latino Film Festival - Children's film screenings and filmmaker talks
Cleveland International Film Festival - Women of the World program
Traverse City Film Festival - Visiting filmmaker program
Portland International Film Festival - Hispanic Film Showcase and Cine-Lit program

$17,500
Ashland Independent Film Festival - Education and accessibility programs
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival - Retrospective Artist Spotlight
Native American Film & Video Festival - Native Networks conference
New York International Children's Film Festival - Girls' POV program
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival - Filmmaker Spotlight, Filmmaker Retrospectives and Out of the Vaults programs

$15,000
Roger Ebert's Film Festival - Q & A sessions and panel discussions

$10,000
Woodstock Film Festival - Exposure program
Aspen Shortsfest - Youth education program
KidFilm - Free tickets and outreach program
San Luis Obispo International Film Festival - Women-focused discussions, screenings and
workshops

$6,000
Anchorage International Film Festival - Filmmaker travel

$5,500
Binational Independent Film Festival - Filmmaker travel and free screenings/seminars
Black Maria Film & Video Festival - Filmmaker travel

$5,000
Port Townsend Film Festival - Community involvement program
San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival - Focus on Sri Lanka program
United Nations Association Film Festival - UNAFF and Kids program

$3,000
Arizona International Film Festival - Filmmaker travel

$2,500
Damn! These Heels - Filmmaker travel
JFilm: The Pittsburgh Jewish Film Forum - Audience development efforts
Saugatuck Children's Film Festival - Outreach to underserved children

Since its establishment in 1999, the Academy's Festival Grants Program has distributed 252 grants totaling $4.4 million in funding. For more information on the grants program, visit http://www.oscars.org/education-outreach/grants/.

The Academy Foundation - the Academy's cultural and educational wing - annually distributes more than $1 million to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Foundation also presents the Academy's rich assortment of screenings and other public programs each year.

Need more Los Angeles Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...