Rooftop Filmmakers Fund Grant Winners for 2014 Announced
Zack Sharf
Rooftop Films has awarded fourteen cash and service grants to alumni filmmakers, including its largest cash grant, The Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant, to director Ana Lily Amirpour. The filmmaker will receive a monetary grant of $10,000 to help her finish her latest feature, “The Bad Batch.”
Rooftop Films has released the following statement: “Selected for its grand and bold style of storytelling, Amirpour’s film is a highly twisted, unusual, romantic, and innovative movie set in a future dystopia. In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food. ‘The Bad Batch’ is a savage love story, like a psychedelic ‘Road Warrior,’ inspired by films like ‘El Topo’ and ‘Wild at Heart.’ Shot in bold saturated hues and stylings of the 80’s & 90’s the film will also feature a wicked techno & western-laced soundtrack.”
READ MORE: You’ve Never Seen a Vampire Film Like ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Amirpour’s first feature, the Iranian vampire western “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” premiered to critical acclaim in the NEXT section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and screened to sold out crowds on the roof of Industry City as part of Rooftop Films’ Summer Series. The director joins an illustrious list of past Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantees, including Gillian Robespierre (“Obvious Child”), Jeremy Saulnier (“Blue Ruin”) and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”).
Click here for a full list of 2014 grantees with award details and film synopses. For a quick rundown of 2014 awards, see below:
Rooftop Films Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant: Ana Lily Amirpour, “The
Bad Batch”
Rooftop Films Technological Cinevideo Services Camera Grant: Rachel Israel, “Keep
the Change”
Rooftop Films and Eastern Effects Equipment Grant: Christina Choe, “Nancy”
Rooftop Films and Edgeworx Post-Production Grant: Bernardo Britto, “Jacqueline
(Argentine)”
Rooftop Films / DCTV Equipment and Services Feature Film Grant Trey Shults, “Krisha”
Rooftop Films / DCTV Equipment and Services Short Film Grant: Frances Bodomo, “Beatdown” and Steven Girard, “Floaters
Dot Com”
Rooftop Films Domicile NYC Sound Mix Grant: Jarred Alterman and Ryan Scafuro, “American Renaissance”
Rooftop Films and Adrienne Shelly Foundation Short Film Grant
For Women: Debra Granik, “Second
Act”
Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Short Film Grant: Joanna Arnow, “Bad
at Dancing,” Frances Bodomo, “Beatdown,” Reka Bucsi, “LOVE,” Steven Girard, “Floaters
Dot Com” and Efren Hernandez, “Ham
Heads”
