Here’s The 133 Films Selected For IFP’s 2014 Project Forum at Independent Film Week

IFP has announced its 2014 slate of 133 new films in development and works in progress selected for its Project Forum at Independent Film Week.

“This one-of-a-kind event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers,” IFP explained in the press release.

Under the curatorial leadership of Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson & Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot, the Project Forum takes place September 14-18, 2014 at Lincoln Center.

“As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP. “We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films.”

Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber (“Full Battle Rattle”), Pamela Yates (“Granito: How To Nail A Dictator”), and Penny Lane (“Our Nixon”) to Michelangelo Frammartino (“Quattro Volte”) and Alexis Dos Santos (“Unmade Beds”), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero (“Mosquito y Mari”), Barry Jenkins (“Medicine for Melancholy”), Travis Matthews (“Interior. Leather. Bar”) and Yen Tan (“Pit Stop”). 

In recent years, Independent Film Week has helped to launch the first films of directors including Rama Burshtein (“Fill The Void”), Derek Cianfrance (“Blue Valentine”), Marshall Curry (“If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front”), Laura Poitras (“The Oath”), Denis Villeneuve (“Incendies”) and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”). 

For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit IFP’s announcement here.

There are some changes to the program this year. For the first time this year, IFP is including web series in its programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.

READ MORE: IFP Sets 10 Narrative Features for 2014 Independent Filmmaker Labs

IFP and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of IFP. The grant is intended  for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the IFP Filmmaker Labs or IFP Independent Film Week”s Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.

Narrative features and webseries in RBC’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene. 

This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal (“Road, Movie”), Alexis Dos Santos (“Unmade Beds”), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin (“Now, Forager”), Michelangelo Frammartino (“Le Quattro Volte”), Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”), Rashaad Ernesto Green (“Gun Hill Road”), Aurora Guerrero (“Mosquito Y Mari”), Barry Jenkins (“Medicine for Melancholy”), Alison Klayman (“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”), Travis Mathews (“Interior. Leather Bar”), Stacie Passon (“Concussion”), Yen Tan (“Pit Stop”), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse (“Land Ho!”) and Peter Vack (“Fort Tilden,” “I Believe in Unicorns”).

For the first time this year, IFP presents a dedicated spotlight within the RBC’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan (“Appropriate Behavior,” HBO’s “Girls”), Calvin Reeder (“The Rambler”), and Gregory Bayne (“Person of Interest”), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm (“Obvious Child”), Susan Leber (“Down to the Bone”), and Amanda Warman (“The Outs,” “Whatever This Is”). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s “Middle Americans,” starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s “Understudies,” starring Richard Kind and David Rasche.

The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo (“Made in LA”), Pamela Yates (“Granito: How to Nail a Dictator”), Ramona Diaz (“Imelda; Don’t Stop Believin’”) Gini Reticker (“Pray the Devil Back to Hell”) Tony Gerber (“Full Battle Rattle”); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), Liran Atzmor (“The Law in These Parts”), Tim Williams (“Once In A Lifetime”) and Hilla Medalia (“Web Junkie”), and follow-up second features from recent doc world “breakouts” Steve Hoover (“Blood Brother”) Penny Lane (“Our Nixon”), Michael Collins (“Give Up Tomorrow”) and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker (“Flex is Kings”).

In addition, there will be new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films including the late Alex Sichel (“All over Me”) with her personal doc “The Movie about Anna,” Lisa Cortés (producer, “Precious”) with “Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop,” and Daniel Patrick Carbone (“Hide Your Smiling Faces”) with “Phantom Cowboys.”

Read the full list of projects here.