EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has set 26 filmmakers from 15 nations to participate in the 2023 edition of their Global Media Makers LA Residency, which is being held in person this month.
A mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program that connects American filmmakers and industry pros with filmmakers spread across the globe, GMM sees Fellows participate in filmmaking tracks focused on screenwriting, directing, creative development and documentary filmmaking, where they develop their current projects alongside a team of U.S. mentors.
The program, presented by Film Independent and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, further bolsters up-and-comers by providing access to master classes, industry sessions and field trips, as well as cultural engagement and networking opportunities.
This edition of GMM is the eighth put on since 2016, and as always, the selection process was highly competitive, attracting a diverse pool of media makers, with the countries of Angola, Libya, Namibia, South Africa and Yemen being represented within it for the first time.
Creatives participating as mentors include Amman Abassi (Dayveon), Ruth Atkinson (Script Consultant), Nicole Jefferson-Asher (Self Made), Wendy Calhoun (Justified), Ellie Foumbi (Our Father, the Devil), Javier Fuentes-León (The Best Families), Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives), Ted Hope (The Savages), Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant), Laura Nix (Walk Run Cha-Cha), Jessica Sharzer (A Simple Favor), Avril Speaks (Jinn), Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Boys) and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), among others.
Said Film Independent’s Senior Director of Education & International Initiatives, María Raquel Bozzi, “As we welcome this group of 26 filmmakers to our eighth edition of Global Media Makers, it is exhilarating to see our vision for the program crystallized in a global community of filmmakers. To date, more than 150 Fellows continue to make long lasting bonds with their peers as well as with over 400 American filmmakers who have engaged as mentors. With new countries like Angola, Libya, Namibia, South Africa and Yemen added this year, we have built a strong network of artists spread across more than 20 countries on three continents.”
Film Independent’s Global Media Makers LA Residency has to date brought into its fold 150 filmmakers from 21 countries, offering 3,000 participants access to workshops and events taking place around the world. Alumni of the program who have gone on to international recognition include Sudanese Fellows Mohamed Kordofani and Amjad Abu Alala with Goodbye Julia (Cannes 2023), Nepalese Fellows Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey with No Winter Holiday (Sheffield DocFest 2023), Egyptian Fellow Ayten Amin with Souad (Cannes 2020, Berlin and Tribeca 2021) and Lebanese Fellow Myriam Sassine with Costa Brava (Orizzonte Venice and TIFF 2021).
More information on the 2023 fellows and their projects for film and TV can be found below.
Angola
Writer/Director/Producer: Fradique Bastos
Project: Hold Time for Me
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: A photographer searches for a biologist who disappeared thirty years ago after she joined a secret expedition to find a new capital for Angola.
Bangladesh
Writer/Director: Mahde Hasan
Project: Sand City
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: In a web of fantasy, ritual, and repressed sexuality, a young man and woman from Dhaka intersect through the unstable element of “sand.”
Writer/Director/Producer: Maksudul Hossain
Project: Safa
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: Young and impulsive Safa struggles to keep her paraplegic mother alive in lower middle class Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Egypt
Director/Producer: Asmaa Gamal
Project: My Dream to Fly
Type: Documentary Feature
Logline: A group of young men live their late friend’s dream of participating in world-class stunt sports by racing cheap Chinese motorcycles in the slums of Cairo.
India
Director/Producer: Sourav Sarangi
Project: Fair-Home Fairy-Tales
Type: Documentary Feature
Logline: An aging puppet artist reflects on her family’s war-torn history in Myanmar and India by reliving stories of the past through her handmade puppets.
Writer/Director: Nishant Roy Bombarde
Project: Zero Mile
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: Imprisoned for a hate-crime during the sectarian dispute of the nineties, an upper-caste Indian woman confronts her prejudices after falling in love with a lower-caste girl.
Writer/Director/Producer: Pankaj Johar
Project: Catching Them Young
Type: Documentary Feature
Logline: At a school for ancient Indian spirituality and philosophy, the new batch of students are forced to choose between a liberal or radical religious practice.
Jordan
Producer: Heba Abu Musaed
Project: Karama
Type: Episodic Series
Logline: A prophesied young woman disrupts two centuries of peace in Karama City as the powerful try to prevent it.
Lebanon
Writer/Director: Estéphan Khattar
Project: Summer 58
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: Amid Lebanon’s conflict, a fragile aspiring actor strives for a coveted television role. Unexpectedly, he discovers an unlikely source of guidance and support in a fearless militia fighter.
Libya
Writer/Director: Abdullah Al-Ghaly
Project: El Bastardiya
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: When violence and chaos erupt in Libya, three ordinary young friends from Tripoli are gradually transformed into murderers.
Namibia
Writer/Director/Producer: Vickson Hangula
Project: Nangula
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: Amid the Namibian liberation struggle, a nurse fulfills her dream of motherhood when she harbors a young wounded enemy soldier from a ruthless guerilla fighter.
Nepal
Producer: Kedar Bhusal
Director: Rajeela Shrestha
Project: A Place Where Rhododendrons Bloom
Type: Documentary Feature
Logline: Unable to be supported by their parents, two young Hindu boys from a rural village are sent to a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu to become monks.
Writer/Director: Suraj Paudel
Writer: Sailesh RC (LSM)
Project: Where the Rivers Run South
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: When the patriarch of a family faces his demise, he goes on a journey to find a suitable heir for three generations of women.
Pakistan
Writer/Director: Sana Zahra Jafri
Project: Scattered Rain
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: When Zainab’s childhood traumas resurface, she embarks on a maddening journey to seek revenge against her abuser who is on his deathbed.
Saudi Arabia
Writer/Director: Maha Al-Saati
Project: A Town We Used to Know
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: When a family faces eviction from their home by a company claiming their land, they turn their anger against one another.
South Africa
Producer: Dominique Jossie
Writer/Director/Producer: Yolanda Mogatusi
Project: Thula Thula
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: When her teenage daughter is abducted and forced into an early marriage, a timid young mother fights against the customs of her village to get her daughter back.
Producer: Khosie Dali
Writer/Director/Producer: Imran Hamdulay
Project: Pieces
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: After the loss of her husband, Salma struggles to raise her teenage sons while building a career as a politician in post-Mandela South Africa.
Producer: Quinton Fredericks
Writer: Jason Staggie
Project: Risk
Type: Episodic Series
Logline: When a disillusioned college student creates an edgy game called Risk, he and his friends are forced to confront society and themselves, spawning an entire social movement.
Turkey
Writer/Director/Producer: Elif Sözen
Project: Veha
Type: Narrative Fiction
Logline: After the sudden death of her father, Meral returns to her village in Turkey from Germany with her six-year-old son and a plan that she hides from everyone.
UAE
Writer/Director: Mohammed Al Otaiba
Project: Karama
Type: Episodic Series
Logline: A prophesied young woman disrupts two centuries of peace in Karama City as the powerful try to prevent it.
Yemen
Director: Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Project: Let’s Play Soldiers
Type: Documentary Feature
Logline: A 16-year-old former child soldier in Yemen returns home and seeks employment in order to spare his younger brothers from the same plight.