Funding your film is an unavoidable hurdle that every filmmaker, from the simplest short to the most complex narrative feature, has to deal with. Lucky for us Texans, though, the Austin Film Society‘s annual grant program the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund just awarded a total of $111,000 to worthy Texas-based projects.
That ain’t chump change, either, when you stop to consider that a young Robert Rodriguez self-funded his debut feature El Mariachi for a mere $7,000 way back in 1993, jump starting, along with Richard Linklater‘s Slacker, the now-mammoth Austin film scene.
To date, the TFPF has given out over $1.2 million to 313 film and video projects since the program was initiated in 1996.
This year’s TFPF doled out $92,000 to 21 separate projects, including cash grants of $81,000, $6,000 worth of Kodak film stock, and $5,000 of in-kind services from Seattle-based Alpha Cine Labs. In addition to that, the Texas Filmmakers Travel Grant program also disbursed another $7,000 in cash in travel stipends to 10 Texas filmmakers and $12,000 to 24 Austin filmmaking teams to produce Slacker 2011, which premieres at the Paramount Theater this Wed, Aug 31.
Among this year’s recipients are Andrew Bujalski (Beeswax), whose narrative feature Computer Chess received the largest single amount, a $7,500 post-production grant.
Also, Austin filmmaking siblings David and Nathan Zellner received $5,000 towards post-production and distribution for their 82 minute narrative feature Kid-Thing, while recent Austin transplant and renowned experimental filmmaker Caroline Koebel received $1,000 for production and post-production and $3,000 in Kodak film stock for her 20 minute film Viewing Blind.
See below for the entire grant recipient list. For more information on the history and operations of the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund can be found on the AFS site.
THE ANDERSON MONARCHS
Eugene Martin
90 min documentary
$3,000 for post-production
BARGE
Ben S. Powell
53 min documentary
$7,000 for production
BENJAMIN
Carolyn Banks
4 min narrative
$1,500 for post-production & distribution
COMPUTER CHESS
Andrew Bujalski
75 min experimental narrative
$7,500 for post-production
THE CURSE AND THE JUBILEE
Ivete Guerra Lucas
55 min documentary
$3,500 for production
FAR MARFA
Cory Van Dyke
90 min narrative
$3,000 for post-production
INSTRUCTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Kelly Sears
10 min experimental animation
$2,000 for post-production & distribution
JULES OF LIGHT AND DARK
Daniel Laabs
80 min narrative
$6,000 for production
KID-THING
David & Nathan Zellner
82 min narrative
$5,000 for post-production & distribution
KUKERI
Proletina Veltchev
25 min documentary
$3,000 for production
PIT STOP
Yen C. Tan
90 min narrative
$7,000 for production
SIXES AND SEVENS
Thomas Hackett & Katherine Feo Kelly
85 min narrative
$5,000 for production & post-production
TEDDY
Bradley Montesi
5 min narrative
$1,000 for production & post-production
TINY TAPE RECORDER
Paavo Hanninen
20 min narrative
$2,000 in Alpha Cine services
$3,000 in Kodak film stock for production
TRADE IN HOPE
Michelle Nehme
90 min documentary
$3,500 for production
UNTITLED ISRAEL FOOTBALL PROJECT
David Hartstein
85 min documentary
$5,000 for production
THE VULTURE PROJECT
Russell O. Bush
28 min documentary
$5,000 for production
VIEWING BLIND
Caroline Koebel
20 min experimental
$1,000 for production & post-production
$3,000 in Kodak film stock
WOLF
Ya’Ke Smith
90 min narrative
$2,000 in Alpha Cine services for post-production
YAKONA
Paul Collins
60 min experimental documentary
$7,000 for production
$1,000 in Alpha Cine services
ZERO CHARISMA
Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews & Thomas Fernandes
90 min narrative
$5,000 in post-production
2011 Travel Grant Recipients (To Date)
Michael Akel
AN ORDINARY FAMILY
Los Angeles Film Festival
Heather Courtney
WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Paul Gordon
THE HAPPY POET
Venice International Film Festival
Mark Hall
SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH
Seattle International Film Festival
Bradley Jackson
THE MAN WHO NEVER CRIED
Palm Springs International Short Film Festival
David Lowery
PIONEER
Sundance Film Festival
Steve Mims & Joe Bailey, Jr
INCENDIARY: THE WILLINGHAM CASE
SilverDocs
Jeff Nichols
TAKE SHELTER
Sundance Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
Anna Silverstein
NIGHT AT THE DANCE
SilverDocs
Angela Torres Camarena
NORTHEAST FRONT
Palm Springs International Short Film Festival
This article appears in August 26 • 2011.