Filmmakers Nancy Kates of Berkeley and Sam Ball of San Francisco have received grants from the Foundation for Jewish Culture, and each will use the money to complete documentaries in progress: Kates’ “Regarding Susan Sontag” and Ball’s “Joann Sfar Draws From Memory.”
The New York–based Foundation for Jewish Culture recently announced five recipients of its 2010 Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film. The awards, between $20,000 and $35,000 each and totaling $140,000, aim to help the filmmakers pay license fees for archival footage, complete additional shooting, and get their films into festivals and wider distribution.
Kates, who received $30,000 in grant money, is completing a film about the life and work of the late writer and literary theorist Susan Sontag.
Ball, who received $20,000, is working to finish a film about award-winning Algerian-Jewish graphic novelist Joann Sfar, author of “The Rabbi’s Cat” and other works. Ball heads the New Jewish Filmmakers Project, which fosters the artistic development of young adult Jewish filmmakers in the Bay Area.
This year, nearly 100 grant applications were received from around the world. The winners were selected by a panel of scholars, critics, filmmakers and curators. For more information on the grant, visit www.jewishculture.org.