Academy grants go to local film fests
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which most famously runs the Oscars but also has a large charitable wing, threw out a life raft for struggling film organizations in the new coronavirus era, announcing an emergency version of its annual FilmCraft and FilmWatch grants.
Eight Bay Area organizations, including SFFilm and Frameline, were among the 96 that received grants, which ranged from $5,000 to $200,000. The academy awarded a total of $2.5 million in grant funds — about $2 million more than usual.
“Our directives were for diversity and inclusion in the decisionmaking process — obviously this was an emergency fund set up for COVID,” grants committee chairman Marcus Hu, a San Francisco resident who cofounded Strand Releasing, told The Chronicle. “It was really heartening to see so many of the Bay Area festivals recognized.”
Other Bay Area organizations that received grants include the Center for Asian American Media/CAAMFest; Chicken & Egg Pictures; the Jewish Film Institute/San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project; San Francisco Cinematheque; and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Hu’s committee consists of 40 people, all members from different branches of the academy, who determined the amounts based on need and mission. The academy does not release the specific amounts awarded to each organization.
“We all sit down, we talk about the merits, we talk about the need, and in this particular case the diversity and the communities they serve,” Hu said. “I think we made a great set of selections. There are so many great festivals out there, I wish
we could help all of them, but there’s only so much we can do with that amount.”
Two million dollars of the FilmCraft and FilmWatch grants are part of a $6 million pledge the academy made in April to help industry employees. Two million each went to the Actors Fund, which supports behindthescenes crew as well as performers; and the Motion Picture & Television Fund, a relief program for those in need in the entertainment community.
The academy also contributed to the Criterion Collection Arthouse Convergence GoFundMe drive to benefit independent theaters, which has raised more than $780,000 entering its final day on Thursday, May 14.
The SFFilm Festival (scheduled for April), Frameline ( June) and the S.F. Jewish Film Festival ( July/August) have either canceled or been postponed indefinitely. CAAM canceled its centerpiece event, CAAMFest, the nation’s largest and oldest Asian Americanthemed film festival, which was set for this month. Instead, CAAMFest is offering a free online version that began Wednesday, May 13, and runs through May 22.
The opening night film, Lynn Chen’s “I Will Make You Mine,” which was followed by a virtual house party with live music, drew 5,000 RSVPs, according to festival director Masashi Niwano. That’s more that can pack in the 1,400seat Castro Theatre, where the premiere was to be held, but nonetheless the organization is without the inperson highlight of its calendar year, timed for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and the focus of a major fundraising effort.
“We’re just thrilled to receive the support both for what the funding does to help us, but just as much is this ongoing recognition that we are in a (film) community, and there so many different ways that we in this community try to support and help one another, so not only am I happy for CAAM but I’m thrilled our other film colleagues in the Bay Area have received this recognition,” CAAM Executive
Director Stephen Gong told The Chronicle from his home in Oakland.
Also still hopeful among the grant recipients is the S.F. Silent Film Festival, which has been postponed till Nov. 1115 at the Castro Theatre.
The new dates, while six months down the road, are also in doubt, but silent films have been through this before. The last time there was an industrywide shutdown of movie theaters and film production in the United States due to a pandemic was during the Spanish flu outbreak of 191820. Silent films stars such as Dorothy and Lillian Gish and “America’s Sweetheart” herself, Mary Pickford, fell ill but survived the virus.
The movies eventually came back, beginning in late 1918 under a directive by the Los Angeles County sheriff that prohibited the filming of crowd scenes. Theaters eventually reopened, too.
Hu says he is encouraged, even though Strand Releasing, like many small distributors, have seen revenues fall by 90%. Strand’s current release, the French film “On a Magical Night,” opened through the local virtual cinemas of the Roxie Theater, Smith Rafael Film Center and Alamo Drafthouse last week.
“We’re trying to stay connected to our audience, to our communities, but we’ll get through it,” Hu said. “I’m optimistic.”