Documentary Lab kicks-off Fund’s second incubator on October 12

The Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media at Johns Hopkins University, an incubator program that connects filmmakers with prestigious artists, veteran executives and successful entrepreneurs to further develop and produce their projects, announced today that six documentary filmmakers will participate in its inaugural Documentary Lab, one of several initiatives of the Fund’s second Incubator, which begins October 12.

The lab, which is an intense, four-day boot camp, will connect participants with established industry professionals for one-on-one work sessions and practical workshops on the art of sound design, picture editing and directing nonfiction. Participants will work with advisors—directors, producers, editors and sound designers from all over the world—to analyze and improve their projects. The advisors for the Documentary Lab are:

Ra’anan Alexandrowicz: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz is an Israeli director and screenwriter. His documentary, The Law in These Parts, won the Jury Prize for “Best Documentary” at the Sundance Film Festival.

Darius Clark Monroe: Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and “10 Filmmakers to Watch” from the Independent, Darius Clark Monroe made his debut with Evolution of a Criminal, winning numerous awards and making its broadcast debut on PBS. His most recent film, Dirt, screened at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and New Directors New Films.

Ramona Diaz: Ramona Diaz is an award-winning Asian-American filmmaker. Her credits include Spirits Rising, Imelda, The Learning,Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey and Motherland. Her films have been broadcast on POV and Independent Lens and have screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, Silverdocs, IDFA and many other top film festivals.

Lawrence Everson: Lawrence Everson is a sound editor and re-recording mixer specializing in documentary films. His feature work includes Western (Sundance Special Jury Award), 45365 (Grand Jury SXSW, Independent Spirit Award), The Last Season (Independent Spirit Award nominee), as well as the upcoming David Byrne colorguard concert documentary, Contemporary Color.

Richard Hankin: Richard Hankin is a two-time Emmy-nominated editor for Capturing the Friedmans (Academy Award nominee) andThe Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. Time Magazine named Home Front, which Hankin directed, produced, wrote and edited, one of its Top Ten Films of the Year.

The documentary filmmakers selected to participate in the lab were chosen from more than 80 proposals from prospective filmmakers and visual artists. The applicants chosen for the Fund’s first Documentary Lab are:

Theo Anthony—writer, photographer, filmmaker

• Project: Body Builder
• Logline: A classic coming-of-age tale told through the hyper-real world of bodybuilding, as the muscles and internet presence of the world’s strongest 14 year old grow, we observe a boy in transition, trying on all the parts of the idealized man he hopes to become.
• Artist Accolades: Film premieres at Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival and Anthology Film Archives; 2016 Janet & Walter Sondheim Awards finalist; 2016 Ruby Artist Grant recipient; Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2015.

Andrea Conte—writer, documentary filmmaker

• Project: Meet the Ungers
• Logline: As elderly prisoners become the largest growing demographic of the prison population, a group of elders who were supposed to die in Maryland's State Prison system begin making the case for the expansion of parole-release in the state and across the U.S.
• Artist Accolades: Doc Institute Breakthrough Program alumnus; Hot Docs Festival’s Documentary Channel Accelerator Program alumnus; Work broadcasted on CBC, TV Ontario and screened internationally at festivals.

Andy Dahl—painter, sculptor, multimedia community artist

• Project: Mobility
• Logline: From Latino immigrants navigating a new hometown to African American Baltimore natives bicycling to save their lives, diverse residents are making strides throughout the city to form a social, diversified and connected riding culture. People in Baltimore, a divided and unequal city, come together through bicycles.
• Artist Accolades: MICA MFA graduate; Baltimore Bike Experience bicycle project manager.

Marissa O’Guinn—director, editor

• Project: Mobility
• Logline: From Latino immigrants navigating a new hometown to African American Baltimore natives bicycling to save their lives, diverse residents are making strides throughout the city to form a social, diversified and connected riding culture. People in Baltimore, a divided and unequal city, come together through bicycles.
• Artist Accolades: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts graduate; Warner Bros. Film Award recipient; Fusion Film Festival finalist; Adrienne Shelly Film Grant recipient.

Yelizaveta Slutskaya—researcher, filmmaker

• Project: Sound in the House My Father Built
• Logline: A multi-generational story of growing up black in Baltimore that chronicles revealing and poignant moments of sacrifice, love and wisdom as the main character, Mark, discovers how the unifying and healing power of music stands the test of time.
• Artist Accolades: Fellow of the Southern Exposure Film Fellowship in Alabama.

Lendl Tellington—filmmaker, photographer

• Project: Residue
• Logline: A matriarch dies, leaving her home behind and, unable to maintain the property, her eight descendants attempt to piece together a legacy with the remnants they recall. A portrait of a black family traversing the intersection between place and spirit.
• Artist Accolades: “Best Short Documentary” 2016 BlackStar Film Festival; MacArthur Fellow Pepón Osorio selection for reform; Pigeonbread platform co-founder.

"The projects selected for the Lab explore complex, thought-provoking issues with subjects that are deeply rooted within the Baltimore community, but often overlooked. We’re proud to support these artists in their documentary filmmaking and look forward to collaborating on projects that put a lens on the less familiar,” said Roberto Busó-García, director of the Fund and the University’s Master of Arts in Film & Media program.

The Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media at Johns Hopkins University was launched in March 2016 through a $1 million grant from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation. Zaentz, who died in 2014, was a three-time Academy Award-winning producer whose work included One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient. The Fund aims to empower and embolden new Baltimore voices by providing a robust mentorship program that centers around one-on-one consultancies with award-winning filmmakers, intensive Labs and Brain Trust Meetings where special industry guests lead brainstorming sessions aimed at solving project-specific challenges. All of the projects selected for the Fund must be developed and produced in Baltimore.

About The Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media

Founded in 2016, The Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media at Johns Hopkins University seeks to further the pioneering legacy of Mr. Zaentz by connecting the Baltimore creative community with prestigious artists, veteran executives and successful entrepreneurs in an incubator program designed to seek and develop groundbreaking project ideas that will advance the art and craft of audiovisual media. www.zaentzfund.com.