This year’s announcement of the nominees for the Academy Awards immediately created controversy due to its failure to include any artists of color in the top four categories, sparking the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
When Wilmington’s film community gathers this Sunday at the EUE Screen Gems studio to watch the award shows, they will also learn about the next wave of North Carolina filmmakers who could bring a more diverse face to the filmmaking industry.
During its An Evening on the Red Carpet event on Feb. 28, the Cucalorus Film Foundation and the North Carolina Film Office will announce the winners of nine Filmed in NC Fund grants, several of which will go to projects headed by women or people of color, said Cucalorus executive director Dan Brawley.
“It was really important to us, as we launch this grant, to cultivate female filmmakers and filmmakers of color,” Brawley said. “It makes for a stronger industry, all around.”
More than one-half of the projects awarded by the grant had a female producer or director and several projects had black directors, Brawley said, offering an opportunity for North Carolina to be home to a diverse new crop of filmmaking talent. The nine grants, which range from $500 to $2,000, were selected from 63 applications. The NC Film Office sponsored the fund with a grant of $10,000, with the requirement that a majority of the production of the project has to occur in North Carolina and have a budget of less than $250,000.
As the film industry discusses how to increase diversity at its highest levels, Brawley said local film festivals like Cucalorus are an ideal place to foster increased participation.
“The film festival is a critical part of the ecosystem,” he said. “In order to have a healthy ecosystem, we have to support filmmakers of color. Diversity is a problem in every part of the system and we have to be aware where there are barriers to women and people of color. It takes years for filmmakers to develop the networks and to get the attention that they deserve. Film festivals can help young filmmakers learn how to make a living in the industry so they can show up 10 years from now at places like the Oscars.”
Grants like the Filmed in NC Fund can also help strengthen the local film economy, Brawley said. A grant of as little as $2,000 can help a film project raise up to $100,000, as it demonstrates that the project can meet certain criteria. Not only would that money be spent locally, but it would also introduce producers to Wilmington as a filming location, Brawley said.
“Injecting money at the bottom of the system can have a profound effect,” Brawley said. “It’s a place where Cucalorus can have a big impact on the future of film in North Carolina. We want young and emerging producers to learn that Wilmington is a great place to make a film, where you can produce a high-quality product for less money.”
This is the first year that Cucalorus has offered the film grant, but Brawley said that event organizers will be soliciting donations for the fund from guests at the black-tie affair, which raises money for the annual film film festival. Tickets are available at www.cucalorus.org
“I’m hoping that people can match the $10,000 in the fund for next year,” Brawley said, adding Cucalorus will also try to build the fund through donations from private foundations. “If we could get the fund to $40,000 or $50,000, the whole scale will shift and it will have a greater impact.”
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