Ford Foundation Announces $4.2M In Grants To Social Justice-Themed Docs, Including Sundance Premieres ‘Union’ And ‘The Battle for Laikipia’
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: The Ford Foundation is coming through for documentary filmmakers in a big way. Today, the nonprofit philanthropic institution announced its latest round of grants under the foundation’s JustFilms division — $4.2 million that will go to support “59 innovative film projects centered on social justice globally and in the United States.” Among the recipients are Union, the film directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story that just held its world premiere at Sundance, and fellow Sundance premiere The Battle for Laikipia, directed by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi.
Union, about the battle to unionize an Amazon facility on Staten Island, New York, is in U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance.
The Battle for Laikipia, in World Cinema Documentary Competition at the festival, examines “a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.” Roger Ross Williams and Toni Kamau are among the producers of Laikipia.
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, also will receive funding through the grants announced today.
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