Gucci Teams Up With Sundance Institute for Sundance Institute/Gucci Fund
Gucci has joined forces with the Sundance Institute to create the Sundance Institute/Gucci Fund. The fund supports artists from around the world in the development, production and post-production of work that looks at the world in complex, beautiful and creative ways and seeks to uplift underrepresented voices.
The nonprofit Sundance Institute on Tuesday revealed this year’s grantees for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund. A total of $1,396,500 in unrestricted grant support has been provided to 35 projects in various stages. In addition to Gucci, grants are made possible by The Open Society Foundations, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Kendeda Fund and Luminate.
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The three Gucci projects are “Matabeleland,” (Zimbabwe, Boswana, Kenya and Canada) “Matinino,” (U.S.A.) and “Queendom,” (U.S.A. and France).
“Matabeleland” is about a struggling migrant truck driver who must choose between being exploited in a foreign land or returning to the country that killed his father. Out of desperation, he joins a religious cult to find an answer.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Documentary Film Program, which has been a global resource for independent non-fiction storytelling. Fifty seven percent of submissions came from outside the U.S. Among the 14 U.S. films granted this year, all are helmed by at least one director and/or lead producer who is Black, Indigenous or a person of color; two of the projects are directed by Indigenous filmmakers.
Internationally, the DFP prioritizes supporting artists living and working in countries without infrastructure or support for independent film, or regions where freedom of expression may be at risk.
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