Points North Institute Awards Fellowships To Diverse Slate Of Doc Filmmakers And Projects Leading Up To Camden International Film Festival

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The Points North Institute today announced recipients of three of its prestigious fellowship programs, ahead of next month’s Camden International Film Festival in Maine.The trio of programs — the Points North Fellowship, North Star Fellowship, and LEF/CIFF Fellowship – will support a total of 16 documentary projects now in development in the U.S.

and a dozen other countries [see full list of projects below].“Eighty percent of this year’s Points North-supported projects are directed or co-directed by filmmakers from backgrounds historically marginalized or excluded from the film industry,” the institute noted in a release, “including those who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or as a person with a disability.”The fellowship programs, consisting of private workshops, screenings, industry meetings and other events, will take place both in-person during the Camden International Film Festival and online.

The festival, itself a program of the Points North Institute, unfolds along a bucolic stretch of the Maine coastline.“Points North’s Artist Programs are designed to connect filmmakers with mentors, funders, and potential collaborators, using the 18th annual Camden International Film Festival (September 15-25) as a platform to build a community of support, nurture the careers of emerging nonfiction storytellers, and help them develop a stronger artistic voice,” the institute said. “[T]he festival and its concurrent filmmaker labs remain one of the country’s largest and most international gatherings of the documentary community.”“This represents another watershed year for our artist development work,” said Sean Flynn, program director and co-founder of the Points North Institute. “In a rapidly changing industry,