The Women In Film Foundation (WIFF) is pleased to announce the completion of the 2005 Cycle of the Film Finishing Fund (FFF). The only one of its kind, the WIFF Film Finishing Fund is now its 20th year of existence and has awarded more than $1.6 million in cash and in-kind services over the years. Cash awards range from $1,000 to $5,000. In-kind grants for post-production services vary according to the needs of the recipient. This year’s Film Finishing Fund is generously being underwritten by Women In Film’s National Presenting Sponsor, General Motors, with additional funding provided by the Gretchen Bender Fund and additional support provided by New York Women In Film and Television (NYWIFT).
This year, over 125 entries were submitted and reviewed by a wonderful team of Foundation Board and WIF Board volunteers, including Diane Asselin Baer (FFF Chair Emeritus), FFF Chair Susan Baerwald, Debbi Bossi, Jill R. Cohen, Loraine Despres, Linda Feferman, Jane Fleming (WIF Vice President), Deborah Goldberger, Iris Grossman (WIF President), Judith Parker Harris (Foundation Board Vice Chair), Sharon Lawrence, Carol R. Peters, Ilene Kahn Power, Pamela Rodi, Marion Rosenberg, Paula Silver, Marion Spiegelman (Foundation Board Chair), Holly Thro (WIFF Coordinator), Lucy Webb (WIF Vice President), and Margot Winchester.
The entries were winnowed down to 19 semifinalists, and a jury comprised of many of the above-listed Foundation Board members, along with Stephanie Austin, Anna Baum, Johnna Levine, Lynne Littman (Director), Mark McCoy (Director of Post Production at Lion’s Gate Films), Patty Meyer (Professor of Film at Chapman University), Richard Cartwright
This year, 9 finalists were chosen from a field of 125 applicants from 18 states and two foreign countries. Their works include six feature documentaries, one narrative feature, one dramatic short and one experimental short. Our winners this year came from: New York, NY/ Albany, CA/ Los Angeles, CA/ Waltham, MA/ Charlotte, NC/ Bala Cynwyd, PA/ and Chicago, IL.
The 2005 Film Finishing Fund Recipients:
| BLOOM A 112-minute narrative dramatic about two women, one Latina and one Jewish, who deal with unhappiness and frustration through therapy and find that similar problems plague very diverse women. Vargas Goldberg is a first-time filmmaker who has enlisted support and advice from Chicago’s IFP and film community.
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| WE ALSO DANCE A 59-minute documentary about four blind and vision-impaired people who transcend their disability and pursue their shared passion for dancing. This film has been selected as the recipient of the “Gretchen Bender Fund” out of New York, which was started by the family of Bender, a WIFTI member who passed away last year.
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| ROSITA A film about a nine-year-old girl from Nicaragua who is raped on her way to school in Costa Rica and becomes pregnant. A 60-minute documentary that traces the difficulties the girl’s parents encounter attempting to obtain an abortion. The government, medical establishment and church all forbid it, but the family perseveres.
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| A QUESTION OF GUILT The director has dealt with the consequences of overly-harsh sentences for drug conspiracy convictions for women in this 58-minute documentary. An African-American woman is serving two life sentences for living in a house with a felon. The film explores the consequences of her absence on her family. |
 | ABSOLUTELY SAFE This 58-minute documentary takes an in-depth look at the controversy over the safety of breast implants and the role that beauty plays in our culture. |
 | ONE BALLOON This 20-minute experimental short narrative film, is a surreal tale about a woman whose biological clock forces her to make a choice between sexuality and intellect. |
 | BEAUTIFUL SIN This hour-long documentary follows three couples from Costa Rica whose efforts to have children through in-vitro fertilization pit them against the country's unique ban on this assisted reproductive technique. |
| No. 6 (formerly Slaved)
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 | AT HOME IN UTOPIA This 60-minute documentary deals with a radical utopian community in the Bronx founded in the 1920’s with subject matter centered partially around the women of this community. |
