Bringing the Realness: Announcing the 2021 Film Independent Docuseries Intensive

 

BREAKING NEWS:

Alejandro Films’ docuseries project WHERE YOU FROM? is selected to be a part of the CNN Original Series + Film Independent Docuseries Intensive.

Title: Where You From? The Search for a Filipino-American Cultural Identity

  • Writer/Producer: Dani de Jesus

  • Director/Writer/Producer: Leslie Alejandro

  • Logline: The rise and fall of Filipino gangs. Overshadowed by the Crips and Bloods, Filipino Americans had a defining cultural moment in 1980s/90s Los Angeles. This series is an intimate look at how the youth of an immigrant community—the Filipino Gangs of Los Angeles—were simultaneously rebelling against the Asian “model minority” myth while struggling to create their own cultural identity as Americans.

 

Leslie Alejandro (filmmaker, Where You From?)

A multi-hyphenate, Leslie Alejandro found her passion for photography while she was the executive editor at the celebrity/fashion digital magazine Bello Mag. Her work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Variety, Women’s Health, etc. Alejandro turned to narrative film and joined UCLA Extension’s Director’s Program. Her documentary short “She’s Having My Baby” and short film “Adult Knight” (Kevin Alejandro/Lesley-Ann Brandt) got her accepted as an official auditor for the HBOAccess Director’s Program. Alejandro recently directed the empowered women video “Crack” by India de Beaufort and the brown pride anthem video “Gold” by Ella Jay Basco, featuring Ruby Ibarra.

 

Dani de Jesus (writer/producer, Where You From?)

From LA, Dani de Jesus was highly involved in organizations advocating for women’s rights while at UCLA, including UCLA’s first Women’s Leadership Conference. She then was the director of development at Craig Anderson Productions for six years. For 10 years, she taught at Maui High School, and won several awards, including 2011 HI Economics Teacher of the Year. De Jesus relocated back to LA and produced the short films “A Cohort of Guests” (Sarah Drew), “Adult Night” (Kevin Alejandro/Lesley Ann-Brandt) and music videos, including the recent Asian American Pacific Islander anthem “Gold” by Ella Jay Basco, featuring Ruby Ibarra.

 

If cinema is—as Roger Ebert once put it—“a machine that generates empathy,” the modern docuseries is, similarly, a machine that generates fascination. And particularly fascination in topics you might otherwise have no native interest in, like meth-addicted tiger wranglers, the nefarious machinations of a brightly colored leggings manufacturer, Formula One racing, or even the simple act of tidying up your home or business (albeit under the relentless smile of a tiny, terrifying Japanese woman). In short: docuseries dominate the water cooler.

Today, Film Independent Artist Development is thrilled to announce the 10 projects and 21 participants selected for our second annual Docuseries Intensive. Supported by Founding Sponsor CNN Original Series—the brand behind award-winning nonfiction series such as Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, United Shades of America and Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy—the intensive is a three-day remote workshop giving filmmakers the tools and access needed to develop and present their nonfiction series to potential collaborators.

“Building on the success of last year’s program, we have selected 10 diverse and talented teams bringing their specific points of view to a wide range of subjects,” says Daniel Cardone, Artist Development Associate, “From African American healthcare and police corruption, to economic inequity and the ongoing shockwaves of the AIDS epidemic.”

Says Amy Entelis, EVP for Talent & Content Development, CNN Worldwide: “We’re excited to once again partner with Film Independent, for the second year, to help support young filmmakers in the nonfiction space.” And, courtesy of CNN Original Series, each filmmaker or filmmaking team will receive a $3,500 stipend to utilize as they see fit for their docuseries project.

The 2021 Docuseries Intensive creative advisors and guest speakers include: Lynne Kirby, Elissa Johnson, Rushie Perera, Karin Hayes, Raeshem Nijhon, Katie Doering, Cullen Hoback, Q: Into the Storm; Brittany Clemons, Senain Kheshgi; Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie and Sara Newens, Allen v. Farrow; Maureen A. Ryan, Dick Johnson is Dead; John Ealer, History of the Sitcom; and Jon Adler, Lyle Gamm, Katie Isaacson, Rishika Advani, CNN. 

To learn more about all the other projects and filmmakers, check out full article here.

Source: (Film Independent)

Written by: Matt Warren

Dani de Jesus