The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film

Overview

PLEASE NOTE:The Foundation will be evaluating the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film in early 2009 in order to better serve our applicants. We expect to release our new online application by July 1, with a due date in early September. Please check this page for updates. If you would like to be notified of the application’s availability, please e-mail grants@jewishculture.org to be added to the (E)mailing list. Please note that the Foundation does not fund individual projects outside of our established programs.

The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film supports the completion of original documentaries that explore the Jewish experience in all its complexity. The fund was created with a lead grant from Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation and is sustained with major support from the Charles H. Revson Foundation. The priority of the fund is to support projects that address significant subjects; offer fresh, challenging perspectives; engage audiences across cultural lines; and expand the understanding of Jewish experiences.

Grants from the fund, which generally range in size from $15,000 to $35,000, are awarded to up to six filmmakers annually for post-production support.

Eligibility

Applicants for the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film must:

1. Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (director or producer);
2. Be in postproduction at the time of application;
3. Be an individual, a nonprofit organization with federal tax exempt status, or have a fiscal conduit that agrees to receive and administer an award on behalf of the project;
4. Have creative, editorial, and budgetary control of the proposed project; and
5. Own the copyright of the completed film.

Applications and Guidelines

Please review our guidelines prior to completing the application.

Deadline

As of Friday, March 7, 2008, the 2008 application deadline has passed. Please email grants@jewishculture.org to be added to the application mailing list.

2008 Grantees

Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, Directors for William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe—The late civil rights attorney William Kunstler was one of the most famous lawyers of the 20th century. His clients included Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Phillip and Daniel Berrigan, Abbie Hoffman, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Adam Clayton Powell, and Leonard Peltier. In Disturbing the Universe, filmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler explore their father’s life, from middle-class family man, to movement lawyer, to the most hated lawyer in America.

Toby Appleton, Director for Fifth Generation: Kibbutz at 100—which examines the history of Israel’s kibbutz movement, the longest running experiment in communitarian living, and also sheds light on larger milestones in modern Israeli history through the lens of the kibbutz. Recreating its glorious past and chronicling its recent decline, Fifth Generation illuminates the heartbreak and hope of the modern kibbutz, as a new generation struggles to redefine the movement, preserve its ideological integrity and infuse it with new meaning.

Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, Franco Sacchi, Directors for Waiting for Armageddon—which explores the culture of 50 million American Evangelicals who believe that Bible prophecy dictates the future of mankind and that Israel and the Jewish people play pivotal roles in ensuring Christ’s return. The film will raise questions regarding how this theology shapes U.S.- Middle East relations and may encourage an international holy war.

Lacey Schwartz, Director for Outside the Box: Being Black and Jewish—about one woman’s quest to face the truth, and challenge others to face it with her. At its core, it is a journey of self-discovery about what it means to be Black and Jewish in America, and how to reconcile those two separate identities. Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz embarks on a journey to revisit her past and confront the family secret that sent her on the quest. Along the way, she visits various Black Jews hoping to learn how to successfully live with her dual identity.

Stan Warnow, Director for Raymond Scott: On to Something— which chronicles the remarkable trajectory of a major contributor to the world of music in the 20th century. It also tells the story of a son of Jewish immigrants who, in effect, changed his identity at a time when social and professional barriers to success were still very much alive in America. Through the unique first-person perspective of filmmaker Stan Warnow, Scott’s only son, the film travels to the heart of the public and private worlds of this remarkable individual, illuminating, at the same time, the dilemmas faced by talented ethnic minorities striving to succeed in the first half of the 20th century.

Judd Ehrlich, Director for Run for Your Life— the story of a Jewish immigrant in America whose life became a testament to the power of sport in uniting the masses and the capacity of one human heart to revive a city on the brink of collapse. Having fled the uncertainties of war-torn Europe, Fishl Lebowitz aka Fred Lebow’s creation of the New York City Marathon was a reflection of his belief in Tikkun Olam. Once forced to separate from his tight-knit orthodox community as a teenager, Lebow built a family in the running community around the ideals of a populist society where people of all backgrounds could unite in their love for the sport.

Click here for a complete list of grantees.

2008 Panelists

Seventy-nine applications were received in 2008 and reviewed in a two-tier process by a panel of experts in the field of filmmaking and directing that included:

Ronit Avni, 2005 Grantee for Encounter Point,Founder and Executive Director, Just Vision

Mimi Brody, Programmer, UCLA Film and Television Archive

Udy Epstein, Distributor, Seventh Art Releasing

Josh Ford, Chief Program Officer, Washington DC JCC, Former Director of Washington Jewish Film Festival

Pearl Gluck, 1999 Grantee for Divan, Founder, Palinka Pictures

Roberta Grossman, 2007 Grantee for Blessed is the Match,Executive Producer, Katahdin Foundation

Rose Kuo, Artistic Director, AFI Fest

Marc Weiss, Founder, P.O.V. (PBS), Executive Producer, WebLab

Program Funders

The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film has received generous support from the Righteous Persons Foundation, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, Lynn and Jules Kroll, Joan and Robert Arnow, the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, George M. Zeltzer, Laura Scheuer, Robert Carroll, the Nash Family Foundation, the estate of Marvin Rosenblatt, the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, the Wyler family, the Streisand Foundation, the Joseph and Anna Gartner Foundation, the Albert and Trudy Kallis Foundation, and the David Geffen Foundation.