Catapult Film Fund and True/False are teaming up for a second year of Rough Cut Retreat, a four-day workshop that unites filmmakers and mentors in a creative and engaged atmosphere. Rough Cut Retreat provides filmmakers with dedicated time to focus on post-production and receive invaluable feedback from other filmmakers.

Each year, five filmmakers with in-progress projects are paired up with invited mentors to take their rough cut to a fine cut with an eye toward fall festival deadlines. We’re excited to announce the five projects that will be joining us in July:

Amal (dir. Mohamed Siam) follows an Egyptian teenager, from the age of 14 till the age of 20 while she’s searching for her identity within a constantly changing country.

América (dir. Chase Whiteside & Erick Stoll) is about a dreamer who reunites with his brothers to take care of their ninety-three year old grandmother, América in southwest Mexico.

Pigeon Kings (dir. Milena Pastreich) tracks a peculiar subculture of pigeon competitions in So. Central LA presided over by the godfather Keith London.

The Punch (dir. Andre Hörmann) looks at the dangerous, volatile world of Chicago’s South Side from the point of view of two promising young boxers and their fathers who train them.

Voices of the Sea: A Cuban Odyssey (dir. Kim Hopkins) takes us into the heart of a high- stakes family drama playing out in a remote Cuban fishing village.

And in case you missed it, this year’s cohort of mentors includes:

• Director/producer Mark Becker, (Art & Craft, Pressure Cooker) has  co-edited Lost Boys of Sudan and Circo, about a hardscrabble traveling Mexican circus troupe.
• Producer Amanda Branson-Gill, most recently produced Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known. She also produced Morris’ 2008 film Standard Operating Procedure.
• Director Chris Hegedus (The War Room, Startup.com), has been making films as a director, cinematographer, and editor for four decades with her partner D.A. Pennebaker.
• Director Pete Nicks (The Force, The Waiting Room), is a director/shooter known for his courageous cinema vérité style.
• Editor/producer David Teague (Life Animated, Cutie and the Boxer, Freeheld) is a noted documentary film editor.

For more information about the retreat, please visit roughcutretreat.org and follow the adventures on Facebook.

Catapult Film Fund provides early funding and mentorship to documentary filmmakers telling powerful, artful stories. For more information, please visit catapultfilmfind.org