ROUGH CUT RETREAT
A CATAPULT FILM FUND & TRUE/FALSE FILM FEST COLLABORATION
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CHICAGO MEDIA PROJECT
At the height of summer, when filmmakers are neck-deep in the editing process, Rough Cut Retreat offers a one-of-a-kind mentorship experience. Launched in 2016, RCR unites nonfiction filmmakers and mentors in a creative, supportive, and engaged atmosphere. True/False and Catapult prioritize work that displays an ambitious, idiosyncratic approach to nonfiction storytelling with a focus on emerging filmmakers and those who do not have established feedback networks. Chosen mentors are professionals with deep knowledge of nonfiction storytelling who embody creativity and generosity of spirit. The sixth annual Rough Cut Retreat, presented in partnership with the Chicago Media Project, who share Catapult and True/False’s passion for supporting bold and creative new nonfiction filmmaking, took place August 1-5, 2021 at Bell Valley Retreat in Boonville, California.
The 2021 call for entries closed on May 7. Questions? Email lindsey@truefalse.org
2021
Bell Valley Retreat, Boonville, CA / August 1 – 5
Mentors: Editor Nels Bangerter (Cameraperson, Dick Johnson is Dead), film exec Jihan Robinson (Casting JonBenet, A Thousand Cuts), editor David Teague (Cutie and the Boxer, Life Animated), and director/editor Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu, Through the Night), executive producer Lisa Kleiner Chanoff (Art and Craft, Brimstone & Glory)
COMMUTED
Dir. Nailah Jefferson, Prod. Darcy McKinnon, Edit. Rubin Daniels
Part lyrical memoir and part verité documentary, Commuted is an intimate look at the familial impacts of incarceration and the hope of one mother to regain the family and life that she nearly lost.
CONCRETE LAND
Dir. Asmahan Bkerat, Prod. Sahar Yousefi, Edit. Kamal El Mallakh
Living in makeshift tents, on land they don’t own, three generations of a Palestinian Bedouin family are forced to make a choice when suburban construction creeps up on them – to continue to be Bedouins with their pet sheep Badrya, or abandon their lifestyle and move to the city.
LA BONGA
Dirs. Sebastián Pinzón Silva & Canela Reyes, Prod. Gabriella Garcia-Pardo
On April 5th, 2001, the village of La Bonga received a death threat that triggered the entire community to flee, leaving everything behind. Twenty years later, hundreds of people embark on a symbolic journey through the jungles of the Colombian Caribbean to resurrect their town for a night of celebration.
THE TUBA THIEVES
Dir. Alison O’Daniel, Prod. Rachel Nederveld, Edit. Zack Khalil
From 2011-2013 tubas were stolen from Los Angeles high schools. The Tuba Thieves is not about thieves or missing tubas. Instead, it asks what it means to listen.
UNTITLED AMAZON PROJECT
Dir. Alex Pritz, Edit. Carlos Rojas
When a group of Brazilian farmers take control of a new area of the Amazon rainforest, a conflict erupts at the forest’s edge.
2020
Virtual Retreat / July 25 – 31
Mentors: Bonni Cohen (producer/director, Athlete A, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Audrie & Daisy), David Teague (editor, Cutie and the Boxer, Freeheld, Spaceship Earth), Don Bernier (editor, Athlete A, Always in Season), Rahdi Taylor (producer, Time), Omar Mullick (director/cinematographer, These Birds Walk)
BITTERBUSH
Dir. Emelie Mahdavian, Prod. Su Kim
A portrait of friendship, life transitions, and hard work, as two young women navigate an isolated and beautiful landscape of the American West.
THE IN BETWEEN
Dir. Robie Flores, Prod. Alejandro Flores/Kellen Quinn
This interwoven coming-of-age story chronicles the ordinary and extraordinary moments of growing up on the U.S./Mexico border.
NORTH BY CURRENT
Dir. Angelo Madsen Minax, Prod. Felix Endara
A deep personal history of the complex relationships shared between mothers and their children, this film creatively reframes narratives about incarceration, addiction, trans embodiment, and ruralness.
RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE
Dir. Katja Esson, Prod. Ann Bennett
After years of neglect, residents of Miami’s oldest public housing project learn about an urban revitalization project and brace themselves to fight a new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.
ASCENSION
Dir. Jessica Kingdon, Prod. Kira Simon-Kennedy/Nathan Truesdell
This multi-faceted portrait takes us inside the growing behemoth that is the nominally communist yet hyper-capitalist People’s Republic of China – and questions what it actually means to live the so-called “Chinese Dream.”
Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2021
2019
Carey Institute for Global Good, Rensselaerville, NY / August 4 – 8
MAYOR
Dir. David Osit
Mayor follows a charismatic leader’s quixotic quest to build the city of the future in a land paralyzed by its past.
Premiere: True/False 2020
SOCKS ON FIRE
Dir. Bo McGuire
Socks on Fire is a transgenerational docudrama couched in the familial battle between a homophobic aunt and drag-queen uncle over an Alabama grandmother’s estate.
Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2020
UNAPOLOGETIC
Dir. Ashley O’Shay
During the height of the Movement for Black Lives in Chicago, Unapologetic captures a community of millennial organizers confronting an administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents, through the intimate stories of two Black queer women, Janaé and Bella.
Premiere: Blackstar Film Festival 2020
FEELS GOOD MAN
Dir. Arthur Jones
Feels Good Man explores the current cultural moment and political climate through the lens of the Internet’s dankest meme.
Premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2020
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND
Dir. Iliana Sosa
What We Leave Behind follows the director’s 89-year-old grandfather on his monthly 17-hour bus ride from Primo de Verdad (a rural town in northern Mexico) to El Paso, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico to reunite with family separated by borders.
2018
Carey Institute for Global Good, Rensselaerville, NY / July 22 – 26.
Dir. Mo Scarpelli
Anbessa explores the rich inner world of a lion-hearted, ten-year-old boy in Ethiopia as he weathers the tides of change that threaten to usurp his community and country.
Premiere: Berlinale 2019
SO LATE SO SOON
Dir. Daniel Hymanson
Queen of the Battling Butterfly Brigade (its working title at the time of the RCR) is a film about aging, ecstasy, and finding the infinite in the infinitesimal.
Premiere: True/False 2020
SCARS
Dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka
Scars follows a former female fighter and radical ideologue of the Tamil Tigers, in a post-civil war Sri Lanka. When she leaves her quiet countryside life to find her fellow comrades, she faces her own dark past and the trauma of war.
Premiere: One World Film Festival 2020
STRAY
Dir. Elizabeth Lo
Stray sees the world through the eyes of three street dogs in Turkey, a nation in a profound state of flux. The film finds dignity in both the dogs and the marginalized people around them.
Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2020
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
Dir. Hannah Jayanti
Truth or Consequences is about the eponymous, small desert town in New Mexico banking on the world’s first commercial spaceport. This dusty no man’s land and its longtime residents are both eager for and weary of big changes.
Premiere: International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
2017
Gedney Farm, New Marlborough, MA / July 23 – 27
Mentors: Amanda Branson-Gill (producer, The Unknown Known), David Teague (editor, Life Animated; Cutie & the Boxer), Chris Hegedus (director, The War Room), Mark Becker (Director/Producer, Art & Craft; Pressure Cooker), and Pete Nicks (director, The Force).
Dir. Mohamed Siam
Amal 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.
Premiere: IDFA 2017
Dirs. Chase Whiteside & Erick Stoll
América is about a dreamer who reunites with his brothers to take care of their ninety-three year old grandmother, América in southwest Mexico.
Premiere: True/False 2018
Dir. André Hörmann
Ringside (formerly, The Punch) takes us into the heart of a high- stakes family drama playing out in a remote Cuban fishing village
Premiere: Berlinale 2019
Dir. Milena Pastreich
Pigeon Kings tracks a peculiar subculture of pigeon competitions in So. Central LA presided over by the godfather Keith London.
Premiere: Seattle International Film Festival 2019
Dir. Kim Hopkins
Voices of the Sea takes us into the heart of a high- stakes family drama playing out in a remote Cuban fishing village.
Premiere: True/False 2018
2016
Mayacamas Ranch, Calistoga, CA / August 7 – 11
Mentors: Nels Bangerter (editor, Cameraperson), Rachel Boynton (director, Big Men,), Pedro Kos (editor, The Square), Dan Krauss (director, The Kill Team), and Kristine Samuelson (director, Tokyo Waka).
Dir. Vaishali Sinha
Premiere: Hot Docs 2017
Dir. Shevaun Mizrahi
Premiere: Locarno International Film Festival 2017 (WIP at True/False 2017)
Dirs. Jeffrey Levine & Landon Van Soest
Premiere: Berlinale 2017
Dir. Jonathan Olshefski
Premiere: Sundance 2017
Dir. Till Shrauder
Premiere: Tribeca 2017