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# Sundance Institute Awards Grants to 18 Documentary Film Projects
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sundance-institute-documentary-grants-2021/
- Published: 2021-06-09T19:28:17.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:05:57.000Z
- Description: The institute has allocated funds to projects about Black motherhood, conversion therapy, and more.
- Author: Dan Schindel
- Tags: Film, Documentary, News, Sundance Film Festival, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1)

The Sundance Institute has announced [the latest round of grantees for its Documentary Fund](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2021-sundance-documentary-fund-grantees?ref=hyperallergic.com). Eighteen projects at different stages of development have received a total of $590,000, financed by a variety of institutional and individual donors. The grants come with no restrictions on usage. Past films supported by the fund include [*Hale County This Morning, This Evening*](https://hyperallergic.com/436271/hale-county-this-morning-this-evening-documentary/)*,* [*Time*](https://hyperallergic.com/540389/a-soul-stirring-reminder-of-why-the-criminal-justice-system-must-change/)*,* and [*Collective*](https://hyperallergic.com/602031/collective-documentary-interview-alexander-nanau/).

Supported projects include *The Tongue of Water*, about an Indigenous woman in Cambodia trying to rebuild her life after her home is destroyed by the construction of a dam; *The Therapy*, about gay conversion therapy in Israel; and *Black Mothers*, following two Black women fighting police racism in the US.

Sundance Institute is also [accepting applications for the next cycle of funding](https://apply.sundance.org/prog/2022%5Fdocumentary%5Ffund%5Fwinter%5Fcycle/?ref=hyperallergic.com) through July 26.

The recently announced grantees are:

**Projects in development:**

***The Gardeners* (US)**  
Director: Crystal Kayiza  
Producer: Crystal Kayiza

***Gross National Happiness* (Bhutan, Hungary)**  
Director: Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó  
Producer: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi, Arun Bhattarai

***The Ship and the Sea* (Mozambique, Brazil, Portugal)**  
Director: Lara Sousa, Everlane Moraes  
Producer: Matheus Mello, Emerson d’Almeida, Joelma Oliveira Gonzaga, Elsa Sertorio

***The Tongue of Water* (France, Cambodia)**  
Director: Polen Ly  
Producers: Rithy Panh, Lucas Sénécaut, Thibaut Amri

***Under the Dance Floor* (Hungary)**  
Director: Sára Timár  
Producer: Krisztina Meggyes

**In production:**

***Against the Tide* (India)**  
Directors: Sarvnik Kaur  
Producers: Sarvnik Kaur, Koval Bhatia

***Do You Love Me (*working title*)* (Lebanon, Germany)**  
Director: Lana Daher   
Producer: Lana Daher, Jasper Mielke 

***Igualada* (Colombia)**  
Director: Juan Mejia  
Producer: Juan Yepes

***Inverse Surveillance Project* (US)**  
Director: Assia Boundaoui  
Producer: Nouha Boundaoui

***Rising Up at Night* (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium)**  
Director: Nelson Makengo  
Producer: Rosa Spaliviero, Dada Kahindo Siku

***Smoke Sauna Sisterhood* (Estonia, France, Iceland)**  
Director: Anna Hints  
Producer: Marianne Ostrat, Juliette Cazanave, Pierre Jestaz, Hlín Jóhannesdóttir

***The Therapy* (Israel)**  
Director: Zvi Landsman  
Producer: Ori Szternfeld, Zvi Landsman

***Untitled* (US, Canada)**  
Director: Sura Mallouh  
Producer: Sura Mallouh, Laura Poitras, Yoni Golijov

**In post-production**:

***Black Mothers* (US)**  
Director: Débora Souza Silva  
Producers: Débora Souza Silva, David Felix Sutcliffe

***Hazing* (US)**  
Director: Byron Hurt  
Producer: Natalie Bullock Brown

***Liquor Store Dreams* (US)**  
Director: So Yun Um  
Producer: So Yun Um, Eddie Kim

***Silent Beauty* (US, Mexico)**  
Director: Jasmin Mara López  
Producer: Jasmin Mara López

***Untitled Muscogee Nation Documentary* (Muscogee Nation, US)**  
Director: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler  
Producer: Conrad Beilharz, Garrett Baker, Tyler Graim