BRIC Announces Cohort for 2020 BRIClab: Film + TV Residency
The Leading Arts and Media Institution Announces The Inaugural Cohort for BRIClab: Film + TV Residency Track
Above (left to right): The 2020 BRIClab: Film + TV cohort. First row: Dolly Li, Nova Scott-James. Second row: Martina Sönksen, Juliana Curi, and Lívia Cheibub. Courtesy of BRIC and the artists.
(BROOKLYN, NY — OCTOBER TK, 2020) BRIC is pleased to announce the inaugural cohort of its new BRIClab: Film + TV residency track. The track offers unique resources designed to meet the needs of film, tv, and media practices including financial support, mentorship, skills-based learning opportunities and resources, and documentation of their work. A public presentation of their work will take place at the conclusion of the six-month residency, details to be announced.
The three selected projects are CHOI, created and directed by Dolly Li; Wild Darlings Sing The Blues, directed by Nova Scott-James; and Uyra, The Rising Forest, a film by Martina Sönksen, Juliana Curi, and Lívia Cheibub. The residency aims to incubate innovative and ambitious storytelling talent in both established and experimental forms of media.
As part of the refreshed format for BRIClab, BRIC will also formally pair each creative team with a mentor with industry experience relative to their project. These mentors will work alongside the resident filmmakers to help investigate and interrogate their work as it develops.
Below is more information on the selected projects.
Dolly Li: CHOI
CHOI is an episodic documentary series that takes us inside the underground food system of Asian American farmers. Through lush visuals and human-centric stories, we examine the historical and modern impact Asian farmers have had on agriculture.
Nova Scott-James: Wild Darlings Sing The Blues
The Wild Darlings are a pro-black, pro-LGBTQ+ media and healing arts collective from NYC. Wild Darlings Sing The Blues is a 10-episode documentary/narrative hybrid series following them on a spiritual and physical pilgrimage from a sacred indigenous sanctuary in upstate New York.
Martina Sönksen, Juliana Curi, and Lívia Cheibub: Uyra, The Rising Forest
Brazil leads the world in murders of trans, indigenous and environmental activists. Emerson is all three. He is also the drag queen Uyra. As one they are revolutionizing activism and the performing arts and disclosing urgent messages of the forest.
ABOUT DOLLY LI
Dolly Li is the director, creator, and producer of CHOI. She is an award-winning video journalist and filmmaker who has covered Asian American and Asian diaspora issues through short documentaries and videos over the last six years. In 2017, she produced the viral short documentary “The Untold Story Of America's Southern Chinese” with AJ+ (Al Jazeera), which now has over 7 million views across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. It was part of a three-part documentary series, “Chinese Food: An-All American Cuisine,” which won a regional Emmy in Northern California. In 2018, Dolly launched the Hong Kong based digital media startup, Goldthread, and served as the company’s Content Director, leading the editorial team while also reporting throughout Asia. Previously, Dolly was a co-lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and is currently a co-director of the Asian American Journalist’s (AAJA) Video Group.
ABOUT NOVA SCOTT-JAMES
Nova Scott-James' childhood experiences of being flooded with the sounds and culture of jazz has impacted her creative aesthetic greatly as her work honors improvisation, altered states of consciousness, ritual and collaboration. Nova is an adjunct instructor at the NYU Tisch School of The Arts teaching filmmaking in intensive programs for high school students.Two of her short films have played at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in the New York African Film Festival ‘Handmade in Thamaga’, a documentary short about a women’s pottery collective in Botswana, and “My Third Eye”, a narrative short about a young girl’s spiritual awakening after being sexually abused by a family member. Nova is also a reiki practitioner and dedicated intuitive worker – she uses these abilities to serve people as a director and creative coach by guiding them in honoring their creative genius.
ABOUT MARTINA SKÖNKSEN, JULIANA CURI, AND LÍVIA CHEIBUB
Martina Sönksen is a Brazilian researcher, writer and producer living in New York, where she graduated with a degree in Communications and holds a certificate of Documentary Filmmaking at New York Film Academy and is interested in creating content across multiple mediums. Her filmography includes “The Karma Killings” (2016), available on Netflix and Amazon Video, selected by DOCS MX, DOCS Valéncia and recommended by Film Bazaar. “The Pigeon Kings of Brooklyn” (2015): featured on Narrative.ly and Staff Pick on Vimeo. Selected by BAM for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Free Summer Movie 2015.
Juliana Curi (Executive Producer, Director, and Writer) is a Brazilian multimedia film director, artist and writer living in Los Angeles. Deeply influenced by Social Cinema and Cinema Novo schools, she uses visual mediums to create socio-cultural impact projects and to tell underrepresented histories. Graduated in Journalism, she began her career in the creative department of MTV Brazil, developing social awareness campaigns (HIV, Politics, Environment) focused on youth. Since them, her projects include Stories in the Social Landscape at International Center of Photography (ICP), the Film-Manifesto “Stereotypes'' to launch “More Grls.” the first roadmap to female talent in Brazil which aims to fight gender inequality and projects dealing with gender for Avon, Dove, P&G, Pink Intervention at Spotte Art NY, Artsy and Battle of the Body at São Paulo Cultural Center (Brazilian National Commission for Cultural Incentive Prize).
Lívia Cheibub (Producer and Editor) is a director, producer and post-production coordinator based in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated as a journalist and has always been inspired by the many possible stories and subjectivities within people. Her work in film count with clients such as HBO, VICE, MTV and NYPR. She is also the founder and creative director behind Wild Galaxies, a production company interested in producing films that explore female and non-binary sexuality through film. Her first feature film, Landlocked, was an Official Selection at the 2018 Porn Film Festival Berlin.
ABOUT BRIC
BRIC is a leading arts and media institution anchored in Downtown Brooklyn whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action. For over forty years, BRIC has shaped Brooklyn's cultural and media landscape by presenting and incubating artists, creators, students, and media makers. As a creative catalyst for their community, BRIC ignites learning in people of all ages and centralizes diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward. BRIC is Building Brooklyn's creative future.
Major support for BRICLab is provided by Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Additional support for BRICLab: Performing Arts is provided by Howard Gilman Foundation and Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
General support for BRIC is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Booth Ferris Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Con Edison, Howard Gilman Foundation, Industry City, JP Morgan Chase, Lambent Foundation, M&T Charitable Foundation, New York Community Trust, Scherman Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Surdna Foundation, Tiger Baron Foundation, The Zankel Fund, and numerous individuals.
PRESS CONTACTS
Danellys Wong
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
dw@culturalcounsel.com