Santa Fe Film Institute gets two grants
Santa Fe New Mexican
Arts and culture news, February 2021
Jennifer Levin Feb 19, 2021
Santa Fe Film Institute gets two grants
The Santa Fe Film Institute (SFFI) was awarded funding in January from the Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Native American Advised Fund to support Indigenous filmmakers and promote Native American visibility through film. Every year, SFFI and its main project, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFIFF), present a cutting-edge Indigenous film program by the Institute of American Indian Arts that includes feature films, short films, and IAIA student shorts. SFIFF has presented awards to such Indigenous filmmakers as Tantoo Cardinal, Wes Studi, Razelle Benally, and Chris Eyre. The Native American Advised Fund was established in 1993 with a gift from the late sculptor and humanitarian Allan Houser (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache). Since 1997, the Native American Advised Fund has granted over $200,000 to 50 tribes, schools, and organizations.
In February, SFFI announced a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support SFIFF. The funds will benefit local filmmakers, students, and the independent film community. This is the second consecutive year SFFI has received a grant from the NEA, and the SFIFF is one of 1,073 projects across America selected during the first round of 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category. The 2021 Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is scheduled for Oct. 13 to 17.