The Fledgling Fund supports innovative media projects that can play critical roles in igniting social change. We believe that film and other creative media can bear witness to the challenges faced by vulnerable individuals, families and communities in ways that statistics can not, and that it can create a broader understanding of social problems and inspire concrete action. We also believe that well-structured and creative community engagement initiatives can leverage media's ability to ignite social change by moving people from awareness to action. We strive for a portfolio of media projects that allows us to:
- Support projects that are timely, tell compelling and important stories, represent a unique perspective or an intriguing solution to an entrenched social problem, and have strong potential as a vehicle for social change.
- Demonstrate how films coupled with well-structured and measurable community engagement and outreach programs can raise awareness about complex social issues, encourage dialogue, share possible solutions, and move people to action.
- Encourage the innovative use of media, such as Web 2.0 strategies, and short form videos, to engage new audiences around important social issues.
- Leverage expertise in key issue areas including, Girls' Empowerment and Women's Leadership, Health Care, Mental Health and Homelessness, Migration and Immigration, and War and its Aftermath.
We work closely with our partners to advance these objectives.
Featured Creative Media Project
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders is a powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives--and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment--for...Our Creative Media Projects
Environmental Justice
Gasland
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of...
World Without Walls
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is the largest self-empowerment campaign in the history of the world. Its aim: to end...
Cape Wind
When Jim Gordon first proposed building an offshore wind farm in fabled Nantucket Sound, he had no idea of the...
Lunch Love Community
In 1999, The Berkeley Unified School District created it's ground-breaking and influential Food Policy mandating a goal to "provide nutritious,...
Planeat
Planeat is a provocative challenge to our love of meat and dairy. Tracking the work of a group of scientists,...
Turkey Creek
When the historic African American cemetery of Turkey Creek, Mississippi, is bulldozed for commercial development, prodigal son Derrick Evans returns...
Deep Down
Deep Down puts a human face on the consequences of our environmental impact. Any exploration of power production in America...
IOBY
IOBY connects donors and volunteers to environmental projects in their neighborhoods to inspire new environmental knowledge and action in New...
Dirty Business: The Selling of Clean Coal
Politicians and corporate interests have mounted a formidable public relations campaign promoting 'clean coal' as crucial to solving our energy/climate...
A Sea Change
Imagine a world without fish. It's a frightening premise, and it's happening right now. A Sea Change follows the journey...
Environmental Witness Network
SkyTruth is harnessing Web 2.0 technology to generate new information and catalyze citizen action on critical environmental justice issues. The...
Split Estate
Imagine discovering that you don't own the mineral rights under your land, and that an energy company plans to drill...
The End of the Line
Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we...
Two Angry Moms
Amy Kalafa was stewing for years, packing her kids lunches from home and trying to get her community to pay...
Trouble the Water
Trouble the Water takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. It's a redemptive tale...
The Greening of Southie
What happens when you're asked to build the city of tomorrow... today? Set on the storied streets of South Boston,...
10 Americans
Prominent, current studies link many government-approved but clinically-untested chemicals in everyday products to miscarriages, birth defects, reproductive malfunction, cancer, and...
No Impact Man
Global Warming! The headlines scream it; the thermometer confirms it; but few of us do much to address it. Author...
A Snow Mobile for George
A Snow Mobile for George is a documentary film about a rambunctious road trip that collects the stories of fishermen,...
King Corn
King Corn is a feature documentary about one acre of corn and its journey into the American food system. The...
Everything's Cool
Everything's Cool is a documentary film that is a "toxic comedy" about the most dangerous chasm ever to emerge between...Girls' Empowerment and Women's Leadership
World Without Walls
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is the largest self-empowerment campaign in the history of the world. Its aim: to end...
Budrus
Budrus follows a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in...
Music By Prudence
Music By Prudence is the uplifting story of a Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Prudence Mabhena, 21, who was born severely disabled. Her...
Mosque in Morgantown
Working in Pakistan after September 11, 2001, former reporter Wall Street Journal Asra Normani had faced a double shock. First...
Mothers of Bedford
Eighty percent of women in prison are mothers of school age children. Mothers of Bedford looks at the lives of...
Made in India
Made in India is a feature length documentary film about the human experiences behind the phenomena of "outsourcing" surrogate mothers...
The Beyond Seneca Falls Project
Seneca Falls chronicles the life-changing journey of nine diverse high school girls (and a lone ten-year-old boy) bound for the...
The Line
What happens to women when they express their sexuality? Where is the line of consent? The filmmaker's own "grey...
In the Family
At 31, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick faces an impossible decision: remove her breasts and ovaries or risk incredible odds of developing...
Made in L.A.
Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark...
The Silent Partner
In sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world's people living with HIV, women make up 60 percent of those...
All of Me
All of Me, a work-in-progress documentary film, follows a group of women who have been friends, and fat, for years....
La Americana
La Americana is an intimate documentary following an undocumented immigrant's journey from Bolivia to New York City and back, as...
Going on 13
From Tweety Bird to Bow Wow, double dutch to chat rooms, Daddy's girls to first deceptions, watch as Ariana, Isha,...
Sin by Silence
From behind prison walls, Sin By Silence reveals the lives of extraordinary women who advocate for a future free from...
Kick Like a Girl
Kick Like A Girl is a feature documentary about the story of what happens when "The Mighty Cheetahs," an undefeated...
We Are Together
We Are Together is a stirring documentary film about the children of the Agape Choir in South Africa. The AIDS...
Girl Trouble
Girl Trouble is a film that takes a personal look at the reasons why teenage girls are entering the juvenile...
Body Typed
Body Typed is a series of four short films that deal with body image and self esteem, including Wet Dreams...
Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief is a documentary film about the connection women find in the face of tragedy. Susan Retik and Patti...
About Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw
On a chilly Alaskan summer night in 1980, a family camping trip turned into a tragedy when 10-month old Gwendellin...
Lioness
Lioness is a documentary film about Army support soldiers who became the first women in American history to be sent...
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Since 1998 a brutal war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 4 million people have...
Very Young Girls
Very Young Girls is a documentary film that chronicles the journey of young women through the underground world of sexual...
Orgasm, Inc.
Orgasm, Inc. is a documentary film that provides a humorous and sobering look inside "big pharma" and the marketing campaigns...
LightBox: Expressions of Hope from Young Women in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi
LightBox is a 132 page, full-color, hardcover coffee table book, comprised of photographs and essays by the teenage members of...
A Walk to Beautiful
A Walk to Beautiful is a feature length documentary that tells the stories of five Ethiopian women, who suffer from...Health
Gasland
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of...World Without Walls
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is the largest self-empowerment campaign in the history of the world. Its aim: to end...Lunch Love Community
In 1999, The Berkeley Unified School District created it's ground-breaking and influential Food Policy mandating a goal to "provide nutritious,...Planeat
Planeat is a provocative challenge to our love of meat and dairy. Tracking the work of a group of scientists,...Made in India
Made in India is a feature length documentary film about the human experiences behind the phenomena of "outsourcing" surrogate mothers...
Under Our Skin
In the early 1970's, a mysterious ailment was discovered among children living around the town of Lyme, CT. What was...
What's on Your Plate?
What's on Your Plate? is a witty and provocative documentary produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund about kids and...In the Family
At 31, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick faces an impossible decision: remove her breasts and ovaries or risk incredible odds of developing...10 Americans
Prominent, current studies link many government-approved but clinically-untested chemicals in everyday products to miscarriages, birth defects, reproductive malfunction, cancer, and...The Silent Partner
In sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world's people living with HIV, women make up 60 percent of those...All of Me
All of Me, a work-in-progress documentary film, follows a group of women who have been friends, and fat, for years....
The Vision Project
The goal of Vision Project is to produce documentary material and educational programs that encourage understanding and awareness about a...
Firestorm
Every minute in the United States, an ambulance gets turned away from an emergency room because hospitals are simply too...
Good Fortune
Good Fortune is a feature documentary that explores how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining...We Are Together
We Are Together is a stirring documentary film about the children of the Agape Choir in South Africa. The AIDS...
Coma
Coma is a documentary film that gives voice to people whose quality of life and very existence have been threatened.The...
Beat the Drum
Beat the Drum is a contemporary South African film about the devastation of HIV / AIDS. Young Musa is orphaned...
The Accidental Advocate
The Accidental Advocate is a documentary film that expores the intersection of politics, science and health care. When Claude Gerstle,...
Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy
Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy is a documentary that follows the story of two friends who have become advocates...
Critical Condition
Critical Condition, a feature documentary by Roger Weisberg, paints a disturbing and gripping portrait of what happens when you're sick...Orgasm, Inc.
Orgasm, Inc. is a documentary film that provides a humorous and sobering look inside "big pharma" and the marketing campaigns...LightBox: Expressions of Hope from Young Women in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi
LightBox is a 132 page, full-color, hardcover coffee table book, comprised of photographs and essays by the teenage members of...
Autumn's Harvest
The HIV/AIDS pandemic finds most of its victims among the world's poor and socially marginalized. The numbers are mind numbing....A Walk to Beautiful
A Walk to Beautiful is a feature length documentary that tells the stories of five Ethiopian women, who suffer from...Innovative Media Strategies
World Without Walls
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is the largest self-empowerment campaign in the history of the world. Its aim: to end...
Priority 2
Priority 2 is a call for American politicians and policy makers to remember our moral obligations to the people whose...Environmental Witness Network
SkyTruth is harnessing Web 2.0 technology to generate new information and catalyze citizen action on critical environmental justice issues. The...
In The Balance
In The Balance is a multi-platform project that seeks to create a learning space that effectively responds to the "school-to-prison...
Soldier Billboard Project
The Soldier Billboard Project features Soliders whom have spent 100 days or more in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who are these...The Vision Project
The goal of Vision Project is to produce documentary material and educational programs that encourage understanding and awareness about a...
Through A Lens Darkly
Through a Lens Darkly is a multi-platform photography-based project built around a two-hour film for public television. This film vividly...
Video the Vote
The goal of Video the Vote is to protect the vote by being the eyes and ears where ballots are...
1000 Voices Archive
Launched in May 2008, the 1000 Voices Archive explores the potential of short form film to expand civic dialogue on...Mental Health, Disability and Homelessness
Music By Prudence
Music By Prudence is the uplifting story of a Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Prudence Mabhena, 21, who was born severely disabled. Her...
Shooting Beauty
Shooting Beauty is a documentary film about an aspiring fashion photographer named Courtney Bent who, in 1997 with no formal...
Monica and David
Monica and David explores the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome and the family who strives to support their...
Rachel Is
In her feature directorial debut, Charlotte Glynn moves home to chronicle her sister Rachel's last year in school. Rachel, her...
Empress Hotel
Empress Hotel is a feature-length documentary film about formerly homeless people in San Francisco. The film contrasts the order of...Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy
Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy is a documentary that follows the story of two friends who have become advocates...About Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw
On a chilly Alaskan summer night in 1980, a family camping trip turned into a tragedy when 10-month old Gwendellin...
Kings Park
Kings Park offers an unprecedented look at public mental health care in America by focusing on the story of a...Migration and Immigration
The Harvest
The Harvest Game, an online companion to Shine Global's upcoming documentary The Harvest, provides the player with the experience of...
Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in Tongues follows the lives of four kids attempting to become bilingual as they study four different languages; an...Mosque in Morgantown
Working in Pakistan after September 11, 2001, former reporter Wall Street Journal Asra Normani had faced a double shock. First...
Enemy Alien
Enemy Alien, a first-person documentary, offers a dramatic inside view of the fight to free Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a gentle but...Made in L.A.
Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark...La Americana
La Americana is an intimate documentary following an undocumented immigrant's journey from Bolivia to New York City and back, as...
Children in No Man's Land
Children In No Man's Land is a documentary that uncovers the current plight of the 100,000 unaccompanied minors entering the...Autumn's Harvest
The HIV/AIDS pandemic finds most of its victims among the world's poor and socially marginalized. The numbers are mind numbing....Special Projects
The Youth and Gender Media Project
The Youth & Gender Media Project encompasses three short films that capture the diversity and complexity of gender nonconforming youth....
Out In The Silence
Out In The Silence captures the remarkable chain of events that unfold when the announcement of filmmaker Joe Wilson's wedding...
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders is a powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From...Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in Tongues follows the lives of four kids attempting to become bilingual as they study four different languages; an...Mosque in Morgantown
Working in Pakistan after September 11, 2001, former reporter Wall Street Journal Asra Normani had faced a double shock. First...
Our Summer In Tehran
In her Oscar nominated documentary, Promises, filmmaker Justine Shapiro took us into the lives of Palestinians and Israeli children in...
Santa Claus in Baghdad
Santa Claus in Baghdad is an educational short narrative film aimed at English-speaking teens ages 12- 14 (Middle School). The...
Freeheld
Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester spent 25 years investigating tough cases in Ocean County, New Jersey, protecting the rights of victims...Systemic Poverty
World Without Walls
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is the largest self-empowerment campaign in the history of the world. Its aim: to end...Music By Prudence
Music By Prudence is the uplifting story of a Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Prudence Mabhena, 21, who was born severely disabled. Her...Deep Down
Deep Down puts a human face on the consequences of our environmental impact. Any exploration of power production in America...Made in India
Made in India is a feature length documentary film about the human experiences behind the phenomena of "outsourcing" surrogate mothers...
Promised Land
Promised Land examines post-apartheid South Africa's efforts to bring about racial reconciliation through land distribution. The film follows two black...Trouble the Water
Trouble the Water takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. It's a redemptive tale...Made in L.A.
Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark...The Silent Partner
In sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world's people living with HIV, women make up 60 percent of those...
Reporter
Journalism, as we know it, is in trouble. In the Internet age, newspapers and magazines face near extinction. Newsrooms are...Good Fortune
Good Fortune is a feature documentary that explores how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining...We Are Together
We Are Together is a stirring documentary film about the children of the Agape Choir in South Africa. The AIDS...
War Dance
War Dance is a feature-length documentary that tells the story of three children from the Patongo displacement camp in northern...Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief is a documentary film about the connection women find in the face of tragedy. Susan Retik and Patti...Beat the Drum
Beat the Drum is a contemporary South African film about the devastation of HIV / AIDS. Young Musa is orphaned...LightBox: Expressions of Hope from Young Women in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi
LightBox is a 132 page, full-color, hardcover coffee table book, comprised of photographs and essays by the teenage members of...A Walk to Beautiful
A Walk to Beautiful is a feature length documentary that tells the stories of five Ethiopian women, who suffer from...U.S. Justice System
No Tomorrow
No Tomorrow investigates the murder of Risa Bejarano, the principle subject in the filmmakers earlier film, Aging Out, about teenagers...Mothers of Bedford
Eighty percent of women in prison are mothers of school age children. Mothers of Bedford looks at the lives of...
Burned: Life In Texas' Youth Prisons
Burned follows a year in the lives of two boys incarcerated in Texas' scandal-plagued juvenile justice system. Though his original...Enemy Alien
Enemy Alien, a first-person documentary, offers a dramatic inside view of the fight to free Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a gentle but...
The Dhamma Brothers
East meets West in the Deep South. An overcrowded maximum-security prison--the end of the line in Alabama's correctional system--is dramatically...In The Balance
In The Balance is a multi-platform project that seeks to create a learning space that effectively responds to the "school-to-prison...
The End of America
The End of America is a stunning indictment of the sweeping policy changes enacted during the Bush Administration. Made in...Sin by Silence
From behind prison walls, Sin By Silence reveals the lives of extraordinary women who advocate for a future free from...Girl Trouble
Girl Trouble is a film that takes a personal look at the reasons why teenage girls are entering the juvenile...Very Young Girls
Very Young Girls is a documentary film that chronicles the journey of young women through the underground world of sexual...War and its Aftermath
The Recruiter
The Recruiter is a cinéma-vérité, feature-length documentary that travels to the Louisiana coast to present Sergeant First Class Clay Usie,...Budrus
Budrus follows a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in...Priority 2
Priority 2 is a call for American politicians and policy makers to remember our moral obligations to the people whose...The End of America
The End of America is a stunning indictment of the sweeping policy changes enacted during the Bush Administration. Made in...Reporter
Journalism, as we know it, is in trouble. In the Internet age, newspapers and magazines face near extinction. Newsrooms are...Soldier Billboard Project
The Soldier Billboard Project features Soliders whom have spent 100 days or more in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who are these...
Project Kashmir
Project Kashmir is a feature documentary in which the directors, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide (one...War Dance
War Dance is a feature-length documentary that tells the story of three children from the Patongo displacement camp in northern...Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief is a documentary film about the connection women find in the face of tragedy. Susan Retik and Patti...Lioness
Lioness is a documentary film about Army support soldiers who became the first women in American history to be sent...The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Since 1998 a brutal war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 4 million people have...
The Devil Came on Horseback
The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary film that exposes the violence and tragedy of the genocide in Darfur,...