PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awards First winners for 2012 announced

London, UK, May 30, 2012 – Today, PUMA.Creative in partnership with BRITDOC Foundation announced ten new PUMA.Creative Catalyst Award winners.

Now in its third year, the PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awards are rapid response awards to support the very best in creative documentary filmmaking. They provide strategic and catalytic resources in the early stages of documentary projects. Twenty PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awards are awarded annually of up to 5,000 Euros each, to shoot and edit a film trailer that can function as a tool to demonstrate and accelerate the potential of the filmmakers’ vision.

“The PUMA.Creative Catalyst Award winners, both past and present, are making significant contributions within their industry and for the betterment of society and the environment,” said Mark Coetzee, Programme Director, PUMAVision and Chief Curator, PUMA.Creative. “PUMA is honoured to support filmmakers who are investigating and promoting a world that is safer, more peaceful and more creative than the world we know today—an idea completely aligned with PUMA’s vision of a better world.”

For the 2012 first call for PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awards, over seven hundred and thirty submissions were received from filmmakers working as far afield as Hawaii and Palestine, Dominica and Malaysia. Ten documentaries from established and emerging international filmmakers were selected for the awards, including a new feature length documentary from 2012 Oscar winning director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (Saving Face), veteran filmmaker Steve James (The Interrupters) looking at new ideas to tackle the world food problem, Josh Fox (Gasland) investigating obstructions for renewable energy, Rwandan filmmaker Yves Montand Niyongabo exploring peace in the face of adversity and young Burmese VJ, Joshua Min Htut (who featured in the award winning Burma VJ which was awarded a special mention at the inaugural PUMA.Creative Impact Awards) returning home in the wake of political change. For more information, click here

“With applications from over 90 countries these awards have quickly gained prominence amongst the global creative communities and established PUMA.Creative as a key player in the creative and social issue documentary arena,” said BRITDOC Foundation Director Maxyne Franklin. “We particularly look forward to seeing two previous awardee’s films screening as part of London’s Cultural Olympiad this summer.”

Concurrent with the announcement of the winners, PUMA.Creative and BRITDOC Foundation announced the second call for PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awards for 2012 applications open. For more information on applications,
click here.

PUMA.Creative Catalyst Awardees Announced Today:

The Bolivian Case – Violeta Ayala (Bolivia)
The Bolivian Case is a character driven film about two of the world’s biggest businesses: the media and drug trafficking. Following the story of three Norwegian girls arrested for drug trafficking, the film takes us from a jail in one of the world’s poorest countries to a court in one of the world’s richest.

El Poeta – Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway (USA)
A story of grief and redemption through poetry, El Poeta is an intimate portrait of Javier Sicilia, Mexican poet-turned-activist and leader of Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, as he turns the tragic murder of his son into a motivator for change.

Fireflies in the Abyss – Chandrasekhar Reddy (India)
Fireflies in the Abyss is an immersive portrayal of coal mining in Northern India. The film follows three young boys representative of the thousands that are lured to the mines by the prospect of quick money and who spend their time dreaming of escape.

Generation Food – Steve James and Raj Patel (USA)
With a billion hungry and nearly two billion overweight, we know the food system is broken; the good news is that we can still fix it. Generation Food follows filmmaker Steve James and author and activist Raj Patel as they seek out the communities inventing new ways of feeding themselves sustainably.

GITI - The Paradise of the Hell – Yves Montand Niyongabo (Rwanda)
GITI - The Paradise of Hell tells a story of peace against the odds. The township of Giti was one of the few places that did not take up the call to arms during the Rwandan ethnic genocide. This film centres on those who protected victims at the risk of their own lives and asks why.

Kashmir: Beyond the Line of Control – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Pakistan/Canada)
What is it to grow up in a conflict zone? Kashmir: Beyond the Line of Control chronicles the lives of six children who live in villages along the Kashmir border in Pakistan with India.

My Marriage, My Parents – Wuna (Tai-Jen) Wu (Taiwan/China)
Set in Taiwan, My Marriage, My Parents asks: How do you make peace with parents when they become the greatest opponents of your desired marriage? A matchmaker with a unique philosophy for marriage may provide the key.

The Oasis – Pietra Brettkelly (New Zealand)
The Oasis tells the story of Kabul’s female-only park through the eyes of its visitors. Amidst the bombing and destruction that is Kabul the Oasis is a place of peace, calm and the teaching of women’s rights.

The Return of Burma VJ – Joshua Min Htut (Burma)
The Return of Burma VJ will look at how Burma has changed under the new regime through the lens of Burmese VJ Joshua Min Htut. Following his activities in the award winning Burma VJ Joshua was exiled for five years, now as his exile is lifted he prepares to return home with his camera in tow.

Untitled Renewables Film – Josh Fox (USA)
What is holding up the world’s transition to renewable energy? Josh Fox is on a mission to find out. Is the available technology still too primitive or is political pressure on behalf of the powerful fossil fuel industry holding us back?