Jacob Burns Film Center to Receive Grant From Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Yesterday, May 2, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 2019 FilmWatch and FilmCraft grant recipients, which included the Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY), a nonprofit five-screen cinema and education center and one of the most successful suburban art houses in the country. The $10,000 FilmCraft grant will support JBFC's inaugural REMIX Artist-in Residence.

REMIX: The Black Experience in Film, Media, and Art is a year-round original series examining the legacy of institutional racism and the black experience in film, media, and art. First programmed by the late filmmaker Jonathan Demme and Gina Duncan, now Associate Vice President at BAM Film, REMIX challenges perceptions, inspires dialogue, and celebrates the richness and breadth of cinema that is too often overlooked. The opportunity to introduce a REMIX Artist-in-Residence to the JBFC community will both strengthen and improve upon that mission.

"It is an honor and privilege to be awarded such a prestigious grant from The Academy Foundation for our Creative Culture program," said JBFC Executive Director Edie Demas. "The grant will provide our first REMIX Artist-in-Residence with high-quality artistic and production support, professional development opportunities, and meaningful community engagement experiences."

The Academy Grants program furthers the overall mission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures.

FilmCraft grants support high-quality educational programs that identify and empower future filmmakers from nontraditional backgrounds. Targeted programs include those that encourage an appreciation of film as both a vocation and an art form, and those that provide direct, hands-on opportunities for participants to gain the filmmaking skills they need to tell their stories.

The Jacob Burns Film Center celebrates film as a vehicle for entertainment, education, and inspiration. Through films, events, community screenings, visiting artists, and special guests, the JBFC strives to further their nonprofit mission, spark dialogue, and encourage the acceptance of a diversity of perspectives among theatergoers and the community-an organizational priority since opening in 2001. Their fellowship and residency program, Creative Culture, was developed to champion diverse voices and foster a thriving artistic community from the region, across the country, and around the world.

For more information on the Jacob Burns Film Center, click here, or visit burnsfilmcenter.org.

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