Finalists Named for Roy W. Dean Grant for Fall 2022 Grant

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Richard Kaufman

An International Group of Filmmakers Vie for Grant That Includes Cash and Production Services

For the final Roy W. Dean Grant in the 2022 cycle, the 501(c)3 non-profit grant sponsor From the Heart Productions has named the twenty-two finalists for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Fall 2022. Awarded to a film that is unique and that make a contribution to society, the winner will receive $3,000 cash and thousands more in donated production goods and services to help them complete their project.

Roy W. Dean Grant Finalist: “Red Bus in Baghdad”

“We are thrilled at seeing so much amazing work from filmmakers all around the world.” said Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “Included in our finalists are film projects from England, Zambia, France, Sweden as well as the United States.”

Along with the cash prize awarded by From the Heart Productions are donations from film industry professionals and companies. These include $15,000.00 in original music written by well-known composer David Raikle n, $6,000.00 in animation from Emmy award winner Charlie Canfield, $500 in grip, lighting or expendables from Filmtools, an OWC Gemini Raid Hard Drive from Other World Computing, and more from many heartfelt donors.

The grant is open to documentaries, narrative features, short films, and web series. The winner is expected to be announced in February 2023.

Finalists for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Fall 2022 are:

Title	Type	Filmmaker
“On the Brink – Miscalculation: Kennedy and Khrushchev”	Documentary Feature	Darin Nellis
Why did we plant roses?	Documentary Feature	Mohanad Salahat
Jebus	Fiction Feature	Cole Thomas
Trusted Sources	Documentary Feature	Don Colacino
Mixed Legacy – Operation Katima Mulilo	Fiction Feature	Abdon Yezi
Against the Tide	Documentary Feature	Katie Moore
Red Bus in Baghdad	Documentary Feature	Ingrid Nordstrom
The Cassandra Project	Fiction Feature	Debbie Chesebro
Escape From Death Valley	Documentary Feature	Kit Tyler
Turning Tides	Documentary Feature	Eloise Curran
The Rwenzori Rainmakers	Documentary Feature	Jacqui Doughty
Daly City	Fiction Short	Nick Hartanto
Wrestling with Iran	Documentary Feature	Jahangir Golestan Parast
Freedom Is Our Religion	Documentary Feature	Xackery Irving
Shell Shock	Fiction Short	Patricia Garza
Piece of Mind	Documentary Feature	Sheila Ganz
King Luck	Documentary Feature	Emily Graham-Handle
Minnie Evans: Visionary Artist	Documentary Feature	Linda Royal
Lico Jiménez, the Ebony Liszt	Documentary Feature	Julie Carmen
Salsa, A Caribbean Swing (Salsa, un tumbao’ caribeño)	Documentary Feature	Beni Marquez
Dear Lara	Fiction Short	Patrick Hamm
On The Line	Fiction Short	Brianna Devons

Each finalist is given the opportunity to post information on their contending film on the From the Heart Productions website. Filmmakers can include an image from the film, filmmaker info, and loglines. If they have available, filmmakers can include a link to their film’s website, Facebook page, or relevant social media connection.

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Since its inception in 1992, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that is unique and that make a contribution to society.

Offering four grants for filmmakers each year, The Roy W. Dean Grant has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers helping them to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Past winners of the grant include 2021 Emmy winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs , as well as Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From The Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. In addition to personal guidance, free classes on fundraising and filmmaking, the program allows donations made to films to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program.

President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class “How to Fund Your Film”.

“I’m Still Here” Wins Britt Penrod Award

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Richard Kaufman

Documentary Short Inspired by Work of Non-Profit Helping the Homeless by Nurturing Their Artistic Expression

Chosen from the finalists for the Roy W. Dean Grants, the Britt Penrod Award goes to a film that makes an exceptional contribution to society. “I’m Still Here” has been selected as one of the recipients for the award for the Summer 2022 grant. From the Heart Productions, the top-rated non-profit that sponsors the grant, will give $500 to filmmaker Andy Volk to help him complete his project.

“This project provides a beautiful example how through compassion, a positive spirit, and an environment encouraging creativity, the Austin non-profit Arts from the Street is making a profound difference in the lives of the homeless,” commented Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions.

About “I’m Still Here”

“I’m Still Here” is a portrait of a formerly-homeless artist, capturing how the non-profit Art from the Streets helped them find community, creative expression, and self-determination while living on the street.

Andy intends that the film will be a portrait of the artist, encapsulating the many ways we view ourselves and each other. It will be the artist’s story. Their words, their feelings, their actions, captured to remind communities around the country that the homeless are still here, even if we see them or not.

About the Filmmaker

Andy Volk – Director/Editor Andy is a versatile filmmaker who grew up in Tucson, AZ and earned his B.A. in Film Studies from Seattle University. He got his start as a Programmer for Seattle International Film Festival before graduation in 2018.

He is fascinated by themes of connection: What drives it? How does it forge? How do we let go? He sought to explore this through the animated documentary, Coffee & Sugar, based on his grandparents’ story. It premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Seattle International Film Festival before playing at dozens more across the country.

A firm believer in the empowering nature of films, Andy produced Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story (Dir. Aaron Bear, Nar. Zachary Quinto, feat. Bill Gates) which won awards nationally and across the sea. The feature documentary tells the story of queer Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist, and LGBTQ rights activist, Ric Weiland.

Andy is now the Short Film Programmer at Austin Film Festival and is currently in development on a horror-comedy with producer Michael R. Zumaya of Muted Windows and current AFI Cinematography Student, Zach Morrison.

About the Britt Penrod Award

The award will be presented to one or more finalists to one of our four yearly Roy W. Dean Grants whose film is unique and makes an exceptional contribution to society. The Britt Penrod Award was made possible by a donation from its namesake who is a longtime friend of 501(c)3 non-profit From the Heart Production. Results of the award have no bearing on the eventual winner of any of the Roy W. Dean Grants.

The Britt Penrod award for the 2022 Spring Grant went to Lunchbox from filmmaker Anne Hu. Winners for 2021 include the documentary 26 Seconds for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for the Spring Grant, The Bridge Ministry which won for the Summer Grant, and Separation which won for the Fall Grant. The Fog Catcher won for the Roy W. Dean Short Film Grant.

About Britt Penrod

Britt is president of Giant Entertainment & Management Inc. (G.E.M.) is a Los Angeles based Film & Television Studio design and development company with in depth experience in the United States, Europe and Asia.

G.E.M. delivers knowledgeable business foundations to Studio development projects that include; Market Analysis, Site Planning, Operating Financial Evaluation, Construction, MEP & Value Engineering, Start-up of Operations and ongoing Management Services for stage-based entertainment properties.

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Now in its 31st year, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and that make a contribution to society. It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Past winners of the grant include new Emmy Winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs, 2019 Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, as well as acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class How to Fund Your Film.

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

“Desert Angel” Wins Britt Penrod Award

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Richard Kaufman

Documentary on Man Dedicating His Life to Rescuing Immigrants Making Treacherous Desert Crossing from Mexico to the United States

Awarded to a finalist for the Roy W. Dean Grant that makes an exceptional contribution to society, “Desert Angel” has captured a Britt Penrod Award for the Summer 2022 grant. From the Heart Productions, the top-rated non-profit that sponsors the grant, will give $500 producer Séverine Tibi and to help her bring the film to a wide audience.

“It’s the story of how one person can, and takes it upon themself, to change the world around them in the face of great adversity,” commented Britt Penrod in selecting this film, “I’m left asking, if he can do that, what can I do?”

About “Desert Angel”

For 25 years, Rafael Larraenza has risked his life along the US-Mexico border to rescue immigrants lost in the desert. But as the years catch up with him, he worries his next search-and-rescue mission could be his last.

Intimate and poetic, it’s a character study of a man driven to save others and willing to risk anything to do so.

While traversing the no man’s land during filming, there were times that Vincent felt a presence. Not a haunting but a connectedness, as if he was where he belonged.

About the Filmmakers

Séverine Tibi – Producer Séverine is a LA-based producer whose mission is to find, nurture and promote emerging and unique filmmakers with distinctive voices. In 2017, she co-founded the production company Sevana Films, with Anaïs Calmels in Cannes. Since then, they have produced documentary and fiction films on four continents and with international teams, which have screened at festivals across the globe. Their feature documentary, ‘Fenua Aihere: The Heart of Tahiti’, was broadcast on France Télévisions and is currently available to watch on all Air Tahiti Nui flights.

Sevana Films is now at different stage of production on several projects, including Lara Zeidan’s debut feature in Lebanon, which won the French Film Institute’s Development Award at the Desert Angel by Vincent DeLuca Crossroads Co-Production Forum, the Rotterdam Lab Award at Beirut Cinema Platform and the Special Mention Award at the Red Sea Souk.

Séverine regularly attends events and festivals as a consultant, through talent development programs and to discover the next generation of storytellers. Most recently, she was a film mentor at SXSW, a Zurich Film Festival Academy participant and a jury member at the Annapolis Film Festival.

She has also been invited to join the Sundance Institute’s Producers Summit in July 2022.

Vincent DeLuca – Director Vincent is an award-winning filmmaker who, over the past 15 years, has made documentaries on a variety of human rights topics. Having grown up in a Mexican-American neighborhood in Southern California, DeLuca witnessed what it’s like to live without papers and was moved by the constant uncertainty and anxiety immigrants live with to provide for their families.

In 1999, DeLuca moved to Guerrero, Mexico to better understand the immigrant experience. His time in rural Mexico inspired him to study law and Latin American politics at Duke University. DeLuca also worked with migrant farm workers through the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, practiced law at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and was the Director of International and Comparative Law at Columbia Law School.

DeLuca completed his PhD at the University of Amsterdam’s School for Cultural Analysis focusing on the history and philosophy of human rights filmmaking, examining Latin American Third Cinema, the African American filmmakers of the LA Rebellion and, modern works by filmmakers like Merawi Gerima and Mati Diop. In addition to his filmmaking, DeLuca is committed to educating new filmmakers and is a professor of Film Production at Loyola Marymount University.

About the Britt Penrod Award

About Britt Penrod

Britt is president of Giant Entertainment & Management Inc. (G.E.M.) is a Los Angeles based Film & Television Studio design and development company with in depth experience in the United States, Europe and Asia.

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class How to Fund Your Film.

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

“Save the Wild Coast (Warship Off the Wild Coast)” Wins Britt Penrod Award

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Richard Kaufman

Documentary Brings Attention to Indigenous People Fighting a Multinational Corporation to Preserve Their Environment

From the Heart Productions, the top-rated non-profit dedicated to helping indie filmmakers get their films funded, has selected “Save the Wild Coast (Warship Off the Wild Coast)” as a winner of the Britt Penrod Award. This award goes to a project that was submitted to the Summer 2022 Roy W. Dean Film Grant, was named a finalist, and that makes an exceptional contribution to society. Director & Consultant Producer Quinton Fredericks and Executive Producer Gary Janks will receive a $500 cash prize that will help them continue their work on this project.

Britt Penrod Award

The battle to save the planet are being fought on many fronts,” said Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “We thank Quinton and Gary for working to bring this amazing story to the public.”

About “Save the Wild Coast (Warship Off the Wild Coast)”

For centuries, the amaMpondo have bravely resisted invaders, protecting their natural world along the South African Wild Coast, to maintain a culture of conservation, where nature is sacred.

This fight culminated in a David vs Goliath court case against oil giant Shell, where the indigenous community is succeeding in preserving their ocean connection and marine life from invasive deep-sea blasting by Shell, while seizing the world’s attention.

About the Filmmakers

Gary Janks – Executive Producer Gary is a retired teacher, with a career spanning 35 years. For the last 7 years, he has worked as a producer/director. Credits include “Chasing Mandelaʼs Rainbow” (2019) which was honored with 37 international film festival selections, 7 awards/nominations, including Best Documentary, Cinema At The Edge, L.A. USA, & TV broadcasts, UR (Sweden), Deutsche Welle – international single run in 4 languages (Germany),ShortsTV (USA) and e.tv (South Africa)

Quinton Fredericks – Director/Consulting Producer Quinton is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, director, producer and writer. In 2007, he won a SAFTA for the best Educational Documentary Series covering 58 episodes of 24 minutes each for SABC. With a career in the film and television production industry spanning more than 20 years, he was extensively understanding of the policy and legislative environment as it pertains to the film and television sector having chaired the Working Group on Black economic Empowerment and Transformation under the auspices of then Cape Film Commission.

As a registered skills development facilitator, he pioneered some of the most comprehensive and innovative skills development programs for emerging and underprivileged filmmakers and producers.

About the Britt Penrod Award

About Britt Penrod

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class How to Fund Your Film.

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

Documentary “Lord of Nature” Wins Roy W. Dean Grant for Summer 2022

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

Roy W. Dean Grant Winner Focuses on Irish Lord’s Efforts to Re-wild Family Estate to Fight Climate Change

From the Heart Productions, the top-rated 501(c)3 non-profit supporter of indie filmmakers, has awarded its 2^nd Roy W. Dean Film Grant of 2022 to the documentary Lord of Nature. Awarded four times each year, the Roy W. Dean Film Grant, the grant goes to a film that is unique and that makes a contribution to society. The cash and donated production services included in the grant will help Producer/Director Kat Green continue her work to bring this amazing project to completion.

“We are very proud to be able to support Kat and this amazing story of a private Roy W. Dean Grant Winner individual taking control of their environment, changing it to help our planet, and setting an example for others.” commented Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions.

As the grant winner, the filmmaker will receive $3,500 in cash provided by From the Heart Productions as well as a $1,295.00 Scholarship to Writers Boot Camp, a discount from Jeff Alan from Alan Audio Works for a sound mix, $600.00 for your Free Closed Captioning by Cineprosmedia, 35% discount for lighting services from Paskal Lighting Hollywood, and more from heart-felt film industry companies and individuals.

About the Film

Roy W. Dean Grant Winner Lord of Nature tells the story of how Lord Randal Plunkett (39), the 21st Baron of Dunsany Castle Ireland, changed his life and is working to re-wild his 1700-acre estate to fight climate change. But the Transportation Authority threatens to build a railroad through his property which will destroy his forest and the wildlife that call it home. Martin Sheen has signed on to provide narration.

The 21st in a long line of Irish Barons. Lord Randal is like a real-life prince – complete with a huge medieval castle – but he’s far from any Disney character. Randal is a rock music fan, former steak-eating bodybuilder-turned-committed vegan, and a dramatic film director.

This unexpected eco-warrior has spent nearly a decade working to re-wild almost a thousand acres of his Irish estate, persevering through myriad challenges including death threats from unruly hunters who have been hunting in these forests for centuries, and risking total financial ruin in the process. All in the name of the planet.

About the Filmmaker

Kat Green is a creative renaissance woman as an accomplished singer, songwriter, music producer as well as a filmmaker. She has produced films for the Hallmark Channel starring Naomi Judd, Danielle Panabaker, and Fiona Gubelmann shooting in Canada as well as in castles in Ireland. In addition to producing, Kat directed the festival award winning short film The Big Swim which included underwater scenes with live sharks.

Kat directs all of her own music videos where she tells personal stories as well as inspiring others such as a cover of the Foo Fighters “Times Like These” honoring the front-line healthcare workers during the COVID pandemic. She documented the empty streets of Los Angeles during the Pandemic for another video, created and directed the documentary “This is Me” for the Angel City Chorale when they were on America’s Got Talent as well as has experience shooting with unique angles including the use of drones and special FX.

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

From its inception in 1992, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society. It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Winners of the grant include recent Emmy Winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs, the award winning narrative feature Cadejo Blanco, 2019 Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, the acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. They have been chosen a top non-profit for seven years in a row by greatnonprofits.org. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer a unique film fiscal sponsorship program for filmmakers.

This program offers personal consultations and guidance on funding their project. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class “How to Fund Your Film”.

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

Creating and Achieving Intentions – Part 2

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

Focus Your Mind and Thoughts on Creating Something Believable and Achievable

By Carole Dean

I am a firm believer in meditation. I have been meditating for more than half my life and I love it. It allows me to relax and connect to my higher self. It’s helped me with solving problems in business and life. It lowers my stress benefiting my health and my brain power.

Intention is similar. But instead of focusing on your current situation, you are mainly focusing intently on what you want.

Focus Attention on Your Intention.

Intention requires a high degree of focus. It’s more like relaxation. It’s a calm hyperawareness that you can get into through practice. You want to turn the self off and feel like you’re in a state of total oneness. This is where the miracles happen. You want a quiet place where you can put your “attention on your intention.”

You can use intention as a group and intend things for your film. I’ve covered that my blog Unleashing the Power of the Film Crew. I highly recommend it as it is powerful. Rhonda Burns had weekly meetings with her film crew when she made The Secret. She used a weekly mastermind intention group with her crew and look how well she did. She is extremely wealthy from that single film. You can do the same thing.

For your personal intentions, remember to use of all your senses to focus. You want to feel GRATITUDE for your success. You want to feel the emotion of completion. You want to see yourself with the intention completed.

You are creating what Joe Dispenza, author of Becoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon, would call “mind.” You are creating new pathways in the brain and something that is believable and achievable.

You can get back to that intention area of the brain quicker each time you want to intend. With practice, it becomes easier and easier. This has been researched. Lynn McTaggart, author of The Intention Experiment, talks about seeing studies of brain waves that show when people have certain thoughts this part of the brain gets larger.

Your Brain Works Like an Antenna.

Because the brain is essentially an antenna which is receiving and sending, thoughts are not locked inside the head. That ability to receive and transmit gets larger depending upon the thoughts we have. What you are doing is building a larger channel in your brain which is your intention channel. This is how you create your future.

Studies have shown that people who are focusing on a particular object or a particular vision create cortical fitness in the brain quickly. If what you are intending is something that you feel will bring benefit to the world, then you should do it with a feeling of gratitude for universal support to enable your success.

Then that gratitude energy will be reflected in the mind area where you’re creating this intention. You need to believe this focus of intending works because the more you believe it the faster it works.

A wonderful side effect of strong intentions is that your intuitive abilities also increase.

Your intuition is your most important asset in filmmaking. Many filmmakers, including Sidney Lumet, have stated that they always used their intuition. I recommend that you always consider your intuition over logic. Using my Intuition has proved to be 90% correct.

Focus Brings Results.

Focusing on your intention is important. To get to the place where you are focusing intently, you might try little activities. Perhaps in the morning, when you’re having your first cup of coffee, you intently focus just on the coffee. How does it taste? How do you feel? How does it smell? What emotion does it bring up? Is it joy or happiness or clarity?

You should see it, feel it, taste it, focus on all your senses. This gives you an idea of what intention is. It is total focus. Being in the moment with a visualization of your intention and no other thoughts.

Focus on swallowing your coffee and how it feels as it goes down your throat. How does it feel when it gets in your body? Tune into your senses and tune out any other thinking you have at that time. If a thought comes across your brain like, what you need to do today, forget about it. Simply go back to your five senses and focus on that.

Stay in the moment learn how to intently focus even on the smallest thing. It could be eating your breakfast croissant or your oatmeal. Just focus on this action and learn how to experience your 5 senses in a focused moment. This is the same place you take your intentions.

Mentally Rehearse Using Your Intentions to Achieve Your Future.

Another key essential in creating intentions is to rehearse each stage. Mental rehearsal is used by athletes. Muhammad Ali, taught us all about intentions. He began saying in his early days in the ring, “I am the greatest!” And that’s just what he became.

He also created rhymes to tell us his intentions. He did that about his fight with Archie Moore. He said, “Archie Moore must fall in four.” He knocked Archie Moore out in the 4^th round. Ali was intending on a daily basis and he had us intending for him!

Athletes practice what they want to achieve in their head. They do this while eating breakfast, driving, exercising, etc. When you get to the level of an Olympic athlete, you know that a hundredth of a second is all you need. Olympians use their minds to intend their outcome. You can too.

The same neurons responsible for executing a movement are activated when we think about doing that movement. They have found that mental rehearsal works just as well as physical action in preparing the body for an event. It stimulates those same neural pathways that are used when you’re performing. The more you intend with great focus the easier it is for you to reach that pathway.

From your own perspective it’s as if you’re really doing it. To achieve this, you want to imagine yourself having and being what you are intending. You are rehearsing an intention you also want to imagine yourself succeeding. It’s important to approach your intentions with a positive outlook and block out all feelings or images of doubt. You want to engage all your senses especially the KINESTHETIC sense.

Use your Imagination.

You must be able to imagine in detail with all your senses. Now you are really using your power to intend. Begin with the image of yourself when you achieve your intention. Surely you will be in joy and thrilled with success. Once you learn this vision and can feel the emotions and be in that moment, then you can imagine scenes that will take to you to that final achievement.

You might use this intentional focus to intend an outcome of a meeting where you are pitching your project. See yourself pitching your film perfectly and your potential donor is nodding and smiling and see yourself getting a fat check. How much? You can intend whatever you want, $10,000 or $20,000. The purpose is to intend yourself successful in making an ask. You can intend your funding.

You can also intend yourself to receive a grant. Keep focusing on the fact that you are notified that you have been chosen as a finalist and then intend that you have won the grant.

Now, to achieve winning the grant, you write a superb proposal, or you hire someone to write a superb proposal. You still have the work to do but it the intention on the outcome is your focus. You are using intention to bring your vision to life.

Be Very Clear on What You Want.

I keep my intention to one sentence and that works for me. I have it on my Mirror and I have it on my computer and I look at it daily. I’m intending my vision and I feel the completion.

When I’m focusing on that one simple intention, I am sending my request to the universe. I am being very clear about what I want. I am following what Stuart Wilde, author of Infinite Self, said, I am ordering a dress size 10 in red, and I want it delivered by and I give day, month, and year because the universe is time sensitive.

If you’re intending to raise $20,000 and you intend for over $20,000, give the universe the chance to send you even more money. Be sure to set a day, a month, and a year for the completion of the intention. And it must be reasonable, you have to know you can do it.

The biggest problem people have with intentions is they are not specific. The universe is like an online shopping service. You need to be very clear and concise with what you want. Start this intention with one thing, something you want the most. Once you achieve the first thing, it will be much easier to do the second and the third.

Remember You are the Magic!

You ARE the creator you were put here with all this talent for writing directing, producing, editing, it’s amazing the talent you have. Really, in all honesty, why wouldn’t the universe fund you? They gave you all this talent so of course you can get funded.

Creating and manifesting your intention is a great way for you to achieve.

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits

Hot Films in the Making: Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Summer 2022

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

Promising Projects That We Predict Will Be Future Grant Finalists

Hot Films in the Making honors those films submitted to a Roy W. Dean Film Grant that have excellent concepts, talented filmmakers, and deserve to be noticed despite just missing making the list of finalists. From the Heart Productions, the sponsor of the grant, bestowed the Hot Films in the Making honor on 42 films from the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Summer 2022. We can expect to see many of these fantastic films in the future.

“We were not just being generous by including so many in our Hot Films in the Making for this grant.” said Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “These all have the potential to be wonderful films and are harbingers of great careers for these brilliant filmmakers.”

From the Heart Productions showcases these films in the hope that they will find supporters to see them through to completion as well as an audience.

The films chosen for Hot Films in the Making include documentary features, fiction features, short films and web series. They represent projects from the United States and around the world.

The Hot Films in the Making for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Summer 2022 are:

Title	Type	Filmmaker
The Dolphin Dilemma	Documentary Short	Olivia Andrus
The Destruction of Our Lives	Fiction Feature	John Blythe
Him, Tool	Documentary Short	Elahe Esmaili
The Last Laibon	Fiction Feature	Wairimer Kanyeria
Undaunted	Documentary Feature	Janet Roberts
Valley of Exile	Fiction Feature	Anna Fahr
Mask4Masc	TV, Web or New Series	Anthony Williams
My Piece	Documentary Short	Bervick J Deculus
Black Water	Documentary Feature	Jokin Pascual
Funny How	TV, Web or New Series	David DiBona
Like Heaven Without God	Documentary Feature	Luca Capponi
Science Fiction	Documentary Feature	Gilles Francous
One Thousand Hills Between Us	Documentary Short	Ornella Mutoni
The Blooming Lotus	Fiction Short	Safiya Parker
What’s In A Name	Documentary Feature	Cary Cronenweltt
I Carry You In Me	Fiction Short	Carman Ho
Mission MediArts	Documentary Feature	Debra Koffler
LaConcierge de Azule	Documentary Feature	Samuel Diaz Fernandez
Here to Make Friends	Fiction Short	Meghan Ross
Imillas	Documentary Feature	Ruth Mariela Morales
Flesh	Fiction Short	Jose Manuel Velez
Amendment	Fiction Short	Belinda Gosbee
Swinging For Maternal	Documentary Feature	Adonis Williams
Unpaid Work in Europe	Documentary Feature	Marilen Martin
Blues For 475 Kent	Documentary Feature	Tyler A Chase
The Last Drop	Fiction Short	Adam Joel
Sweeps	TV, Web or New Series	Nino Tandilashvili
Sticker Movie	Documentary Feature	Sha-Risse Smith
The Runs	TV, Web or New Series	Quanny Carr
Rope From Heaven	Fiction Short	Grace (Hyejin) Park
Arcade Dreams	Documentary Feature	Zach Weddington
A Life in Tandem	Documentary Feature	Mia Grimes
Whale	Fiction Feature	Ziyao Liu
Saving the Wild Coast	Documentary Feature	Gary Janks
Arthur Brown – Everything is Now	Documentary Feature	Ashley James
The Heart of Long Beach	Fiction Feature	Damian Apunte
That’s the Spirit	TV, Web or New Series	Shamel Fadloun
Moon	Fiction Short	Toy Lei
Man Freed	Fiction Feature	Will Rittweger
Lullaby	Fiction Feature	Veronika Graves
Planning to Turn the Tide	Documentary Feature	James Schwab
The Anti-College Documentary	Documentary Feature	Mason Aksamit

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Now celebrating its 31^st year, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society. It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers to help them get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Past winners of the grant include 2021 Emmy winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs , the feature film Cadejo Blanco which is now beginning an international theatrical run, as well as Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit sponsorship organization dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts, the new online class How to Fund Your Film, and Perfecting Your Pitch and Proposal.

Roy W. Dean Film Grant Finalists Chosen for Summer 2022 Grant

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

Eighteen Films Still in Running for Grant That Includes Cash and Production Services

From the Heart Productions, the 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping independent filmmakers get their films funded and grant sponsor, has named the eighteen films as finalists for its Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Summer. Awarded to a film that is unique and that make a contribution to society, the winner will receive $3,500 cash and thousands more in donated production goods and services.

“Janis Ian: The Art of Song”

“We are truly honored to have glimpses of this wonderful projects before they are finished.” said Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “It will be an honor as well to award our grant to one and know that we helped it move to completion.”

The cash prized awarded by From the Heart Productions is accompanied donations from film industry professionals and companies. These include $1295.00 Scholarship to Writers Boot Camp, 30% Discount by Jerry Deaton for Music Post Production Services at AudioKut, $750 in Grant Writing Services from Karen Everett of New Doc Editing, and more from many heartfelt donors.

The grant is open to documentaries, narrative features, short films, and web series. Grant is open to filmmakers around the world. Winner is expected to be announced in November 2022.

Finalists for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Spring 2022 are:

Title	Type	Filmmaker
Going Fine Since 1889	Short Film	Jennifer Stoy
Sanctuary of Butterflies	TV, Web or New Series	Daniel Sznajderman
Trial by Media: The Michael Jackson Story	Documentary Feature	Daljinder Chohan
Blooming of Time – Dance with Gao Yanznzi	Documentary Feature	Siyuan Xu
When Creation Fables Meet	Fiction Short	Robert Pound
Better Than They Found	Documentary Feature	Tarana Harris Mayes
Thank You Sister, The Movie	Documentary Feature	Ingrid Nordstrom
Holding Back the Tide	Documentary Feature	Emily Packer
Outside the Lines	Fiction Short	Darren Lee Campbell
Desert Angel	Documentary Feature	Severine Tibi
WZZQ The Rock of Jackson	Documentary Feature	Ann Ford
Janis Ian & The Art of Song	Documentary Feature	Varda Bar-Kar
Lord of Nature: Born to Re-Wild	Documentary Feature	Kat Green
I’m Still Here	Documentary Short	Andy Volk
Mom & Me	Documentary Short	Indira Somani
Squires	Documentary Short	Alec Goldberg
Positive	Fiction Short	Abby Tozer

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Since 1992, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society.

Having recently expanded to four grants each year, it has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

About From The Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class “How to Fund Your Film”

Creating and Achieving Intentions – Part 1

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

Turning your thoughts and words into daily intentions can help with your film’s financing, production and enhance your life

by Carole Dean

As filmmakers, your mind is occupied around the clock thinking about how to fund, produce, and complete your next project. You talk about it at coffee with friends, lunch with co-workers, and over drinks with investors.

Intentions

Those thoughts and the words that sprout from them that you use to express your desires form the basis of powerful intentions. I will show you how create and use those intentions to realize those dreams and reach your goals.

Let’s begin with the word intention.

It is the act of putting your focus, attention, and thoughts on a specific desired result. Something that you believe you can achieve. I suggest you start with something that is reasonable, something you know you can achieve.

Dr. Deepak Chopra taught that we can create our future by putting our attention on our intentions.

Stewart Wilde, author of Miracles, The Force, and Affirmations, taught us intending is a simple process. The universe, he says, is like a department store. You place your order for exactly what you want, and they deliver it. You see a picture of a dress, you ask for a size 12 in red, and that’s what you get.

You want to visualize what you intend to create. Being able to see and feel exactly what you want will bring it to you much faster.

Our thoughts are intending for us daily. Each thought by each person is an intention. The key is to make your intentions clear and to intend 24/7.

What you think is what you can create.

Your thoughts are powerful things. In the film, The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, daughter of an English grocer, intended herself into the position of Prime Minister of England by using the power of her mind. This is her advice:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become your character.

And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

What we think, we become.

How using intentions can help produce and fund your film.

Intending is all about your thoughts. I want you to think of thoughts as things about to manifest.

What if everything you thought could potentially manifest? Would that make your life a better place? This is the most important aspect. Learning how powerful your thoughts are.

Each thought is energy waiting to manifest. Once you become aware of this you realize how important it is to think only of the things you want, not what you don’t want.

By paying attention to your thoughts, you can control your future.

Having a Eureka moment.

As described in the book The Field by Lynne McTaggart, a German physicist, Fritz Albert Popp, was looking for a cure for cancer. He accidentally found light coming out of the body; just a tiny current, but it is light. Popp called this light biophoton emissions.

He said we are all lighted candles. Meaning that we are constantly sending out light. This is not ordinary light it is well-ordered light that scientists call coherent. This means all the waves are moving in sync with each other.

Popp says we are sending this coherent light out of our body to other human beings and they’re responding to us.

In other words, if you and I were having a verbal conversation, we’re also sharing our light with each other.

Thoughts are light and they are energy about to manifest.

Thoughts are light and every cell in our body is part of this light. Every thought we have affects every part of our body. That means good thoughts are healing to our bodies and bad thoughts could be detrimental to our bodies and bad for our health.

Now here comes the interesting part, research indicates thoughts are not inside your brain. In the 1960s, Karl Lashley and Karl Pribram were looking for a location where memory is stored in the brain.

After much research, they came to believe that the brain is not a storage unit but a sending and receiving unit. We are sending and receiving all the time. Your thoughts are alive, they are energy and light.

Another interesting fact about the brain, is the placebo effect. Research shows that sometimes people who take placebo pills made of sugar and water, have the intended results they are told they can have from the medicine that they did not get.

Their belief that they would be healed overrode the fact that what they took was sugar and water.

Let’s Recap

I want you to realize how powerful you are and use this power to make and fund your film.

Remember:

Your thoughts are energy waiting to manifest.

Your thoughts are electric.

Your thoughts are light.

Your thoughts are manifesting what you think.

Your brain is constantly sending and receiving light-filled thoughts.

How to Find and Win Grants for Your Film

Posted on September 28, 2022 by Richard Kaufman

There are thousands of non-profit organizations offering grants each year. Here is how to locate and win grants for your film.

by Carole Dean

Grants are a wonderful way to fund your film. We’ve got the best list of grants for filmmakers on our From the Heart Productions website.

Win grants

The second-best list is what you would find at candid.org. They offer a Foundation Directory Online (FDO). This is a database from which you can view over 242,000 granting organizations. It is an essential resource for finding grants. The majority of these grant makers do not have websites and would otherwise be almost impossible to find.

Getting Started with the Candid Foundation Directory

Candid offers subscription access to their database. The FDO Professional plan at $199 per month offers the most exhaustive and up-to-date knowledge and insight on the social sector. FDO Essential, starting at $49.99 a month, is the quickest, least expensive way to identify the grantors that will fund you.

You can also find free access to the Candid Foundation Directory database through some local city and nonprofit organizations. We have one in Camarillo, CA. Candid makes it easy to find a location near you with an interactive map on their website. You can also use the map to find locations that offer free training on how to use the directory. I strongly suggest to take a class to learn how to get the most out of your database searches.

Another free option is FDO Quick Start. This allows you to research for specific organizations from which you’d like to seek a grant. Through this search, you can find the foundation you’re looking for by name, EIN, location, and assets or giving range.

You can be sure if you do what I suggest you will find dozens of grants. They say they have 24 million grants listed. It is worth the time. Especially for documentaries and for webisodes. Features and shorts that have important social issues may benefit too.

The Powerful Information on the 990

I highly suggest that you pick a month where you can focus only on looking for grants and just pay for one month and use it to find grants. This should bring you additional income.

When you search the database, you will want to seek out each 501(c)3 non-profit’s government form, the 990. This form has great benefits for you. All nonprofits must complete this form. It lists all donations the nonprofit receives from $5,000 and up. And it lists the name of the person or organization that donated to the nonprofit and how much they donated!

This is what you want. It shows you who else is interested in the subject of your film. You could do a letter writing campaign to these people to introduce them to your film.

Plus, you want to create strategic partners for your film. Finding nonprofits with the same subject will benefit you in many ways. Read my blog on “How to Find and Engage Strategic Partners for Your Film.”

Creating Keywords for Your Film

You need key words to describe your film because that is what you use to search Candid.org’s database. What are the keywords of your film? There could be 15 keywords to define your film so keep an open mind and look at all the aspects of your film and create your keywords because that’s what you’ll use to search with. You may have used key words when you created your website. If so, use those to begin with and keep expanding on them.

I think finding local grants and smaller grants for around five to ten thousand dollars is a good way to get started. If you’ve never applied for grants before that’s where I would start.

Consider setting up an excel chart by date of each grant deadline you intend to pursue. That way, you can plan ahead and apply for the grants all year long.

What Grantors Look for In Your Application

As a grantor for the Roy W. Dean Grants for over 30 years, I’ll say to you the most important thing I look for is why are you making this film? What is your connection to the material? This information will tell me how connected you are to the project. I want someone who will stay the course and finish the film. The average documentary takes six years and two more for marketing. The average feature can take up to 10 years to find the funding.

Every grantor I know is worried you will not finish the film. We have all funded films that were never finished. So, your connection to the material is most important to us. Your passion for the project must jump off the page and inspire me. I must know that you will finish the film.

Next, and this is also very important, what’s the story? I don’t care what kind of camera you’re using or who your set decorator is, because I want to know is, what’s the story. Focus on telling me a good, engaging story in a visual manner, so that I can see the film as I read your application.

Last Minute Stuff Doesn’t Work

Every filmmaker who is part of the From the Heart Production Fiscal Sponsorship Program, can contact me and send me your granting materials. I will read them and give you feedback before you apply. However, I want you to come to me at least a week before the deadline. Then I can review it and discuss it with you to help you improve it.

Last minute stuff doesn’t work. I’ve seen too many people miss grants by waiting to the last minute. Their computer may have technical difficulties, they can’t get on the granting website, or it takes up so much time to complete, that they’re over the time limit and can’t apply.

Please plan ahead with grants. Give yourself lots of time and get it in before the final minute because that’s when everybody applies for the grant. I can see this on my own grant. I can sit here on the final day of the grant and from three o’clock Pacific Time on it’s like a slot machine!

We get sometimes 50% of the applications on the last day. This means that the computer is stressed out and there are many opportunities for problems.

The Benefits of Just Applying for a Grant

Grants are a fantastic way to raise money for your film. Even if you don’t win the grant, I promise that you will improve your project just by applying.

Every time you apply for a grant you continue to improve and develop your film.

Even if you don’t win you have benefited. Applying for grants is like being a salesperson. They know that it sometimes takes 10 “no’s” to get a yes. The secret is just keep applying and go back to the same grant year after year if they let you. Because once they give you suggestions to improve, and you do what they say, they will recognize your willingness to take direction. You have a much better chance of winning in the second and third application.

A Grant Success Story

Rebecca Dreyfus applied for the Roy W. Dean Grant about 20 years ago and I can still pitch you her film. She wrote an incredible story. She wanted to document the largest art heist at the time. The Gardner Museum was robbed of one of the 26 known Vermeers and many other incredibly valuable pieces of art.

Rebecca told me that she applied for five grants and won four! How did she do that? She said she carefully chose the grants that she felt she had the best chance of winning. She did not go after the NEA or some of the more difficult grants.

She put her time into writing a good story for each of the five grant she applied. This worked for her, and I think it will work for you.

Meeting the Grant Criteria

Be sure to include in your grant application the criteria of the grantor. Say it back to them and explain how your film fits their criteria. This may sound mundane, but it is very important. Grantors are reading scores of grants at one time. When you can clearly tell me how your film fits my criteria, it benefits you. That’s what the judges are looking for. Grant judges want to know if you fit the grant criteria and do you have a good story to tell.

For example, if you were applying to the Roy Dean Grant our criteria is that we want films that are unique and that make a contribution to society. I love it when filmmakers tell me why their film fits my grant. It’s that simple.

And please, put some passion in your proposal! We want to know that you care about this story. Please put your heart on the page so we get to know you. It’s you we are giving the money to. It’s you we want to support. You are the artist. You are the magic.