2007 Sloan Grants

Winners Announced!

Three projects—two production proposals and one script were announced by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program officer Doron Weber as winners of the 2007 Sloan grants.  In production, the awardees are Critical Studies Ph.D. candidate Ioana Maria Uricaru for her project, The Witness, and Production MFA candidate Dipesh Jain for his project, 11 Weeks.  Each will received $20,000 to be used for their productions.  

Recent BFA Writing grad Ian Shorr will receive $15,000 for his script, The Profiteer.  A fourth student may be eligible for a second writing grant subject to script revisions approved by Sloan.  

The Witness is about a man on trial for a brutal murder and the question is whether the deformities in his brain caused by childhood abuse precluded his ability to tell the difference between right and wrong.  Uricaru received an MFA in Production and has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. 

11 Weeks tells the story of an old scientist in a retirement home in Kashmir who is trying to develop a plant that can be used for fuel.  Jain is planning to shoot his film in India for his thesis film. 

The Profiteer is a medieval drama/comedy about science madness.  

The scholarship seminar for 2008 scholarships will be scheduled for the end of this month or early February.