2010 JT3 Artist Award Recipients
Our awards program seeks artists who embody not just creative talent, not just persistence in the face of obstacles, but are also generous of spirit and good of heart. We were thrilled when we saw the caliber of the artists applying to our program, and knew our panel of film/tv professionals would have a hard time choosing who should receive cash grants. With the generous donations we received over the past year, we were able to provide cash grants totalling $7,500 to five of our talented applicants.
Christina Choe
JT3 Artist Award of Distinction, $2,500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
...I became interested in telling my own stories and wrote my first feature screenplay, Guess Who's Coming for
Kimchee. I realized I wanted to write and direct fiction films...but once people responded to my personal
story, it really made me feel more alive than anything I've ever done....I truly believe that all of my
experiences have molded me into the filmmaker I am today, and the films I'm interested in making are a
reflection of these moments. This is my destiny, and my struggle in one. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
Biography
Christina Choe is a writer and director. Her feature script, Guess Who's Coming for Kimchee was
selected as the winner of the 2007 CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award
for Best Feature Screenplay. The same script was also selected for the 2007 KOFIC (Korean Film Council)
Filmmaker Lab, IFP Market Emerging Narrrative Program; was a quarterfinalist in the Scriptapalooza Screenwriting
Cpmpetition; and placed in the top 20 (out of 2700 scripts) for the 2008 Bluecat Screenwriting Competition.
Her first narrative short, The Queen was selected as Best of Fest at Palm Springs International
Short Film Festival; was an official selection at Telluride Aspen Shorts Fest, Seattle, Rhode Island, Los
Angeles Film Festivals; and was nominated for the Iris Prize. Her second short, The Cross, had its world
premiere at Palm Springs International Shorts Fest 2010. She is currently based in Brooklyn, NY were
she is a MFA candidate at Columbia University for writing/directing and is working on a post
apocalyptic feature script about the future of food. For more information see
www.christinachoe.com.
Screenplay
Guess Who's Coming for Kimchee - A quirky, romantic comedy about a Korean-American performance
artist who goes to extremes to hide her pregnancy with her African-American boyfriend from her traditional family.
Movie
The Queen - Bobby, a Korean-American teenage outcast, is working at his parents' dry cleaners on prom weekend.
When the prom queen and her boyfriend stop by with their dress and tuxedo, Bobby has his own prom to remember.
Himkar Tak
JT3 Artist Award of Distinction, $2,500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“My end goal is to make films that not just entertain,
but also move people, films that call people out
to act, ask difficult questions, and inspire people
to answer them. When I think of how this grant
would help me, I think of how (it) would’ve helped
the person it was created to memorialize….it’s the
realization that my pursuit is not single handed,
but through the actions, guidance, support and
recognition of others that I will be able to achieve
what I set out to do….tell stories with truth, as
many stories as I can.”
Biography
Himkar Tak holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School of the Arts at New
York University, where he won the Goldberg Award for Best Screenplay with Fight in 2006.
He has worked with filmmakers Mira Nair and Ramin Bahrani and produced Cesar De
Leon’s independent feature Salud, winner of 2009 Best Screenplay at the Beverly Hills
Film Festival. Medicine Man played in many major international film festivals and was
nominated for Best Short Film at the 2009 MIAAC Film Festival and won the Grand Jury
Award for Best Short at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival. He is currently
developing the feature film, The Pilot and The Pashtun, a WWII story that takes place in
1941 and will be shot in London and India in 2011.
Screenplay
Fight - Antone, a 19-year-old Latino from Brooklyn enters the Golden Gloves Boxing
tournament as a long shot in hopes that winning it would make a better life for him and his family.
Movie
Medicine Man - Jimi, a 15-year-old kid from the projects in Brooklyn, New York, journeys
deep into the Adirondack Mountains in search of a fabled plant that might cure his father
of paralysis.
Willi Patton
JT3 Artist Award, $1,500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“I tend to see a production as a creative gathering,
and I am the host. I strive to be receptive to any and
all ideas, and I find that often another perspective
can add nuance and sincerity to the writing….I
especially love experiencing the evolution of a
story as it is taken through the process of making
a film (and) it becomes an unspoken contract
between myself and those who take time out of
their schedules to (provide feedback) that I will do
everything that I can to take the work further.”
Biography
Willi Patton grew up in Texas and Arkansas. He attended Emerson College in Boston
between 2000 and 2004. He has lived in Brooklyn for the past five years working as an
Editor and Designer. His recent film, The Big Fiddle, premiered at SXSW in March of 2010.
He is currently working on a new short, Monk Fish to be filmed in October.
Screenplay
Monk Fish - A character study of a famous chef and how he deals with personal anguish
and loss in private.
Movie
The Big Fiddle - A conceptual drama exploring the nature of music in cinema, and
specifically what happens when a character provides a live score that shapes and shifts
the ways in which the other characters interact with each other.
William D. Caballero
JT3 Artist Creative Vision Award, $500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“Ideally, a great work would contain an entire
spectrum of combined knowledge…..It will
contain my entire being, and my entire ideals
when it comes to promoting cultural diversity
and understanding, philosophy, spirituality, and
oneness with each other and the earth. Deep
inside, I hope that one day, I can influence a new
generation, the same way my role models have
influenced me.”
Photo by: Martine Bisagni
Biography
William D. Caballero is a 27 year old New York City-based digital video artist, filmmaker,
and composer. His work combines all of these different mediums, into a unique artform,
and in his short career, Caballero has already completed a wide array of music videos, a
feature length documentary, a short film shot in Africa, and several symphonic/multimedia
compositions. A Bill Gates Millennium Scholar, his various creative work have earned him
two MTV Movie Award nominations, international awards at SIGGRAPH, and the first annual
HBO-NALIP Documentary grant. His newest project, SPEAK! SO THE WORLD WILL LISTEN!,
a multimedia performance
written for a string/woodwind ensemble of 14 that addresses the injustices facing
Ugandans, premiered at the Apollo Theater in October, 2010. For
more information, visit www.cabalproductions.com
Screenplay
Ay...Que Familia - Through a series of flashbacks, an apathetic young man comes to
terms with his boisterous Latino family.
Movie
>The Inspiragenesis - Frustrated by a lack of inspiration, two young artists set out to find
creative inspiration in this vibrantly animated music video.
William Wonders III
JT3 Artist Spirit of Jesse Award, $500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“I knew that my life would lead me to doing
what I love, making movies. I was working at a
public school in Brooklyn, NY helping at-risk
kids. I thought long and hard about how I could
reach them. I started an afterschool program to
teach these teens how to make movies. That
year we entered a citywide competition called
ThinkQuest….when the host said ‘First place, I.S.
49, Circle of Life,’ I couldn’t breathe. It’s as if I
was stuck in time. The claps of the audience filled
our ears. They clapped for a group of Black and
Latino kids, who if not for filming, would have never
met them. On that stage, I knew that I wanted to
make films for the rest of my life. Not because we won, but because I was able to change
young people’s lives with one script, one camera, and one love.”
Biography
William Wonders III grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Nyack College. William secretly
began writing and shooting video during this time. It all came to a head in 2009 when
William decided to enroll at New York Film Academy in Manhattan, NY. William directed a
number of short films. His short film Fear Itself premiered in Florida, California, Mexico,
Atlanta and New Jersey film festivals. William’s hope is to one day operate his own
production company and make films that inspire everyone who sees them.
Screenplay
Just Say It - Eddie, an elementary school teacher always tells everyone in his life that he
loves them, except his girlfriend, Samantha. She has to go away on business and will be
back in a week. She has given him an ultimatum-- finally tell her he loves her or lose her
forever.
Movie
Fear Itself - After a year in sabbatical a pastor returns to the same pulpit where he was shot
by a young man.
2009 JT3 Artist Award Recipients
Bridget Palardy
JT3 Artist Award of Distinction, $2,500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“I was a dancer and choreographer…before I became a filmmaker. Initially, I was drawn to the movement on a film set: dollies gliding, steadicams waltzing, and actors smartly choreographed within the frame. After working in the film and video industry, I have grown to see a bigger dance: a collision of mediums, collaboration of people, and an experience shared between audience and story. It is this fleeting dance which continues to inspire and move me as a filmmaker.”
Biography
Bridget Palardy is a filmmaker and former choreographer based in Brooklyn, NY. This year she premiered her first solo project, Middletown B-Boys, at the Chicago Hip Hop Film Festival. This documentary, begun over four years ago, is a portrait of the vibrant break dancing community in Middletown, CT.
Two other films that Bridget has contributed to have also hit the festival circuit this year: The Better Half (Director of Photography, official selection at SXSW Film Festival, Marfa Film Festival, and LA Shorts Fest) and The Distance Between the Apple and the Tree (Co-Director, official selection at BEND Film Festival, Best New Filmmaker at Del Ray Film Festival.) Bridget currently freelances as a video director and editor in the New York area under the production moniker, Sharkaa Films. Her first fictional short, Spark,is a high school movie set in the future. Written and directed by Bridget, this film was recently shot in Brooklyn, and is now in post-production.
>Screenplay
Spark - In a stifling future, restless teens rebel against an overprotective society.
Movie
Middletown B-Boys - There are two break-dancing crews in Middletown, CT: One is run by a Christian church, and the other is headed by Buddhist passionate about the culture of hip hop.
Nikyatu Jusu
JT3 Artist Award, $1, 500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“Memorizing ubiquitous filmmaking models and regurgitating them – is easy. But the true revolutionaries – the filmmaking talents that make waves are the ones who create their own structure- their own rules. I want to make films that must be made. I want to be honest, …and never be paralyzed by inaction.”
Biography
Writer/Director Nikyatu Jusu is an MFA candidate at New York University's graduate film program. Her second short film, African Booty Scratcher garnered her a Director's Guild Honorable Mention and an HBO Short Film Award. Presently, Nikyatu is in post production on her thesis film, Say Grace Before Drowning; the screenplay has already earned her a Spike Lee Scholarship and a Princess Grace Foundation-US Graduate Film Scholarship. Because she has a preoccupation with foreigners, marginalized populations and the contradictory nature of humanity, these themes permeate her work.
Screenplay
Say Grace Before Drowning - After meeting her African Refugee mother for the first time in six years, 8 year old Hawa is forced to co-exist with a woman teetering on the brink of insanity.
Movie
African Booty Scratcher - Prom nears and things seem to be spiraling out of control for typically composed Isatu. West African tradition conflicts with American idealism as Isatu is forced to reassess her alliances.
Wendy James
JT3 Artist Award, $1,000
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“I was rehearsing with two actresses for a scene from a Mike Leigh film, Secrets and Lies. In the scene, Cynthia Purley, a low-income white woman in England, meets her daughter that she gave up for adoption, Hortenze Cumberbatch, who turns out to be a black woman….I decided to work with my actresses…by rehearsing them separately…..on presentation day, they (saw) each other for the first time in their lives. The actress who played Cynthia cried…it was the most powerful moment I felt I created, as a director. I realized this is where my heart was, I truly cared about the actors and the scene, and what came out was almost magic.”
Biography
Wendy James is a 2nd year MFA candidate at Columbia University's School of the Arts. She has been pursuing filmmaking for the past four years as a writer/ director. Her hope is to create films that reflect the issues facing black working class communities throughout the world. She is currently in pre-production for two short films, 'Drome, and Chump, as requirements for her MFA degree. James plans to travel to Panama in the upcoming year to shoot a narrative film about the awareness of black racial identity.
Screenplay
BedStuy Project - Kahlil, 17, has been given a camera to tell the story of his life as a dropout growing up in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. Will he be able to find a job and help support his family?
Movie
LaTonya - Tonya, 15, chooses to lose her virginity to her best friend. Little does she know, the experience will not be what she expected. (side note – LaTonya is currently in competition at several film festivals, and will not be viewable online in order to remain in qualification)
Chioke Nassor
JT3 Artist Award, $500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“I have made no sacrifices for film.
I mean, I’ve been dumped, fired, and evicted because of choices I’ve made to support my filmmaking, but nothing I would call a sacrifice. (I’ve also gotten to travel the world, meet my best friends, and support myself from filmmaking, so I feel like it’s a double-edged sword.)”
Biography
Chioke Nassor is a writer/director for film and television. He’s directed and co-written short films starring Steve Buscemi, Gina Gershon, Kieran Culkin, and Tom DiCillo. Currently, Chioke is finishing the post-production on a tour documentary he directed about the band TV on the Radio. Mr. Nassor is also a writer and director for the web series “Titsburg!” (titsburgcomedy.com).
Chioke holds a b.f.a. from New York University in film and television with a minor in political science (but only because it makes him sound smart.)
Screenplay
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Based on the Pulitzer Prize finalist novel of the same name, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, follows the true life of Dave Eggers struggles to take care of his 8 year old brother after losing both parents to cancer when he was 20.
Movie
Breakup - Most movies focus on the beginning or end of relationships, but the middle is the best part
Andrew Brotzman
JT3 Artist Award, $500
Excerpt from Personal Essay
“It was upon deciding to enroll (in Columbia’s MFA film program)that I knew I had committed myself, mind and body, to the profession, and that I would not stop until my work had played itself out, and I felt my ideas had been expressed properly, whatever that may mean.”
Biography
Andrew Brotzman is the director of “My Mom and Dad”, winner of the Global Anarchy award for Best Short in its category at Slamdance 2006, and “Darjeeling,” which played in Slamdance’s 2007 Anarchy competition. In 2008 he was a national finalist in the Disney & ABC’s DGA Directing Fellowship Program. He is also the producer of “Small Collection,” an official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and winner of the Best Narrative Short award at the Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson, Mississippi. “Small Collection” has also played at the Palm Springs, Woodstock, Raindance UK, Cleveland, Boston, and AFI Dallas Film festivals.
He served as assistant to directors Scott McGeehee and David Siegel on their Searchlight picture “Bee Season” from February 2005 to February 2006, and was the director’s assistant on “Book of Love, the 2004 Sundance Film Festival dramatic-competition entry. He received his B.A. in Computer Science from Columbia University in 2003 and is currently an M.F.A. directing candidate at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, with graduation expected in May of 2010.
Screenplay
Nor’easter - A young, struggling priest encourages a family to declare a long-missing son dead but after they do, the boy returns, alive and well, tearing their island community apart.
Movie
My Mom and Dad - A childless couple discovers a puppy abandoned in their back yard and realize they love it just as much as they do each other
