The Black Family Foundation has created a production fund of grants to be awarded annually to students whose film projects exemplify innovation in story, style and tone. The Foundation’s goal is to push the conversation of filmmaking forward and reward those filmmakers who can prove they have the vision and ability to do so.
The Black Family Film Prize will total $150,000 each year, and be awarded in three categories of filmmaking, as follows:
- A single prize of $100,000 to be awarded each year to one 3rd or 4th year student or eligible alumnus/a for a Feature film. Alumni who have graduated within five years of the application deadline are eligible.
- $30,000, in sums of ten thousand dollars to three short Thesis films
- $20,000 in sums of five thousand dollars to four 2nd Year films
The Black Family Film Prize applications will be announced each year in separate categories (Feature, Thesis and 2nd year) to students and alumni via email.
Announcing Our 2022 Black Family Feature Film Prize Winner
Myrsini Aristidou for Iris
Myrsini Aristidou was born and raised in Limassol, Cyprus. She graduated with an MFA in Film Directing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and holds a BFA in Film and Art History from Pratt Institute in New York. Her short film Aria (2017), made with the support of Spike Lee, CNC Cosip of the Region île de France, Canal + France and the Cypriot Ministry, premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival and continued to screen at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. While her previous short film Semele (2015) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won multiple awards, including the Berlinale Special Prize of the Generation Kplus International Jury. Semele and Aria got broadcasted by Canal +, ERT Greece, and many other international platforms.
Myrsini is currently developing her first feature length film, Iris, a co-production between 1.61 Films and Filmblades (Cyprus), Graal (Greece), The Living (France), Road Movies (Germany) and Muddy Water (USA). She was a fellow at the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence and participated at the TIFF Talent Lab, Berlinale Talents, Torino Script Lab, and the Jerusalem Script Lab, where she was awarded the Emerging Filmmaker Prize by the Jury in 2021. The project was at the Venice Film Festival Co-Production Bridge, as well as the Thessaloniki Film Festival Crossroads co-production market, and was awarded a Special Mention by the jury.
Iris (12), abandoned by her father and neglected by her mother, finds refuge at her neighborhood's decadent shipyard. When her estranged father unexpectedly shows up, an unlikely bond is formed, and they are both called to confront their fragile relationship.