FiSpo Spotlight: How Friendships Shape Us
Welcome to Fiscal Spotlight, a special monthly round up of projects—at all stages of production—working their way through Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship pipeline. Enjoy!
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Some of our most treasured memories as we come into adulthood are times with our friends. They can be laughing till midnight about nonsense or being there when family doesn’t understand.
Friendship is most strongly felt as we emerge from the expectations put on us from the outside world. That can be at adolescence, or a turning point in our life later. It’s where we model our identity outside of the family. It’s a training ground for becoming the ‘you’ that you want to become. That’s why so many classic coming-of-age stories are about friendship (Stand By Me, Swingers, Booksmarts etc).
As we grow, we find how to become ourselves within our families, and we create our own. The life-and-death feeling fades, but we still need our friends. Mature friendships keep us sane, keep us honest, and help us to continue to grow.
This month’s Fiscal Sponsorship projects all deal with friendships at these pivitol stages, whether it’s the deep friendship that’s tested when new options and opportunities arise like in Salt the Fields, or the unlikely friendship of disparate youth in a dangerous world that forces them together as in Tribe. There’s also a friendship that I think most Film Independent readers can relate to, finding your people at the movies like in Popcorn Prophets.
Keep reading to learn more, including how you can support these projects.
TRIBE
Project type: Animation
Project status: Development
Writer/Director/Executive Producer: Tendayi Nyeke
Producer: Kaydee de Villiers
About the Project: When Timba, an overlooked and restless servant’s rare ability to unlock magic in others is discovered, she must find the courage to do what she most fears: be vulnerable, lean on unlikely companions, and defy powerful people intent on exploiting her gift.
Meet the Filmmaker: Annie Award-winning and Children’s Emmy-nominated producer Tendayi Nyeke has over 15 years of experience in live-action writing, directing, and producing, which has earned her global recognition. She became a development executive at Emmy-winning Triggerfish Animation, where she led story development for shorts, series, and features in collaboration with international partners.
SALT THE FIELDS
Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Writer/Director: Zoe Salicrup Junco
Producer: Quetzali Lopez
About the Project: Two inseparable best friends dream of a way out of a world that offers them little choice. But when a birth control pill program arrives at their factory, the choices they make for freedom threaten to destroy their bond, and their futures. Inspired by the real and illegal contraceptive trials in 1950s Puerto Rico.
Meet the Filmmaker: Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Zoé is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. A graduate of NYU Tisch (BFA, Film & TV) and Columbia University (MFA, Screenwriting & Directing), she crafts stories that defy Latino clichés, replace tropes with truth, and reimagine characters with purpose and emotional weight. Her short film Marisol won the HuffPost Social Impact Award and was acquired by HBO, with other narrative work screening at Tribeca, Palm Springs, Clermont-Ferrand, Urbanworld, and the HBO NY Latino Film Festival.
POPCORN PROPHETS
Project type: Fiction Feature
Project status: Development
Writer/Producer: Reynaldo Leal
About the Project: Jonah’s mother finds salvation in religion. He finds it at the movies. In 1990s South Texas, a grieving teen skips church each Sunday to chase his own piece of cinema heaven.
Meet the Filmmaker: Reynaldo Leal is a South Texas-based writer and Marine Corps veteran. He served with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines during Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah and was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor. After his military service, he earned degrees in Environmental Science and Mass Communications from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His screenwriting has received national recognition. His script A Band of Wolves was featured on the annual 2024 Black List. He is also a 2023 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition finalist and a 2024 WGA Veterans Writing Project mentee. Popcorn Prophets is his first feature film and is personal, inspired by his own experiences growing up in the Rio Grande Valley after the loss of his father. Through this story, he honors the quiet resilience of working-class families and the healing power of cinema.
Learn more about Fiscal Sponsorship, including its benefits and eligibility requirements by visiting our website. See which projects are currently being supported via our Sponsored Projects page.
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