2022 JFI Completion Grant Recipients

The Jewish Film Institute awarded $75,000 to six projects in 2022. The third round of JFI Completion Grants announced celebrates a diverse slate of documentary projects selected from a national applicant pool — the largest in the program’s history.

2022 JFI Completion Grant Recipients

Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round

Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round

"Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round" is a feature-length documentary film about a virtually unknown story from the early days of the civil rights movement.

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A Photographic Memory

A Photographic Memory

A daughter attempts to piece together a portrait of her mother, an avant-garde journalist and a woman she never knew. Uncovering the vast archive Sheila Turner-Seed produced, including lost interviews with iconic photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, and Lisette Model, the film explores memory, legacy and stories left untold.

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I Like It Here

I Like It Here

A figurehead of American independent documentary film, Ralph Arlyck conveys how it feels to see the winding down of your life, as he spends time with older friends from his past and present, and his children and grandchildren.

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The Return from the Other Planet

The Return from the Other Planet

Ka-Tsetnik established Israel’s perception of the Holocaust, coining the term “The Other Planet”. Following LSD treatment, during which he imagined himself as an SS officer, he abandoned the Other Planet.

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Red Herring

Red Herring

In the midst of shocking family revelations, a young filmmaker is diagnosed with terminal cancer. What follows is an intimate and darkly humorous journey of a family’s attempt to make sense of their upended past and disrupted future.

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All We Carry

All We Carry

With extraordinary access, All We Carry follows Magdiel, Mirna, and their son Josh, as the young family flees Honduras on foot, rides in cargo trains across Mexico, claims asylum at the U.S. border, and endures detention.

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2022 Completion Grant Jurors

Justine Nagan is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary producer and creative media executive and the Head of Production at Actual Films. Prior to this role, Justine was the Executive Director of American Documentary, Inc., and an Executive Producer on its two signature series, POV (PBS) and America Reframed (World Channel.) During her tenure at the organization, AmDoc launched POV Shorts, created several Artist Emergency Funds, and showed continued excellence in its programming including several Oscar nominations, and Emmy, Peabody and DuPont wins. Before AmDoc, Justine led Kartemquin Films as Executive Director for seven years, as well as being an Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer on films including Minding the GapLife ItselfThe Interrupters, and The Trials of Muhammad Ali. With Kartemquin, she also directed Typeface, an award-winning documentary on American typography and graphic design. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the PGA and the Television Academy.

James Hindman, PhD, has spent his career in cinema and performing arts, creating and lead­ing professional and public education programs at major institutions. During his twenty-four years at the American Film Institute, where he served as co-director and chief operating officer, he was provost of the AFI Conservatory, which he nurtured through WASC accreditation.

Yael Melamede is a director, producer, and founder of SALTY Features. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, a Graduate of Yale University’s School of Architecture (MArch) and Yale University (BA).

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