Outdoor Adventure Film Grant 2021 – Winner Announced!

The OAFG21 winning team on the set of “Ash Land”, from left to right – Adrian Alea, Shariffa Ali, & Courtney Williams.

The fourth annual Outdoor Adventure Film Grant – “Oregon’s Outdoors Are For Everyone” (OAFG21) is pleased to announce the winning application, entitled, “You Go Girl.”

Oregon’s open spaces and outdoor pursuits are for all Americans and visitors, yet there is a well-documented inequity in America that is deeply rooted in our shared cultural history, and as a whole, our outdoor spaces are not equally utilized for a multitude of historical, social and cultural reasons. The OAFG21 aims to help support and amplify stories and storytellers (both in front of and behind the camera) utilizing Oregon’s outdoor spaces as a backdrop. The OAFG21 specifically invited applications from experienced BIPOC filmmakers and on-camera subjects to create a short film pitch that is able to inform, inspire, capture and/or reveal a personal journey involving an outdoor pursuit that is set against the backdrop of Oregon’s majestic landscape.

This $20,000 Grant is being provided by the Oregon Made Creative Foundation in conjunction with Travel Oregon.

The grant has been awarded to a small team of independent filmmakers and a production company based in Southern Oregon: Shariffa Ali, Kamilah Long, and Adrian Alea, who describe themselves as, “the perfect amalgamation of specialized skills and lived experiences. We are a collective of theatre-makers, film producers, fundraisers, writers, designers, and community organizers who have just completed principal photography on our first collaboration, a short film entitled “Ash Land” which follows an African-American woman, living in the wilds of Oregon, who receives a visitor that forces her to reconcile her past and re-imagine her future.

“You Go Girl” is about “a dangerously overweight Audrey Jenkins who is left with the difficult task of scattering her dead Mother’s ashes on an Oregonian mountaintop, further made more complicated by Audrey’s weight management issues and her lack of knowledge about the great outdoors. This clumsy, spirited uphill journey brings Audrey deeper into nature and illuminates a profound understanding of herself and a new appreciation for her body and the skin that she lives in.”

Shariffa Chelimo Ali (Director + Co-writer) is an international creative leader committed to advancing radical change through the power of art and activism. She works across disciplines directing films, virtual reality experiences, and plays and moves her audiences to engage with timely issues touching upon Black, Afropolitan, and African-American identities. She is the current Artist-in-Residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. www.shariffa.com

Kamílah L. Long (Lead Producer, Actor) is an Oregon-based innovative leader and dynamic theatrical professional, her multifaceted theatre career includes roles as an actor, director, producer, educator, fundraiser, activist, and speaker. She started her career in theatre as a storyteller, which led her to join Actors Equity and becoming a professional actor before completing her undergraduate theatre degree from Alabama State University.

 

Adrian Alexander Alea (Creative Producer) is a Queer Cuban & Ecuadorian-American creative producer and director raising the social consciousness of humanity through storytelling and community building in non-profit, commercial, and trans-media enterprises. Adrian is fueled by producing intimate films that elevate underrepresented voices and evoke a sense of healing and catharsis. www.adrianalea.com

Ali, Long, and Alea’s most recent collaboration was on a short film entitled, “Ash Land” – a commission granted by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that is scheduled to debut on OSF’s new digital platform “O!” in November 2020. The winning team noted, that, “through being embraced by the Southern Oregon film-making community, we had such a profoundly joyful and enlightening experience as a predominantly BIPOC collective of artists that we are seeking to continue to make works that center BIPOC narratives and place an emphasis on the healing and illuminating power of being in nature.”

Congratulations again to the team of, “You Go Girl”!

#OregonMade

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *