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!
‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is a news maxim for a reason. The more brutal, shocking and violent a story is, the more eyeballs it will get. The event itself is attention-grabbing, but the aftermath is usually lived out away from the spotlight– whether it’s a system that has little hope of ever changing, a brave deed that ends up being punished, or a life destroyed by senseless violence.
The great value of documentary is that it gives these types of stories a more sustained life. We can live with these people for more than the few minutes it takes to read a story or watch on the evening news (or these days, social reel) and see the nuance and humanity. These three longform investigations shine a light on the forgotten and look to make an impact that’s long-overdue.
In Not So Far Away Places, a Russian activist goes undercover to expose the cruelty of the Russian prison system. Blowback follows whistleblowers, years after the news organizations that breathlessly covered their stories have moved on, and how the ‘whistleblower’ reputation has followed them and affected their careers and relationships. The Dark Narcisist follows a mother of two murdered children, as she confronts the failed system that let their father murder them before he killed himself.
Through Fiscal Sponsorship, independent filmmakers and media artists gain access to nonprofit funding, helping bring their unique visions to life. These projects embrace diversity, push creative boundaries, and showcase the power of independent storytelling. Want to explore the full lineup of sponsored projects? Head over to our Sponsored Projects page and take a look!
Keep reading to learn more, including how you can support these projects.
NOT SO FAR AWAY PLACES
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Development
Cowriter and Codirector: Renato Borrayo Serrano
Cowriter and Codirector: Yulia Vishnevets
Producer: Milana Christitch
About the Project: In-depth immersion into the Russian prison repressive machinery shot from the subjective perspective of a human rights activist, working undercover to confront the totalitarian system from within.
Meet the Filmmakers:
Renato Borrayo Serrano — Codirector
Berlin-based documentary filmmaker telling intimate human stories while exploring how individual lives are shaped by wider struggles over power, justice, and dignity. His films have screened and won awards at major international festivals, including CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Sundance, DOC NYC, Krakow IFF, Shanghai IFF, DOK Leipzig, Docudays UA, and others. His feature documentary Life of Ivanna (2021) won the Zurich Film Festival’s Grand Prix for Best Documentary, alongside numerous additional awards. As a cinematographer, he worked on the Netflix acquisition Skywalkers: A Love Story, which premiered at Sundance (U.S. Documentary Competition) and screened at Tribeca before receiving an IMAX theatrical release in the United States.
Yulia Vishnevets — Codirector
Berlin-based journalist and documentary filmmaker, director of over 20 non-fiction films. She has worked as a reporter and photographer in various media. From 2013 to 2014, she reported for Deutsche Welle in Germany. Since 2015, she has been a staff documentary maker for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Current Time TV in Russia. Her feature: Hey! Teachers! was screened at IDFA, Krakow, and received several international accolades. In September 2022, she was detained while filming an anti-war demonstration in Dagestan, spent 5 days in prison, and had to leave Russia at risk of further criminal prosecution.
BLOWBACK
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Production
Director/Executive Producer: Brooks Harris
About the Project: Blowback begins with a simple premise: the system isn’t broken, it’s working as designed. The film follows whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing and are punished for it—not just to silence them, but to send a message. Beyond the headlines, it turns to the aftermath: what it takes to survive, and who you become, after telling the truth.
Meet the Filmmaker:
Brooks Harris — Director/Executive Producer
Brooks Harris is an award-winning filmmaker and founding partner of PURGATORY, a production company focused on character-driven documentary storytelling. Her work is grounded in journalism, with a focus on access, narrative precision, and stories that examine power and its consequences. She most recently served as an Associate Producer on Breath of Fire, a documentary series that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in partnership with Vanity Fair, where she contributed to story development and production. Her additional credits include projects for Amazon, Hulu, and Disney+, where she has worked across development, field production, and post to help shape premium non-fiction series.
THE DARK NARCISSIST
Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Development
Director/Producer: Trish Ward-Torres
About the Project: Following the murder/suicide of brothers River (15) and Jet (13) by their father Shan Collins, mother Kerrith McDowell, a nurse practitioner, confronts the many institutional failures within the mental health and law enforcement systems in Raleigh, North Carolina that cost her sons their lives even though she was uniquely positioned to seek help from within these failed systems.
Meet the Filmmaker:
Trish Ward-Torres —Director/Producer (PGA, DPA, WIF, FEME)
Trish Ward-Torres is a director/producer whose work examines the modern human condition. For more than two decades, she has helped shape award-winning nonfiction and narrative films, often centered on navigating failing systems. Ward-Torres most recently served as Senior Vice President of Documentary at Participant, where she was a Supervising Producer on films including In Waves and War, Food Inc 2 and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Earlier, she worked at Netflix overseeing studio partnerships with FOX, NBCUniversal, Miramax, and PBS, following Producer roles at Lionsgate/CBS, Disney Studios, DreamWorks Animation and MTV.
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