Announcing the 2024 Dear Producer Award Recipients

By Rebecca Green

What would $50K do for your Career? The Dear Producer Award helps four producers explore that question.

Producers Jamie Gonçalves, Beth Levison, Leslie Norville, and Laura Wagner will each receive $50,000 to be used at their discretion as part of the 2024 Dear Producer Award. They were selected from 175 producers who applied for the unrestricted funding, stressing the need for more producer-specific resources in the field. In addition to the financial support, the producers commit to mentoring an emerging producer, have monthly check-ins throughout the year, and will attend a restful retreat, all to build and sustain their community. 

“The award is not just about the money,” said Rebecca Green, Dear Producer founder and editor-in-chief. “Of course, the money is impactful, especially when we know producers put so much of their time, energy, and personal dollars on the line to get projects off the ground — and are rarely properly compensated for their work. But this award also gives time and space to explore what producing is and could be, and how we can solidify a supportive and connected community.” 

In addition to their extraordinary list of credits, the award recipients have also shown intentional leadership, creative vision, and have participated in the film community with demonstrated generous spirit. This is the third year of the award, which has now given more than $600,000 in support to producers and has solidified the foundation of a producer community at a time where the future of film, particularly independent film, is in question. 

The Dear Producer Award is generously sponsored by Facet, founded by Maida Lynn, a producer, filmmaker, and arts supporter. Lynn’s work has looked for and embraced ways to contribute to risk-taking, free-thinking and diverse filmmaking, particularly to supporting individuals and organizations operating outside of the mainstream.

“The goal,” said Lynn, “is to continue to support and bolster producers who champion work that has the potential to expand the heart and mind, to inspire awe and wonder, and to generate more questions than answers — particularly now when the industry is teetering on uncertainty and film is being treated as a commodity by those with no particular interest in artistry or unheard voices.”

Meet the 2024 Dear Producer Award Recipients:

• Jamie Gonçalves - Brazilian-American producer and co-founder of Sin Sitio Cine (US/ MX) a production company whose work spans documentary and fiction. Jamie was named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” in 2023. Credits include: DOS ESTACIONES, CABALLERANGO, BALLOONFEST.
   

• Beth Levison - Founder of Hazel Pictures, a production company that
  emphasizes mind-opening stories about women, artists, and those who challenge the status quo, and a co-founder of the Documentary Producers Alliance. Credits include: GRAND THEFT HAMLET, THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, STORM LAKE.
   

• Leslie Norville - Emmy Award-winning producer and Playback Magazine’s 2023 Showrunner of the year, Leslie’s work has screened at festivals around the globe and on networks including CBC, Hulu, PBS, CBC, Sundance Channel, and VH1. Credits include: BLACK LIFE: UNTOLD STORIES, THE FIRST WAVE, A BALLERINA’S TALE.
   

• Laura Wagner - Spirit Award-winning producer who began her career in New York theater and whose work has premiered at more than 100 festivals. Laura is a co-founder of Cinemama, a film collective in the Bay Area. Credits include: FREMONT, IT FELT LIKE LOVE

The award recipients all stood out for various reasons, Green said, after reviewing applications. 

“There were so many worthy applicants,” she said. “We decided to do an open application rather than select producers through industry nominations, as we did the previous two years. We wanted to ensure that we weren’t missing anyone in our consideration by only looking through our own circle of connections. The four who were chosen are really remarkable and stood out among a very competitive field. For instance, Laura’s film FREMONT won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards; Jamie is the first producer we’ve selected who works on an international scale; Beth’s film GRAND THEFT HELMET took home the 2024 SXSW Documentary Feature Competition Jury Award; and Leslie is pushing boundaries in the episodic space with the eight-part documentary series BLACK LIFE: UNTOLD STORIES for the CBC.”

“This award brings us one-step closer to a connected ecosystem within filmmaking,” said Lynn. “Ultimately, that is what will always get us through hard times, if we can create a rock solid community and keep its foundations intact.”

To learn more about the award criteria, see:
https://dearproducer.com/dear-producer-award-open-application/

About Facet
Facet, founded by Maida Lynn, embraces creative non-fiction filmmaking by visionary artists, works that push the cinematic form and explore universal and timeless themes, and a robust US-based independent non-fiction ecosystem. Lynn produced the short documentary SKIP DAY, which premiered at Directors' Fortnight and was released by The Guardian. The feature documentary she produced, PAHOKEE, premiered at Sundance 2019. Her credits as Executive Producer include THE TUBA THIEVES (Sundance ‘23), JOONAM (Sundance ‘23) THE HOTTEST AUGUST (True/False '19), and Sam Green's live documentary, A THOUSAND THOUGHTS (Sundance '17). 

Full Bios:

JAMIE GONÇALVES is a Brazilian-American producer and co-founder of Sin Sitio Cine (US/ MX), a production company whose work spans documentary and fiction. His recent films include Juan Pablo González’s scripted debut DOS ESTACIONES (Sundance 2022 Special Jury Award, Criterion), which was nominated for Best Feature at The Gothams and the Heterodox Award at the Cinema Eye Honors. He also produced González’s documentaries CABALLERANGO (IDFA 2018, Grasshopper) and LAS NUBES (IFFR 2017). Jamie produced Nathan Truesdell’s shorts BALLOONFEST and THE WATER SLIDE—the most watched films on The Atlantic; Isidore Bethel’s ACTS OF LOVE (Hot Docs 2021); and Nick Berardini’s KILLING THEM SAFELY (Tribeca 2015, IFC). In 2023, he was one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” and in 2015, Filmmaker Magazine named him as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” He is a 2018 Sundance Institute Producing Fellow, Impact Partners Producing Fellow, and Creative Capital Fellow. From 2011 to 2015, he served on the programming team at the True/False Film Festival.

BETH LEVISON is an award-winning producer/director based in NYC. Most recently, she executive produced GRAND THEFT HAMLET (SXSW 2024 Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary Film) and produced A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (True/False 2024). Her 2022 producing effort, THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, premiered at Sundance, launched on Netflix, and was nominated for a 2023 Academy Award (Best Documentary Short), while STORM LAKE, which she directed alongside DP Jerry Risius and also produced (Independent Lens, 2022), was shortlisted by the IDA as one of the best films of 2021. Other producing credits include Emmy-nominated MADE IN BOISE (Independent Lens, 2020), Emmy-nominated PERSONAL STATEMENT (PBS, 2018), and 32 PILLS (HBO, 2017). Levison is a co-founder of the Documentary Producers Alliance, teaching faculty with Sarah Lawrence College, and a member of the Academy.

LESLIE NORVILLE is a showrunner and Emmy® Award-winning documentary producer whose films have screened at festivals around the world, including TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Doc NYC and IDFA as well as on various networks including Hulu, PBS, CBC, Sundance Channel and VH1.

Her recent documentary projects include THE FIRST WAVE for Neon/National Geographic, directed by Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy Award®-winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman, and the eight-part series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BLACK LIFE: UNTOLD STORIES. Other credits include the feature documentary A BALLERINA’S TALE about Misty Copeland, the first African American principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre; BROOKLYN BOHEME; DISDAIN THE MUNDANE, part of ESPN’s Emmy Award®-winning “30 for 30” shorts series; FINDING THE FUNK, co-executive produced by GRAMMY Award®-winner Questlove; and ANY GIVEN DAY, which premiered at Hot Docs 2021.

Norville is currently partnering with Michèle Stephenson (GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT) on a feature about the Black Power movement in Canada. Norville is an alumnus of the Sundance Documentary Creative Producing Fellowship and in 2023, she was named Showrunner of the Year by Playback Magazine.

LAURA WAGNER is a Spirit Award-winning producer who began her career in the New York theater and then transitioned into filmmaking when she fell in love with telling thought-provoking stories through powerful character-driven films. Her films include FREMONT (Independent Spirit Award winner 2024, Sundance 2023), WHAT THE HANDS DO (Camden IFF 2023), LOGIC PARALYZES THE HEART (Venice Biennale 2022), ARTIFISHAL (Tribeca 2019), TRACKTOWN  (LAFF 2016), MY FIRST KISS AND THE PEOPLE INVOLVED (LAFF 2016), and IT FELT LIKE LOVE (Sundance and Rotterdam 2013).

Her films have screened at over 100 film festivals including Sundance, SFFILM, Tribeca, SXSW, and Rotterdam, and have enjoyed success worldwide in theaters, on television and on digital streaming platforms, including Amazon, Netflix, PBS, MUBI and the Criterion Channel.

She is a recipient of The Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Lab and Fellowship and SFFILM’s Kenneth Rainin Grant and Fellowship. She is also a Film Independent fellow, and an alum of the Rotterdam Producing Lab, the Cannes Producers Network Fellowship, the Trans Atlantic Partners program, and Berlinale Talents. She is a member of the Producers Union and the Documentary Producers Alliance. She has served on the New York No Limits curation team, and juries for the San Francisco International Film Festival and New York No Limits, in addition to grant selection committees including the Sundance Institute and SFFILM. She co-founded the Bay Area film collective Cinemama, which has grown to include over 500 members.