About Us
CONGRATULATIONS IACA CYCLE #22 MINI-GRANT RECIPIENT, OCTAVIO DANIEL RODRIGUEZ JUAREZ!
Click here to learn about Cycle #8 nonprofit grant winner,
Darkness RISING Project Nonprofit.
The following are excerpts from his grant proposal:
I am a MFA candidate in Multidisciplinary Media Arts with experience in the creative arts field as a filmmaker, photographer, and multimedia artist, focusing primarily in documentary production across multiple formats, such as film, multimedia, video installation, and podcasting. I first gained experience working independently in documentary production having fully developed three short films to date, two of them competing in short film festivals as well as appearing in special screenings and academic venues.
The practice-based MFA program at SIU Carbondale has enabled me to bold my understanding of the media arts environment from a multidisciplinary perspective. For over the past two years, I have focused my creative interests in investigating the intersections across human rights, memory, and the environmental crisis through an expanded documentary perspective. Since then, experimentation both in form and language has become a key element of my artistic process as a documentary filmmaker, allowing me to approach my subjects through a participatory perspective, opening up the space for improvisation, performance art, and constructing narratives within the documentary framework.
I will use this grant to support the post-production process of "Footprints in the sky," my thesis project, set to be completed in the Summer of 2021. I have been working on it for a year now, documenting Purepechas and Monarchs in the Southern Illinois region. Now, I need funds to support its completion, particularly two key post-production components: sound design and sound mixing, as well as an additional period of production in Cobden, Illinois.
Thank you so much for providing this opportunity to support independent media artists. Just as for all of us, last year has brought challenges and difficulties, and grants like yours have become key to ensure the continuation and completion of many of our projects.
Here is a link to my web portfolio, which includes additional samples of photography, film, promotional videos, and audio pieces I have created over the last years.
You may be the next grant winner! Click here to apply.
There is no specific type of artist that we focus on or primarily support. Creative expression comes in a wide variety of artistic disciplines and genres. We are looking for passion and excellence in your craft. Tell us why your work is important to you and how you hope it will impact others.
Where Eagles Soar (Isaiah 40:31)
At the sight of time from Palma Street," was the first documentary short film I made. The film explores the value of time from the view of Luis Hernández, a Tepito hood native clockmaker. Luis built "The spirits of time," a monumental clock located in the street of Palma, in the Historic Center of Mexico City.
Please Note: Juarez's (work in progress) film entitled "Footprints in the Sky" is not being shared at this time, as IACA would like to honor his intellectual property and give him the opportunity to complete it with post-production components, etc., as desired.
Querida
(Dear)
Querida comes as the result of a personal and familiar mourning journey due to the passing of my grandmother, Clara, who died in 2017 after being disabled by rheumatoid arthritis for almost 48 years. The short film reconstructs passages of her life story departing from a series of letters she gathered through her life and kept for herself. The film is assembled through home video, archive footage, and selected literature pieces to realize that the process of discovering a person is never-ending, even when you thought you knew everything about her.
Querida was shown at private gatherings. Deeply therapeutic, I acknowledge it as a piece of discovery and experimentation that brought me to the roots of my interest in film and lighted the way for the work I want to make in the future.
Integrity: Arts & Culture Association is honored to approve Juarez's Funding request and we wish him continued success
in his MFA program and creative endeavors.
