When Roger Ross Williams's documentary film MUSIC BY PRUDENCE (an alumnus of Independent Film Week's Spotlight on Documentaries), was announced as the Winner of the Academy Award for "Best Documentary Short", my expectations were for a suitably humble and hopefully short acceptance speech. Boy was I - and the dozens of people I watched with at DCTV's firehouse headquarters in Chinatown - surprised. Just a couple of seconds into William's grateful speech, he was rudely interrupted and completely overtaken by a loud woman with a very large sense of entitlement. It took only a few minutes for the Kanye West comparisons to begin, and just a few more for Salon.com to get to the bottom of the brouhaha.
We at IFP have nothing but congratulations for Williams and his film. And Williams has done nothing but return the love. Check out his testimonial about IFP on our new homepage. He writes: "When I boarded a plane two years ago, headed for Zimbabwe armed with nothing more than a camera, I never thought it would lead me to an Academy Award nomination. The 2008 Independent Film Week – Spotlight on Documentaries section and IFP’s Fiscal Sponsorship program helped get me there by providing the concrete support and the connections I needed to get my funding in place."
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