It is with bittersweet emotion that we announce the launch of the Andrew Berends Film Fellowship in memory of filmmaker Andrew Berends, who died in March 2019.
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Andrew Berends’ Madina’s Dream provides an unflinching glimpse into a forgotten war, telling the story of rebels and refugees fighting to survive in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains.
His previous film Delta Boys explores the militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Delta Boys received funding and support from the Sundance Documentary Film Fund, the Gucci/Tribeca Documentary Film Fund, and Cinereach. While filming in Nigeria, Berends was arrested, detained for 10 days, and expelled from the country by the Nigerian government in a bid to suppress media coverage of the Niger Delta conflict.
In 2009, Berends spent six weeks in Haiti documenting the aftermath of the earthquake that killed over 200,000 people.
Berends was awarded the International Documentary Association “Courage Under Fire” award for his film The Blood of My Brother about an Iraqi family whose oldest son was killed by an American patrol.
Also filmed in Iraq, When Adnan Comes Homewas awarded Best Documentary at the 2007 Vail Film Festival.
Berends’ first documentary film Urk about Dutch fishermen on the perilous North Sea, was nominated for the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award.
Berends’ Director of Photography credits include Incorruptible and The Homefront directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & additional cinematography on Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin’s Academy Award-nominated Free Solo.
Additional cinematography credits on upcoming films include Austin Peck’s Act of Code exploring tech innovators new approaches to dealing with environmental and natural disasters and Dr. Isabella Alexander’s The Burning on Africa’s migrant crisis.
After his first trip to Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. Andy had to raise more money. This is his pitch to goodpitch.