NEH to fund Fiege's Film Project
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
CII member John Fiege received a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support development of a new feature documentary, “The Valley of Ashes,” that focuses on the disposal of solid waste in New York City.
The grant will support a yearlong development process during which Fiege will continue researching, filming, editing and experimenting with various approaches to the story. By the end of the process, he hopes to have a strong work sample to apply for an NEH production grant, which awards up to $700,000.
All of Fiege’s films focus on ecological concerns or environmental justice, including “Slow Season,” which highlights the hardship of crab fishermen in Louisiana following the 2010 BP oil spill, and “Above All Else,” about the resistance in East Texas to the Keystone XL pipeline. The “Valley of the Ashes” continues this work, with the NEH funding allowing him to work at a larger scale than his previous films.
