Grants & Awards

About the Film:

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that corporations have the same constitutional rights as citizens and are entitled to make unlimited political contributions, political cash is flowing faster and with less transparency than ever before. Citizen Koch tells the story of this landmark decision and follows extraordinary citizen leaders who, in the face of economic hard times and extreme political polarization, are mobilizing to defend their democratic values. From Wisconsin to Wall Street, from the left and the right. Citizen Koch helps connect the dots in this high stakes political drama as it examines the impact of Citizens United on American democracy: who wins, who loses, and how?

About the Filmmakers:

Carl Deal and Tia Lesson (Directors and Producers) are Academy Award® and Emmy Award® nominated filmmakers who produced and directed Trouble the Water, winner of the Gotham Independent Film Award, as well as Grand Jury prizes at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Full Frame Documentary Festival, in addition to being named a finalist for the Britdocs/PUMA Creative Impact Award. They were producers of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, and most recently Capitalism: A Love Story. Tia and Carl were nominated for an NAACP Image Award and a Producers Guild Award for their work on Trouble the Water. In addition to a 300 city theatrical run, and broadcasts on HBO, National Geographic, Turner Movie Channel and Channel Four, the film continues to be used by dozens of partner organizations and hundreds of educational institutions and NGOs to create dialogue and inspire action for racial and economic justice. In television, Tia was line producer of Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and a consulting producer of Living in the Material World: George Harrison. She received two Emmy nominations for her work as producer of the series The Awful Truth and is the recipient of the  Sidney Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism for Behind the Labels. Tia is a Sundance Institute Fellow and Creative Producing Lab Advisor, a Creative Capital grantee and was awarded the L’Oréal Paris/Women in Film Women of Worth Vision Award. She is a graduate of Cornell University and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Carl previously worked as an international news producer and a writer, reporting from natural disasters and conflict zones throughout the U.S., Latin America, and in Iraq. He has an MS in journalism from Columbia University, which awarded him its Social Justice Prize, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences.

Gillian Caldwell (Co-producer and Engagement Advisor) is an award-winning three-time executive director, campaigner, serial social entrepreneur, attorney, author and filmmaker, experienced in advancing social justice and environmental campaigns in the US and around the world. Previously Gillian helped build 1Sky, one of largest collaborative climate and energy campaigns in the US, and served as its Campaign Director for three years. Prior to that, Gillian served for a decade as the Executive Director of WITNESS, where she helped produce over 30 documentary films for use in advocacy campaigns in partnership with NGOs in dozens of countries. Before WITNESS, Gillian directed a global undercover investigation and campaign on the Russian mafia’s involvement in human trafficking, and produced and directed an influential documentary film which was televised internationally and helped spur policy changes worldwide. Gillian is also co-editor and author of Video for Change: A Guide to Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, 2005). She received her BA from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where she was honored as a Public Interest Law Scholar.  She is a recipient of numerous awards and honors for social entrepreneurship, including an Emmy Award, the Skoll Award, the Schwab Foundation Award, an Ashoka Award and a Next Generation Leadership Award by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Festival & Award Highlights:

Sundance 2013 – World Premiere
Cleveland International Film Festival 2013
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013