Grants & Awards

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Sunlight Jr.

– by Laurie Collyer

    1. Fiction

    2. Date Awarded: Summer 2009

    3. Directors(s): Laurie Collyer

    1. Location: USA

    1. Film Status: In Post-Production

About the Film:

SUNLIGHT JR. looks at a working class couple in Florida struggling to survive with minimum wage jobs and an unexpected pregnancy.

About the Filmmakers:

Laurie Collyer is best known for producing and directing the documentary feature film, Nuyorican Dream (2000) and writing and directing the narrative feature film Sherrybaby (2006) – both of which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Nuyorican Dream won numerous festival awards, was broadcast on HBO, and also found a home in community outreach and education programs. Collyer was a filmmaker-in-residence at the Cinefondation of the Cannes Film Festival to develop the Sherrybaby script, as well as participating in the 2001 Sundance Writer’s and Director’s Labs. Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film, which won top prizes in Karlovy Vary, Stockholm and Deauville. Collyer was also honored with the Sarah Huntington Powell Leadership Award at the Women’s Prison Association. Sherrybaby has had a long life on cable, network TV, and within institutions of criminal justice and drug treatment.