Wareham Development celebrated East Bay filmmakers in March during a recent Berkeley FILM Foundation event at the Saul Zaentz Center. BFF is a public-private partnership between Wareham Development, the City of Berkeley and The Saul Zaentz Co. and provides funding and educational programs for independent filmmakers.

The latest round of film grants was handed out to a variety of filmmakers and documentarians from Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond. Since 2009, BFF has awarded $1.1M, including $90K for student filmmakers, for the production, post production and distribution stages of films. BFF’s mission is to nurture, sustain and preserve the thriving local film community while attracting the next generation of filmmakers.

The $25K Saul Zaentz Award is given out in honor of filmmaker Saul Zaentz’s legacy and another $20K award is provided in honor of social justice advocate and BFF founding member Al Bendich.