Columbia U. Grads Get Grant for Feature Film

Writer Mikki del Monico and director Randall Dottin, 2003 film graduates from Columbia University's School of the Arts, are the recipients of a $100,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award. The award provides support for the production of a feature-length film with a focus on science and technology. The winning project, Indelible, depicts an African-American female scientist racing to find a cure for the deadly disease that took the life of her husband and threatens her son.

"The Sloan Foundation is the one philanthropic organization to understand the close connection between the sciences and the arts," says Bruce W. Ferguson, dean of the School of the Arts. "We are thrilled that our students and alumni are considered worthy of this extraordinary opportunity and even more so that they have been acknowledged at this high level for their work."

"We are delighted to support promising young filmmakers like Mikki del Moncio and Randall Dottin and help them turn the stereotype-busting screenplay for Indelible into a finished film," says Doron Weber, program director for the Sloan Foundation. "We hope that screenwriters and directors will see that science and technology offer them a potential goldmine: wonderful, diverse characters and great stories that have gone largely untold."#