{"id":447969,"date":"2026-05-27T15:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447969\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:55:09","slug":"producer-jess-devaney-to-lead-documentary-push-from-perspective-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447969\/","title":{"rendered":"Producer Jess Devaney to Lead Documentary Push From Perspective Fund\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tProducer Jess Devaney<\/a> has been tapped to lead Perspective Films<\/a>, a documentary co-production initiative launched by Perspective Fund<\/a>. The initiative will provide both funding and producing support for culture, narrative and change-focused documentaries. Perspective Films\u2019 first slate will be announced this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDevaney joins Perspective Films as a narrative strategist and the founder of Multitude Films, a documentary studio. At Perspective Films, she will focus on \u201cpartnering with filmmakers across development, production, distribution and impact,\u201d a model \u201cgrounded in the understanding that socially engaged documentary storytelling is most effective when sustained creative collaboration is paired with meaningful resources over time \u2013 particularly for projects navigating complex creative, logistical and political terrain,\u201d per the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDevaney\u2019s previous notable work includes \u201cLife After,\u201d the Netflix Original\u2019s \u201cPray Away\u201d and \u201cPower,\u201d the Emmy-winning \u201cLowndes County and the Road to Black Power\u201d and HBO\u2019s Oscar-shortlisted \u201cHow We Get Free.\u201d To lead this new effort, Devaney will transition out of her role at Multitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt a time of growing authoritarianism, democratic erosion and intensified attacks on marginalized communities, stories that deepen collective empathy, defend truth and expand public imagination are not ancillary \u2013 they are foundational,\u201d said Devaney. \u201cThis next chapter builds on what I\u2019ve learned over the past decade \u2013 that films are strongest when artistic excellence, movement insight and resources are aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerspective Films builds on Perspective Fund\u2019s Documentary Film Support program, which provides grant funding to nonfiction projects under the leadership of Perspective Fund program officer Andrew Catauro. Funding of up to $375,000 will be provided per project, which can be used to support development, production, post-production, or distribution and impact implementation. Perspective Films will also assist filmmakers on narrative development, distribution positing and more, with the scope of collaboration to be tailored to each project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPer the company, projects will be evaluated \u201cthrough a holistic lens that considers artistic excellence, production feasibility, distribution pathways and potential contributions to broader cultural and narrative change.\u201d The initiative will operate on an invitation-only basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStories don\u2019t just reflect the world, they shape how we understand it,\u201d said Jacob Taylor, CEO of Perspective Fund. \u201cWith Perspective Films, we\u2019ll back films early and stay with them, bringing both capital and producing expertise to how they\u2019re shaped, positioned and activated. Jess has been a key collaborator and thought partner of ours for years and brings the creative rigor and strategic clarity to support films as sustained vehicles for change.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tPerspective Fund, a New York-based philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing storytelling, journalism and cultural work that drives social change, provides funding and strategic partnership to projects at critical stages of development, production and distribution. In the last decade, Perspective Fund has supported more than 150 films, 50 organizations and directed over $40 million into documentary storytelling and related initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Producer Jess Devaney has been tapped to lead Perspective Films, a documentary co-production initiative launched by Perspective Fund.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,228287,409,111,139,69,228288,228289],"class_list":["post-447969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-jess-devaney","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-perspective-films","tag-perspective-fund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}