Natalia Almada and Laura Poitras win MacArthur "Genius" Grants!
“A phone call out of the blue – $500,000 – no strings attached.” Last week, the MacArthur Foundation announced its 2012 Fellows, and we were beyond thrilled to see two amazing Creative Capital grantees among them. A huge congrats to Natalia Almada and Laura Poitras—we’ve always thought these remarkable filmmakers were geniuses, but now it’s official!
Natalia Almada was awarded a Creative Capital Film/Video grant in 2005 for her documentary El General, which brings to life audio recordings Almada inherited from her grandmother, daughter of Plutarco Elías Calles, a revolutionary general who became Mexico’s president in 1924. In his time, Calles was called El Jefe Maximo (Foremost Chief). Today he is remembered as El Quema-Curas (Priest Burner) and as a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until his exile in 1936. Almada’s complex and stunning El General moves between a daughter’s memories of her father as she grapples with history’s portrayal of him and the weight of that same man’s legacy on Mexico today.
Trailer for Natalia Almada’s El General
![Laura Poitras, photo courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation](https://creative-capital.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/2012/10/poitras_2012_hi-res-download_3-200x300.jpg)
Laura told us last week, “Creative Capital has been so transformative to my work. To receive this alongside Natalia Almada, whose work I so deeply admire, is an honor.”
Trailer for Laura Poitras’s The Oath