Short Films, Big Ideas

GE FOCUS FORWARD - Short Films, Big Ideas is an unprecedented new series of 30 three-minute stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention, directed by the world's most celebrated documentary filmmakers.

Discover GE FOCUS FORWARD Films Now

Check out Oscar-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu's MEET MR. TOILET, which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She introduces us to Jack Sim, a/k/a "Mr. Toilet," a businessman-turned-sanitation superhero who travels the globe raising awareness about the lack of clean water in underdeveloped countries, a crisis affecting 2.6 billion people worldwide.

 

The Films

Throughout the year, we'll be debuting GE FOCUS FORWARD films online and at major film festivals.
Here are all 30 films in the series, the most recent of which made their world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival

The Directors

A who's who of international documentary filmmakers drawn from every corner of the globe, GE FOCUS FORWARD directors are the most distinguished nonfiction storytellers working in contemporary independent cinema today. Many have won Academy Awards for their shorts and features; others have earned their laurels at world-renowned festivals and at the box office.

The Festivals

Look for GE FOCUS FORWARD films at leading film festivals around the world,
including Sundance, Tribeca, the Berlinale Talent Campus, and the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), with additional festivals to be announced soon in Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, the UK, North America, Australia, and the Middle East.

More to Come

Filmmaker Competition

WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

The five winners of the GE FOCUS FORWARD $200,000 Filmmaker Competition were announced at a special awards ceremony at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Each received a huge cash prize, including $100,000 to the Grand Jury Prize Winner. 

Watch the trailer to find out more


Watch all five winners, along with the 20 finalists who vied for the prizes. We're proud that filmmakers from over 69 countries submitted films to the Competition. Winning is great, but what really counts is knowing there are so many top-notch storytellers all over the world. (See all submissions here.)

Thank you, filmmakers!

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Meet the Jury

Winners

Here they are, the winners of the $200,000 GE FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition, including the $100,000 Grand Prize winner. Congratulations, filmmakers!
CYBORG FOUNDATION
Rafel Duran Torrent
Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, a rare condition that causes complete colour blindness. In 2004, Harbisson and Adam Montandon developed the eyeborg, a sensory device that translates colours into sounds, which Harbisson, the world’s first officially recognized cyborg, wears at all times.

The Artificial Leaf

Jared P. Scott &...

Dan Nocera has a simple formula to save the planet: sunlight + water = energy...

SLINGSHOT

Paul Lazarus

Best known for his Segway Personal Transporter, inventor Dean Kamen is taking on the world’s...

Bones Don't Lie and...

Kim Munsamy

After two decades the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) remains dedicated to the work...

Mine Kafon

Callum Cooper

A short documentary portrait on a designer who has created a low cost solution to...
See all Finalists

Short Films, Big Ideas

GE FOCUS FORWARD films highlight exceptional people and world-changing ideas that have impacted the course of human development, now and then, or with great potential to significantly affect how we live in the next generation.

Our impressive roster of international filmmakers - innovators in their own right - marshal their talent and energy to deliver an authentic documentary film in their own voice. In the span of three minutes, these films encompass everything from medical advances to economically viable "green"-powered homes to the development of wireless technologies in Third World countries, not to mention innovations in transportation and healthcare, gene therapy and waste management, or any other sphere of art and knowledge that inspires them.

Through their eyes you'll see how engineers, educators, inventors, surgeons, philosophers, social workers and others are utilizing their skills and vision to help sow the seeds of a better future.

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