Name: Michael Steves

Recipient Year: 2024

Name of Film: The Heart Grows Old in Autum

Description: Michael R. Steves is a special education teacher and documentary filmmaker from Philadelphia. He is Jewish, and his grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. His grandma’s stories of survival, and the brave people who stood up for what is right and saved her life, motivated his love for spreading empathy through the documentary form. His short documentary The Lifers Network, about an ex-gang member navigating his release from prison after serving 30 years, was a finalist for the HBO Max Latino Short Film Competition, and screened at the 2022 NBC Telemundo x NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) Showcase. For his first feature documentary, a multigenerational tale following Rohingya refugees in Chicago, Michael is a recipient of a Ford Foundation JustFilms Creativity and Free Expression Grant, an Islamic Scholarship Fund National Film Grant, and a Mountainfilm Commitment Grant.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-steves-12305623/