Style is supporting substance for the seven lucky recipients of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Finishing Fund. The Tribeca Film Institute and Gucci announced the first beneficiaries of the new initiative, which will award a total of $80,000 amongst the winners. The Fund provides grants and post-post production advice to complete feature length documentaries that promote social change.

In an interview I did with Tribeca All Access Program Director Beth Jason earlier this year she said, “Art is about changing people’s perceptions. Documentaries can be especially powerful when you are looking at an injustice and you’re applying your art to that. It’s not journalism. We are really interested in filmmakers who are artists, and as such, they’ve come across an injustice they don’t want to see as just a two-minute story on the evening news.”

A committee that included filmmakers John Battsek, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alex Gibney, Jacquie Jones, Rory Kennedy, Diego Luna, Albert Maysles and Diane Weyermann chose the seven films from 12 finalists selected by the Tribeca Film Institute. The applicant pool consisted of 450 projects from 28 countries.

The list of recipients is comprised of both new and established names, and includes two projects – Release by Laura Poitras and If a Tree Falls by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman – that have also received funding from the Creative Capital Foundation. Here’s the complete list of funded films, as described in the press release from the Tribeca Film Institute:

The Fixer by Ian Olds focuses on the relationship between an Afghan translator, Ajmal Naqshbandi, and his American client, the war journalist, Christian Parenti. What begins as an intimate portrait of two colleagues at work turns dark when Taliban fighters in Southern Afghanistan kidnap Ajmal and an Italian journalist during a dangerous trip to interview a high-level commander. What follows is the tragic story of one man forgotten in the crossfire set against a failing state slowly losing the faith of its people.

Release by Laura Poitras is the second documentary in a trilogy titled The New American Century about America post 9/11. Filmed in Yemen, Release follows the stories of men released from Guantanamo Bay prison and returning home. The first film in the trilogy, My Country, My Country, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The final film will focus on domestic surveillance in the United States.

Sons of Perdition by Jennilyn Merten and Tyler Measom is a rare, inside look at polygamist teens who have become religious refugees in mainstream America. The film reveals the hidden world of polygamy through the eyes of five exiled teens and the dictatorial prophet who has banished them from their families, community, and religious salvation. With unprecedented access, SONS OF PERDITION captures the raw, daily struggle of polygamy’s lost children and their extraordinary quest to survive, succeed and belong.

Delta Boys by Andrew Berends is an unprecedented intimate look at the daily lives, culture, hardships and mindset of the young rebel men who have taken up arms on the brutal Niger Delta. Their stated goal – to localize control of Nigeria’s oil, to secure reparations for environmental destruction caused by foreign oil companies, and to obtain amnesty for themselves.

Give Up Tomorrow by Martin Syjuco and Michael Collins tells the story of Paco Larrañaga, who was sentenced to death at age 19 for the alleged kidnapping of two sisters in a sensational mistrial in the Philippines in 1998. Charting the ordeal of Paco’s ten years in prison, the film is a moving and poetic investigative documentary that reveals the human cost of endemic corruption in a country still recovering from years of colonial rule and the democratic instability of the Marcos era.

If a Tree Falls by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman is a rare, behind-the-curtain look at the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s “number one domestic terrorist threat.” Following the story of convicted ELF member, Daniel McGowan, the film asks urgent and timely questions about environmentalism and terrorism.

Vida Ballet by Beadie Finzi defies the idea that ballet is an art form steeped in the history of the wealthy white elite as it captures the dreams of two black children from the Favela in Brazil, who, despite constant prejudice and doubt, are both determined to beat the odds and follow their dreams to use dancing as an escape rarely found in their tough day-to-day lives.