Social entrepreneurs have truly taken the spotlight: The Skoll Foundation and the Sundance Documentary Film Program will fund five documentary filmmakers, each of whom will capture the work and life of a leading social entrepreneur. The goal of the three-year, $3 million project—called “Stories of Change”—is to explore how film can further the work of social entrepreneurs.

The winning projects, announced in January, are in various stages of development; but all filmmakers have already identified which social entrepreneurs they will profile and will use their grants (as much as $150,000) either to develop and then film their stories or simply to finish projects already in production. The filmmakers can also draw on the wisdom of Sundance veterans, including Cara Mertes, Sundance Documentary Film Program’s director and the program’s creator, to help them construct their story, edit their film, sign a distributor, and identify additional sources of funding.

The filmmakers and their entrepreneurs will also exchange worlds: Entrepreneurs will attend the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and filmmakers will attend the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England.

The contest’s 331 submissions were judged by the likes of CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight, The Trials of Henry Kissinger), and Skoll Foundation senior advancement officer Sandy Herz. The judges’ criteria included the filmmakers’ talent for storytelling, how well their filmmaking style fits the subject, and the solidity of the relationship between filmmaker and entrepreneur, as determined by interviews with each.

The winning film projects are:

  • Back to School, produced by Julia Parker Benello; features Sakena Yacoobi, whose Afghan Institute for Learning has educated Afghan women for the past 12 years.
  • Green Shall Overcome, directed by Tracy Heather Strain and Megan Gelstein; about Van Jones, a civil rights lawyer, author of the much celebrated The Green Collar Economy, and founder and president of the nonprofit Green for All.
  • Poor Consuelo, directed by Peter Friedman and produced by Paul Miller; features Miguel Sabido, whose use of popular soap operas eases the effects of poverty around the world.
  • The Team, directed by Patrick Reed and produced by Peter Raymont; about John Marks and Susan Collin Marks, who help Kenyans produce a soap opera series with taboo storylines that seek to bridge their country’s deep ethnic divisions.
  • YouthBuild Documentary (working title), directed by Annie Sundberg; featuring YouthBuild founder Dorothy Stoneman, whose organization gets young people involved in rebuilding their urban communities while gaining job skills and continuing their education.

Mertes expects the films to be released in theaters, distributed as a “Stories of Change” series, or aired on television. Not only are the films that good, Mertes says, but documentary film has also become the hot new genre. “People are looking for ways to understand their world, which has become increasingly complex—and documentaries are extremely effective in helping you do that.” Documentary filmmakers have already focused on social entrepreneurs, Mertes adds. “Filmmakers are attracted to good stories—and you find those with social entrepreneurs.”

Read more stories by Jennifer Roberts.