Tomorrowland Projects Foundation Award Announces Filmmaker and Photographer Lucjan Gorczynski (1212.nyc) as 2025 Award Recipient
Invite-only award for projects that expand awareness of issues affecting society-at-large is administered by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to announce that New York, NY-based filmmaker and photographer Lucjan Gorczynski (1212.nyc) was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Tomorrowland Projects Foundation Award. His work blends motion graphics, visual effects, cinematography, and editorial storytelling.
Gorczynski was recognized with a $7,500 cash grant through the Tomorrowland Projects Foundation, which supports artistic, multidisciplinary team collaborations and artist-driven projects that expand awareness of issues affecting society-at-large, and considers award-planning funds to develop new technology, research, and installation art.
Gorczynski was selected by Tomorrowland Projects Foundation’s Board of Directors for the project “TRUMP’S AMERICA PART 1.”
“TRUMP’S AMERICA” is a series of narrative feature films based on current events in Trump’s America that offer a creative commentary on Trump’s words and actions. The series is made of fictional stories inspired by real contemporary events, and is presented in an original and entertaining cinematic fashion. Trump’s words and actions feature prominently in all films and directly affect the fictional characters and the narrative. Gorczynski anticipates finishing Part 1, which will follow a transgender person whose social security was canceled as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), by the end of 2026.
Gorczynski has two decades of experience in the industry. For more than 10 years, Gorczynski worked for two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple as an associate editor, motion designer, and post-production supervisor, contributing to many acclaimed documentaries including Shut Up & Sing, Miss Sharon Jones!, and Hot Type. Originally from a small town in Poland, Gorczynski first came to New York as a college student and worked at the Statue of Liberty. The Statue remains one of his favorite places, both geographically and symbolically, and he includes its image in all his work.
Says Gorczynski on “TRUMP’S AMERICA:” “It is important to preserve and present all of it in an engaging cinematic fashion that is more accessible than traditional news, more compelling than documentaries or commentary, and more entertaining and creative than social media or podcasts.”
The “TRUMP’S AMERICA” series builds upon Gorczynski’s “TRANSITION TO GREATNESS,” an award-winning film about Trump’s response to the pandemic and the 2020 election. It is an invented “discussion” with Trump presented as an intricate visual puzzle, featuring an extended dialogue between a homeless New Yorker and Trump. They engage in a wide-ranging “conversation” as the pandemic rages and the 2020 election looms. The film is filled with visual manipulations that insert Trump, the pandemic, and the 2020 election elements into the picture. The main hero, Mike, played by Brian Panella, wanders around New York City and interacts with the ubiquitous Trump, who talks to him via city billboards, video screens, WiFi stations, bus stops, and pay phones. The picture was manipulated so that no one else is in the frame—an eerie reminder of the isolation in New York City during the height of the pandemic.
On receiving the award, Gorczynski said “The grant will help me start filming my feature film trilogy called ‘TRUMP’s AMERICA.’ This support means the world to me, and I will make the most of it.”
Tomorrowland Projects Foundation Board of Directors comprises Nina Yankowitz, President; Ian Holden, Vice President; David Becker, Vice President 2; Ellen K. Levy, Secretary; Jonathas Nazareth, Secretary 2; and Barry Holden, Treasurer.
Nina Yankowitz, Tomorrowland Projects Foundation Board President, said: “The board of Tomorrowland Projects Foundation have all enthusiastically voted to support this important endeavor to make people aware that the Equal Justice For All principles are now endangered and must be upheld. We believe creatives are the best communicators to the public realm and Luc Gorczynski’s series of cinematic narratives will share prescient insights about the erasing of multicultural identities. This effort to reverse dictatorship-like policies now prevailing in the United States of America and diminishing our status as a powerful leader in the free world is an important project.”
Michael Royce, NYFA CEO, said: “Lucjan Gorczynski makes works that challenge viewers by encouraging thought, dialogue, and discourse. This is one of the essential roles of the artist: to creatively respond and react to the world and offer viewers new perspectives. To do so while entertaining is also a skill. Congratulations to Lucjan and thank you to Tomorrowland Projects Foundation for recognizing this type of work.”
Find out about additional awards and grants here. Sign up for our free bi-weekly newsletter NYFA News to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs.