Slaughterhouse 502 Announces Healing Fund Recipients and New Film Initiative for 2026

Louisville, KY — Slaughterhouse 502 is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of the Healing Fund, along with the addition of a new film initiative for 2026 in partnership with The Porcini / Farmer Children’s Foundation.

Slaughterhouse 502, a Louisville-based film production company, was recently launched by Evan Mascagni, an award-winning Louisville native who recently moved back from New York.

In 2026, the initiative will support the production of an original short documentary focused on uplifting and supporting children. The film will be produced by Slaughterhouse 502 in collaboration with The Porcini / Farmer Children’s Foundation, with additional details to be shared later this year.

Last year’s Healing Fund recipients were selected by a volunteer voting committee made up of leaders from Kentucky’s film and arts community, including 502 Film, sonaBLAST! Records, Post 237, Hyphen Film Center, Spicer Films, the Kentucky BIPOC Filmmakers Association, Women in Film Kentucky, and J Wagner Group.

In addition to direct funding, these in-kind services will also help move projects forward: SonaBLAST! Records will provide music for use in recipient films. Post 237 will provide digital DCPs for exhibition and festival delivery. Hyphen Film Center, along with Women in Film Kentucky and the Kentucky BIPOC Filmmakers Association, will host work-in-progress screenings to allow filmmakers to gather feedback and build community. Spicer Films will offer cinematography consulting to support projects during development and production. 502 Film will refer experienced local crew and vendors for the productions as well as assist navigating the state’s film incentive if a filmmaker wants to pursue that.

The 2025 Healing Fund recipients are Imani Dennison, Mike Elsherif, Sarah Bosler, Robin Burke, Farhan Abdi, Elias Feghaly, and Wilson Conkwright.

The selected projects reflect a wide range of approaches to storytelling, from hybrid documentaries to intimate personal portraits focused on grief, identity, faith, migration, and healing. More info on the films here:

Mississippi Mud in Spring, directed by Imani Dennison, is a speculative and embodied meditation on diasporic imagination and ancestral memory, inspired by a short story written by the filmmaker’s late grandmother, a Southern-born civil rights activist. The film reimagines the meeting of the Gulf of Mississippi and the Atlantic Ocean as living, remembering beings and asks how nature carries memory across time and how ritual becomes a strategy for survival.

Save Me a Seat at the Table, directed by Mike Elsherif, is a hybrid poetic documentary following a displaced Gaza refugee navigating questions of family, home, and belonging while lost in an enigmatic forest haunted by an elusive black bear.

Bubble Beppo, directed by Sarah Bosler, tells the story of Giuseppe, a cat forced to live as a “bubble boy” due to Feline Leukemia Virus. Through his parents’ reflections on his life and death, the film explores pet loss grief and the importance of community support in mourning.

ripples and pools, directed by Robin Burke, invites viewers into a sacred space where vulnerability is welcomed, pain is shared, and healing becomes possible through rediscovering shared humanity.

Same Heart, directed by Farhan Abdi, follows immigrants from Africa and the Middle East as they rebuild their lives in America, finding strength through faith, family, and community while affirming that borders may change, but the heart remains the same.

Becoming Noor, directed by Elias Feghaly, is a deeply personal documentary following a queer Lebanese artist as he steps into full authenticity through his drag persona, Noor, meaning “light” in Arabic. As he prepares for his first drag performance in Louisville, the film traces a journey of shedding shame, reclaiming joy, and inviting family to witness who he has become.

An untitled documentary by Wilson Conkwright explores the life and work of Kentucky-born painter Daniel Yocum, tracing his unconventional upbringing, mental health struggles, and artistic emergence through the lens of a lifelong friendship.

Evan Mascagni of Slaughterhouse 502 wishes to issue a special thanks to Naveen Chaubal, Tim Coury, Christopher Duke, Soozie Eastman, Lauren Fulwiler, Gill Holland, Duncan Salot, Bryn Silverman, Nathaniel Spencer, Nate Spicer, Joe Stockton, and Joey Wagner.

For more information, visit Slaughterhouse 502 and follow @Slaughterhouse502 on social media for updates.