Taking place from January 15-18 online, the writers were chosen from a whopping 3,200 applicants. One of the most exciting things about starting each year with the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of, Fellowship Enters Fifth Year of Supporting Filmmakers from Underrepresented Communities As They Focus on a Sustainable and Creative Path Forward Los Angeles, CA Today. Masami Kawai (Writer/Director) with Valley of the Tall Grass (U.S.A.): A discarded TV/VCR combo set circulates through the lives of various working-class indigenous characters of color in an Oregon town. In the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family cant teach him: how to skate, how to flirt and how to love your mom. She is the inaugural Sundance Merata Mita Fellow. is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and writer. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Meagan Brothers is the author of Debbie Harry Sings in French, a 2009 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and its prequel, Supergirl Mixtapes. He has written films that have premiered in Berlinale and Venice and were Nepals official entry for the Academy Awards. Her feature screenplay Keep It Together was shortlisted for the 2019 Tribeca All Access program. Masami Kawai is a Los Angeles-born filmmaker of Ryukyuan descent. Fresh . Parker Smith is a filmmaker based in Austin, Texas, originally from Louisville, Kentucky. currently in the writers room for Acapulco on Apple TV+. They find forgotten memories, love, and connection through this seemingly obsolete object. is an award-winning writer/director based in Nepal. (U.S.A.): Haunted by a supernatural force, a Kurdish American man struggles to start a new life with his American fiancee while dealing with the reappearance of his estranged father. Herintersections inspire her to create space through film technologies. Guest editorial: We must bust the Sundance myth, Park City Institute and Park City School District come to terms about the Eccles Center, Park City inquires about Sundance traffic in weeks after community was overwhelmed. If they want to survive, theyll need to learn how to make their own magic. She is a, Sundance Interdisciplinary Program and Academy of Motion Pictures fellow, and is, one of Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Bane Fakih is a Lebanese filmmaker whose shorts Assil and Jad and Vibes screened at Palm Springs ShortsFest and Outfest. Rashad Frett (Co-writer/Director) & Lin Que Ayoung (Co-writer) with Ricky U.S.A.): Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult. Set in sprawling 1970s Hawaii, this is the story of how the Aikau name became synonymous with groundbreaking big wave surfing, the Hokulea, and the reclamation of the most revered sport in Hawaiian history. Nwosus work is informed by the intersectional nature of her life across multiple continents and identities. (U.S.A.): After a fatal mistake makes her the pariah of her insular and devout 19th century farming community, Frances becomes consumed with hunting down a mythic beast, at the cost of her familys reputation and safety. He most recently, A body-positivity influencer enters a desperate bid to save her self-loathing sister when the latter becomes a test subject for their aunts, Recipient of the Sundance Institute Horror. His first short, Act ofGod, has won many awards, including Best U.S. Short at the Palm Springs ShortsFestand an Audience Award at SXSW 2022. With industry icons as creative advisors, it features one-on-one story sessions and a tough rewriting experience. After discovering he hid a sexual misconduct complaint brought by a student, Mara develops a secret relationship with his accuser, jeopardizing her family and the opportunity to restart her career. The Screenwriters Intensive allows us to extend the breadth of our support to a wider group of emerging independent artists, and were thrilled to include such an extensive range of stories, genres, and essential voices in the cohort, said Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program. Hardy holds an MFA from Temple University and is currently an Associate Professor at Middlebury College. We are a comprehensive Primary Care / Family Medicine office servicing Chandler, Gilbert, Higley, Queen Creek and Mesa in the East Valley We treat patients ages 5 and up for all types of conditions. Lauri's List of Screenwriting Fellowships, Labs, Grants, Contests and Other Opportunities Last updated on January 29, 2023. Up to five writers each win $35,000 fellowships from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Douglas was an Advisor to over 200 writers in his twenty years participating in the Lab. A graduate in Film & Media Arts from American University in Washington DC, Nicole is a polyglot who writes about the confluence of . Dina Amer (Co-writer/Director) and Omar Mullick (Co-writer) with Cain and Abel (France): The fates of two French-born Muslim Arabs born in the same neighborhood collide as they find themselves on opposite sides of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack: one a police officer, the other a terrorist. Rashad Frett is an award-winning Caribbean American filmmaker who pursued a masters degree from NYU Grad Film after experiencing 9/11 as a U.S. Army combat medic. Nikyatu Jusu is a writer and director and her first feature film, Nanny, was developed at the Sundance Institute's 2020 Directors and Screenwriters Labs and debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. An Emmy Awards Finalist and recipient of the VR Grand Prize at The Venice Film Festival, her work has appeared at Sundance, SXSW, AFI Fest, Cannes NEXT, Tribeca, Telluride, and Venice. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Urvashi Pathania is a writer/director based in Brooklyn. Farida Zahran (Writer/Director) with The Leftover Ladies (Egypt/U.S.A. His first short, , has won many awards, including Best U.S. Short at the Palm Springs ShortsFest. As barriers to her career overwhelm her, Mileva battles mental illness and her own exclusion from history. This relationship was the basis for their. Her debut short film, at BlackStar, Sundance Film Festival, AFI and others, and won the 2020 Golden Bear for, Best Short Film at Berlinale. Her first short film Paris on the Water (2014) won the Student Academy Award and the Israeli Academy Award for Best Narrative Short. When his father, Big Ant, realizes his son sees these airplane people too, their family history emerges and reveals deeper meaning and connection between them. Dania Bdeir (Co-writer/Director) & Bane Fakih (Co-writer) with Pigeon Wars (Lebanon/Canada/France): Rana, a feisty & competitive woman avoiding a secret from her past, becomes obsessed with the male-dominated pigeon wars of Beirut. In this queer sci-fi rom-com, an alien arrives on Earth with one mission: to introduce his DNA into the human gene pool and propagate his species. Walter Thompson-Hernndez is a Los Angeles-born and raised filmmaker. is a Mexican award-winning screenwriter and playwright. One of the highlights for us every January is gathering a new and uniquely talented group of storytellers at our annual Screenwriters Lab. Who are these men beneath their uniforms, and how many degrees of separation really exist between them? The Academy Nicholl Fellowship is one of the best screenwriting fellowships for new, up and coming screenwriters. many years he was caretaker for Spencer Cook. The Screenwriters Intensive allows us to extend the breadth of our support to a wider group of emerging independent artists, and were thrilled to include such an extensive range of stories, genres, and essential voices in the cohort, said Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program. One of the most exciting things about starting each year with the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of, Fellowship Enters Fifth Year of Supporting Filmmakers from Underrepresented Communities As They Focus on a Sustainable and Creative Path Forward Los Angeles, CA Today. Through intimate portraits, animated films, immersive installations, and multi-year community based projects, she explores the potential inherent within the creative process to act as a catalyst for social change and interpersonal healing. Were looking forward to kicking off a new year of the Screenwriters Lab, supporting the bold visions of a stellar group of storytellers. is a filmmaker whose interests lie in telling the stories of trans women of, color. She is co-founder of Third Horizon Film Festival, and a, is a filmmaker from Barbados who has produced award-winning, Sundance Film Festival, TIFF, BlackStar, and Berlinale. Jason Fitzroy Jeffers is a filmmaker from Barbados who has produced award-winningshort films such as Papa Machete and T that have screened at festivals such asSundance Film Festival, TIFF, BlackStar, and Berlinale. His shortfilm If I Go Will They Miss Me won the 2022 Sundance U.S. Fiction Short Film award,and hes currently in post-production on his first feature. supporters include Tribeca, Nia Tero, Princess Grace Foundation, NACF, PIC, ITVS, MacArthur, and Firelight. Sean Wang (Writer/Director) with Ddi () (U.S.A.): Fremont, CA. Nicole Ballivian is a Sundance Screenwriter Fellow and director. Charlotte, with her project "Aftersun," was supported by the Sundance Institute's 2020 Directors and Screenwriters Labs. He writes horror and comedyfeaturing immigrant leads. Spencer Cook (Co-writer/Director) and Parker Smith (Co-riter/Director) with Lame (U.S.A.): When their federal funding is cut, a disabled man and his roommate/caregiver become small-time con artists to survive, extorting small businesses for minor ADA violations. PARK CITY, UTAH, January 13, 2023 Today the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the 12 projects invited to the 2023 Screenwriters Lab and the 10 projects selected for the Screenwriters Intensive, including filmmakers from the U.S.A. and internationally from the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Nepal. (France): The fates of two French-born Muslim Arabs born in the same neighborhood collide as they find themselves on opposite sides of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack: one a police officer, the other a terrorist. He writes horror and comedy, featuring immigrant leads. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism. The Sundance Screenwriters Lab is an experiential and nebulous process. is a Kurdish American writer from Ohio. Recipient of the Sundance Institute Comedy Fellowship. Fremont, CA. He is also co-founder of ThirdHorizon Film Festival in Miami. Rebin Zangana is a Kurdish American writer from Ohio. Set in sprawling 1970s Hawaii, this is the story of how the Aikau name became synonymous with groundbreaking big wave surfing, the Hokulea, and the reclamation of the most revered sport in Hawaiian history. As music unlocks memories, Amina discovers who she is. Ciara Leinaali Lacy (Writer) with Untitled Eddie Aikau Biopic (U.S.A.): Legendary Native Hawaiian big wave surfer, Eddie Aikau, breaks into the scene of global surf culture while facing colonization of the sport. Pigeon Wars will be her debut feature. The January Screenwriters Lab cohort will develop their projects in person at the Sundance Mountain Resort from January 14-18 with the generous support of Artistic Director Jessie Nelson, along with Creative Advisors Ritesh Batra, Linda Yvette Chvez, Scott Frank, Phil Hay, Eliza Hittman, Attica Locke, Walter Mosley, Marti Noxon, Nicole Perlman, Howard Rodman, Dana Stevens, Joan Tewkesbury, Lulu Wang, Bill Wheeler, Tyger Williams, Virgil Williams, and Doug Wright. Most recently, she wrote, at SXSW in 2019 and won an Oscar-qualifying award at Palm Springs. Michael Len (Co-writer/director) and Ashley Alvarez (Co-writer) with Crabs in a Barrel (U.S.A.): When her talentless frenemy is anointed as the future of Latinx voices, a struggling Latina writer sets out to sabotage this unearned opportunity. Wasserman Award for Best Graduate Film at NYUs First Run Festival. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. K Period Media; SAGindie; Rosalie Swedlin and Robert Cort; Deborah Reinisch and Michael Theodore Fund; Octavia Spencer; Scott and Jennifer Frank. Sean Wang (Writer/Director) with Ddi () (U.S.A.): Fremont, CA. is an award-winning writer/director. When a mysterious woman descends on his city sermonizing about extraterrestrial salvation, he thinks reunion awaits him, unaware that this seemingly joyful deliverance will soon be threatened by a looming hurricane. Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Abinash Bikram Shah is an award-winning writer/director based in Nepal. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cracked worldpremiered at Tribeca and is streaming on HBO Max & Hulu. Zahran is agraduate of the NYU Grad Film Program. If you don't know the institute and its programs, you certainly know the films that . Urvashi Pathania (Writer/Director) with Skin (U.S.A.): A body-positivity influencer enters a desperate bid to save her self-loathing sister when the latter becomes a test subject for their aunts plastic surgery and skin-lightening racket. Given how weremember is pivotal to healing, her films use memory as a central gaze to de-internalizesurveillance, uncensor the imagination and mirror our infinite reflections. Her work draws, cultural bridges that lead to the Caribbean through intersectionality, duality and. [Above: Daniel Scheinert, Glenn Kiser, Peter Gloub, and Daniel Kwan] By Stephanie Ornelas Every great artist starts somewhere. By providing year-round creative and financial support for the development of original stories for the screen and stage, Sundance Institute remains committed to its mission to discover and develop independent artists and audiences across the globe. Pirati, the matriarch of this makeshift family, has her plans to embark on an independent life suddenly derailed when one of her daughters goes missing. Her films have been supported by Tribeca, Chanel, Kickstarter, and the New Orleans Film Society, where she programs narrative films for the New Orleans Film Festival. His short. When his father, Big Ant, realizes his son sees these airplane people too, their family history emerges and reveals deeper meaning and connection between them. However, I don't have personal experience with most of them. The opportunity is in the networking as winners can . In the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family cant teach him: how to skate, how to flirt and how to love your mom. Dania Bdeir (Co-writer/Director) & Bane Fakih (Co-writer) with Pigeon Wars (Lebanon/Canada/France): Rana, a feisty & competitive woman avoiding a secret from her past, becomes obsessed with the male-dominated pigeon wars of Beirut. The Lab will be dedicated to the memory of Sundances generous Creative Advisor Douglas McGrath who passed away several months ago. The Fellows were selected from 3,200 submissions to further develop their scripts with the guidance of accomplished advisors, some of whom are alumni of the Screenwriters Lab themselves. Faye Ruiz (Writer/Director) with Wishes Sink in Man-Made Lakes (U.S.A.): Two trans teens secretly living in the attic of a cheap-seat movie theater spend an endless summer trying anything and everything to start hormone replacement therapy. Shireen Alihaji is a First Gen, Ecuadorian-Iranian, Muslim, and disabled filmmaker. Her latest shortWarsha (Criterion Channel) won the Jury Prize for Best International Fiction Short at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival along with 90 awards since its premiere. Her short film, Youth, premieredat SXSW in 2019 and won an Oscar-qualifying award at Palm Springs. The fellows come from both the U.S. and abroad, with participants hailing from the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Nepal. Her first feature documentary received the Sundance Award for Best Cinematography and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. The Lab will be dedicated to the memory of Sundances generous Creative Advisor Douglas McGrath who passed away several months ago. The January Screenwriters Lab cohort will develop their projects in person at the Sundance Mountain Resort from January 14-18 with the generous support of Artistic Director Jessie Nelson, along with Creative Advisors Ritesh Batra, Linda Yvette Chvez, Scott Frank, Phil Hay, Eliza Hittman, Attica Locke, Walter Mosley, Marti Noxon, Nicole Perlman, Howard Rodman, Dana Stevens, Joan Tewkesbury, Lulu Wang, Bill Wheeler, Tyger Williams, Virgil Williams, and Doug Wright. We're excited to work with Savannah, Annie, Jade, Richard and Kimba on bringing their visions to life." The FOX. Walter Thompson-Hernndez (Writer/Director) with If I Go Will They Miss Me (U.S.A.): Twelve-year-old Lil Ant begins to see mysterious figureseerie men with their arms spread like wingsaround his home. Her short film, Beast, premiered at the Tribeca FilmFestival and screened in select theaters nationally before Jordan Peeles Nope. He was, named one of Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Faces of Independent Film and was a. Keisha Rae Witherspoon is a Miami-based filmmaker. Walter worked as a journalist for The New York Times. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference. John Hibey co-wrote and produced the two-time Sundance award-winning filmFishing Without Nets (short and feature versions.) Her feature screenplay Keep It Together was shortlisted for the 2019 Tribeca All Access program. Our industry-leading technical consultation and full-service product offerings make for comprehensive treatment solutions. The 2022 lab wil take place under the leadership of Michelle Satter (Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institutes Artist Programs) and Ilyse McKimmie (the Feature Film Programs Deputy Director), alongside Creative Advisors: Scott Frank (Artistic Director), Karim Anouz, Linda Yvette Chavez, Carlos Cuaron, Phil Hay, Marielle Heller, Amanda Idoko, Jenny Lumet, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Doug McGrath, Walter Mosley, Jessie Nelson, Jose Rivera, Eric Roth, Dana Stevens, Veena Sud, Chris Terrio, and Tyger Williams. His short film If I Go Will They Miss Me won the 2022 Sundance U.S. Fiction Short Film award, and hes currently in post-production on his first feature. Rashad Frett (Co-writer/Director) & Lin Que Ayoung (Co-writer) with Ricky U.S.A.): Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult. The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation; Maja Kristin; NBCUniversal; Amazon Studios; Hollywood Foreign Press Association; Karen Lauder; Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund; Sandra and Malcolm Berman Charitable Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; NHK/NHK Enterprises, Inc.; Kimberly StewardK Period Media; SAGindie; Rosalie Swedlin and Robert Cort; Directors Guild of America; Deborah Reinisch and Michael Theodore Fund; Octavia Spencer; and Scott and Jennifer Frank. She befriends Hassan, a kindred spirit with an inner struggle of his own, and against the backdrop of growing political crisis in Beirut, they embark on a mission to catch a rare bird the Nicobar. The Sundance Institute has chosen its 16 screenwriters to participate in the 2o22 Screenwriters Lab. Gabriela Ortega (Writer/Director) with Huella (Dominican Republic / U.S.A.): Following the death of her familys matriarch in the Dominican Republic, a disenchanted flamenco dancer living in New York City must rid herself from her ancestors curses to pave her own future. These sixteen writers, selected for their vision and distinctive voices, will form a lifelong community of filmmakers, and were thrilled to see the outcomes of the collaboration between the Lab Fellows and their mentors for years to come..