Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select Fellows for 0; Expanded Support Now Includes Four Native Producing Fellows

Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select 11 Fellows for 2013; Expanded Support Now Includes Four Native Producing Fellows Posted Jun 20, 2013

Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced today the 11 artists selected for the 2013 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program, including the four artists selected for the Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Native Producing Fellowship. The Fellowship program promotes cultural, socio-economic and gender diversity as well as artistic collaboration and innovation among emerging film and theatre storytellers, documentary filmmakers and film composers.

Each Fellow was identified by one of the following core programs of the Institute: Documentary Film Program, Feature Film Program, Film Music Program, Native American & Indigenous Film Program and Theatre Program. Fellows attend an annual Lab and receive continued support from the Institute, including mentoring, strategic granting, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and participation in screenplay readings, work-in-progress screenings and related programs and events. The new Native Producing Fellowship addresses the need to deepen the field of Native American and Indigenous producers who can engage with the marketplace while supporting independent artists in their development processes.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, The support of Time Warner Foundation enables us to empower independent storytellers with the financial and creative tools they need to develop their stories and bring them to audiences. By focusing on artists from diverse backgrounds and expanding our support to Native producers, we are working towards enriching a global culture with their singular voices.

The mission of the Time Warner Foundation is to seek innovative and powerful ways to discover, nurture and celebrate the next generation of storytellers, said Lisa Garcia Quiroz, President of the Time Warner Foundation. The creative team at Sundance Institute has a keen eye for extraordinary new talent. We are proud to collaborate with them, and we welcome the new Fellows.

Time Warner Foundation has supported the Institute since 2007, enabling direct support of 37 film and theatre artists, including Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Aurora Guerrero (Mosquita y Mari) and Annie Baker (Circle Mirror Transformation).

The 2013 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows are:

Johnny Symons and S. Leo Chiang, Out Run (Documentary Film Program and Fund) A transgender pioneer fights hostility and discrimination as she campaigns for Congress in the Philippines, illuminating the challenges facing openly LGBT politicians emerging in traditional parts of the world.

Johnny Symons (Co-Director) is an Emmy nominated documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco. Creating films since 1991, Johnny's work primarily focuses on LGBT culture and politics. His film Daddy & Papa, about the personal, cultural and political impact of gay men raising kids, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

S. Leo Chiang (Co-Director) is a Taiwan-born, San Francisco-based filmmaker. His current documentary Mr. Cao Goes to Washington, won the Inspiration Award at the 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. His other films include: A Village Called Versailles, To You Sweetheart, Aloha, One + One and Safe Journey.

Chinaka Hodge, 700th & International (Feature Film Program) A trash-talking hood track phenomenon named Tuka dies by an unexpected bullet; she awakes to find herself in a corrupt version of heaven where everyone has a job namely, to decide the exact moment of death for someone still living on earth.

Chinaka Hodge is a poet, educator and playwright from Oakland, California. She received her BA from NYU's Gallatin School and her MFA from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. After nearly a decade of performing her own words around the globe and on two seasons of Def Poetry, she made the transition to the screen and received her first credit for Brave New Voices on HBO.

Yotam Silberstein (Film Music Program) Since landing in New York, internationally-acclaimed guitarist Yotam has earned a well deserved spot among the Jazz elite by collaborating with legendary musicians such as James Moody, The Heath Brothers, Paquito DRivera, and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars. Yotams mastery of the guitar is featured on an array of hit albums, ranging from his recent releases Resonance and Brasil on the Jazz Legacy Productions label, to Monty Alexanders Grammy-nominated Harlem-Kingston Express Live! The Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship included support for Yotam to procure recording equipment needed to build a small home studio and usable recording rig at his residence in Brooklyn.

Brooke Swaney, Circle (Native American & Indigenous Film Program) Auralee, trapped in a dead-end job and a dead-end relationship, searches for her native roots while coping with a sudden onset of baby-mania. Frankie, a teenage Haida girl in Montana, acquaints herself with her new foster family while combating the after effects of abuse. Auralee wants a kid, Frankie wants love, and only one knows it is each other.

Brooke Swaney (Blackfeet & Salish) received her MFA in Film and Television from NYU's Tisch School of Arts. Her first film, The Indigenoid, was nominated for Best Live Short at the 2005 American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. In 2011, Ok Breathe Auralee premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Appropriate (Theatre Program) The Lafayette family patriarch (and compulsive hoarder) is long dead, and it's time to deal with the deserted and heavily mortgaged Arkansan homestead. When his adult children descend upon the former plantation to liquidate the estate, a gruesome discover

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-and-ti...
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