Sundance Institute's 2017 Creative Producing Program: Lab Fellows, Summit Participants Convene in Utah

Los Angeles, CA - Sundance Institute's Creative Producing Program will convene in the mountains of Utah July 31 - August 6, including 11 feature film and documentary filmmakers participating in the weeklong Creative Producing Labs and more than 90 independent filmmakers and industry leaders gathering for the three-day Creative Producing Summit.

The Institute's Creative Producing Program champions the current and next generation of producers, supporting creative vision and best practices from development through distribution in an evolving ecosystem. Across both scripted and nonfiction storytelling from the US and globally, the program provides an unparalleled array of support systems including immersive Labs, the annual Summit, year-round mentorship, granting, financing education and matchmaking, distribution education and opportunities, and network and community building. Additionally, the Program advances entrepreneurial and forward-thinking solutions in financing and distribution for individual producers and the field at large.

The Institute's annual Producers Awards, supported by Amazon Studios, also contribute to this goal, and recognize a Fiction and a Nonfiction Producer at the Sundance Film Festival Producers Lunch.

We have long recognized the crucial role independent producers play in finding, shaping and advocating for original voices in filmmaking, said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute. Our Creative Producing Program strives to build the field of independent film and the independent producing community, with a special focus on forward-thinking and sustainable approaches.

Creative Advisors for the feature film portion of the Lab include producers Julie Lynn (Albert Nobbs), Paul Mezey (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Heather Rae (Frozen River), Mary Jane Skalski (Win Win), Lynette Howell Taylor (Captain Fantastic), Jay Van Hoy (The Witch) and director Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic). Creative Advisors for documentary include producers Daniel Chalfen (Silenced), Scott Macaulay (Casting JonBenet), Andrea Meditch (Man On Wire) and Danielle Renfrew Behrens (Montage of Heck).

Immediately following the Labs, the Creative Producing Summit (August 4-6) brings together industry luminaries, including financiers, distribution executives, packaging agents and sales representatives, for a program of curated conversations, working roundtables, and one-on-one meetings. Critical issues to be discussed at the Summit include audience engagement, distribution, financing, marketing and producer sustainability. Guests this year include Michael Barker (Sony Pictures Classics), Jon Bardin (Discovery Channel), Jason Berman (Mandalay), Maida Brankman (Genuine Article Pictures), Josh Braun (Submarine), Ian Bricke (Netflix), Effie Brown (producer, Dear White People), Dan Cogan (Impact Partners), Liesl Copland (WME), Rose Catherine Pinkney (BET Networks), Steven Farneth (Cinetic), Anna Godas (Dogwoof), Matthew Greenfield (Fox Searchlight), Cassie Hamar (Bert Marcus), Ali Herting (A24), Kevin Iwashina (Preferred Content), Caroline Kaplan (Cinereach), Charles King ( MACRO), Jessica Lacy (ICM), Linda Lichter (Lichter, Grossman, Nichols & Adler), Wendy Llinas (PBS), David Magdael (David Magdael and Associates), Peter Muzzonigro (Operam), Lisa Nishimura (Netflix), Maren Olson (CAA), Tim Pastore (National Geographic Channels), Jeff Deutchman (Neon), Julie Rapaport (Amazon Studios), Louren o Sant'Anna (RT Features), Peter Saraf (Big Beach), Mikey Schwartz-Wright (UTA), Courtney Sexton (CNN Films), Merrill Sterritt (Cinereach), Molly Thompson (A&E Indie Films), Jamal Watson (Overbrook Entertainment), Elise Pearlstein (Participant) and Alexander Zahn (Sony Pictures Worldwide).

The Fellows and projects selected for the 2017 Feature Film Creative Producing Lab are:

Doha - The Rising Sun

Producing Fellow: Julia Thompson

Disheartened from her deportation from Europe, a young migrant worker is forced to return home to Western Sahara where she sees no other way to make a living than to join her brothers hash business. (Writer-director: Eimi Imanishi)

Julia Thompson is a New York-based writer and producer whose short films have earned international acclaim premiering at festivals such as TIFF, Clermont-Ferrand and The Atlanta Film Festival. In 2016, she co-produced Eimi Imanishi's Battalion To My Beat (2016), which won the Canal+ Award for Best International Short at Clermont-Ferrand in 2017. In 2016, Julia graduated from Columbia University's Film Program, where she won the Michael Hausman Award for Excellence in Producing. Currently Julia works in story development for National Geographic Television.

Give Up the Ghost

Producing Fellows: Allison Rose Carter & Jon Read

A small time thief falls for a woman whose past threatens to destroy them both. (Director: Tarik Karam, co-writers Tarik Karam, Peter Bognanni)

Allison Rose Carter has run the production of over 20 feature films. She got her start by living in Eyad Zahra's basement while making The Taqwacores, which had its premiere in the inaugural NEXT category at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Since then, Allison has worked with dozens of talented new voices as well as established artists such as Andrea Arnold, Oren Moverman, Josephine Decker and Demetri Martin. She works all over the world, but resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Jon Read is a freelance producer out of Brooklyn, NY. Noted work includes Andrea Arnolds American Honey, Oren Movermans The Dinner, and Demetri Martins Dean. Upcoming work includes Josephine Deckers Madeleine, Madeleine, and Dustin Guy Defas Person to Person, which recently premiered at Sundance 2017 followed by Closing Night at New Directors New Films. Jon also produced Jackson Kroopf's short film bobbyanna, which played the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand film festival.

Miss Juneteenth

Produc

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