Sundance Institute Selects 13 Projects for June Directors and Screenwriters Labs Part of 10 Summer Labs the Institute will Lead for Independent Artists in Film and TheatrePosted May 8, 2014
Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the 13 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 26 through June 26. The Labs are the centerpiece of the Institute's year-round work with narrative feature filmmakers and are part of 10 residential labs the Institute will host for artists this summer, collectively representing the most promising new independent film and theatre projects.
Projects and participants selected for the 2014 Directors and Screenwriters Labs are from the United States, Brazil, Europe, China, India, Vietnam and Mexico. The Directors Lab fellows are: Gabriela Amaral Almeida, The Father's Shadow (Brazil); Jordana Spiro and Angelica Nwandu, Night Comes On (U.S.A.); Sofia Exarchou, Park (Greece); Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$ (U.S.A.); Oorlagh George, Stranger with a Camera (U.S.A. / Northern Ireland): Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Swiss Army Man (U.S.A.); Johnny Ma, Ten Thousand Happiness (U.S.A. / China / Canada); Jeremiah Zagar and Daniel Kitrosser, We the Animals (U.S.A.).
The Screenwriter Lab fellows are: Ana Lily Amirpour, The Bad Batch (U.S.A.); Karrie Crouse and Will Joines, Dust (U.S.A.); Fernando Frias, I'm Already Not Here (U.S.A. / Mexico); Hong Khaou, Monsoon (Vietnam / UK); and Vasan Bala, Side Hero (India).
At the Directors Lab and under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors, professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from their screenplays. Through this concentrated, hands-on process, the Fellows workshop their scripts, collaborate with actors, and find a visual storytelling language for their films. Directors Lab Fellows join five additional projects for the week-long Screenwriters Lab, where they participate in individualized story sessions under the guidance of established screenwriters.
Creative Advisors include Robert Redford, Michael Arndt, Miguel Arteta, John August, Walter Bernstein, Kathryn Bigelow, Scott Z. Burns, Joan Darling, Deena Goldstone, Keith Gordon, Catherine Hardwicke, Ed Harris, Azazel Jacobs, Brian Kates, Christine Lahti, Kasi Lemmons, Josh Marston, Pamela Martin, Walter Mosley, Howard Rodman, Ira Sachs, Marjane Satrapi, Susan Shilliday, Peter Sollett, Dana Stevens, Wesley Strick, Chris Terrio, Joan Tewkesbury, Athina Tsangari, Tyger Williams, and Erin Cressida Wilson.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, For more than 30 years, the Institute labs have challenged and fostered creative voices from around the world. Our lab mentorship continues to serve a critical role in facilitating artist development in a place where they can take risks, challenge norms and grow to produce the best work they can.
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, We are excited to support this group of singular artists from all over the world who are compelled to tell bold, relevant and impactful stories in a range of genres. It is humbling to embark on a creative journey with these talented storytellers to refine, challenge and advance their ground-breaking work, starting with the Lab and supporting them throughout the life cycle of their films.
Projects supported through the Directors and Screenwriters Labs receive continued, customized, year-round support from the Feature Film Program, which can include the following resources: ongoing creative and strategic advice, significant production and postproduction resources, the Screenplay Reading Series, the Work in Progress Screening Initiative and direct financial support through project-specific grants and artist fellowships.
In addition to the Directors and Screenwriters Labs, the Institute offers labs throughout the year and around the world for independent directors, screenwriters, documentary editors, composers, playwrights, producers and New Frontier artists.
Artists and projects selected for the 2014 Directors Lab (May 26 June 19) are:
Gabriela Amaral Almeida (writer/director) / The Father's Shadow (Brazil): A nine-year-old girl with strange powers and an obsession with horror films attempts to bring her mother back from the dead as a means of connecting with her sick father.
Gabriela Amaral Almeida is a Brazilian screenwriter and director. She has directed seven short films, including The Comforting Hand and One Spring, which have screened at over 80 international film festivals. She has worked as a screenwriter for directors including Cao Hamburger, S rgio Machado, and Marcia Faria, and is currently writing the screenplay for Walter Salles' next feature.
Jordana Spiro (co-writer/director) and Angelica Nwandu (co-writer) / Night Comes On (U.S.A.): Angel is released from juvenile hall on her 18th birthday with a single focus: shoot the man who killed her mother.
Jordana Spiro is a writer, director, and actress currently finishing her MFA in Film at Columbia University. Her short film Skin won the Women in Film Grant at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and screened at several other festivals including SXSW, Telluride, Palm Springs, and AFI. As an actress, she has starred in numerous films and television series, and studied drama at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Originally from Nigeria, Angelica Nwandu has travelled around the world as an advocate for foster youth after her own 12 years' experience living in foster care. A recent graduate of Loyola Marymount University, she
