Reflecting on the 2026 Summer Season of Our Sundance Institute Labs

The 2026 Sundance Institute Directors Lab fellows in Estes Park, Colorado (Photo by Gabe Rovick)

Dear Friends,

This has been an extraordinary year for our artist programs and a powerful reminder of the lasting impact we have supporting artists and bringing the community together.

We celebrated the remarkable achievements of filmmakers whose creative journeys were launched through the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Labs, including Academy Award winners Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another), Chlo Zhao (Hamnet), Ryan Coogler (Sinners), and Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein). Watching these visionary writer-directors continue to push the boundaries of storytelling and connect with audiences around the world has been incredibly inspiring and deeply gratifying.

In addition, this was a truly remarkable year for our Documentary Film Program, with all five documentary feature Academy Award nominees having their films premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, including Sara Khaki's Cutting Through Rocks ( ), supported by our Documentary Film Fund. Institute artist program support also had a presence among the Cannes Film Festival's awards this year: Abinash Bikram Shah's Elephants in the Fog, developed at the 2023 January and June Screenwriters Labs, won the Jury Prize in the festival's Un Certain Regard section.

And at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony, Institute-supported projects took home both audience awards and jury prizes alike, including the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic (Josephine, supported by the Feature Film Program), the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change (The Lake, supported by the Documentary Film Program), the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble (LADY, supported by the Feature Film Program), the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence (Who Killed Alex Odeh?, supported by the Documentary Film Program), and the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression (TheyDream, supported by the Artist Accelerator Program).

This was also a year of profound loss as we honored our visionary founder, Robert Redford. He started the Institute in 1981 with our June Directors Lab, a changemaking experience for me and so many others coming together in a deeply creative community of artists. Bob's profound vision will continue to guide us, his values will remain at the heart of everything we do, and his belief in the transformative power of storytelling will always light our path forward.

As we are now at the completion of our summer lab season, I want to take a moment to reflect and express my deepest gratitude for all that our artist programs teams have accomplished over the past four months. Their continuing dedication, creativity, and unwavering commitment to the Institute's work have made it possible for independent storytellers from around the world to focus on their biggest creative challenges, amplify their unique voices, and move their bold and visionary projects forward. Together, we have created a community where artists can grow and where remarkable stories can begin their creative journey. And the labs are just the first step in what becomes an enduring relationship between the fellows and the Institute - one that grows and evolves throughout their creative journey and career.

All of our labs are made possible by the unwavering dedication of our exemplary staff and the remarkable generosity of our creative advisors, actors, crew, and essential funders who all bring their time, insight, and inspiration to help our artists thrive.

We've included links to all of the press releases for the labs, which will give you information about the exceptional artists that were supported. Please read and connect to their stories!

Feature Film Program Directors and Screenwriters Labs

(L-R) Creative advisor Colman Domingo and fellow Philip Thompson at the Directors Lab (Photo courtesy of Michelle Satter)

Our Directors Lab took place June 9-24 at the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a beautiful space for our lab before we move back next year to our legendary home, the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.

Each of our eight selected fellows brought their first feature projects that were completely unique in voice and storytelling, ranging in style, genre, and tone.

We were excited to include artists who arrived at filmmaking through other mediums, supporting rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet, author, and illustrator George Watsky on his first feature project, yellowwood. Additionally, Philip Thompson joined our lab with a background in comedy and had the opportunity to work closely with comedian and actor Derek Gaines to develop the protagonist in his mockumentary-style Dance Monkey Dance. Taylor Sanghyun Lee (Rounds) brought his first feature project to the lab after his participation in our Ignite program. We also included projects and artists from all over the world and this year had the privilege of welcoming actor Ali Suliman who traveled from Palestine to uplift the vision of director Said Zagha for his project Black Harvest.

Fellows Renee Zhan (BAOBAO), Bec Pecaut (The Terrible Child), and Roberto Fatal (Electric Homies) had previously premiered their short films at the Festival, while Joanna Rothkopf, a senior writer on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was directing her first feature script, Attachment, aka Bluey is the Warmest Color. It was beautiful to experience again that everyone had something unique to contribute to the lab, and everyone had something unique to take away from it.

Our group of creative advisors brought invaluable creative and industry experience to share with each of the fellows. Ed Harris and Colman Domingo helped to demystify the process of working with actors, an esse

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/reflecting-on-the-2026-summer-season-of...
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