Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select 9 Fellows for 04 Artist Support Grants

Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select 9 Fellows for 2014 Artist Support Grants Since 2007, Time Warner Foundation has supported more than 45 artists through Sundance Institute

Posted Jul 8, 2014

Park City, UT Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced today the nine artists selected for the 2014 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program, including two artists selected for the Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Native Producing Fellowship.

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 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 Native Producing Fellowship addresses the need to deepen the field of Native American and Indigenous film producers who can engage with the marketplace while supporting independent artists in their development processes.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, With Time Warner Foundation's critical support, Sundance Institute is able to foster independent storytellers from diverse backgrounds with distinctive and original voices. Our collaboration through the Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program has nurtured exceptional artists like Ryan Coogler, Aurora Guerrero and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who have shared their award-winning work with audiences around the world.

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.

The 2014 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows are:

Jongnic Bontemps (Film Music Program) Jongnic Bontemps has scored numerous films including the award-winning Daughter of Fortune, A Different Tree, Soaring on Invisible Wings and Saudade. His scores incorporate ethnic instruments with organic and synthetic textures to create a unique musical world for a film. Through the Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship he was able to hire an orchestra and record live scores for two short films, Roubado and Para Ellos.

Chanda Dancy (Film Music Program) Film composer Chanda Dancy is known for her rich musical scores, providing engaging music for films playing in festivals such as Cannes, Tribecca and Sundance. Besides composing, Chanda is also a versatile multi-instrumentalist and gifted vocalist, having performed across the United States. The Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship included support for Chanda and the opening of CYD Post (pronounced sid ), a company she founded that is dedicated to providing music and sound artistry for films and various other multimedia platforms.

Sydney Freeland, Drunktown's Finest (Native American and Indigenous Program) Three young Native Americans a rebellious father-to-be, a devout Christian woman, and a promiscuous transsexual strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation. Cast: Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore, Morningstar Angeline, Kiowa Gordon, Shauna Baker, Elizabeth Francis. The film made its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and its UK premiere at the Sundance London film and music festival.

Sydney Freeland (Navajo) is an independent filmmaker and has worked for a number of companies including The Food Network, Comedy Central, Office Max, Audi, National Geographic, PBS and Walt Disney. She is also a recipient of the following awards: 2010 Sundance Screenwriting Fellowship, 2010 Sundance Directing Fellowship, 2010 Eccles Directing Fellowship, 2009 Sundance Native American Lab Fellowship, 2008 Disney Fellowship semi-finalist, 2007 Disney Scholarship recipient, and is a 2004 Fulbright Scholar. Sydney currently lives and works in Los Angeles. In July of 2014, her film Drunktown's Finest will screen in New York at the Museum of Modern Art as part of Sundance Institute's yearlong celebration of its Native American and Indigenous Program's 20th Anniversary.

Cody Harjo, In The Time of Occupy (Native American and Indigenous Program)

Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Native Producing Fellow In the Time of Occupy introduces Jim Anders, an investment banker specializing in high-end deals for Indian Country. He has a determination to succeed that only those from extreme hardship possess. Jim's wayward cousin, Josh, is a participant of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and currently an unwanted houseguest. While Jim tries to disregard the rising movement and Josh's politics, he learns that his latest tribal casino deal is falling apart. The brilliant lawyer sent to renegotiate on the tribe's behalf is his ex fianc .

Cody Harjo (Seminole/Otoe/Creek/Cherokee/Iowa) holds a Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College, where she received the Alexander Laing Memorial Prize for Excellence in Screenwriting. She currently resides in New York City. Harjo wrote the dystopian film The Migration which was directed by Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellow Sydney Freeland in 2012.

Christina D. King, Warrior Women (Native American and Indigenous Program)

Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Native Producing Fellow Warrior Women is the story of American Indian Movement activists who fought for civil rights in the 1970's and the children who were their inspiration and cohorts. Throug

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-time-w...
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