Los Angeles, CA - Fifteen emerging screenwriters will come together at Sundance Institute's 2017 Screenwriters Lab, an immersive writers' workshop announced today and taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah January 13-18, 2017. Drawn from around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, and Iran, selected screenwriters will have the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an environment that embraces creative risk-taking and the art and craft of cinematic storytelling. Under the leadership of Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter and Labs Director Ilyse McKimmie, the fellows will work with a distinguished group of Creative Advisors at the Lab. With Howard Rodman as the Artistic Director, the group of Advisors includes Thomas Bidegain, Sebastian Cordero, DV DeVincentis, Naomi Foner, Susannah Grant, Erik Jendresen, Kasi Lemmons, Walter Mosley, Nicole Perlman, Jose Rivera, Susan Shilliday, Zachary Sklar, Robin Swicord, Joan Tewkesbury, Audrey Wells, Bill Wheeler, and Tyger Williams.
In a time when the core values that Sundance champions - freedom of expression, inclusion, empathy - are as important as theyve ever been, we are thrilled to be supporting this group of singular storytellers whose bold and personal work exemplifies those ideals, said Satter. As a whole, they reflect the consistent breadth and artistry of diverse perspectives in independent storytelling,
Eight films supported by the Feature Film Program will premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The U.S. Dramatic Competition will feature: Beach Rats, written and directed by Eliza Hittman; Burning Sands, co-written by Christine Berg and Gerard McMurray and directed by Gerard McMurray; Crown Heights, written and directed by Matt Ruskin; and Patti Cake$, written and directed by Geremy Jasper. The World Cinema Dramatic Competition will include I Dream in Another Language, written by Carlos Contreras and directed by Ernesto Contreras. The NEXT section will feature Dayveon, co-written by Amman Abbasi and Steven Reneau and directed by Amman Abbasi, and Deidra and Laney Rob a Train, written by Shelby Farrell and directed by Sydney Freeland. In addition, the Premieres section will include Mudbound, co-written by Virgil Williams, Dee Rees, and Hillary Jordan and directed by Dee Rees.
The projects and fellows selected for the 2017 January Screenwriters Lab are:
The 40-Year-Old Version (U.S.A.) / Radha Blank (writer/director): The 40-Year Old Version tells the story of a down-on-her-luck New York playwright who decides that the only way to salvage her artistic voice is to become a rapper....at age 40.
Radha Blank is a playwright, performer and writer for television and film. She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Sundance UCROSS Playwrights Retreat, the Helen Merrill Award, the NEA New Play Development Award, and BlackStar Film Festivals Best Screenplay Award, among others. Blank also performs as emcee RadhaMUSprime, whose brand of Ghost-Face-Killah-meets-Moms-Mabley hip hop comedy has sold out shows from New York to Norway. Blank has written for Baz Lurhmann's The Get Down, Lee Daniels Empire, and most recently worked as writer/co-producer for Spike Lee's upcoming Netflix series, She's Gotta Have It.
After Love (U.K.) / Aleem Khan (writer/director): When Mary is suddenly widowed after decades of marriage to her Pakistani husband, she discovers he has a secret family living just across the English Channel in Calais. As she sets out to meet her husbands mistress, Mary navigates her new reality and the Muslim faith she embraced for her husband many years ago.
Aleem Khan is a writer-director of mixed English-Pakistani heritage, based in London. He studied Film Direction at The University of Westminster before shooting his debut short film, Diana, which garnered several awards and screened at over 30 festivals internationally. Khan's most recent short film, Three Brothers, premiered at The BFI London Film Festival and received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Short Film in 2015. More recently, he was named one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow and has been selected to participate on Guiding Lights, The UK film industry's leading high level mentoring scheme.
Bell (U.S.A.) / Darcy Brislin and Dyana Winkler (co-writers): At a pivotal point in history, hearing society began a golden age of communication with the advent of the telephone, while deaf society plummeted into a dark age with the eradication of sign language and spread of eugenics. At the helm of both trajectories stands a single man-Alexander Graham Bell. This project is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship.
A Boston native, Darcy Brislin studied Art History and French at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She received an MFA in screenwriting and directing from EICAR, the International Film School of Paris, where she met co-writer Dyana Winkler. Currently based in Los Angeles, Brislin has written screenplays with Sundance award-winning director Ondi Timoner and has a feature film in development entitled Crown Chasers, with Maria Bello attached to produce.
Dyana Winkler is a writer, director, producer based in Brooklyn. Her most recent film, a feature-length documentary entitled United Skates, is currently in post production and has received awards from the Sundance Institute, New York State Council For the Arts, Fledgling Foundation, Film Independent, Chicken & Egg, IFP, and many more. Winkler met her writing partner, Darcy Brislin, in Paris, France, while completing their MFAs in screenwriting and directing, and discovered their shared passion for casting new light on historical figures. They went on to write their first screenplay Turing, a
