Created in 2003 to recognize an outstanding feature film addressing ideas or characters central to science and technology, this juried prize is awarded through a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to the Sundance Institute's Science-in-Film initiative.
For over 20 years, the Science-in-Film initiative has supported emerging filmmakers whose work heightens public awareness of science in our culture, portrays the full range of humanity engaged in scientific and technological pursuits, illustrates the vital and unique role of scientists and their work in our society, and highlights the special possibilities of communicating through independent film. In addition to the prize, the Sloan-funded initiative underwrites the development of projects with science and technology themes through the Sloan Commissioning Grant, the Sloan Episodic Fellowship in the Sundance Institute Episodic Program, and the Sloan Development Fellowship in the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. Fifty-three scripts have been developed or are currently in development through this program, with numerous feature films produced and released theatrically. The initiative also expands public discourse about science and cinema through a dedicated panel at the Sundance Film Festival. Panelists and jurors over the past 21 years have included Alan Alda, Paula Apsell, Darren Aronofsky, Kerry Bish , Mike Cahill, Sean Carroll, Antonio Damasio, Ann Druyan, Jim Gaffigan, Brian Greene, Clark Gregg, Tenoch Huerta, Clifford V. Johnson, Margaret Leone, Flora Lichtman, Brit Marling, Marvin Minsky, Ethan Hawke, Sev Ohanian, Alex Rivera, Octavia Spencer, Shawn Snyder, and Yewande Pearse.
The winner of the 2025 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Cristina Costantini's SALLY.
A committee of film and science professionals selected this year's prizewinner from among the titles screening at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, basing their decision on the artistic quality of the film and the dramatization of science and technology themes and characters. The jury shared that the Cristina Costantini's SALLY was selected for its moving portrait of a pioneering scientist and a complex human being who became the first American woman to fly in space and who insisted on living her own life while negotiating the restrictive culture of NASA and the mass media, and for its engaging use of a rich archive to illuminate the secret history of an extraordinary American that reverberates to our own day.
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