Sundance Institute Announces Projects Selected for the Feature Film Program 04 January Screenwriters Lab

Sundance Institute Announces 12 Projects Selected for the Feature Film Program 2014 January Screenwriters Lab Posted Dec 17, 2013

Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for its 2014 January Screenwriters Lab, an immersive, five-day (January 10-15) writers' workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Participating independent screenwriters drawn from around the world, including the United States, Latin America, Europe, and China will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said The Sundance Institute Labs provide an environment that fosters innovation and creative risk-taking to allow artists to really take chances and push themselves and their work. The Labs are the first step in support programs that provides critical year-round and ongoing resources for some of the most talented and innovative independent artists working today.

Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, We are thrilled to welcome our new group of fellows who are telling contemporary stories about the search for identity and connection with artistic ambition and singular vision. With the guidance of an extraordinary group of Lab mentors, they have the opportunity to further develop their scripts in a setting that encourages risk taking and the craft of screenwriting. Our support continues after the Lab through a robust suite of creative and tactical initiatives tailored to their specific needs.

The Fellows will work with a distinguished group of creative advisors at the Lab, led by Artistic Director Howard Rodman, and including Dustin Lance Black, Naomi Foner, John Gatins, Michael Goldenberg, Erik Jendresen, Patty Jenkins, Kasi Lemmons, Tobias Lindholm, Walter Mosley, Marti Noxon, Jon Raymond, Susan Shilliday, Zach Sklar, Peter Straughan, Quentin Tarantino, and Bill Wheeler.

Sundance Institute Feature Film Program fellows who have recently been recognized with awards for their work include: Ryan Coogler with Fruitvale Station, Haifaa Al Mansour with Wadjda, Andrew Dosunmu with Mother of George, David Lowery with Aint Them Bodies Saints and Ritesh Batra with The Lunchbox.

The projects and Fellows selected for the 2014 January Screenwriters Lab are:

The Buried Life (U.S.A.)

Joan Stein Schimke and Averie Storck (co-writers/co-directors)

An archaeologist risks her reputation for the dig of her career, but when her rock n roll sister and overbearing father follow her to the excavation, she discovers her biggest challenge is facing whats above ground. Recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, given to a project that explores science and technology themes and characters.

Joan Stein Schimke was nominated for an Academy Award for her short film One Day Crossing, which won several other awards including the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Best Woman Student Filmmaker, Best Director, National Board of Review and the Student Academy Award Gold Medal. Other directing credits include Law and Order and the short film Solidarity, which screened at over a dozen festivals including the New York Film Festival. Stein Schimke is an MFA graduate of Columbia University's Film Program and is currently an Associate Professor at Adelphi University in New York.

Averie Storck is an MFA graduate of Columbia University's Film Program. Her award-winning short films include Live at Five , which won the New Line Cinema Development Award and screened at more than 30 international film festivals. Prior to filmmaking, Storck worked for People and Vogue magazines, was a writer for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and studied improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NYC. She currently teaches and directs at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

The Father's Shadow (Brazil)

Gabriela Amaral Almeida (writer/director)

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 is the writer/director of six short films, including The Comforting Hand and A Springtime. Almeida holds an M.A. in literature and horror cinema and majored in screenwriting at EICTV, Cuba. She has written for the directors Walter Salles and Cao Hamburger.

Lynch (U.S.A.)

Nicole Riegel (writer)

Following her rescue as an American P.O.W. in the Iraq war, Jessica Lynch embarks on a quest to uncover the truth of her captivity; in her fight to reclaim her personal narrative, she discovers a deeper identity.

Nicole Riegel is originally from Ohio and is now based in Los Angeles. Prior to writing, she served as a soldier in the United States Army. Last year she adapted Robert Boswell's short story Smoke for James Franco's company, Rabbit Bandini. She is a 2013 graduate of the UCLA MFA Graduate Film Program.

Manchild (U.S.A.)

Ryan Koo (writer/director)

A talented basketball player gets nationally ranked and must choose between schools, coaches, and belief systems all at the age of 13. Recipient of the A3 Foundation Fellowship, given to a filmmaker or project that furthers the Asian American voice in independent film.

Ryan Koos latest short film Amateur can be viewed free online at manchildfilm.com. Amateur is the prequel to the forthcoming feature Manchild, which has been supported by the Tribeca Film Institute, IFP, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For his urban western web series The West Side, Koo and co-director Zack Lieberman won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series and were named two of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Film. Koo is also the founder of the website No Film School,

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/12-projects-announced-for...
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