
Los Angeles, CA - November 24, 2020 - Sundance Institute and Peter Luo's Starlight Media ( Crazy Rich Asians, Midway, Marshall, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ) have partnered to launch a new grant program supporting diverse filmmakers: Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Granting Fund.
Both Starlight and Sundance Institute share a deep commitment to supporting artists from historically marginalized communities. Tapping into an initial fund of $200,000 provided by Starlight, this new program will provide unrestricted grants, ranging from $1,500 - $10,000, to diverse filmmakers working in nonfiction and fiction. The grantees will be chosen by Sundance Institute staff and an external committee from a pool of applicants currently receiving creative and tactical support through Institute programs. The non-recoupable grants will focus on critical development support as well as urgent needs in advancing projects forward through pre-production, production, post-production, and self-distribution.
Applications will be open on a rolling basis, allowing filmmakers to apply for support when needed. Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program, Feature Film Program, and Outreach and Inclusion teams will work together with Starlight s Creative Executive, Juefang Jennifer Zhang on this partnership.
The Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Granting Fund furthers Starlight's ongoing mission to support emerging filmmakers.
Starlight's umbrella Stars Collective' program was launched earlier this year to amplify diverse voices, with a central focus on promoting the next generation of aspiring diverse filmmakers and creative storytellers. The program supports 30-50 emerging filmmakers with a multi-million dollar fund, and will involve established filmmakers on an advisory commission becoming creative mentors for the emerging filmmakers.
Said Peter Luo, Our goal is to create impact within the film industry and support diverse artists at all stages of development. Sundance Institute is a powerful ally in helping this come to fruition as they have the infrastructure to identify artists and projects through its current roster of artists from across all of its program Labs, Intensives and Film Festival. During this challenging time in the world, we very much look forward to providing assistance and opportunities for the next generation of storytellers.
Said Michelle Satter, Sundance Institute's Founding Director, Feature Film Program, We're excited to join Starlight in their commitment to supporting filmmakers during these uncertain times, when support for independent voices is both historically challenging and crucial. This partnership will provide meaningful grants to diverse filmmakers, ensuring that there will be powerful, enduring stories from vibrant, diverse perspectives in the years to come.
Applications for Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Granting Fund will be available beginning December 1, 2020. Interested applicants are required to email dfp@sundance.org to confirm eligibility and receive an application code.
About Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories for the stage and screen, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institutes signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs which are dedicated to developing new work and take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally, are supported largely through contributed revenue. Sundance Co//ab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Wont You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
About Starlight
An advocate for bringing Asian culture to Hollywood, Starlight CEO Peter Luo operates out of the company's offices in Beverly Hills, and has brokered content deals with prominent filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis, Sam Raimi, Sylvester Stallone, James Wan, F. Gary Gray, Roland Emmerich, and Jon M. Chu.
Starlight has been involved in a wide range of critically and commercially successful films including Marshall, starring Chadwick Boseman; John Chu's Crazy Rich Asians , the sci/fi horror hit Greta , starring Chloe Grace Moretz; Midway , the WWII action/drama starring Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, and Luke Evans; and the horror/mystery/thriller Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from Guillermo del Toro.
Upcoming films for Starlight include the supernatural horror film UMMA for Sony Pictures, which is a Starlight collaboration with Sam Rami, and stars Sandra Oh; an action/crime/thriller trilogy starring Thai martial arts and action star Tony Jaa; and the crime/action/thriller Golden Empire, starring Donnie Yen as the world's most successful multinational drug lord.
# # #
Media Contacts
For Starlight
Dennis Dembia
Rogers & Cowan / PMK
dennis.dembia@rogersandcowanpmk.com
For Sundance Institute
Tammie Rosen
tammie_rosen@sundance.org
North America Stories
25/08/2026
Open, Sustainable, Predictable: What Utah Scientific Is Bringing to IBC 2026 As broadcast leaders prepare to gather at the RAI Amsterdam for IBC 2026, the main ...
25/08/2026
NC State's Matthew Byrd breaks down how an IP-based infrastructure is delivering greater flexibility and scalability for Wolfpack productions...
25/08/2026
Deal expands the DTC reach in-market of Capitals, Wizards, Mystics games and oth...
25/08/2026
The two-year renovation period will create a stadium of the future for the NFL f...
25/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
25/08/2026
Shell Energy Stadium in Houston has installed a new L-Acoustics A Series loudspeaker system, designed and installed by LD Systems, a Clair Global brand. The 20,...
25/08/2026
FloCollege is expanding its distribution and product offerings for the 2026-27 season, covering more than 20 NCAA partner conferences across Division I, II, and...
25/08/2026
TNA Wrestling and REVOLT have announced a content partnership bringing exclusive TNA Xplosion matches and content from TNA's library to REVOLT.
Our indust...
25/08/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its Q3 2026 Data Hub analysis showing that FAST sports programming is growing at more than ...
25/08/2026
Amagi has appointed Thomas d'H rouville as Head of Sales for France, Benelux, and Nordics. Based in Paris, he will lead Amagi's growth strategy across t...
25/08/2026
IPC has appointed CCATech as its channel partner in Brazil, expanding the company's presence in Latin America. CCATech was founded in 2023 by Carlos Abrah o...
25/08/2026
FanConnect has announced the FC4, a multi-output media player designed to drive mid-sized video walls, multi-screen concession stands, and multi-display digital...
25/08/2026
JWX has launched JWX Content Hub, a platform for publisher video that combines content transformation, social distribution, audience engagement, and monetizatio...
25/08/2026
Techex has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer. Almond brings more than 25 years of experience across technology, media, and telecommunications, ha...
25/08/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate infrastructure connecting SDI, SMPTE ST 2110, MXL, and software-based processing at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September...
25/08/2026
Franchises are taking greater ownership of production, distribution, and the fan...
25/08/2026
The first-year circuit for former professional athletes leans on LiveU, Starlink...
25/08/2026
Announcing the 2026 Sundance Institute Breakthrough | Focus Features Fellows
L...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Lingopal, the AI-powered live translation and localization specialist, is unveiling new platform capabilities at IBC2026 (11 14 September, RAI Amsterdam), helpi...
25/08/2026
Bminty is supporting TV5MONDE in the evolution of its editorial processes through a new AI-assisted press information generation solution. Combining the Louise ...
25/08/2026
Two Cultures. Millions Reached. One Berklee Connection. Meet Annie Dickinson and Zhengxi Zhang-the couple who turned their creative partnership into music car...
25/08/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced that Law&Crime has migrated its Court TV channel, s...
25/08/2026
Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast and media industry, is showcasing the breadth of its ca...
25/08/2026
Thatcham, UK 25 August 2026: Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced that leading broadcast rental company Minitech has purchased a Le...
25/08/2026
Appear's X20 Platform enables visually lossless video contribution with sub-frame latency and full path redundancy for TVTEL's centralised VAR operation...
25/08/2026
World-first demonstration combines 5G Broadcast and Media over QUIC for seamless, ultra-low-latency hybrid media delivery
Big Blue Marble will showcase new dev...
25/08/2026
MNC Software, a global leader in network management and operational support systems tailored to the broadcast and media industry, will showcase its complete sof...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/08/2026
Company to Demonstrate Practical AI Applications That Add Value Today and Longer-Term Path Toward Agentic AI
At IBC2026 (Sept. 11 14, RAI Amsterdam, Stand #1.B...
25/08/2026
Serving South Florida with a unique blend of jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, reggae, blues, and culturally reflective programming, WDNA 88.9FM operates as both a tradi...
25/08/2026
GlobalM announced that it is integrating its GMX software-defined media platform with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), bringing together Oracle's global c...
25/08/2026
NVIDIA is bringing the next wave of RTX gaming to the Gamescom conference running this week in Cologne, Germany, with support for new games, anti-cheat technolo...
24/08/2026
Co-authors Mike Soltys and Garrett Sutton reflect on Rasmussen's vision, intentional optimism,' and fan-first philosophy following his death last week...
24/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/08/2026
As the broadcast industry moves toward more flexible production platforms, Calrec will present its evolving audio ecosystem at IBC 2026, on Stand 8.C47. The dem...
24/08/2026
Stop Using Boring Static Highlights - Pro After Effects Workflow
Graham Quince August 24, 2026
0 Comments
Did you know you can use After Effects expre...
24/08/2026
Paledusk Performance Captured with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton August 24, 2026
0 Comments
Creative production company THINGS. brings the band'...
24/08/2026
According to OpenRouter data, agentic AI workloads consume 15x more tokens than ...
24/08/2026
The next era of AI inference won't be defined by a single breakthrough chip,...
24/08/2026
To generate intelligence at scale, AI factories run continuously, and their economics are defined by delivered output: tokens per second, tokens per watt, cost ...
22/08/2026
O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dave Franco, and Mason Thames appear in Idiots by Macon Blair, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of ...