Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

2021 screenwriters lab fellows

22/01/2021

PARK CITY, UTAH - Fifteen emerging storytellers from Chile, India, Kenya, Tunisia and the U.S. will convene digitally for Sundance Institute's January Screenwriters Lab, taking place online via Sundance Co//ab from January 11 -15, 2021. The Fellows will work to further develop twelve original projects, in collaboration with an experienced group of Creative Advisors. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter (Founding Director, Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program) and Ilyse McKimmie (the Program's Deputy Director), the Creative Advisors include: Scott Frank (Artistic Director), Ritesh Batra, Andrea Berloff, Rodrigo Garcia, Amanda Idoko, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Doug McGrath, Walter Mosley, Jessie Nelson, Nicole Perlman, Howard Rodman, Elena Soarez, Dana Stevens, Robin Swicord, Joan Tewkesbury, Bill Wheeler, and Tyger Williams.

At this time of unprecedented change, we're so fortunate to virtually gather this inclusive group of bold and vibrant filmmakers and Advisors for a week of story meetings, craft workshops, and life-long creative relationships that have long been a hallmark of our Labs, said Satter. We strongly believe that storytellers have the power to reimagine and rewrite the future, and we're excited to launch this next generation of filmmakers with a year-round support system beginning with the January Lab.

For over 35 years, the FFP Labs have supported and championed an exciting and ground-breaking array of independent filmmakers including Radha Blank (The 40-Year-Old Version), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Chloe Zhao (Songs My Brother Taught Me), Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats), Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl), Fernando Frias de la Parra (Im No Longer Here), Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre), Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), Edson Oda (Nine Days), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Dee Rees (Pariah), Nia DaCosta (Little Woods), Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox) and Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar (Beasts of the Southern Wild), among many others.

The projects and fellows selected for the 2021 January Screenwriters Lab are:

Black Comic-Con (U.S.A.)

Natasha Rothwell (writer/director)

Two cosplaying Blerds, Kindsey and Allen, have an epic meet-cute at Comic-Con but are separated before they learn each other's true identity. When they unknowingly meet again in real life, Kindsey must reconnect to the courage and confidence that masked-anonymity provided her in order to see what (and who) is right in front of her face.

Natasha Rothwell is a series regular and producer on Issa Raes Peabody Award-winning HBO series Insecure, for which she was nominated for a 2019 NAACP Image Award. Before that, she wrote for Saturday Night Live and went on to write and star in the original sketch series Netflix Presents: The Characters. She can also be seen in the groundbreaking hit film Love, Simon as well as Sonic The Hedgehog and Wonder Woman 1984. Rothwell is currently developing two original series for HBO which she will executive produce, in addition to writing and starring in one of them. Concurrently, she is writing the coming-of-age feature We Were There, Too with Gloria Calder n-Kellett for HBO Max, and will star in Malltown, an animated series she is executive producing alongside Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. Rothwell has voiced characters on Ducktales, Bojack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie, American Dad, Bobs Burgers, The Simpsons, and the new Nickelodeon series Baby Shark. Recipient of the 2021 Sundance Institute | Comedy Central Comedy Fellowship.

The Catch (Ghol) (India)

Rishi Chandna (writer/director)

An impoverished Muslim fisherman becomes a millionaire overnight after catching a shoal of the rare and prized Ghol fish in the polluted, nearly barren waters off the west coast of India. The newfound wealth offers him a chance to buy a bigger boat and rebuild his life, but a renewed wave of anti-Muslim sentiment threatens his plans and forces him to confront past traumas.

Rishi Chandna is a self-taught filmmaker based in Mumbai. As a writer-director-producer, he has created content that ranges from digital commercials to audio-video installations, which have shown at the MoMA, Venice Biennale of Architecture, and the MAK Museum Vienna. His debut short film, Tungrus (2018), traveled to more than 150 international festivals (including Hot Docs, BFI London Film Festival, and IDFA,) won 28 awards, and became an Oscar-qualifying documentary after winning the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival. Tungrus was released online on the NYT Op-Docs platform as well as on The Criterion Channel. Chandna's upcoming short film Party Poster is a hybrid satire about a community of laundrymen wanting to celebrate a religious festival in the face of a pandemic.

Chariot (U.S.A.)

Alyssa Loh (writer)

1958. In a purported attempt to redeem nuclear weapons, the American government embarks on a plan to blast a new harbor into the Alaskan coastline using five thermonuclear bombs - one of them 10 times the size of the weapon dropped on Hiroshima. A Native village next to ground zero must join forces with a young American scientist to face down the government and save their home from destruction. Inspired by true events.

Alyssa Loh is a writer and filmmaker whose essays on technology, surveillance, and visual culture have appeared in Artforum, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The American Reader, where she served as deputy editor. She sits on the Editorial Board of the history journal Lapham's Quarterly and has held creative residencies at dispersed holdings (NYC) and Mildred's Lane (Beach Lake, PA). She co-created the ensemble film Twelve Theses on Attention for the 2020 Glasgow International. Loh is a joint MBA/MFA (filmmaking) candidate at NYU. She holds a BA from Princeton in literature and creative writing, where she won the Ward Mathis Prize for best short story, and was se
LINK: http://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2021-screenwriters-lab-fellows...
See more stories from sundance

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

08/09/2026

IBC2026: Haivision Integrates Chyron LIVE into its Workflow

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/09/2026

Mo-Sys completes reorganisation strengthens management te...

Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...

08/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems power monitoring and multivie...

New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...

08/09/2026

Asharq migrates extended channel line-up to Pebble playou...

Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform. Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...

08/09/2026

Techex Extends its Lead in Software Defined Live Video at...

Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...

08/09/2026

Grass Valley Advances Story-Centric Media Workflows for U...

Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...

08/09/2026

BCNEXXT Showcases Latest Vipe Innovations at IBC2026 Rais...

BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...

08/09/2026

Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform Power First Active Dep...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...

08/09/2026

Brainstorm unveils major enhancements to its Suite 7 envi...

Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...

08/09/2026

Big Blue Marble Collaborates with TDF as Technology Partn...

Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...

08/09/2026

nxtedition takes agentic AI from newswire to gallery at I...

Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...

08/09/2026

Ceeblue and Layercake Expand Strategic Integration to Lau...

Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...

08/09/2026

Brainstorm launches Engram a dedicated asset management t...

Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026 - The new Synamedia - solving the business of vi...

A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...

08/09/2026

Accedo Selected by PlayOn Sports to Enhance NFHS Network...

Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...

08/09/2026

AP brings new connectivity and workflow tech to global ne...

LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...

08/09/2026

Mediagenix Personalization Curates Sports Content Around...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...

08/09/2026

Appear X5 to enable flyaway contribution for DP World Tou...

Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...

08/09/2026

Zixi and Kiloview Partner to Deliver Broadcast-Grade IP V...

Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...

08/09/2026

Quortex and NetActuate announce global agreement

Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning Quortex today announce...

08/09/2026

Orlando Magic, Gray Media Ink Full-Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/09/2026

Arvato Systems Brings TI Expertise to the Stage

Arvato Systems Brings TI Expertise to the Stage Panels, workshops, and real-world examples at the TI-SUMMIT 2026 Arvato Systems, a partner of the TI-SUMMIT 2...

08/09/2026

The internet\u2019s favourite cat comes to Apple\u00A0Arcade with Pusheen\u2019s Place - UPDATE - Posted on 08 September 2026

On October 1, Apple Arcade is rolling out a lineup of fun new games for players ...

07/09/2026

Get to Know This Fall and Winter's Filmmakers Through These 24 Sundance Institute-Supported Films

By Ramona Flume and Lucy Spicer There's a particular kind of magic that hap...

07/09/2026

HeadRush launch the FRFR Cab Series

Two new full-range, flat-response cabinets introduced HeadRush have recently introduced a pair of new full-range, flat-response cabinets designed for player...

07/09/2026

GameSoundCon 2026

Answering questions about AI in game audio GameSoundCon, the largest professional conference for video game music and sound design, have announced that they...

07/09/2026

DPA to launch the 6388 Core+

New directional headset mic on show at IBC Just ahead of this week's IBC show, DPA have announced the launch of a new directional headset that's bee...

07/09/2026

Accurate.Video rallies Iyuno to rework 35,000 media assets ahead of schedule

We are not building systems to replace human decision-making; we are building systems that execute our decisions at machine speed. The media companies that win ...

07/09/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New Lower Price for Blackmagic PYXIS 6K and Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K

Blackmagic Design Announces New Lower Price for Blackmagic PYXIS 6K and Blackmag...

07/09/2026

GB Labs to Unveil Core.ONE at IBC2026, an Intelligent Storage Platform for Media Teams

GB Labs to Unveil Core.ONE at IBC2026, an Intelligent Storage Platform for Media...

07/09/2026

Freddie Meredith joins cast of SNL UK ahead of start of Season 2

Monday 7 September 2026 Freddie Meredith joins cast of SNL UK ahead of start of Season 2 Freddie Meredith Images ZIP (3MB) Saturday Night Live UK announces ...

07/09/2026

Sky and NFTS team up to launch new routes into screen careers

Monday 7 September 2026 Sky and NFTS team up to launch new routes into screen careers Sky has today announced a new apprenticeship programme, with application...

07/09/2026

Sky Sports announces most comprehensive NFL coverage to date for the 2026/27 season

Monday 7 September 2026 Sky Sports announces most comprehensive NFL coverage to...

07/09/2026

Jnger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026

Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's first demonstration of Serial Audio Definition Model (S-ADM) in a cloud-based produ...

07/09/2026

dB Broadcast to Showcase APIS Hive at IBC 2026

dB Broadcast will showcase APIS Hive, its software platform for designing, deploying and managing modern broadcast infrastructures, at IBC 2026. Developed from...

07/09/2026

A KNOCKOUT 1.6 MILLION VIEWERS WATCHED KATIE TAYLOR'S FINAL BOUT FREE -TO -AIR ON RT2

552,000 streams on RT Player The historic fight, which saw Katie Taylor become...

06/09/2026

BS-203 MacroAcidizer from Born Second

Recreates Rolands TB-303 & MC-202 BS-203 MacroAcidizer is the first virtual instrument from Born Second, and it offers a recreation of two Roland classics -...

06/09/2026

PlayBox Technology Opens Design Partner Programme for New...

London, UK September 2026 PlayBox Technology is inviting broadcasters, OTT and FAST operators, content owners and media organisations worldwide to become De...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

05/09/2026

HEDD Audio update CTRL software

MK2 & Bass system control app improved HEDD Audio have just launched a new and improved version of the control software that pairs with their MK2 and Bass m...

05/09/2026

CALL FOR ENTRIES IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 20TH ANNUAL SOUTH AFRICAN FILM & TELEVISION AWARDS (SAFTAs20) EXTENDED

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

05/09/2026

Orlando Magic, Gray Media Ink Ful-Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/09/2026

YouTube TV Adds ESPN Unlimited

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/09/2026

InSync Brings Conversion Workflow Flexibility to IBC 2026

InSync Technology, the leading provider of premium video conversion solutions, will showcase a new generation of products at IBC 2026, designed to help broadcas...

05/09/2026

GlobalM supports quattro media and World Rowing with Glob...

GlobalM successfully supported quattro media GmbH and World Rowing, the world governing body of the Olympic sport of Rowing, with the international distribution...

05/09/2026

Scripps Research professor Chi-Huey Wong to receive ACS Alfred Bader Award

LA JOLLA, CA-In recognition of his exceptional work to understand the chemistry of carbohydrates and the role they play in health and disease, Scripps Family Ch...

04/09/2026

Business Innovation Synergizer FAQ: What applicants need to know

Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: Eluvio Showcases Global Broadcast Fabric Updates

Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...