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June Lab Convenes Filmmakers Developing Singular Feature Films
Los Angeles, CA — Filmmakers from the U.S., Lebanon, Palestine, and the United Kingdom have been selected for the 2019 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. At the Directors Lab (May 27-June 18), filmmakers will rehearse, shoot, and edit key scenes from their scripts, working in an immersive, hands-on environment with support from accomplished advisors to build their craft as directors and make key discoveries in collaboration with their actors and key crew. Immediately following, the Screenwriters Lab (June 20-24) provides the opportunity to process the insight gained from the Directors Lab through one-on-one story sessions with screenwriter advisors, and find inspiration and guidance for continued development of their screenplays.
Under the leadership of Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter and Labs Director Ilyse McKimmie, the Labs are part of a year-round continuum of customized support for Fellows, which can include creative mentorship, granting at critical stages, and strategic advice from program staff and industry professionals.
“We provide a pure workshop environment at our Lab which is a safe and generous space for developing new work,” said Satter. “This year’s cohort of artists from the U.S. and around the world will be supported as they push their boundaries and build their skills—amplifying their distinctive and singular voices within the Lab framework. The Labs are the centerpiece of our year round ecosystem of support for emerging artists.”
Advisors for the month include Robert Redford, Gyula Gazdag (Artistic Director for the Directors Lab), Sandra Adair, Scott Z. Burns, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, Sebastian Cordero, Joan Darling, Suzy Elmiger, Rick Famuyiwa, Geoffrey Fletcher, Stephen Goldblatt, Keith Gordon, Randa Haines, Ed Harris, Ken Kwapis, Christine Lahti, Sanaa Lathan, Pamela Martin, Walter Mosley, Dee Rees, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Peter Sollett, Joan Tewkesbury, Dylan Tichenor, Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, Tyger Williams, Erin Cressida Wilson and Doug Wright.
Since 1981, the Feature Film Program (FFP) has supported an extensive list of leading-edge filmmakers, including Boots Riley, Ryan Coogler, Dee Rees, Cary Fukunaga, Benh Zeitlin, Chloe Zhao, Marielle Heller, Haifaa Al Mansour, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Ritesh Batra, Paul Thomas Anderson, Miranda July and Quentin Tarantino, among many others. Lab-supported films that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival to be released this year include Before You Know It, co-written by Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock and directed by Hannah Pearl Utt, Brittany Runs a Marathon, written and directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo, The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, co-written by Joe Talbot and Rob Richert and directed by Joe Talbot, and Share, written and directed by Pippa Bianco. In addition, several Feature Film Program-supported films recently premiered and won awards at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, including House of Hummingbird, co-written and directed by Bora Kim, Initials S.G., co-written and directed by Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, The Short History of the Long Road, written and directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy and Swallow, written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis. Finally, two new films supported by FFP will have their premieres at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival: Bull, co-written by Annie Silverstein and Johnny McAllister and directed by Annie Silverstein, and The Unknown Saint, written and directed by Alaa Eldine Aljem.
The 2019 Sundance Institute Directors Lab Projects and Fellows are:
Mounia Akl- Costa Brava, Lebanon (Lebanon)
Kobi Libii- The American Society of Magical Negroes (U.S.A.)
Ihab Jadallah - The Doubt (Palestine)
Barbara Cigarroa - El Otro Lado (The Other Side)(U.S.A.)
Joey Ally-The Hater (U.S.A.)
Dionne Edwards-Pretty Red Dress (United Kingdom)
Aristotle Torres-Story Ave. (U.S.A.)
A.V. Rockwell-A Thousand and One Nights (U.S.A.)
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