Sundance Institute Announces 2024 Fellows for Native, Directors and Screenwriters Labs

Lexi Carson The Sundance Institute, a mentorship program dedicated to providing a space for artists and storytellers to create media, has selected 16 fellows for this year’s Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Labs. Spanning over four decades, the Sundance Institute’s labs have provided new filmmakers a hands-on experience to create their own work with the help and guidance of creative advisers. This year’s Native Lab fellows include Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Ryland Walker Knight, Charine Pilar Gonzales and Lindsay McIntyre.

The Directors Lab fellows are Keisha Rae Witherspoon, Jane Casey Modderno, Sylvia Khoury, Diana Peralta, Hanna Gray Organschi, Sara Crow, David Rafailedes, Claire Fowler and Ramzi Bashour. The Screenwriters Lab fellows are Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Kristine Gerolaga and Urvashi Pathania. The Native Lab will take place in Santa Fe, N.M.

from April 29 to May 4. This lab was created for people of Native and Indigenous backgrounds to focus on their indigeneity storytelling. Four fellows were selected, along with two artists: Fox Maxy and Shea Vassar.

The creative advisors are Patrick Brice, Tai Leclaire, Kishori Rajan and Jon Raymond. Fellows will fine-tune their feature film with the help of roundtable discussions from advisors. The Directors Lab is led by artistic director Gyula Gazdag and will take place in Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.

from May 7 to 22. During this lab, fellows will engage in workshops to shoot and edit scenes from the original screenplays. They will also practice directing actors, revising their script and honing their visual style.

The advisor cohort includes Miguel Arteta, Joan Darling, Rick Famuyiwa, Stephen Goldblatt, Keith Gordon, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Andrew Haigh, Randa Haines, Ed Harris, Siân Heder, André Holland, Karyn Kusama, Pam Martin, Estes Tarver and Dylan Tichenor. Led by artistic director Howard Rodman, the Screenwriters Lab will be held online from June 4 to 7, where fellows will polish their scripts in individual story sessions with screenwriter advisors. The advisor cohort includes John August, Scott Z.