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Sundance Announces 13 Projects for 2005 June Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs

Sundance Institute has announced the selection of 13 projects for the annual June Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs, which take place at the Sundance Village in Utah from May 31 – June 30. As the heart of the Sundance Institute Feature Film program, the Labs offer emerging independent directors and screenwriters the opportunity to develop new work under the guidance of experienced filmmakers in an environment that encourages innovation, collaboration, and risk-taking.

Over the course of the Filmmakers Lab, the selected eight filmmakers collaborate with professional actors and digital production crews, shooting and editing key scenes from their scripts. Through this hands-on process, the directors can do a “dress rehearsal” of their material in an atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged. Filmmakers Lab participants also take part in the week-long Screenwriters Lab, when writers involved with five additional projects join the group to participate in one-on-one story sessions with established screenwriters.

“We’re excited to be supporting such a unique group of emerging filmmakers who bring their authentic voices to stories that are bold in content and aesthetic," said Michelle Satter, Director of the Feature Film Program. "We look forward to joining them on their creative journeys and see the June Lab as a centerpiece of our year-round program. Our commitment to including international work at the Labs continues with filmmakers from places as diverse as South Africa, New Zealand, the Middle East and Pakistan.”

During the Labs, participants work with a group of accomplished creative advisors as part of a month-long mentoring process. Gyula Gazdag returns for his 9th year as Artistic Director for the Filmmakers Lab. This year’s creative advisors include: John August, Walter Bernstein, Kathryn Bigelow, Robert Caswell, Erin Cressida Wilson, Joan Darling, Anthony Drazan, Suzy Elmiger, Sally Field, John Gatins, Keith Gordon, Robbie Greenberg, Catherine Hardwicke, Robert Nelson Jacobs, Michael Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeremy Kagan, Michael Lehmann, Malia Scotch Marmo, Peter Medak, Sally Menke, Walter Mosley, Ron Nyswaner, Harold Ramis, Robert Redford, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Stewart Stern, Joan Tewkesbury, Barbara Tulliver, Jon Turteltaub, Tyger Williams, Doug Wright, and Boaz Yakin.

“As always, we are grateful to this inspired group of advisors who are willing to lend their time and expertise. It’s the combination of their experience and the creative energy of the Lab Fellows that makes the Labs so rewarding and inspiring for all who participate,” said Satter.

The participants and projects selected for the 2005 June Filmmakers Lab, May 31 – June 30, are:

Taika Waititi (writer/director), A LITTLE LIKE LOVE, New Zealand: For two awkward misfits, life is the question, and love is the answer.

Taika Waititi is of Te Whanau-A-Apanui descent, from the east coast of New Zealand and directed the Academy-Award nominated short TWO CARS ONE NIGHT.

Cruz Angeles (co-writer/director) and Maria Topete (co-writer), DON’T LET ME DROWN: In a post-September 11th world overflowing with fear and hate, two Latino teens discover that sometimes the only thing that can keep them from drowning is love.

Born in Mexico City and raised in Los Angeles, Cruz Angeles is an award-winning student filmmaker from the graduate film program at NYU. A Bay Area native, Maria Topete began her film career while studying at U.C. Berkeley, and has collaborated as co-writer and producer on several award-winning short films.

Dante Harper (writer/director), DREAMLAND: An unflinching portrayal of the origins of domestic terrorism, DREAMLAND is the tragic story of Tim McVeigh, from his boyhood dreams of being a soldier to his life as a man at war with his own country.

Dante Harper is an independent filmmaker, video artist and co-founder of CLC Films and director of the independent film THE DELICATE ART OF THE RIFLE.

Andrew Dosunmu (director) and Darci Picoult (Writer), MOTHER OF GEORGE: Torn between her African culture and new life in America, a woman struggles to please her husband and give him the son that will carry on his family's legacy.

Originally from Nigeria, Andrew Dosunmu has photographed artists including Outkast, Erykah Badu, and Mos Def and recently directed several episodes of the highly acclaimed South African television series YIZO YIZO 3.

Darci Picoult lives in New York and her one woman show, MY VIRGINIA, was presented in theaters and solo festivals both nationally and internationally.

Catherine Stewart (writer/director), ANSIT CAFÉ, South Africa: Set in post-apartheid South Africa amid a volatile landscape of fear, hybrid cultures, and shifting identities, three unusual love stories intertwine with startling results on the streets of Johannesburg.

Catherine Stewart received an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University in New York City before returning to Johannesburg to direct documentaries and the thirteen-part dramatic television series TSHA TSHA.

Eva Husson (writer/director), TINY DANCER: In Spanish Harlem, a talented high-school girl struggles to find the right balance between her overpowering family, her need for love, and her passion for contemporary dance.

Eva Husson attended the Sorbonne-Nouvelle University in Paris before graduating from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, where she wrote and directed the award-winning short film HOPE TO DIE.

Stew (co-writer/director) and Heidi Rodewald (co-writer), WE CAN SEE TODAY: The vibrant and authentic story of the deeply intimate and complex relationship between two families – one black, one Jewish – living in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles circa 1973.

Stew is a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter whose releases have won numerous “Album of the Year” accolades. Born in Pomona, California, Heidi Rodewald is the other half of the multi-disciplinary art team known as STEW.

Ryan Eslinger (writer/director), WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST: The lives of three lonely men intersect as they struggle to overcome their deepening isolation and search for connection.

Los Angeles resident Ryan Eslinger directed his first feature, MADNESS AND GENIUS, at the age of 23.

These filmmakers will be joined at the 2005 June Screenwriters Lab by the following participants and projects:

Martin Moran (writer), CELESTIAL NAVIGATION: Celestial Navigation is the story of a Roman Catholic boy's sexual relationship with an older man and its effect on the man he becomes.

Martin Moran grew up in Denver and attended Stanford University and The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He won a 2004 Obie Award for his one man play, THE TRICKY PART, which was developed at The Sundance Theater Lab.

Jake Mahaffy (writer/director), FREE IN DEED: Three years after attempting to perform a miracle in Oil City, a religious man returns to confront the town's few remaining residents with the reasons for his criminal act.

Born in Ohio and currently residing in southwest Virginia, Jake Mahaffy has made award winning short films and the feature-length WAR.

Sabiha Sumar (writer/director), RAFINA, Pakistan: Rafina is the story of a young woman struggling to define herself in a new, emerging Pakistan - a Pakistan that is steeped in a timeless way of life and, at the same time, is in the throes of cataclysmic change.

Born in Karachi, Sabiha Sumar studied Filmmaking and Political Science at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and then studied International Relations at the University of Cambridge. KHAMOSH PANI (SILENT WATERS), her first feature film premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2003 where it won the Golden Leopard for Best Film, Leopard for Best Actress and three other awards.

Annemarie Jacir (writer/director), SALT OF THIS SEA, U.S.A./Palestinian: A Palestinian-American girl, intent on asserting her right of return, travels to the West Bank and meets a dynamic young man who joins her on an adventure journeying across borders.

Palestinian-American filmmaker Annemarie Jacir has written, directed and produced both narrative and documentary shorts.

Salvatore Stabile (writer/director), WHERE GOD LEFT HIS SHOES: A struggling ex-boxer and his family, desperate to leave the shelter they've been living in, get a Christmas Eve gift of an apartment to call their own - but only if Dad can find a job by the end of the day.

New York native and LA resident Salvatore Stabile made his directing debut when he was 21 years old with the film GRAVESEND.

The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program receives major support from The Annenberg Foundation, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sundance Institute gratefully acknowledges the generous assistance provided by Alice Arlen, John August, Directors Guild of America, James V. Hart, HBO, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Richard LaGravenese, MTV Films, Panavision Digital Imaging, PBS, SAG Indie/Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild of America, west for their support of the 2005 Feature Film Labs. The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program would like to thank the following companies for their recent contributions Avid, Deluxe Laboratories, E-film, Eastman-Kodak Film, Pacific Title and Panavision. The Sundance Institute also recognizes the generous support provided by its Board of Trustees and by contributors to the Sundance Alumni and Filmmaker Fellowship Fund.

The June Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs are part of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, a year-round program dedicated to supporting artist development and the advancement of distinctive, singular independent projects. Each year 20-25 emerging filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad participate in the program which includes the Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs, ongoing creative and practical advice, the post-production initiative, and financial support through fellowship opportunities. In many cases, the Institute has helped filmmakers find a producer, financing and other significant resources, helping to bring these projects into production. The Feature Film Program also presents the Screenplay Reading Series, in Los Angeles and New York, which provides a valuable opportunity for writers to hear their scripts read aloud by professional actors.

In the past several years, the Feature Film Program has supported the work of numerous emerging independent filmmakers, including Miranda July’s ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and scheduled for release by IFC Films this June; Ira Sachs’ FORTY SHADES OF BLUE, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival; and Hany Abu-Assad’s PARADISE NOW, winner of the Blue Angel and Amnesty International Prizes at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival and scheduled for release by Warner Independent Pictures this Fall.

A number of projects supported by the Feature Film Program are currently in post-production: SHALL NOT WANT, Laurie Collyer’s narrative directorial debut starring Maggie Gyllenhaal; HARSH TIMES, David Ayer’s directorial debut starring Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez and DOWN IN THE VALLEY, David Jacobson’s sophomore directorial effort starring Edward Norton and Evan Rachel Wood which is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. Projects supported by the Feature Film Program in pre-production include THE MINDER, the first feature from 2005 Sundance/NHK Latin America Award winner Rodrigo Moreno; and SWEET MUD, Israeli filmmaker Dror Shaul’s sophomore directorial effort.

Updated: 05/10/2005

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