The Sundance Institute has revealed the fellows for the 2025 directors, screenwriters and Native labs. The Native lab begins in-person April 28 through May 3 in Santa Fe, N.M. while the directors lab returns for its 45th anniversary June 1 through 16 in Estes Park, Colo. The 2025 screenwriters lab will be held online from June 24 through 27, offering filmmakers an “Immersive environment to develop their projects and refine their artistic voice under the guidance of accomplished creative advisors,” according to a press release.
The 2025 Native lab fellows are: Jared Lank, (Mi’kmaq), Isabella Dionne Madrigal (Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), Alex Nystrom (Ojibwe) and Jordan Waunch (Métis). The 2025 Native lab artists-in-residence are Sabrina Saleha (Diné) and Svetlana Romanova (Sakha/Even). All six filmmakers will receive guidance from creative advisors including Bryson Chun (Kanaka Maoli), Sarah Friedland, Kiva Reardon, and Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga). The Native Lab is overseen by Sundance Institute Indigenous program director Adam Piron (Kiowa and Mohawk) and senior program manager Ianeta Le’i.
“Every year our team selects a cross-section of bold, diverse Indigenous storytellers and committed advisors, and it’s always rewarding when we gather in Santa Fe to discuss storytelling and development because this process involves trust and reveals unexpected breakthroughs every time,” said Piron. “We are looking forward to supporting this year’s fellows and to see how they support each other in challenging themselves, reimagining their work, and deepening their relationship to how Indigeneity factors into their work.”
The directors lab, in its second year at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, is led by artistic director Gyula Gazda. This year’s advisor cohort includes Joan Darling, Rick Famuyiwa, Jomo Fray, Keith Gordon, Catherine Hardwicke, Ed Harris, Nicole Holofcener, Karyn Kusama, Christine Lahti, Kasi Lemmons, Jason Reitman, Estes Tarver, Joi McMillon, Nancy Richardson and Amy Vincent.
The screenwriters lab will be led by artistic director Howard Rodman, and the Screenwriters Lab advisor cohort includes Haifaa Al Mansour, John August, Andrea Berloff, Reggie Rock Bythewood, D.V. DeVincentis, Stephen Gaghan, John Gatins, Jenny Lumet, Darnell Martin, Joan Tewkesbury, Robin Swicord and Bill Wheeler. The directors and screenwriters labs are overseen by Michelle Satter, Sundance Institute founding senior director of artist programs, and Ilyse McKimmie, Sundance Institute deputy director of the feature film program.
The 2025 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab fellows are: Leo Aguirre with “Verano,” Chheangkea with “Little Phnom Penh,” Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker with “The Dispute,” Roberto Fatal with “Electric Homies,” Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs with “High Steel,” Diffan Sina Norman with “Sitora,” Alexandra Qin with “Thirstygirl,” Chloe Sarbib with “Trou Normand,” Katla Sólnes with “Eruption,” and Lana Wilson with with “Back Seat.”
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