At our signature labs this spring, emerging artists will develop original projects under the guidance of accomplished advisors
PARK CITY, UTAH, April 29, 2024 — The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the fellows selected for the 2024 Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Labs. The Native Lab in New Mexico will support four fellows and two artists in residence, and the Directors Lab in Colorado will support the development of eight projects with nine fellows, with an additional three fellows also joining for the online Screenwriters Lab held immediately after.
For over four decades, Sundance Institute’s signature labs have provided burgeoning filmmakers a nurturing, immersive environment to develop their projects and refine their artistic voice under the guidance of accomplished creative advisors.
The 2024 Native Lab, taking place in person in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from April 29–May 4, is designed for participants of Native and Indigenous backgrounds and focuses on centering Indigeneity in their storytelling. Fellows will build community and refine their feature film and episodic scripts through one-on-one feedback sections and roundtable discussions with advisors. Four fellows were selected: three who are U.S.-based, and another from Canada. Also attending will be two artists in residence, Fox Maxy (Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians and Payómkawish) and Shea Vassar (Cherokee), experiencing the lab while in script development. This year’s Native Lab creative advisors are Patrick Brice, Tai Leclaire (Mohawk and Mi’kmaq), Kishori Rajan, and Jon Raymond.
“Our Indigenous Program team looks forward to returning to Santa Fe to spend a week supporting some of the best and brightest Indigenous artists working today,” said Adam Piron, Director of Indigenous Program. “This group is diverse in the work they are bringing to develop and in how their Indigeneity shapes it — their differences are their strengths. We can’t wait to see what those combined strengths help them add to each other’s projects as they collaborate with each other and with our creative advisors.”
The 2024 Directors Lab will take place May 7–22 in person at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which is hosting a Sundance Institute program for the very first time with support from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). During the Directors Lab, filmmakers will rehearse, shoot, and edit selected scenes from their work-in-progress original screenplays in a workshop environment with support from experienced creative advisors. Directors focus on core elements of filmmaking, including directing actors, workshopping their scripts, and defining their visual language. Led by Artistic Director Gyula Gazdag, the Directors Lab 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.
The 2024 Screenwriters Lab will be held online from June 4–7, where fellows will refine their scripts through individual story sessions with screenwriter advisors and group sessions on the art and craft of screenwriting. Led by Artistic Director Howard Rodman, the Screenwriters Lab advisor cohort includes John August, Scott Z. Burns, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Scott Frank, Susannah Grant, Tamara Jenkins, Meg LeFauve, Jenny Lumet, Josh Marston
Olmo Schnabel's directorial debut PET SHOP DAYS screened as a Festival Favorite at SXSW, 2024. The film stars Jack Irv, Darío Yazebek Bernal, alongside Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and more.
Impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Bernal) and pet store employee Jack (Irv) enter a whirlwind romance that sends them down the rabbit hole of depravity in Manhattan’s underworld.
In an interview at SXSW with director Olmo Schnabel, actor Darío Yazebek Bernal, EP Jeremy O'Harris, here is what they had to say:
Can you tell us a little bit about the film? Was it difficult to get off the ground?
OLMO: It was a collaboration among friends, and yes was a difficult movie to make. Obviously when you’re not part of the industry and you’re doing something that might seem challenging or on the periphery of what people will accept, there is a lot of trial and error. It was a kind of search party to find the right producing partner to help me get this movie made. It wasn’t until I met Francesco Melzi d’Eril that I found a producer who was very excited and motivated to put this film together. I think because he’s from another cultural background, he was willing to take some risks. Whereas if you go meet with an agency or head of a studio in the US, they have a mandate to fill that this film didn’t fit into. Someone like Francesco is willing to bet on young filmmakers, and to take a risk. With Francesco I met Jeremy who was very instrumental. He helped me meet other people who were super useful for getting this out into the world. It was important to create a dialogue and have the support system I needed, because it wasn’t easy.
JEREMY: Olmo had worked a long time and garnered a lot of financing before I got involved. It was a real mountain to climb getting the movie made. Francesco is a great champion of Italian cinema and independent cinema. He’s worked a lot with Luca Guadagnino. I think that in Francesco, Olmo found a real partner who could read the universe he was building.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the story? Is it based on true events?
OLMO: Jack Irv, the lead in the movie who also co-wrote it, based it off a friendship he had with a friend of ours named Alejandro. In its core it’s based off a relationship he was very excited and surprised about. I believe it’s more of a fantasy of what they could do together than what they weren’t doing together. It’s a mixture between the attraction of a real relationship but also that kind of naïve childlike curiosity of what could happen if they went on this crazy adventure together. And Jack had that kind of spontaneous completely loose and free story that didn’t need to be hyper realistic. It was much more like if something was going to happen, then it’s destiny. Like if you’re going to win the lottery, you’re going to win it; I’m not going to explain to you how the ticket ended up in your hand. Similarly, these two characters literally
Olmo Schnabel's directorial debut PET SHOP DAYS screened as a Festival Favorite at SXSW 2024. The film stars Jack Irv and Darío Yazebek Bernal, alongside Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and more.
Impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Bernal) and pet store employee Jack (Irv) enter a whirlwind romance that sends them down the rabbit hole of depravity in Manhattan’s underworld.
In an interview at SXSW with director Olmo Schnabel, actor Darío Yazebek Bernal, EP Jeremy O'Harris, here is what they had to say:
Can you tell us a little bit about the film? Was it difficult to get off the ground?
OLMO: It was a collaboration among friends, and yes was a difficult movie to make. Obviously when you’re not part of the industry and you’re doing something that might seem challenging or on the periphery of what people will accept, there is a lot of trial and error. It was a kind of search party to find the right producing partner to help me get this movie made. It wasn’t until I met Francesco Melzi d’Eril that I found a producer who was very excited and motivated to put this film together. I think because he’s from another cultural background, he was willing to take some risks. Whereas if you go meet with an agency or head of a studio in the US, they have a mandate to fill that this film didn’t fit into. Someone like Francesco is willing to bet on young filmmakers, and to take a risk. With Francesco I met Jeremy who was very instrumental. He helped me meet other people who were super useful for getting this out into the world. It was important to create a dialogue and have the support system I needed, because it wasn’t easy.
JEREMY: Olmo had worked a long time and garnered a lot of financing before I got involved. It was a real mountain to climb getting the movie made. Francesco is a great champion of Italian cinema and independent cinema. He’s worked a lot with Luca Guadagnino. I think that in Francesco, Olmo found a real partner who could read the universe he was building.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the story? Is it based on true events?
OLMO: Jack Irv, the lead in the movie who also co-wrote it, based it off a friendship he had with a friend of ours named Alejandro. In its core it’s based off a relationship he was very excited and surprised about. I believe it’s more of a fantasy of what they could do together than what they weren’t doing together. It’s a mixture between the attraction of a real relationship but also that kind of naïve childlike curiosity of what could happen if they went on this crazy adventure together. And Jack had that kind of spontaneous completely loose and free story that didn’t need to be hyper realistic. It was much more like if someth
Ken Kao is CEO and Producer of Waypoint Entertainment and Josh Rosenbaum serves as Head Executive and Executive Producer for Waypoint, which is a full-service film production and financing company best known for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Academy Award-winning THE FAVOURITE (2018). They have also been behind such films as MID-90s, SONG TO SONG (2017), KNIGHT OF CUPS (2015), THE NICE GUYS (2016), and more.
Josh and Ken's latest film, CUCKOO starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, co-produced with NEON, held its US premiere during the 2024 SXSW festival. The film first played Berlin and received rave reviews.
Their upcoming ventures include the Duke Johnson film THE ACTOR, with fellow producers Ryan Gosling and Charlie Kaufman, as well as Aneil Karia’s modern adaptation of HAMLET starring Riz Ahmed.
In an interview with Ken and Josh before their premiere, here is what they had to say:
Can you tell us about your film CUCKOO premiering here at the festival?
JOSH: CUCKOO, directed by amazing auteur filmmaker Tilman Singer, stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens. It's a multi genre wild ride shot on 35 mm. It played in Berlin a couple of weeks ago. I'm excited to put it in front of American audiences who I think are really going to respond to it.
How did the project come to you and when did you decide to work on it?
KEN: As you could imagine, when you're in the industry you get submitted a lot of things. That's also part of our job to be on the lookout for new original talent. Tilman's first film on our radar was LUZ (2028). It was a film made for a very low six figures that basically amounted to a student film. Josh identified this film and to Josh's credit he raised his hand for it. So here we are now. Tilman chose us, which we are grateful for. Coming from Hollywood, we're very proud to be here.
How did your working relationship together get started?
KEN: I co-founded Waypoint Entertainment in 2010. At the time I was represented by WME where Joshua was. Josh started working there in 2012. He happened to be an assistant to one of the agents on my team, so I was talking to him every day. In 2015 when I made the decision to scale up the company and commit to making more films, I obviously needed people power and Josh raised his hand. He's good at raising his hand.
Can you tell us what audiences can expect to see with CUCKOO without having to reveal too much?
JOSH: Honestly, I'm most excited about people going into this blindly but I think the only prerequisite I would suggest is to go have fun with it because it is a fun film. You'll laugh, maybe you'll cry. You'll probably get jump scares here and there. We're always looking for films that are tonally complex and layered, films that are combining different genres. When we first read it, I don't think I had seen a script like this that combined more genres into one. It's part psychological thriller, part detective story, then the ending is like an action shootout a la The Matrix then there's a scene that's like it’s right out of Jurassic Park. It's really out there. There's a little bit of everything for everyone.
How were the reactions from the audience in Berlin?
JOSH: Great. It played very well there, although the German sense of humor is uni
Photo : Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Thread by Paul Thomas Anderson (2017) © ChristopheL
A Day with a Chameleon Actor
After devoting a day to Brad Pitt in 2022 and to Nicole Kidman in 2023, we’ll be honoring an actor from the British Isles at the 52nd edition of FEMA (Friday June 28 through Sunday July 7).
His magnetic charisma, his perfectionism and his spellbinding charm have profoundly marked his roles and established him as one of the greatest actors of his time.
An unparalleled shape-changer and immersive actor, he becomes the characters he plays so fully, with such dramatic impact, that he is the only actor to have won three Oscars. He fascinates audiences as much as he does the filmmakers who have worked with him on multiple films, like Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father), Martin Scorsese (The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York) and of course Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread).
On Saturday July 6, come spend a day with… Daniel Day-Lewis!
With 5 films introduced by Adrien Dénouette, critic at Carbone and TroisCouleurs.
Ice cream at midnight courtesy of Ernest le Glacier!
Competitions for young film-lovers — Young critics’ competition
Continuing its numerous actions directed at high school and university students, the Festival La Rochelle Cinéma opens its 7th young critics’ competition, in partnership with Hôtel Saint-Nicolas de La Rochelle, Blink Blank, Capricci Éditions, LaCinetek, le Read more
The 74th Berlin Film Festival marked the outgoing edition for artistic director Carlo Chatrian, who will be replaced next year by Tricia Tuttle, the former head of the London Film Festival. This year’s jury, headed by Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, awarded Mati Diop’s one-hour film Dahomey the coveted Golden Bear – the second year in a row that a documentary took the top prize Here, we’ve brought together five of the best films that played in this year’s Berlinale.
Love Lies Bleeding | Rose Glass
Rose Glass, the British filmmaker who enjoyed huge critical acclaim with her 2019 debut Saint Maud, returned with this blistering crime yarn. Set in the late 1980s, we follow the story of Lou (Kristen Stewart), a gym manager who falls in with a female bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian). However, their relationship begins to turn sour when a dire situation arises concerning Lou’s criminal family. A violent and surreal must-see, Glass and her co-writer Weronika Tofilska (who directed on the shows Hanna and His Dark Materials) have crafted one of the most compelling films of the year.
Made In England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger | Martin Scorsese
Any fan of master director Martin Scorsese will be aware how much he lauds the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the filmmakers behind such luminous British films as The Red Shoes (1984) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Here, Scorsese talks us through their movies, one by one, in an illuminating documentary that also serves as a perfect primer for his own work. Directed by David Hinton, who previously helmed a South Bank Show episode about Powell in the 1980s, this is a hugely knowledgeable homage that makes you admire and value Scorsese even more.
Crossing | Levan Akin
Already picked up by MUBI and soon to be seen in the BFI Flare season in London is this engaging film by Swedish director Levan Akin (known for And Then We Danced). A Georgian schoolteacher (Mzia Arabuli) teams up with a former pupil, Achi (Lucas Kankava), as they head to Istanbul to find her late sister’s estranged daughter Tekla (Tako Kurdovanidze). Playing in the Berlin Film festival’s Panorama strand, this is a movie that lightly wears its heavyweight topics – trans rights and identity – especially thanks to the engaging chemistry between Arabuli and Kankava.
Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan
Opening the festival was this modest but powerful adaptation of the 2020 novel by Claire Keegan. Cillian Murphy s
MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: THE BIG EIGHT
We're down to less than three weeks before they open the envelopes on March 10th. Here's is my latest update on the predicted winners in the "Big Eight" of the 23 Oscar categories. Today's listing also includes a film/performers previous MTFB rank to the right in parentheses. TFF films are indicated in Bold.
BEST PICTURE
1) Oppenheimer (1)
2) Poor Things (2)
3) The Holdovers (3)
4) Anatomy of a Fall (6)
5) American Fiction (7)
6) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)
7) Barbie (5)
8) The Zone of Interest (8)
9) Maestro (9)
10) Past Lives (10)
BEST DIRECTION
1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)
2) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (2)
3) Martin Scorsese/Killers of the Flower Moon (3)
4) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (4)
5) Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall (5)
BEST ACTRESS
1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)
2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)
3) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (3)
4) Annette Bening/Nyad (4)
5) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (5)
BEST ACTOR
1) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)
2) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (1)
3) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (3)
4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (4)
5) Colman Domingo/Rustin (5)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1) Da'Vine Joy Randolph
DO NOT MISS A BIT from BERLINALE AND EFM 2024
VIDEO: Honorary Golden Bear: In Conversation with Martin Scorsese
The Berlinale presented today this year’s Honorary Golden Bear to to Martin Scorsese: a filmmaker who has constantly pushed the medium toward uncharted paths. With a body of work spanning six decades and over fourty features, running the gamut from crime epics to animated features and religious dramas, Martin Scorsese has revolutionised the medium, and reinvented himself with every new film. His latest, "Killers of the Flower Moon" (Apple Original Films), is a vivid and...
Successful First Part of the 74th Berlinale, the market ended to high notes
Honorary Golden Bear for Martin Scorsese – The 74th Berlinale awa
The Berlinale presented today this year’s Honorary Golden Bear to to Martin Scorsese: a filmmaker who has constantly pushed the medium toward uncharted paths. With a body of work spanning six decades and over fourty features, running the gamut from crime epics to animated features and religious dramas, Martin Scorsese has revolutionised the medium, and reinvented himself with every new film. His latest, "Killers of the Flower Moon" (Apple Original Films), is a vivid and engrossing testament to the power of cinema to turn into what critic Roger Ebert once called an “empathy machine,” a telepathic conduit between filmmaker and audience.
Hosted by none other than acclaimed British director Joanna Hogg, enjoy this in-depth panel which invites the two filmmakers to reflect on Scorsese's journey through films, as well as our shared love for cinema in all its languages.