The Sundance Institute on Thursday named the eight storytellers chosen for the 2024 version of its Momentum Fellowship, a full-year program supporting the skilled growth of mid-career artists. The listing contains Aitch Alberto, Raven Jackson, Savanah Leaf, Sing J. Lee, Laura Moss, A.V. Rockwell, D. Smith, and Erica Tremblay.
Now in its sixth yr, the fellowship is accessible to creatives working throughout fiction and nonfiction, and particularly targets these hailing from traditionally marginalized backgrounds, providing assist and sources tailor-made to the person. Led by the Institute’s Women at Sundance and Artist Accelerator applications, it presents individuals entry to an unrestricted artist grant, in addition to skilled teaching via Renee Freedman & Company, and entry to the workshops and classes placed on via Sundance’s skilled growth observe, Elevate.
Additionally, as a part of an ongoing partnership with Universal, the studio gives assist for choose fellows engaged on fiction tasks, providing entry to inventive executives and producers, which might probably result in directing alternatives throughout the corporate’s portfolio.
In a press release on the most recent version of Momentum, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Director of Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance, known as the fellowship “one of our most unique fellowship programs for its recognition of a challenging reality within our industry.”
Added Molnar-Szakacs, “Even artists with one or two successful projects still require substantial support to advance both creatively and professionally. This program meets that need in a customized manner, catering to talented and diverse storytellers seeking mentorship and community. We are thrilled to see where this year’s cohort will lead.”
An invite-only program launched in 2018, the Momentum Fellowship has beforehand supported notables together with Minhal Baig, Linda Yvette Chávez, Christina Choe, Cristina Costantini, Yance Ford, Natalie Erika James, Nikyatu Jusu, Shalini Kantayya, Bing Liu, Ekwa Msangi, Edson Oda, Mariem Pérez Riera, Eva Vives, Charlotte Wells, Angel Kristi Williams, and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, to call a couple of.
For extra details about this yr’s individuals, learn on.
Aitch Alberto is a writer-director born and raised in Miami, Florida. She is a Sundance Episodic Lab fellow and one among Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch for 2022. She wrote and directed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe with Lin-Manuel Miranda producing. She has additionally written on Duster from J.J. Abrams and Little America.
Raven Jackson is an award-winning filmmaker, poet, and photographer from Tennessee. Her debut characteristic, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, made in partnership with Maria Altamirano, PASTEL, and A24, world-premiered within the U.S. Dramatic Competition on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was not too long ago nominated for 2 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Savanah Leaf has transitioned from 2012 Olympian to award-winning filmmaker. Her directorial characteristic debut, Earth Mama, premiered on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Her movie The Heart Still Hums (2020) gained Best Documentary Short on the Palm Springs International ShortFest. Her music video “This Land” for Gary Clark Jr. was nominated for Best Music Video on the 2020 Grammys.
Sing J. Lee is an award-winning writer-director. Following recognition from BBC’s Best of the North, Cannes Lions, Clios, and MTV VMAs, Lee was chosen for Variety’s 2019 10 Storytellers to Watch and obtained the 2023 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Directing Award for his directorial characteristic debut, The Accidental Getaway Driver.
Laura Moss is a filmmaker from New York City whose work has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, Rotterdam, and SXSW. Their debut characteristic, start/rebirth, was distributed in theaters by IFC. Their brief movie Fry Day is featured on the Criterion Channel. Their award-winning screenplay Gordon, co-written with Brendan J. O’Brien, is at present in growth.
A.V. Rockwell is a screenwriter, director, and producer from Queens, New York. Her directorial debut, A Thousand and One, gained the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The movie was launched theatrically by Focus Features and most not too long ago obtained the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director.
D. Smith is a two-time Grammy-nominated producer, singer, and songwriter and made her movie debut because the director of the documentary Kokomo City, launched by Magnolia Pictures. The movie earned awards at a number of main festivals, together with Sundance and Berlin. Smith was not too long ago nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award.
Erica Tremblay is a filmmaker from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. Her characteristic movie Fancy Dance premiered on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Tremblay has written and directed on the FX collection Reservation Dogs in addition to AMC’s Dark Winds. Tremblay lives in upstate New York, the place she research her Indigenous language.
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