FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: May 10, 2019 Spencer Alcorn 310.360.1981 [email protected] Sundance Institute Announces 2019 Directors & Screenwriters Lab Fellows June Lab Convenes Filmmakers Developing Singular Feature Films Los Angeles, CA — Filmmakers from the U.S., Lebanon, Palestine, and the United Kingdom have been selected ​ for the 2019 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. At the Directors Lab (May 27-June 18), filmmakers will rehearse, shoot, and edit key scenes from their scripts, working in an immersive, hands-on environment with support from accomplished advisors to build their craft as directors and make key discoveries in collaboration with their actors and key crew. Immediately following, the Screenwriters Lab (June 20-24) provides the opportunity to process the insight gained from the Directors Lab through one-on-one story sessions with screenwriter advisors, and find inspiration and guidance for continued development of their screenplays. Under the leadership of Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter and Labs Director Ilyse ​ ​ ​ McKimmie, the Labs are part of a year-round continuum of customized support for Fellows, which can include ​ creative mentorship, granting at critical stages, and strategic advice from program staff and industry professionals. “We provide a pure workshop environment at our Lab which is a safe and generous space for developing new work,” said Satter. “This year’s cohort of artists from the U.S. and around the world will be supported as they push their boundaries and build their skills—amplifying their distinctive and singular voices within the Lab framework. The Labs are the centerpiece of our year round ecosystem of support for emerging artists.” Advisors for the month include Robert Redford, Gyula Gazdag (Artistic Director for the Directors Lab), Sandra ​ ​ ​ Adair, Scott Z. Burns, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, Sebastian Cordero, Joan Darling, Suzy Elmiger, Rick Famuyiwa, Geoffrey Fletcher, Stephen Goldblatt, Keith Gordon, Randa Haines, Ed Harris, Ken Kwapis, Christine Lahti, Sanaa Lathan, Pamela Martin, Walter Mosley, Dee Rees, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Peter Sollett, Joan Tewkesbury, Dylan Tichenor, Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, Tyger Williams, Erin Cressida Wilson and Doug Wright. ​ ​ ​ Since 1981, the Feature Film Program (FFP) has supported an extensive list of leading-edge filmmakers, including Boots Riley, Ryan Coogler, Dee Rees, Cary Fukunaga, Benh Zeitlin, Chloe Zhao, Marielle Heller, ​ Haifaa Al Mansour, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Ritesh Batra, Paul Thomas Anderson, Miranda July and Quentin Tarantino, among many others. Lab-supported films that premiered at the ​ ​ ​ 2019 Sundance Film Festival to be released this year include Before You Know It, co-written by Hannah Pearl ​ ​ ​ 2 Utt and Jen Tullock and directed by Hannah Pearl Utt, Brittany Runs a Marathon, written and directed by Paul ​ ​ ​ Downs Colaizzo, The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ co-written by Joe Talbot and Rob Richert and directed by Joe Talbot, and Share, written and directed by Pippa ​ ​ ​ Bianco. In addition, several Feature Film Program-supported films recently premiered and won awards at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, including House of Hummingbird, co-written and directed by Bora Kim, Initials S.G., ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ co-written and directed by Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, The Short History of the Long Road, written and ​ ​ directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy and Swallow, written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis. Finally, two new ​ ​ films supported by FFP will have their premieres at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival: Bull, co-written by Annie ​ ​ Silverstein and Johnny McAllister and directed by Annie Silverstein, and The Unknown Saint, written and ​ ​ directed by Alaa Eldine Aljem. The 2019 Sundance Institute Directors Lab Projects and Fellows are: The American Society of Magical Negroes (U.S.A.) / Kobi Libii (director and screenwriter): Omar, a young ​ ​ ​ black man, is recruited into an undercover society of Magical Negroes who secretly conjure literal magic to make white people’s lives easier. Once he realizes they are using supernatural means to do the very thing he’s felt obligated to do his whole life, he attempts to buck the system and put his own dreams first. Kobi Libii is an actor/writer/comedian, currently writing and performing on Comedy ​ Central’s upcoming Klepper. Past acting credits include The Opposition with Jordan ​ ​ ​ Klepper (Comedy Central), Transparent (Amazon), Girls (HBO), Jessica Jones (Netflix), ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and Madam Secretary (CBS), among others. In addition to his television work, Libii has ​ ​ written and performed sketch and improvised comedy all over the country, touring with Broadway’s Next Hit Musical, One Night Stand and in the Resident Company at Chicago City Limits. Libii has a bachelors in Theater from Yale University and studied comedy at Second City Chicago. Costa Brava Lebanon (Lebanon) / Mounia Akl (director and co-writer) and Clara Roquet (co-writer): The Badri ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ family lives an idyllic life of isolation in the Lebanese mountains, far away from a country drowning in garbage and pollution. When the government decides to build a landfill right outside their house, tensions amongst the family members explode, revealing the rot was not only outside their home. Mounia Akl is a Lebanese director and screenwriter with a bachelor’s degree in ​ ​ Architecture from ALBA and and MFA from Columbia University. Her short film, ​ Submarine, was in the Official Selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation) ​ and at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2017, Akl was chosen to represent Lebanon at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors’ Fortnight Factory with her short film, El Gran Libano, co-directed with Neto Villalobos. With Costa Brava Lebanon, ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ Akl completed the Torino Film Lab and the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation Residency. The film will be produced by Abbout Productions. ​ 3 Clara Roquet is a Spanish writer and director. She is the co-writer of the films 10.000KM, ​ ​ ​ directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet, and Petra, directed by Jaime Rosales, which ​ ​ premiered at this year's Directors' Fortnight. Her short film El Adiós, which she also ​ ​ directed, won the 2016 Student BAFTA, was nominated for the European Film Awards, and was acquired by HBO. Her previous collaboration with Mounia Akl include co-writing the short film Submarine. ​ ​ The Doubt (Palestine) / Ihab Jadallah (director and screenwriter): After 12 years in prison, Ibrahim finally returns ​ ​ ​ home to his wife and a son he has never met. Although he desperately wants to rebuild his life and his bond with his family, he is plagued by doubt about the true nature of their relationships, throwing into question whether this family can survive. Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker and producer Ihab Jadallah has written, directed, ​ ​ and produced several highly acclaimed short films, including The Flower Seller, which ​ ​ screened at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. The Doubt will represent his feature directorial debut. The script won the AFAC ​ ​ Production Fund (2018) and was supported at the 2018 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. El Otro Lado (The Other Side) (U.S.A.) / Barbara Cigarroa (director and screenwriter): Set in Brownsville, ​ ​ ​ ​ Texas, during the child migration crisis, Lucy, a low-income Mexican American teen, is confronted with her own need for escape when her father decides to sponsor two undocumented minors for money. Barbara Cigarroa is a Mexican-American filmmaker from South Texas. She resides in ​ New York City/Texas and holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University and a BA in English from Yale. Cigarroa’s screenplay, El Otro Lado (The Other Side), was a ​ ​ featured project at IFP's 2018 No Borders Co-Production Market, and was selected for both the 2019 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and 2019 Hamptons Screenwriters Lab. Cigarroa was also the recipient of the Sundance Latinx Fellowship. Her short film Dios Nunca Muere had its world premiere at the 2018 New York Film Festival, and she ​ was invited to be a member of the 2018 NYFF Artist Academy. Her previous short Marta ​ Rosa was an official selection at dozens of international film festivals, including Austin, ​ New Orleans, and Palm Springs, where it won Panavision’s Best North American Short under 15 minutes. The Hater (U.S.A.) / Joey Ally (director and screenwriter): Dorothy Gale Rexford is fired for taking her liberal ​ ​ ​ extremist views too far, and must retreat to her conservative Texas hometown where she learns that her 4 Republican childhood bully is running for state congress. In this town, only Republicans can win, so obviously the ​ ​ only thing to do is go undercover and run against him as a Republican herself! Joey Ally is an actor, writer, and director based in Los Angeles. Her short films have ​ screened at the Sundance Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival, as well as online with The New Yorker and Vimeo Premieres. She is an ​ ​ alumna of the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, among other programs. Most recently, she wrote and starred in Are You Still ​ Singing? for Turner and Refinery29’s Shatterbox Anthology.