FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: July 24, 2018 Spencer Alcorn 310.360.1981 [email protected] Sundance Institute Convenes Creative Producing Labs & Summit Independent Fiction and Nonfiction Producers Collaborate With Industry Advisors Los Angeles — Sundance Institute today announced the Fellows and Advisors slated for the annual weeklong ​ Creative Producing Labs, which commence July 30 at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, as well as the ​ industry leaders and other independent filmmakers who will gather for the three-day Creative Producing Summit ​ immediately following. Created to champion and develop the current and rising generations of producers, the Institute’s Creative Producing Program nurtures creative vision and holistic best practices at every stage of a film’s progress from development to audience engagement. The program, which recognizes the need for a flexible, robust support system and community in an evolving industry, includes the annual Labs and Summit as well as year-round mentorship, granting, education and opportunities for financing and distribution. The Institute’s annual Producers Awards, supported by Amazon Studios, recognize both Fiction and Nonfiction producers at the Sundance Film Festival’s Producers Lunch. “Providing meaningful connections is a key part of our work with emerging storytellers,” said the Institute’s Anne ​ Lai, Director, Creative Producing & Artist Support and Kristin Feeley, Director, Labs & Artist Support, Creative ​ ​ ​ ​ Producing. “It’s essential to think sustainably and help create a landscape and a future in which these independent producers can continue to develop bold stories, find strong collaborators, and elevate original voices from outside the mainstream. By gathering some of the industry’s most forward-thinking artists and executives, we hope to deepen conversations and advance this work.” Creative Advisors for the Feature Film Program include producers Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine of the ​ ​ ​ Spotless Mind, The Savages), Jess Calder (Blindspotting, Anomalisa), Keith Calder (Blindspotting, Anomalisa), ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Paul Mezey (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Maria Full of Grace), Heather Rae (Frozen River, Tallulah) and Adele ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 2 Romanski (Moonlight, The Myth of the American Sleepover). Advisors also include screenwriter Meg LeFauve ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur) and screenwriter/director Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals, In a Dream). ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Producing Advisors for the Documentary Film Program include Joslyn Barnes (Hale County, This Morning, This ​ ​ Evening; Strong Island; Zama), Jessica Devaney (The Feeling of Being Watched; Call Her Ganda; Speed ​ ​ Sisters), Andrea Meditch (The Cage Fighter; Buck; Man on Wire) and Bob Moore (Anote’s Ark, Tokyo Idols, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Last Train Home). Panelists for the Creative Producing Summit include Rebecca Arzoian, Focus Features; Jon Bardin, Discovery ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Channel | Science Channel; Glen Basner, Film Nation; Dori Begley, Magnolia Pictures; Jason Michael ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Berman, Mandalay Pictures; Ian Bricke, Netflix; Effie Brown, Duly Noted; Mandy Chang, BBC Storyville; Adam ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Del Deo, Netflix; Alan Eyres, National Geographic; Elissa Federoff, NEON; Scott Foundas, Amazon Studios; ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Taylor Friedman, Fox Searchlight; Julie Goldman, Motto Pictures; Kevin Iwashina, Endeavor Content; Sara ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Kiener, Cinereach; Laura Kim, Participant Media; Jessica Lacy, ICM; Vinnie Malhotra, Showtime Networks; ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Deb McIntosh, Endeavor Content; Cara Mertes, JustFilms at Ford Foundation; Justine Nagan, American ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Documentary | POV; Lesley A. Norman, WNET New York Public Media; Maren Olson, Creative Artists Agency; ​ ​ ​ ​ Adam Pincus, Topic Studios/First Look Media; Rose Catherine Pinkney, BET; Annie Roney, ro*co films; Kim ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Roth, MACRO; Courtney Sexton, CNN Films; Tristen Tuckfield, 30West; and Jamal Watson, Overbrook ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Entertainment. The Fellows selected for the 2018 Creative Producing Labs are: FEATURE FILM PROGRAM Alien Kulture Producing Fellow: Sarah Seulki Oh In order to pursue his musical dreams and unlikely punk-rock ambitions, a young British Indian man must learn to stand up to his insular-minded older brother and define his place in racially-divided, Thatcher-era England. (Director and Screenwriter: Lesh Thapar) Sarah Seulki Oh is an independent producer who has made over a dozen short films in ​ Germany, India, Italy, Korea, Turkey, U.K., and the United States. She recently produced her first feature which is currently in post-production. Sarah’s films have shown at prestigious film festivals worldwide including Telluride Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, and Warsaw Film Festival, and have been supported by HBO, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, ESPN, Film London and the BFI Network. She is a graduate of the Creative Producing MFA program at Columbia University, New York where she was awarded the 2015 Entertainment Partners Best Producer Award. Dos Estaciones Producing Fellows: Makena Buchanan and Jamie Gonçalves María, the last Mexican owner of a local tequila plant struggles with the impending collapse of her lifelong business, as her queer hairdresser carves out a space for himself among the conservative townspeople in the 3 Jalisco Highlands. (Director: Juan Pablo González, Screenwriters: Juan Pablo González, Ilana Coleman and Ana ​ ​ Isabel Fernández) Makena Buchanan is a Texas native and a producer of fiction and nonfiction films. He was a ​ producing fellow as part of the inaugural Southern Producers Lab in 2018. Projects that Makena has helmed have received support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, the City of Austin, and the Venice Biennale. Much like his personal interests, his filmography as a producer predominantly drifts toward two specific pools: the genre films Soft Matter, Close to ​ ​ ​ You, and Slow Creep (Fantastic Fest) and the formally experimental fiction and non-fiction ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ works Las Nubes (Rotterdam, True/False, Full Frame), La espera (SXSW), and Caballerango. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Jamie Gonçalves is a Brasilian-American producer based in central Missouri. His body of ​ work as a producer has received critical praise from The New York Times, The Village Voice, ​ ​ ​ ​ Los Angeles Times and Reverse Shot and support from Sundance Institute, Venice Biennale, ​ ​ ​ and Points North Institute. Filmmaker Magazine named him one of the 25 New Faces of ​ ​ Independent Film in 2015, and he served as a programming associate at the True/False Film Fest for five years. His list of productions include Killing Them Safely (IFC Films, 2015 ​ ​ Tribeca), Balloonfest (Oscilloscope, Topic, 2017 Vimeo’s runner-up best documentary short), ​ ​ The Water Slide (2018 BAMcinemaFest, Sheffield), Las Nubes (2017 IFFR, Habana), an upcoming trilogy for ​ ​ ​ Field of Vision, and multiple feature length works by Juan Pablo González, Ilana Coleman, Kamau Bilal, Edwin Martinez and Nick Berardini. Farewell Amor Producing Fellow: Huriyyah Muhammad ​ Angolan immigrant Walter is joined in the U.S. by his wife and daughter after 17 years of separation. Now absolute strangers sharing a cramped Brooklyn apartment, they struggle to overcome the personal and political hurdles between them, relying on the muscle memory of dance to rediscover one another. (Director and Screenwriter: Ekwa Msangi) ​ Huriyyah Muhammad is a writer, director and producer whose passion lives at the ​ intersection of telling great stories and helping others to do the same. As a producer, she has led the production of multiple independent films, with projects that have been been invited to the Tribeca Film Institute, New Voices in Black Cinema, the American Black Film Festival and been awarded the competitive Jerome Foundation Grant. An equity/inclusion advocate, she is co-founder of the Black TV & Film Collective, a growing NYC based 501c3 with over 1200 members. Huriyyah holds an MBA from NYU, specializing in entrepreneurship and entertainment, and BS in Computer Science from Spelman College. Who’s Sorry Now Producing Fellow: Michael Mobley ​ 4 In this comedic, idiosyncratic exploration of estrangement and grief, three very different siblings return to their hometown to bury their father. (Director: Craig Elrod, Screenwriters: Craig Elrod and Nathan Smith) ​ ​ Michael Mobley is a producer based in Austin, TX. He produced Craig Elrod’s latest feature ​ film Mustang Island (Dallas International Film Festival Special Jury Award 2017; recently ​ ​ acquired by Netflix), as well as I’ve Got Issues, the forthcoming full-length comedy from ​ ​ writer/director Steve Collins (Gretchen, You Hurt My Feelings). In addition, he’s produced ​ ​ ​ ​ multiple short films including Elrod’s award-winning short, Molly (SXSW 2014). Other credits ​ ​ include the feature films Rose, Lazer Team 2, and the infamous re-shoot of the Raiders ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ airplane scene, as seen in Raiders: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made. ​ ​ Wolf in White Van Producing Fellow and Silverman Honoree: Traci Carlson ​ Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of 17, Sean Phillips is the sole creator of the The Trace Italian, a turn based, fantasy role-playing game run entirely through the mail. When tragedy strikes two of his young players, Sean is forced to re-examine his self-inflicted departure from the world in which most people live. Based on the novel by John Darnielle. (Director: Andrew Bruntel, Screenwriters: