Yuan Yuan Sundance January Screenwriters Lab
Yuan Yuan, Sundance January Screenwriters Lab participant and writer/director of Late Spring

The Sundance Institute has chosen its 16 screenwriters to participate in the 2o22 Screenwriters Lab.

Taking place from January 15-18 online, the writers were chosen from a whopping 3,200 applicants. With the help of advisors, some of whom participated in past years of the Screenwriters Lab themselves, the writers will have a chance to further develop their scripts.

The writers and their projects that were chosen this year are Eliza McNitt (Writer/Director) with BLACK HOLE (U.S.); Olive Nwosu (Writer/Director) with A Burial (Nigeria, U.K.); Dina Amer (Co-writer/Director) and Omar Mullick (Co-writer) with Cain and Abel (France); Michael León (Co-writer/director) and Ashley Alvarez (Co-writer) with Crabs in a Barrel (U.S.); Neo Sora (Writer/Director) with Earthquake (U.S., Japan); Yuan Yuan (Writer/Director) with Late Spring (U.S., China); Marja Bål Nango (Co-writer/Director) and Ingir Bål Nango (Co-writer) with I Love My Guođoheaddji / I Love My Reindeerherder (Norway, Sweden); Zandashé Brown (Writer/Director) with The Matriarch (U.S.); Hasan Hadi (Writer/Director) with The President’s Cake (Iraq, U.S.A); Daniele Anastasion (Writer/Director) with The Scout (U.S.A); Caledonia Curry (Director) and Meagan Brothers (Writer) with Sibylant Sisters, Silent Snake Magic (U.S.A); and David Miranda Hardy (Writer/Director) with The Swim Lesson (U.S.).

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The lab will be under the leadership of Michelle Satter, the founding senior director of Sundance Institute’s artist programs, and Ilyse McKimmie, the feature film program’s deputy director, as well as creative advisors including artistic director Scott Frank  Karim Aïnouz, Linda Yvette Chavez, Carlos Cuaron, Phil Hay, Marielle Heller, Amanda Idoko, Jenny Lumet, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Doug McGrath, Walter Mosley, Jessie Nelson, Jose Rivera, Eric Roth, Dana Stevens, Veena Sud, Chris Terrio, and Tyger Williams.

“One of the highlights for us every January is gathering a new and uniquely talented group of storytellers at our annual Screenwriters Lab. It’s especially exciting to be together again where our Advisors and writing fellows will spend four days in our immersive lab online in intensive story meetings, craft workshops, and creative conversations, as the Fellows begin their cycle of year-round support,” said Satter. “These sixteen writers, selected for their vision and distinctive voices, will form a lifelong community of filmmakers, and we’re thrilled to see the outcomes of the collaboration between the Lab Fellows and their mentors for years to come.”

This year, the Sundance Film Festival includes Feature Film Program (FFP) Lab-supported projects including Nanny, which is premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition; The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future, which is premiering in the World Dramatic Competition, and Dos Estaciones, which is also premiering in the World Dramatic Competition. Screening in the premieres section are God’s Country and Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.

Past projects that were supported by the FFP Lab, which has been in going on for 40 years, include Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Chloé Zhao’s Songs My Brother Taught Me, Marielle Heller’s Diary of a Teenage Girl, Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre, and Fernando Frias de la Parra’s I’m No Longer Here.

Main Image: Yuan Yuan, Sundance 2022 Screenwriters Lab participant and writer/director of Late Spring

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