Labs Cultivate New Voices in Filmmaking
Sterlin Harjo’s Four Sheets to the Wind is the story of Native American Cufe Smallhill and his family as they attempt to come to terms with a tragedy that hits their small Oklahoma town. Harjo describes his first feature-film project as, “a story that’s very specific to Oklahoma, and to a Seminole/Creek experience. When I was writing it I didn’t know if it would be interesting to a larger audience.”

“It’s exactly those elements that make Sterlin’s script unique that we’ll focus on during the lab process,” says Feature Film Program Director Michelle Satter. “Our goal is to help our Fellows craft the most compelling original version of the story they want to tell. It may sound counter-intuitive, but the more unique and individualized the film is, the greater success it can have in appealing to a wider audience.”

Michelle describes each of the eight projects selected for the Filmmakers Lab as stories that “explore the diversity and complexity of our contemporary culture with originality, humor, and emotional truth.”

Aditya Assarat of Thailand brings his first feature screenplay, HI-SO to the workshops. Set in modern day Bangkok, Assarat’s project is a coming-of-age love story that captures the mood, music, and ethos of its surroundings.

Peep World will mark the directorial debut of Peter Himmelstein. The dark comedy traces a day in a life of a family tormented by fact, fiction, and mortality.

Canadian Zoe Hopkins’ first feature Cherry Blossoms is the story of a young Native girl’s ceremonial passage into womanhood and her efforts to build a relationship with a father she never knew.

Orlando “Ditto” Montiel will work on the film adaptation of his memoir A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. The story is of a young man whose growing awareness of a larger world drives his desire for exploration. He discovers a conflict between his hunger for new experiences and the loyalties that bind him to a violent past and to the flawed saints that have guided him. The film marks Montiel’s debut as screenwriter and director.

Paper Man is the debut feature of Kieran and Michele Mulroney. The coming-of-middle-age story is centered around a frustrated writer who, while spending a lonely winter on Cape Cod, is forced to choose between a world-weary superhero, an extinct bird, and a 17-year-old local girl.

Kazuo Ohno’s Mr. Crumpacker and The Man from the Letter is the tale of an overbearing boss who decides to reconfigure his company as a place of philosophical inquiry.

In Virtual Love, writer/director Richard Press tells the true story of Paul Monette’s harrowing friendship with Tony Johnson, a charismatic 15-year-old abuse survivor and cause celebre who became a central part of Paul’s life - until Paul began to suspect that the boy did not actually exist.

At the lab each of the fellows collaborates with a team of highly skilled creative advisors. "It's the combination of the experience of these advisors and the creative energy of the fellows that make the Labs so rewarding and inspiring for all who participate," Michelle says. “We’re grateful to this inspired group of advisors who are willing to lend their time and expertise.”

This year creative advisors include Jon Amiel, John August, Jon Avnet , Walter Bernstein, Antonia Bird, Robert Caswell, Joan Darling, Carol Doyle, Tony Drazan, Suzy Elmiger, Bob Elswit, Scott Frank, Gyula Gazdag, Carlin Glynn, Robbie Greenberg, Steven Gyllenhaal, Keith Gordon, Ed Harris, Nicole Holofcener, Becky Johnston, Jeremy Kagan, Christopher Knopf, Michael Lehmann, Malia Scotch Marmo, Pete Masterson, Chris McQuarrie, Peter Medak, Ron Nyswanner, Steven Poster, Robert Redford, Howard Rodman, Steve Rosenblum, Susan Shilliday, Joan Tewkesbury, Stanley Tucci, Barbara Tulliver, Tyger Williams, and Gary Winick.

Additionally, fellows work with a professional cast and crew often for the first time. For many filmmakers this offers the first glimpse of the film that their project could become. “Everything I’ve done has been done by me and one other person,” explains Sterlin. “The actors have always just been my friends who would work for free. I’m excited about the experience of working with a professional cast and crew. I can’t wait to see the actors in these parts because I want to find that medium plane between my vision and what they bring to the characters.”

After the completion of the Filmmakers Lab, Fellows re-focus on developing their screenplays as they begin the Screenwriters Lab and are joined by writers working on an additional five projects.

Writer/director Ryan Eslinger will develop When A Man Falls in the Forest, a story about the intersecting lives of three lonely men as they struggle to overcome their deepening isolation by searching for connection.

Co-writers/directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s lab project is Half Nelson. The script tells the story of an inner-city junior high school teacher with a serious drug addiction who forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret life.

Juliana Francis’ Saint Latrice follows a 13-year-old mall worker as she retreats into her secret world, populated by a trio of divine girl pop stars, to escape the reality of her inappropriate relationship with an unhappy 40-year-old carpet salesman.

Halima’s Paradise is the project of Fatima Jebli-Ouazzani from the Netherlands. In this screenplay, an unconventional love triangle develops between a Moroccan woman, her husband, and the second wife he brings into their home to bear him a son.

From Lebanon comes Assad Fouladkar’s The Cedar Tree, the story of a traditional Lebanese patriarch who must rethink the value he places on his culture and family after the rebellious son he disowned is unexpectedly killed.

The four-week program runs May 24 - June 25 at Sundance Village in Utah.