LIFE AFTER THE LABS

Completed Projects
Feature Film Alumn Josh Marston (2002 Screenwriters Lab) has won the 2005 IFP Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director for Maria Full of Grace. Lead actress Catalina Sandeno Moreno also picked up the Gotham for Breakthrough Actor. Maria Full of Grace continues to receive accolades, picking up five nominations for the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best First Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Feature nominations. Also recognized with an Independent Spirit Award nomination for the John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for under $500,000) is Debra Granik (1999 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) for Down to the Bone. The leading ladies for both films (Catalina Sandeno Moreno and Vera Farmiga, respectively) picked up Spirit Award nominations for Best Female Lead. Marston and Catalina were also honored by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association with the New Generation Prize. The New York Film Critics Cirlce names Maria Full of Grace Best First Film. Finally, Gina Kwon, a producer on Miranda July’s Me And You and Everyone We Know (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) and Michael Kang’s The Motel (2002 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) was nominated for the Bravo/American Express Producers Award.

Seven Lab supported films will premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Screening in Dramatic Competition are Miranda July’s Me And You and Everyone We Know (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) and Ira Sachs’ Forty Shades of Blue (1998 Screenwriters Lab). Premiering in the American Spectrum section are Michael Kang’s The Motel (2002 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) and Doug Sadler’s Swimmers (2002 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs). Showing in the World Cinema Competition is Malgosia Szumowska’s Stranger (2002 Screenwriters Lab) and Sebastian Cordero’s Cronicas (2002 Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker Award Winner, Ecuador). In addition, many Lab alumni have new work screening throughout the Festival!