TheSundance Institutehas announced the fellows selected for the 2025 edition of its Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Labs.
The Lab is designed for artists of Native and Indigenous backgrounds who aim to center Indigeneity in their work.
Sundances Directors Lab returns for its 45th year from June 116 in Estes Park, Colorado.
Sundance’s Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Lab Fellows for 2025Sundance Institute
Our labs are a powerful space where bold, original voices are nurtured in a creative, supportive environment.
Artists work closely with world-class advisors to sharpen their writing and directing skills and deepen their vision.
Find out more about the fellows participating in each lab below.
Jared Lankis a Mikmaq filmmaker from Maine.
His existential works explore themes of cultural erasure, myth, and grief.
Isabella Dionne Madrigal(Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) is a writer-director-actor.
Her work centers ancestral wisdom, healing, and Indigenous futurisms.
Alex Nystromis an Ojibwe director, writer, and producer.
Jordan Waunchis an award-winning Metis filmmaker based in the Coast Salish territories.
Leo Aguirreis a first-generation Mexican American filmmaker and visual artist.
Verano is his feature film debut.
Chheangkeais a Cambodian-born filmmaker based in Brooklyn.
He earned an MFA in Filmmaking from the NYU Graduate Film program.
His previous short film,Skin Can Breathe, streams on Max.
When chaos ensues during their seemingly lucrative adventure, they realize the true cost of their actions.
Andrea Ellsworthis a Black and Filipino actress and filmmaker from Los Angeles.
Her directorial debut,Hoop Dreams, premiered at Tribeca Festival after winning the Soho Script Lab.
[Screenwriters Lab only]
Roberto Fatalis a Mestize Chicana video artistturnedgenre filmmaker.
Kawennahere Devery Jacobsis an award-winning actor and filmmaker known for their work in the groundbreaking seriesReservation Dogs.
Jacobs produced her first feature,Backspot, which premiered at TIFF and SXSW to critical acclaim.
Jacobs is currently writing her debut feature film,High Steel.
Diffan Sina Normanis a Malaysian Iranian filmmaker based in Northeast Texas.
Alexandra Qinis a French Filipino Chinese writer-director with a background in software engineering and prison reform activism.
She is one of Vimeos 10 Breakout Creators of 2024.
Chloe Sarbibis an American and French Algerian filmmaker drawn to characters who get in their own way.
Her shorts have been supported by Tribeca, the DGA Student Film Awards, and major festivals.
An alum of Yale and Columbias film MFA, she recently directed on The CW/NetflixsIn the Dark.
[Screenwriters Lab only]
Katla Solnesis a writer-director represented by True North Talent.
She has been the recipient of support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Indian Paintbrush.
She is an adjunct assistant professor in screenwriting at Columbia University, where she recently graduated with her MFA.
Lana Wilsonis an Emmy-winning director and writer.
She is working on her feature narrative debut.
