Sundance Announces June Screenwriters Lab Participants

The Sundance Institute has announced the selection of projects for its annual June Screenwriters Lab, which will take place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 26— June 26, 2008.

AGUA FRIA DE MAR/Paz Fabrega (writer/director), Costa Rica:

On the south Pacific coast of Costa Rica, a chance meeting with a strange little girl brings on a crisis of unsuspected proportions for a woman of privilege.

Born in San Jose, Costa Rica, Paz Fabrega studied at the London Film School. Her graduation film, TEMPORAL, was selected Best Short at the Biarritz Film Festival and received a special mention from the jury at the Uppsala International Short Film Festival. Fabrega began development of AGUA FRIA DE MAR, her first feature project, at the Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. The project went on to win the ARTE prize at the Buenos Aires Lab, and was one of the finalists for the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award.

ALL FALL DOWN/Jonathan Wysocki (writer/director), U.S.A.:

In the fear-filled atmosphere of October 2001, a troubled family is tested when nine-year-old Sebastian Weber decides to be Osama bin Laden for Halloween.

Southern California native Jonathan Wysocki grew up in the theatre, his experiences spanning from Europe to Africa. He went on to obtain an MFA in Film Production at UCLA, where he wrote, directed and edited four short narratives, including the award-winning films THE WAY STATION and THE VESSEL PITCHES. Wysocki was a Project:Involve Honoree at Film Independent and worked for director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. Currently, he teaches Film Studies at Chapman University and is a feature programmer for the Los Angeles Film Festival. He recently served as Associate Producer on the Adam Carolla comedy THE HAMMER, distributed by the Weinstein Company.

LOOK FOR WATER/Jennifer Phang (co-writer/director) and Dominic Mah (co-writer), U.S.A.:

A young couple wakes up and literally loses sight of each other; a kidnapper displaces misfit girls to an alternate world; a dowser explores her mysterious ability to find lost objects, and the paths of abductees and runaways intersect in this emo-thriller.

A Berkeley-born daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and Vietnamese heritage, Jennifer Phang is a graduate of the MFA Directing program at the American Film Institute. Her feature debut HALF-LIFE, a pre-apocalyptic suburban drama, premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival, then screened at South by Southwest and the Gen Art Film Festival, receiving the Gen Art Grand Jury Award. Phang got her start as a fellow at Film Independent's Project: Involve, working under the mentorship of director Tony Bui.

Born in Berkeley, California, Dominic Mah is a playwright, screenwriter, director, and licensed professional card player. In the 1990s he made rock operas with his award-winning theater company Emerald Rain Productions. His first play, LOOK FOR WATER, has been performed in New York and Los Angeles, and had its world premiere with the esteemed Eureka Theatre in San Francisco. Mah has directed various short films and music videos, and also wrote the English adaptations of the Japanese comic books KAZAN, SARAI and TOMIE, among others.

THE WHITE CIRCUS/Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (co-writers and co-directors), Canada:

In this dark fable set in a world where war has no end, a young pilot loses his innocence and an old man's mysterious destiny is revealed.

Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski are the co-creators of the Oscar-nominated short MADAME TUTLI PUTLI. In addition to their roles as filmmakers, they wear many hats: animators, sculptors, collage artists, and writers. In 1997, Lavis and Szczerbowski founded Clyde Henry Productions, a Montreal-based film and production company specializing in multimedia, stop-motion animation and visual effects. They have received acclaim for their award-winning films, illustrations, and provoked a cult following for THE UNTOLD TALES OF YURI GAGARIN, a serial comic strip published in Vice magazine.

THAT YEAR WHEN WE WERE YOUNG/Peng Tao (co-writer/director) and Zeng Wenwen (co-writer), China:

As young adults flood into the rural cities of China in search of work, one man's seduction of a woman reveals itself to be a means to force her into prostitution. As personal misgivings begin to override outside pressures, this story of the weak exploiting the weaker takes an unexpected turn.

Born in Beijing, Peng Tao graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, where his short film STORY IN THE WINTER won the Best Short Film prize at the Beijing Student Film Festival. His first feature LITTLE MOTH, which he wrote and produced independently, won several awards including the NETPAC Prize at the Locarno Film Festival, the Golden Award at the Cairo International Film Festival and the Norwegian Peace Film Award at the Tromsø Film Festival.

Zeng Wenwen received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Law School of Peking University. She served as the producer and production designer on LITTLE MOTH, directed by Peng Tao, which won several awards at international film festivals. THAT YEAR WHEN WE WERE YOUNG will be her second feature, on which she is the co-writer and producer.

Updated: 05/03/2008

Additional Contest Info: Sundance Feature Film Program