Contest Comments

You must login to post a comment.

First-time user? Register now to receive FREE email contest updates, news, results, deadline reminders and more. Rest assured, information submitted here is held in strict confidence. MovieBytes never sells or in any way distributes email names or addresses. We promise!

Contest News

Sundance Announces Projects for 2004 January Screenwriters Lab

The Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for the annual January Screenwriters Lab, which takes place January 9-14 at the Sundance Village in Utah. The Lab provides participating writers the opportunity to develop their screenplays in a community of accomplished screenwriters.

The Screenwriters Lab is a five-day writer's workshop that gives independent artists the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts with the support of established screenwriters. Participating writers have problem-solving story sessions with creative advisors, engaging in individual dialogues that encourage and embrace the vision of the writer/filmmaker and help them get to the most compelling version of the story they want to tell.

This year’s participating writers have the opportunity to work under the guidance of the Lab’s Creative Advisors, an extraordinary group of screenwriters, including Artistic Director Scott Frank, Michael Almereyda, Anthony Drazan, Todd Graff, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Lawrence Konner, Walter Mosley, Frank Pierson, Tom Rickman, John Ridley, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Zachary Sklar, Dana Stevens, Audrey Wells, and Doug Wright.

"The projects in this year’s lab reflect the diversity of American culture, and continues the Institute’s long-term goal of supporting both US and international projects," said Michelle Satter, Director, Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. "Three international projects representing writer/directors from Thailand, Tajikistan, and Pakistan are joining the nine North American projects at the Lab, providing a rich environment for cultural exchange. We’re thrilled to support all of these screenwriters, whose stories represent a compelling and unique mix of distinctive voices."

The participants and projects selected for the 2004 January Screenwriters Lab are:

Zoe Hopkins (writer/director), Canada, CHERRY BLOSSOMS: A young Native girl decides to build a relationship with the father she never knew as part of her ceremonial passage into womanhood.

Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft (co-writers), U.S.A., DOT: A deaf high school student with an unthinkable secret uncovers the dark sexual demons lurking beneath the suburban façade of her small New England town.

Aditya Assarat (writer/director), Thailand, HI-SO: A coming of age love story that captures the music, the mood, and the ethos of modern day Bangkok.

Emre Mirza (co-writer) and Paxton Winters (co-writer/director), Pakistan/U.S.A., IRAQI FREEDOM: A young American soldier experiences another side of the war, and is forced to make a moral and political choice that will change his life irrevocably.

Kazuo Ohno (writer/director), U.S.A., MR. CRUMPACKER AND THE MAN FROM THE LETTER: A crass and overbearing bull of a boss decides on a whim to reconfigure his company as a bastion of philosophical inquiry.

Derek Nguyen (writer), U.S.A., MONSTER: In the California desert town of Red Valley, Detective Tang Tran investigates the disappearance of a Vietnamese high school student following a brutal hate crime - but as the case unfolds, he discovers that nobody is completely innocent…not even himself.

Kieran and Michele Mulroney (co-writers/co-directors), U.S.A., PAPER MAN: A frustrated writer spends a lonely winter on Cape Cod, where he is forced to choose between a world-weary superhero, an extinct bird, and a 16-year-old local girl in this coming-of-middle-age story.

Djamshed Usmonov (writer/director), Tajikistan, TO GET TO HEAVEN FIRST YOU HAVE TO DIE: A young man, unable to consummate his marriage, transcends his impotence through violence.

Stephen Guirgis (writer), U.S.A., UNTITLED STEPHEN GUIRGIS PROJECT: A bike messenger suffering from terminal adolescence rounds up his old crew from the neighborhood to help kidnap their childhood friend who has joined a religious cult.

Richard Press (writer/director), U.S.A., VIRTUAL LOVE: The true story of Tony Johnson, a charismatic 15-year-old whose struggle with AIDS and a life of abuse brought him devoted friends from all over the world; their devotion only wavered when it began to seem that Tony didn’t actually exist.

Goran Dukic (writer/director), U.S.A., WRISTCUTTERS: Suicide is not the end, but only the beginning of a fascinating journey through the afterlife for souls in search of what they could not find in their previous lives.

Dael Orlandersmith (co-writer) and Blanka Zizka (co-writer/director), U.S.A., YELLOWMAN: The love story of a light skinned boy and a dark skinned girl whose relationship collides with the color prejudices of a black community in rural South Carolina leading to a tragic and explosive end.

The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported many signature independent voices and films, including Peter Sollett’s RAISING VICTOR VARGAS, David Gordon Green’s ALL THE REAL GIRLS, Michael Burke’s THE MUDGE BOY, John Cameron Mitchell's HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, Moisés Kaufman's THE LARAMIE PROJECT, Darren Aronofsky's REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Kimberly Peirce's BOYS DON'T CRY, Gina Prince Bythewood's LOVE AND BASKETBALL, Tony Bui's THREE SEASONS, Walter Salles' CENTRAL STATION, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie's SMOKE SIGNALS, Paul Thomas Anderson's HARD EIGHT, Tamara Jenkins' SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS, and Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS.

The 2004 Sundance Film Festival features screenings of four films developed at the Sundance Feature Film Program Labs, all showing in Dramatic Competition: MARIA FULL OF GRACE, written and directed by Josh Marston; THE BEST THIEF IN THE WORLD, written and directed by Jacob Kornbluth; DOWN TO THE BONE, written and directed by Debra Granik, and EVERGREEN, written and directed by Enid Zentelis.

The January Screenwriters Lab is part of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, a year-round series of workshops and events. The Feature Film Program also includes the June Filmmakers/Screenwriters Lab. The June Filmmakers Lab is a month-long workshop providing directors an opportunity to explore the boundaries of their work and develop their projects in a collaborative environment removed from the pressures associated with film production. During the Lab, the filmmakers work with creative advisors, professional actors and video crews to rehearse, shoot, and edit their projects. A second Screenwriters Lab, similar to the January Lab, is held during the last week of the Filmmakers Lab. Throughout the year, Sundance staff members offer ongoing creative and business assistance to Lab alumni. In many cases, the Institute has helped filmmakers find a producer, financing and other significant resources, helping to bring these projects into production. The Feature Film Program also features a screenplay reading series of works in progress in Los Angeles and New York.

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is dedicated to the development of artists of independent vision and the exhibition of their new work. Since its inception, the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for filmmakers and other artists. Sundance Institute conducts national and international labs for filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, writers, and theatre artists. The annual Sundance Film Festival, a major program of Sundance Institute, is held each January and is considered the premier showcase for American and international independent film. The Institute supports non-fiction filmmakers through the Documentary Film Program by providing year-round support through the Sundance Documentary Fund and a series of programs that nurture their growth, encourage the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling, and promote the exhibition of documentary films to a broader audience. Through the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, the Institute is committed to invigorating the national theatre movement with original and creative work and to nurturing the diversity of artistic expression among theatre artists. The Institute also maintains The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a unique archive of independent film.

Updated: 12/19/2003

Submit Report Card

You must login to read or submit report cards.

First-time user? Register now to receive FREE email contest updates, news, results, deadline reminders and more. Rest assured, information submitted here is held in strict confidence. MovieBytes never sells or in any way distributes email names or addresses. We promise!