The Sundance Institute’s Native and Indigenous Film Lab has announced that submissions are being accepted for its 2014 Native Lab Fellowship.
The film lab offers aspiring Native American film makers the opportunity to receive hands-on guidance from professionals in the field.
Bird Runningwater is director of the Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous program. He says the idea for a Native film lab began with Sundance founder Robert Redford.
“The idea for Sundance Institute came out of his earlier desire to help Native filmmakers to help tell their own stories,” explains Runningwater. “And Sundance Institute was born and it’s been a thread of work that’s existed for the past 31 years…32 years, really.”
Runningwater says the film lab fellowship allows 4 emerging Native filmmakers to have their scripts or story ideas reviewed by 4 established filmmakers.
“Basically, there’s one-on-one meetings that happen between the filmmakers and their mentors,” Runningwater comments. “And they will have read their projects in advance and, you know, they just really kind of guide them down the path of trying to reach a final draft of a script…trying to ensure that their voice remains intact, that their point of view is strong and remains intact, as well. But that the story’s as strong as it can be.”
The Sundance Institute’s Native and Indigenous Film Lab takes place on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico.
Creative advisers for previous film labs include Sterlin Harjo, who directed “Four Sheets to the Wind” and New Zealand director Taika Waititi, whose film “Eagle versus Shark” was nominated for an Oscar.
Applications for the 2014 Sundance Native Lab Fellowship must be received by February 3.
www.sundance.org/native
https://my.sundance.org/forms/native