Yahoo News Film Independent Sets Producing Lab Fellows For 2023
EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has set seven filmmakers for the 2023 edition of its Producing Lab, an intensive program designed to help creative, independent producers develop their skills and further their careers. The list includes Camila Grimaldi & Farah Jabir (AmeriGirl), Rob Cristiano (Gone by Morning), Daniel Tantalean (In the Summers), Valeria Contreras (Not My Name), Annalisa Shoemaker (Obsolete), and Fiona Hardingham (Smoke Country).
Film Independent looks to bolster its Fellows by introducing them to film professionals who can advise them on both the craft and business of independent producing. Each is paired with a Creative Advisor, with whom they’ll look to develop a project over the course of the program. Rebecca Green will serve as lead creative advisor for this year’s program, which will also feature an expansive roster of guest speakers: Jason Michael Berman, Apoorva Charan, Marissa Frobes, Nate Kamiya, Kristen Konvitz, Stephen Lee, Alex Lo, Lauren Mann, Jack Pearkes, Shira Rockowitz, Anita Surendran, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Jeanette Volturno, Lena Vurma, and Maria Zuckerman.
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“We’re delighted to shepherd this group of devoted creative producers through the Producing Lab and give them a dedicated space to further their projects and careers,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We’re thrilled to have feature films both in development and post-production in the program this year and be able to support producers at various stages of the filmmaking process.”
Film Independent also announced today that it will award a total of $80,000 across two grants — the Ssloan Producers Grant and Sloan Distribution Grant — to projects whose screenplays integrate science or technology themes and characters. Part of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s nationwide film program to advance public understanding of science and technology, the grants are being bestowed on Hardingham’s Smoke Country and director Christopher Zalla’s acclaimed Sundance title Radical, produced by Benjamin Odell, Joshua Davis and Eugenio Derbez. The former title is set for the Producers Grant, totaling $30,000, while Radical will take the Distribution Grant of $50,000. Derbez, Daniel Haddad, Jennifer Trejo and Mia Fernanda Soli star in the latter, which is slated for release next month.
“We are pleased to partner with Film Independent for our second decade and to support two outstanding projects, Smoke Country and Radical,” said the Sloan Foundation Vice President and Program Director Doron Weber, “the former a screenplay about the impact of climate change on a working-class family in rural Australia and the latter an inspiring true story about a maverick teacher who transforms the lives of underprivileged students in Mexico.”
In a statement on her grant, Hardingham said, “I’m deeply appreciative of the Sloan Foundation for recognizing me with this grant and for their dedication to bringing science-themed narratives to the screen. Scientific progress is imperative to the survival of our civilization in an increasingly warming climate. Bridging science and humanity, our film Smoke Country interweaves the climate crisis with an intimate portrait of a family displaced by wildfires. With the climate crisis looming large, telling this story now is not only essential but a genuine effort to inspire actionable change. Thank you Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for your generous support!”
Added Radical‘s Odell, “We are truly grateful to Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for supporting Radical with this grant to amplify the marketing efforts for the film. It’s a vital story about how we educate our children and heroes who are the teachers that dedicate their lives to making a difference.”
Over the course of any given year, Film Independent also helps to uplift indie filmmakers through Project Involve, additional filmmaker labs (in Directing, Documentary, Episodic, and Screenwriting), an Episodic Directing Intensive, a Fast Track finance market and fiscal sponsorship, as well as through additional grants and awards. Notable projects developed through its Producing Lab include Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection, Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, Chloé Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me, and Monica Sorelle’s Mountains, to name just a few.
For more information on the 2023 Lab participants’ projects, read on.
AmeriGirl
Producers: Camila Grimaldi, Farah Jabir
Stage: Development
Logline: At Camp AmeriGirl, 12-year-old Aaliyah has one goal: to make a friend. When the cooler Brown girl arrives, Aaliyah will do anything to fit in.
Gone by Morning
Producer: Rob Cristiano
Stage: Development
Logline: Lucy, a free-spirited dancer and single mother, returns to the family ranch she desperately wanted to escape and realizes that her life might be there.
In the Summers
Producer: Daniel Tantalean
Stage: Post-Production
Logline: Culminating over four summer vignettes, Latine sisters visit their father in an expansive story exploring the growing pains of childhood to the reflections of adulthood.
Not My Name
Producer: Valeria Contreras
Stage: Development
Logline: 1996 – When a Colombian family must travel on a perilous rural road with fake identities, fear exposes their child to the reality of war.
Obsolete
Producer: Annalisa Shoemaker
Stage: Development
Logline: When retired programmer Eleanor is kidnapped for a bank heist, her captors soon realize their elderly hostage may be more in control than they are.
Smoke Country
Producer: Fiona Hardingham
Stage: Development
Logline: After a wildfire destroys their Australian bee farm, 12-year-old Mikey battles to unite her family amidst environmental fallout while her father turns to crime.
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