Vanessa Kirby’s Aluna Entertainment Preps Return Of Aluna Labs Program Supporting Emerging Female Filmmakers

Matt Grobar
·2-min read

Vanessa Kirby’s Aluna Entertainment has announced the return of its Aluna Labs, an emerging talent development program, designed to champion the next generation of female talent in film.

Taking place in London, the Lab invites applications from female-identifying writers, directors and producers from across the UK. Applicants will apply with a treatment for a debut feature, in any genre, that they wish to develop through the program. Applications open via Zealous tomorrow and close Friday, June 28.

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Stated Aluna Entertainment’s Lauren Dark and Juliet Kirby, “We created Aluna Labs to provide a tailored and nurturing environment for women aspiring to make ambitious debut features. This August, we are thrilled to welcome fifteen new participants to enhance their narrative pitches through specialised development sessions, industry panels, and professional mentorship. We spend time with each participant before the course begins to be clear on the nature of support needed for each project, and tailor the sessions to be highly specific to those needs.”

Last year’s lab, tailored to creatives established in theatre who were sharpening their skills in narrative film, welcomed participants including Nosa Eke, Sophie Ellerby, Cordelia Lynn, Rebecca Murrell, Chloe Pirrie, Stephanie Street, Abigail Thorn, Corinne Walker, Meghan Shandley, Matilda Neill, Helen Murray, Annie Jenkins, Bryher Flanders, Jess Edwards, Sylvie Briggs, Sasha Briggs, Mina Barber, Anastasiya Ador and Sofia Barclay.

Industry leaders participating in the first go-round included Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex), Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida), Carrie Cracknell (Persuasion), Stacey Gregg (Here Before) Farhana Bhula (Head of Creative, Film4), Teresa Moneo (Head of European Studio Film, Netflix), Kristin Irving, (Commissioner, BBC Film), Sammy Wong (Home Team), Moss Barclay (See-Saw), Rohina Cameron Perrera (Brock Media) and Helen Simmons (Hoard), among many others.

Founding Aluna Entertainment alongside Dark in 2021, Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby is coming off of performances in Apple TV+’s Napoleon and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. Up next, she’ll appear in Ron Howard’s thriller Eden; Benjamin Caron’s Night Always Comes, which Aluna is producing; the next Mission: Impossible; and the highly anticipated new take on The Fantastic Four, which has her taking on the role of Sue Storm aka the Invisible Woman.

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