The Sundance Institute and Adobe are teaming up to find the next 10 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows—emerging filmmakers (ages 18 to 25) who are creating stories that bring their passion, voice, and perspective to life. 

The Sundance Ignite program identifies and supports new voices and talent from the next generation of filmmakers by providing artistic and professional development to advance filmmakers to the next stage in their filmmaking. The yearlong Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship is open to emerging documentary and fiction filmmakers from across the globe between ages 18 and 25. The fellowship begins with a weeklong in-person lab at MassMoca in North Adams, Massachusetts, orienting filmmakers to the fellowship and year ahead. Throughout the year, filmmakers will:

• Work with a Sundance Institute alumni mentor
• Receive a $3,000 artist grant
• Participate as a cohort in monthly webinars, workshops and workshares throughout the year
• Receive a complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud 12-month membership, where Creative Cloud is available.

To choose this year’s fellows, we’re asking filmmakers to submit a one- to 15-minute short that shows us their artistic vision and unique voice. Submissions aren’t limited to any genre or topic — the only requirement is that they represent the filmmaker’s perspective as an artist. You will also include materials in support of a new project that you intend to work on throughout the fellowship. 

For resources to help craft your submission, check out the Sundance Collab Filmmaker Toolkit.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• One entry per person.
• Films submitted must be under 15 minutes long (including credits) and must have been completed within the last 12 months, as of February 14, 2025.
• Accepted video file formats: AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, or MPEG-2.
  Note: If you choose to upload a .MOV file, make sure that it is not using the Apple ProRes compression. We do not support reading Apple ProRes files or raw camera formats like ARRI and RED at this time.
• An active project is required for the fellowship, however there is no obligation or expectation to complete the project during the fellowship.
• Materials supporting a project that you intend to work on throughout the yearlong fellowship. These can include lookbooks, five pages of a script, treatments and pitch decks. Note: Materials must be in a PDF format.
• The deadline to submit is February 14, 2025, at 11 a.m. PST.

Sundance Ignite is supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation.