Conversations from the Sundance Institute Labs | AMREEKA Case Study: Cherien Dabis on Character-Driven Storytelling
About this Event Recording
Go behind the scenes to learn from Sundance Institute Advisors in our new Conversations from the Labs series. This collection of videos will deepen your understanding of all the creative disciplines that are supported through our Labs including Feature Film Directing and Writing, TV Writing, Emerging Media, Documentary, Producing, Film Music, and Theatre with many of our Lab advisors.
Join Writer/Director Cherien Dabis during the 2020 Indigenous Lab as she provides insight into how she began her career, the most valuable lessons from film school, and her journey through creating her first feature film Amreeka. Using Amreeka as a case study, she discusses scene development and learning to place character development above all else in the process of writing a feature script.
More conversations in this series include actor/director Ed Harris, writer/director Karyn Kusama, writer/director Rick Famuyiwa, editor Dylan Tichenor and others.
Event RecordingTeam
Cherien Dabis
Filmmaker
Cherien Dabis is an award winning filmmaker who made her feature debut with AMREEKA. The film world-premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the coveted critics award at Cannes. It went on to win a dozen more international awards and was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, 3 Independent Spirit Awards and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. Dabis opened the 2013 Sundance Film Festival with her second feature MAY IN THE SUMMER, which had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival. A television writer and director, her credits include THE L WORD, EMPIRE and THE SINNER.