In our Insider Sessions, Sundance Institute staff answer your questions and guide you through the process of applying to our labs, grant opportunities and the Sundance Film Festival.


For this Insider Session, join Feature Film Program Deputy Director Ilyse McKimmie and Sundance Lab alum Francisca Alegría (The Cow Who Sang a Song Into The Future) for an informational session about applying for Feature Film Development Track programs and fellowships. Get an inside look into the Sundance Lab experience from Alegría’s personal experience attending the 2017 Screenwriters and Directors Labs and eventually premiering The Cow Who Sang a Song Into The Future at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.


The conversation will be followed by a live Q&A session to answer your questions surrounding the application process for this year's development track. If you're planning to apply, bring your questions about what we look for in an application, the right time to apply, the specifics of our programs, and more.


ABOUT THE FEATURE FILM DEVELOPMENT TRACK

For fiction feature writers, directors, writer/directors, or writer/director teams, you can apply for support from the Feature Film Program through the Development Track application that allows your fiction feature work-in-progress screenplay to be considered for the following programs, fellowships, and grants:

  • Screenwriters Lab (held annually in January)
  • Screenwriters Intensive (held annually in March)
  • Sundance Institute Comedy Fellowship
  • Sundance Institute Horror Fellowship
  • Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant and Fellowship (for projects with scientific and/or technological content)


To apply to the Feature Film Development Track visit our applications page. Application will be listed on April 14 and closes on Thursday, May 12th at 11:59pm PT. 



ABOUT FFP

The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported and championed many of the leading independent filmmakers of the past 40 years whose distinctive, singular films have engaged audiences worldwide. The unique vision of each filmmaker is embraced, encouraging a rigorous creative process with a focus on original and deeply resonant storytelling. The Institute’s guiding values of risk-taking, community, inclusion, and freedom of expression have broadened the program to include American and international artists in a more meaningful and vibrant dialogue across cultural, political, and geographic boundaries. Over the years, the Feature Film Program has evolved to provide in-depth year-round support to a next generation of diverse filmmakers from development through distribution and has become a global model for supporting artists around the world.


Francisca Alegria
Panelist
Francisca Alegría was born and raised in Chile. She holds an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University. Alegría’s short film AND THE WHOLE SKY FIT IN THE DEAD COW’S EYE premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Short Film Jury Award. Alegría was a fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters and Directors Labs with her debut feature THE COW WHO SANG A SONG INTO THE FUTURE, which premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. more...
Ilyse McKimmie
Moderator
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ilyse McKimmie is the Deputy Director for Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program. She oversees the Directors and Screenwriters Labs and the Screenwriters Intensive, provides year-round creative and strategic support to alumni filmmakers, and plays a key role in the Producers and Episodic Programs. Films developed at the Labs during her tenure include DÌDI (弟弟), A THOUSAND AND ONE, AFTERSUN, NANNY, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION, THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO, THE FAREWELL, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, WE THE ANIMALS, BEACH RATS, SWISS ARMY MAN, DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, FRUITVALE STATION, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, PARIAH, SIN NOMBRE, RED ROAD, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, PARADISE NOW, and MARIA FULL OF GRACE, among many others. Before joining Sundance 25 years ago, she held positions at ICM and Red Wagon Entertainment. Her roots lie in the theater; her first job after graduating from UCLA was as a production stage manager in the Los Angeles theater scene. more...
Tags:Visual Storytelling

Join the Discussion