Applying to the 2027 Sundance Institute Ignite Program

Harlan Banks is a writer, director, editor, and Miles Morales fanatic from Stanford, CA. He’s interested in shining new lights on overshadowed perspectives through subverting genre conventions while blurring lines between documentary and narrative.

Kat Schulze is a Canadian director and film non-profit professional based in Los Angeles. Since 2019, Kat has worked for the Sundance Institute, initially contributing to the Documentary Film Program and currently serving as the Manager of the Ignite Program, which fosters emerging filmmakers through the Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship and Short Film Fund.

Kat lends their curatorial skills to various film funds and festivals, including the International Documentary Association, and offers creative consultation to independent filmmakers. Kat is a 2026 WAVE Grant recipient for their narrative short film, The Great Disappointment.

Toby Brooks is the Director of the Sundance Institute Ignite Program, which cultivates and supports a new generation of filmmakers. Brooks has worked for Sundance Institute since 2012, first as the Assistant to the Director of the Sundance Film Festival. From 2012-2017, Brooks was a member of the Emerging Leaders Council at Outfest, a Los Angeles film non-profit that promotes LGBT equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he received his B.A. from UCLA.

Erica Elson is a Producer, Writer and Educator based in the mountains outside Los Angeles. Her short film, WING NIGHT, premiered at Method Fest in Los Angeles. She is the co-author of the book THE AWKWARD HUMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE and co-hosted a podcast by the same name on the 5by5 network for five years. Elson's articles have been published by HuffPost, Lifehacker, and Reader's Digest. Prior to working in education, she worked in television development and writers’ rooms such as VH1’s HINDSIGHT, where she had the chance to write for the spinoff web series PLANET SEBASTIAN.

Elson joined the Sundance Collab team in October 2021 and produces courses, Master Classes, and events in the areas of screenwriting, television writing, directing, producing, and documentary filmmaking. She has moderated conversations with Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, and Susannah Grant, among others.

Prior to Sundance, Elson was the Thesis Production Supervisor at the American Film Institute for five years. She oversaw several award-winning graduate thesis films, notably the 2021 BAFTA student film winner APART, TOGETHER and the 2023 Sundance Film Festival short WE WERE MEANT TO. While at AFI, Elson developed a passion for sustainable production and created the Green Film School Alliance, which includes forty schools on four continents. She holds a BA in Communication and Film Studies from Concordia University and an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute.