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 2022 Sundance Institute Lab alum Neo Sora (Happyend) for an informational session about applying for Feature Film Development Track programs and fellowships. Get an inside look into the Sundance Institute Lab experience from Neo’s personal experience attending the Screenwriters and Directors Labs.
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.
Applications open April 15th. Learn more about the Feature Film Program by visiting the Sundance Institute website.
Live event registration for Sundance Collab Insider Sessions is free of charge. A recording of this event will be posted to our Video Library the next business day following the event. All registered attendees can watch the recording through May 14th, 2025. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790, or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific requests. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
Deputy Director, Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
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...Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Katherine "Kat" Street is an LA-based award-winning filmmaker and Philadelphia native. A cinephile at heart, she writes female-driven stories with complex (oftentimes damaged) main characters, centered around self-discovery, self-love, and belonging.
She has written numerous short-form projects, including original shorts, pilots, and features. She wrote and directed the dramatic short film “Cycles,” which received festival recognition in both acting and best romantic short. She also created her award-winning flagship web series "The New Adult,” which is currently streaming on Kweli TV.
Kat is a Stowe Story Lab SAGIndie Fellow and a participant in the BlackMagic Collective Emerging Filmmakers Initiative. In 2021, she founded the Black Film Challenge, a project that showcases filmmakers of African descent and the movies they create.
She earned her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Cinematography and has literary representation with Culture Creative Entertainment.
more...Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living in Tokyo and New York. As a filmmaker, Neo has directed, shot, and produced short narrative films, documentaries, music videos, fashion spots, and a concert film. In 2015, Neo shot and co-directed an ethnographic documentary and art project entitled Ainu Neno An Ainu, along with artist collective Lunch Bee House, which he is a part of. An installation version of the project was selected for the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions. As part of artist-filmmaker collective Zakkubalan, Neo has shown installation and video artworks at the 2019 Singapore Biennale, the 2019 Dojima River Biennale, Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art, and the 2017 Reborn-Art Festival, among others. His newest short film, The Chicken, an adaptation of a short story by Naoya Shiga premiered at Locarno International Film Festival 2020. Neo was a fellow at the 2022 Sundance Screenwriters and Director’s Lab. His first fiction feature film, Happyend, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
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