Southern Producers Lab

Karim Ahmad was the Director of Outreach & Inclusion at the Sundance Institute, where he oversaw emerging artist outreach initiatives and cross-discipline creative / professional development activations and partnerships. He also lead inclusion strategy across the organization, and advocacy for marginalized artists in the field. Previously, he was Senior Strategist for ITVS, where he oversaw numerous film funds and headed digital content production and creative development for episodic and immersive media. He was the Creator and Senior Producer of Indie Lens Storycast, an Independent Lens branded YouTube channel on PBS’ Digital Studios MCN, and the Creator and Showrunner of the iconic sci-fi series, FUTURESTATES . Karim is also an independent cross-platform writer and producer and can be found on Twitter as @thatkarimahmad.

Summer Shelton was the recipient of the 2018 Independent Spirit Producers Award.

In 2023, her directorial debut You & I which she also wrote, produced and co-starred opposite veteran actor Clayne Crawford screened as an Official Selection at the Nashville Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, River Run International Film Festival and debuted internationally at the American Film Festival. The film was released in 2024 by Slated.

Feature works she produced included Maine (Orion Classics, 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) and Keep the Change (KINO LORBER, 2017 Tribeca Film Festival Best Narrative Feature; FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize at the 2017 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival).

She was Executive Producer of People Places Things which premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, produced Icarus (short) which premiered at the 2015 New Directors/New Films Festival and produced Little Accidents, which had its World Premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

She worked alongside critically acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani as Associate Producer of Goodbye Solo (2008), an official selection of the Venice Film Festival; Co-Producer of Plastic Bag (2009), opening night short film of the Corto Cortissimo at the Venice Film Festival and Associate Producer of At Any Price (2012), which premiered in main competition at the Venice Film Festival and most recently as Co-Producer of short documentary If Dreams Were Lighting, Rural Health Crisis (2023), which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival.

She was the recipient of the inaugural Bingham Ray Creative Producing Fellowship, awarded by the Sundance Institute (2012), a Rotterdam Producing Fellowship (2013), Film Independent Sloan Producing Fellowship (2014) and Cannes Producing Fellowship (2021) awarded by the Gotham.

Prior to her filmmaking career, Shelton was a former high school English teacher, she remains connected to the classroom as a University Lecturer, Adjunct Professor and provides educational consulting services to arts non-profits. You can find more on her website: summershelton.com

Shrihari Sathe is a New York based director and producer. Sathe most recently won the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award – Producers Award. His credits as producer/co-producer include Jaron Henrie McCrea’s PERVERTIGO, Eliza Hittman’s IT FELT LIKE LOVE and BEACH RATS, Partho Sen-gupta’s SUNRISE (ARUNODAY), Afia Nathaniel’s DUKHTAR, Bassam Jarbawi's SCREWDRIVER, Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam's THE SWEET REQUIEM amongst others. Sathe’s feature directorial debut – 1000 RUPEE NOTE has received over 30 awards. His latest production Paul Felten & Joe DeNardo's SLOW MACHINE premiered at 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. He has received fellowships from the HFPA, PGA, Trans Atlantic Partners, IFP, Film Independent and The Sundance Institute to name a few. In 2016, Sathe received the Cinereach Producer Award. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Production Advisor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Sathe is a member of the PGA, IMPPA and SWA-India.

Shana Swanson is an Emmy Award and Peabody nominated Supervising Producer at ITVS. She has worked for ITVS for six years.Prior to joining ITVS, she was a documentary Producer in New York City where she produced feature length documentaries for Alternate Current, an international arts and cultural production company and The New York Center for Visual History. Her frequent co-producing partners were Turner Entertainment, NHK Japan, Gaumont, France 3 and BBC. The documentaries were broadcast on Turner Entertainment, Bravo, BBC and the PBS programs Dance in America and Great Performances. Shana moved to Los Angeles and worked as a consultant for The Walt Disney Company, Home Video division for 10 years. At Disney, she worked on Disney Branded content for Miramax, ESPN, ABC and ABC Family. With hundreds of films on her roster, some of her titles include There will be Blood, The Queen, No Country for Old Men, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and the Disney Franchises - Chronicles of Narnia and National Treasure. Shana was a Clearance Supervisor for Oprah's Master Class, Season 2, and other small independent features and documentaries such as God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (Netflix), and The Other One:The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir (Netflix). Shana earned a BFA in film and television production from New York University, Tisch School of Arts. She is a member of the Producer's Guild of America.