From Sundance Film Festival Short to Feature with Liz Sargent (TAKE ME HOME)
About this Spotlight
Spotlights feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes.
Join Sundance Collab for an exclusive online conversation with Liz Sargent, writer/director of the acclaimed first feature Take Me Home.
Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Take Me Home is a family dramedy that “balances dark truths with charm and humor” (The Hollywood Reporter). The film tells the story of Anna, an adult Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability who must care for her aging parents. Shot in Sargent’s parents’ home and starring her real-life sister Anna, the film is an achingly personal portrait of unconventional family life.
In this conversation, Sargent will share insights on:
- The Casting and Directing Process: Navigating the creative dynamics of casting family members and directing an actor with a cognitive disability.
- The Non-Traditional Path: Learning her craft outside of film school through Sundance Collab courses.
- Short-to-Feature Development: Expanding a proof-of-concept short (Sundance Film Festival 2023) into an award-winning feature.
- Grassroots Distribution: Executing her unique “Community Glitter Bomb” strategy to connect with audiences.
This hour-long conversation will conclude with an audience Q&A. Attendees are encouraged to bring their questions on the film’s conception, production, and release.
“This film is for anyone who has a complicated family,” Sargent told the Sundance Institute before the film’s premiere. Don’t miss your chance to hear from Sargent about how she made this big-hearted, autobiographical ode to complicated families everywhere.
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please either submit a request here, 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; however, requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
A recording of this Spotlight will be posted to Sundance Collab's Event Recording Library within two business days of the live event. All registered attendees will receive an email with a link to view the recording at no cost for two business days after it is posted. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.
SpotlightPeople
Liz Sargent
Liz Sargent is a Korean-American adoptee and filmmaker whose work explores adoption, disability, and family dynamics. With a background in choreography, she brings emotional depth to her storytelling, shaped by her experience growing up as the middle child of eleven.
In 2026, Sargent received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Lighthouse Award at the Lumen Awards for her debut feature, Take Me Home. A two-time NY EMMY winner (2020 & 2021), she is also a HALF Initiative Mentee (2022 & 2023), an MSSNG PCES AICP Mentee (2023), and an NBCU Launch Director (2024–2026).
Her debut narrative short, Strangers' Reunion (2019), a personal adoptee story produced by Ritz-Carlton and Hearst under the mentorship of Mike Figgis, was released worldwide in six languages.
Sargent’s proof-of-concept short Take Me Home premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2023), won the 2024 Grand Jury Prize at the American Cinematheque PROOF Film Festival (2024), and was featured at the White House for the 25th Anniversary of the Olmstead Act. Sargent later expanded the project into her debut feature, which won AT&T Untold Stories, the largest production prize in the world at the Tribeca Film Festival. Take Me Home premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival with an international premiere at the Berlinale in Perspectives competition and is in theaters this FALL 2026!
Soheil Rezayazdi
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer, Sundance Collab
Soheil Rezayazdi is a Digital Course & Event Producer at the Sundance Institute, where he produces multi-session courses, master classes, filmmaker Q&As, and other digital programs for Sundance Collab. Prior to Sundance, Soheil served as the Nonfiction Programs Manager at the Gotham Film & Media Institute. He oversaw the Gotham’s core documentary programs: the Documentary Feature Lab, the Spotlight on Documentaries project market, and the Documentary Development Initiative in partnership with HBO Documentary Films. Soheil has worked with emerging filmmakers since 2015, when he began a seven-year tenure at the Columbia University MFA Film Program. At Columbia he managed the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF), the Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film Noir Festival, and the Carla Kuhn Memorial Speaker Series.
Soheil is also a freelance writer on film and pop culture with articles in Indiewire, McSweeney’s, Vice, Filmmaker Magazine, Documentary Magazine, Paper, Paste, and elsewhere. He has also served as an external reviewer for artist programs operated by Creative Capital, Kartemquin Pictures, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and the International Documentary Association. A native of Iran, he holds an MA in journalism and a BA in film studies from the University of Iowa.