Life After the Labs

Since being developed at the Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs, ten projects recently supported by the Institute’s Feature Film Program have been completed, and seven others have significantly advanced into various stages of production.

Completed Projects
Watch for Michael Kang’s The Motel (2002 Filmmakers Lab) in theatres in early 2006, to be released by Palm Pictures.

Sundance Lab filmmakers had a presence at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, with four films supported by the Feature Film Program screening there. They include the Palestinian project from Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), which will be released in the U.S. by Warner Independent this month; Andrucha Waddington’s House of Sand (2004 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award winner, Brazil), which was just picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics; The Quiet, written by Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft (2004 Screenwriters Lab) and directed by Jamie Babbitt, which stars Edie Falco, Elisha Cuthbert, Martin Donovan, and Camilla Belle; and David Ayer’s directorial debut Harsh Times (1997 Screenwriters Lab), starring Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez, which was recently acquired by Bauer Martinez Distribution. And congratulations also to David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley (2003 Screenwriters Labs) and Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), both of which continued their successful festival runs with screenings at this summer’s 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival. Me and You and Everyone We Know was released to much acclaim this summer by IFC Films.

In Post-Production
Many more Lab-supported films are moving forward in various stages of production. Recently wrapped projects in post-production include Half Nelson, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (2004 Screenwriters Lab), which stars Ryan Gosling, Tina Holmes, and Shareeka Epps; All Fall Down, written and directed by Matt Tauber (2002 Screenwriters Lab), starring Anthony LaPaglia, Isabella Rossellini, and Viola Davis; A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, written and directed by Orlando “Dito” Montiel (2004 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) and starring Robert Downey Jr., Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, and Dianne Wiest; David Kaplan’s Year of the Fish (1995 Screenwriters Lab), a groundbreaking animated project inspired by the Cinderella fairy tale; Wristcutters, written and directed by Goran Dukic (2004 Screenwriters Lab), which stars Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, and Shannyn Sossaman; Laurie Collyer’s Sherrybaby (2001 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal; and Wild Tigers I Have Known (2005 Screenwriters Lab), the directorial debut from perennial Sundance Film Festival short filmmaker Cam Archer. In addition, several international projects are in post-production, including the Israeli project Sweet Mud, written and directed by Dror Shaul (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs); The Minder, written and directed by Rodrigo Moreno (2005 Sundance/NHK winner, Argentina); Taxidermia, written and directed by Gyorgi Palfi (2004 Sundance/NHK winner, Hungary), and Women Without Men, the narrative feature debut from Iranian-born visual artist Shirin Neshat (2003 Screenwriters Lab).

In Production
Currently in production, Hilary Brougher’s Stephanie Daley (2001 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) stars Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn; also in production is Catalin Mitulescu’s The Way I Spent the End of the World (2005 Sundance/NHK Winner, Romania).

In Pre-Production
And gearing up to start production before the end of the year are Something Beginning with Love (2005 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), the feature directorial debut from Oscar-nominated New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi; Where God Left His Shoes, written and directed by Sal Stabile (2005 Screenwriters Lab) and to star John Leguizamo; The Sleep Dealer, written and directed by Alex Rivera (2001 and 2002 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs); Red Road (2005 Screenwriters Lab), the feature directorial debut from the UK’s Andrea Arnold, who won the Oscar for Best Narrative Short earlier this year; the Brazilian project Not By Chance, written and directed by Philippe Barcinski (2005 Screenwriters Lab); and Four Sheets to the Wind, written and directed by Sterlin Harjo (2004 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs). And two other 2005 Lab projects, Cruz Angeles and Maria Topete’s Don’t Let Me Drown and DW Harper’s Dreamland, will participate in the IFP’s No Borders Market in New York this month through the sponsorship of Sundance.