International Outreach

Throughout the Feature Film Program's history, as we have expanded our work in the independent film community, our international outreach has also grown. We have scoured the globe to discover and develop stories that we believe should be shared with wider audiences around the world. Each year, we select five to six international filmmakers to participate in our Screenwriters Labs held in Utah. Since 2005, in partnership with the Royal Film Commission, Sundance Institute helped establish the RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab to support filmmakers from all over the region. Also, in the spring of 2010, we held a mini-Lab in Tel Aviv, a combination of individual mentoring for selected Fellows and two public events for the larger film community.

Beyond our Lab settings, we also provide Grants and Fellowships to international filmmakers. These have included the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award, which was established in 1996 to celebrate 100 years of cinema and to honor and support exciting new voices on the world cinema stage.

Our international outreach for the Screenwriters Lab focuses on select regions, usually developing regions that we feel will benefit the most from our support. The current areas of focus include the Middle East, Turkey, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. While we will occasionally invite a filmmaker from another region, open applications are currently only accepted from these specific targeted areas.

Each year, applications are accepted to the annual Screenwriters Labs held each January and June in Utah. The Lab is a five-day writer's workshop that gives independent screenwriters the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking. Through one-on-one story sessions with Creative Advisors, Fellows engage in an artistically rigorous process that offers indispensable lessons in craft, as well as a deep exploration of their material.

Past international Lab projects supported by the Feature Film Program include:

• Lake Tahoe by Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico)
• Paradise Now by Hany Abu-Assad (Palestinian Territories/Palestine)
• Sweet Mud by Dror Shaul (Israel)
• Treeless Mountain by So Yong Kim (Korea)
• Women Without Men by Shirin Neshat (Iran)
• Red Road by Andrea Arnold (U.K.).

Click here for a full list of past international projects.

Thomas Vinterberg, Fernando León de Aranoa, Atom Egoyan, Ronan Bennett, and Marcos Bernstein are a few of the international Creative Advisors who have participated in the Labs.

Click here for a full list of international Creative Advisors.

Important Dates

International applications for the January Screenwriters Lab due: September 15

International applications for the June Screenwriters Lab due: March 1

Eligibility for International Filmmakers

Please read these eligibility criteria carefully, as they are very different from the eligibility requirements for U.S. applicants.

Filmmakers should be from one of our regions of focus: the Middle East, Turkey, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Others will be considered by invitation only but these regions are the current priority. The Lab is either for a writer/director or a writer-director team. Participants are selected on the basis of their past work and the submitted script. The Lab is for a first or second feature film only. Candidates must submit the full, complete feature-length screenplay (no treatments and not the first five pages, as with U.S. applications). The script must be in English, or be an English translation. Filmmakers must submit a DVD of their previous short film or feature film as a sample of his/her work. If the work is not in English, it must be subtitled in English. Submissions are accepted by recommendation only. We regret that we cannot accept open applications from international applicants. All applications must be accompanied by a recommendation letter from a film professional written in English or with an attached English translation. Typically the budgets of participating projects have been between U.S. $100,000 and $3 million. We may consider projects outside this range on a project-by-project basis.

Click here to read about the project selection for the Screenwriters Lab.

Project Support

For international Lab Fellows, Sundance Institute provides airline travel, accommodations, and meals at the Sundance Resort in Utah for one writer/filmmaker per project for the duration of the Lab, in addition to the extensive creative and strategic continuum of support provided throughout the life of a project. The Institute considers special requests to provide accommodations and meals for additional creative partners, and may ask the creative team to cover travel and other expenses of the additional artists. If your project is selected for the Screenwriters Lab, participants are asked to give back to Sundance Institute. Click here to learn more about giving back.

Apply

If you meet the eligibility requirements for international applicants and are interested in applying for the Screenwriters Lab, please read the Frequently Asked Questions before contacting the program administrator about receiving an Official Application Form.

FAQ

Before contacting us, please read through the Frequently Asked Questions. They will help you to avoid the usual pitfalls and present a stronger application.

Contact

If you have read the FAQ and the application guidelines and have additional questions, please contact the program administrator at ffpinternational@sundance.org.