Dear Ignite Alumni,
As we speed forward into the year, I wanted to give you an exciting new update from Sundance Institute and Adobe. Over the past 10 years, Sundance Institute Ignite has served over 120 young filmmakers, giving them the critical support and resources needed to launch themselves into a career as an artist and storyteller. We take great pride in the many achievements of our alumni community after going through the Sundance Institute Ignite Lab — from seeing creative collaborations grow, to watching work screen at film festivals around the world, to winning Independent Spirit Awards and beyond.
At the end of 2025, my team and I were tasked with envisioning what we wanted for the future of the program. Our goal has always always been to remove friction for artists as they endeavor to build the foundation for their careers. Early-career artists face institutional, tangible, and educational gaps, and we seek to provide access and opportunities to bridge those. Up until this point, Sundance Institute Ignite has been able to help filmmakers address many of these barriers, but had not had the opportunity to mitigate the financial barriers that filmmakers acutely face, especially at the beginning of their careers. This gap has become a priority for us — to provide practical fiscal support that builds on the career development, mentorship, and community cultivation that Ignite Fellows have had access to through the fellowship. With short films being the most direct and feasible way for emerging filmmakers to advance their careers, we have decided to focus our efforts on this form of filmmaking.
Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival have always recognized short filmmaking as a standalone art form with its own unique language and possibilities. Short films are an integral part of many filmmakers careers — a space for experimentation narratively and stylistically, as well as an opportunity for exposure to a broad cross section of the industry. However, with no guarantee of financial return, fatigue in crowdfunding, and limited personal resources, funding for short films continues to be one of the largest obstacles for emerging filmmakers looking to build their body of work.
We are thrilled to announce, with the generous support of the Adobe Film and Television Fund, the brand-new Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Short Film Fund: a short film fund focused on substantive and significant funding for Sundance Institute Ignite alumni. For the first year of this new fund, open exclusively to Ignite alumni, the Institute will grant $35,000 to five short film projects. Full eligibility requirements will be announced as we get closer to the application opening this summer.
This is a thrilling new step in the way Ignite supports filmmakers, one that we hope proves both useful and impactful. We cannot wait to see the projects you create. With Adobe’s partnership, this fund will continue through 2028, serving alumni fellows and those who join us in the coming years.
Toby Brooks,
Director, Sundance Institute Ignite
