Creative advisor Joan Darling and artistic director Gyula Gazdag chat with fellow advisor Peter Medak at the 1998 Directors Lab. Photo by Sandria Miller
By Archives team
Distinguished professionals from the film industry have contributed their talent and expertise to the labs as creative advisors since the very first Directors Lab in 1981. This month’s archives blog highlights the 2025 creative advisors and shares the incredible history they all have with the Lab and Institute. Whether they were a supported fellow earlier in their careers or are marking almost three decades as the artistic director of the Directors Lab, each advisor brings exceptional insight and helps make the Lab a transformative experience. We’re grateful for their contributions.
Two constants at the Directors Lab are Joan Darling and Gyula Gazdag. 2025 will be Darling’s 32nd year as an advisor and Gazdag’s 28th year as artistic director, though he also served as an advisor for three years prior. Through the years, Darling and Gazdag have shepherded hundreds of artists as they develop their projects further.
Keith Gordon (right) helps workshop 2019 Directors Lab fellow Barbara Cigarroa’s film “El Otro Lado (The Other Side).” Photo by Jen Fairchild
Other creative advisors this year include veterans such as Keith Gordon, who first attended the Directors Lab as a creative advisor in 2000 and has since served for close to 20 years. Gordon premiered his film Waking the Dead during the 2000 Festival and returned to the 2003 Festival with The Singing Detective. Kasi Lemmons also attended the Directors Lab as a creative advisor for the first time in 2000. The following year she premiered her film The Caveman’s Valentine at the 2001 Festival. She has since come back to the lab 11 times, 2025 marking her 12th year as an advisor.
Cinematographer Ava Berkofsky, fellow Boots Riley, and creative advisor Kasi Lemmons take in the action on the set of “Sorry to Bother You” at the 2016 Directors Lab. Photo by Brandon Cruz
Other longtimers in this year’s advisor cohort are Ed Harris, who has been an actor in six Sundance Film Festival films, including Victor Nunez’s A Flash of Green (1985) and most recently Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding (2024). Harris began attending the Directors Lab as a creative advisor in 2002 and 2025 will be his 16th year. Christine Lahti, who premiered My First Mister at the 2001 Festival, will serve as a creative advisor for the 11th time this year (her first being in 2003), while Festival alum and thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke will attend the Directors Lab for the 8th time as an advisor (her first being in 2005).
Ed Harris (right) compares notes with fellow Miranda July about her project “Me and You and Everyone We Know” at the 2003 Directors Lab. Photo by Clayton Chase
Rick Famuyiwa, who first attended the Festival in 1996 with his short Blacktop Lingo, has a special relationship with the Directors Lab, as he was a fellow in 1997 when he workshopped his feature film The Wood, which was later released in 1999. Famuyiwa returned to the Festival with Dope in 2015 and began serving as a creative advisor at the Directors Lab that same year.
1997 Directors Lab fellow Rick Famuyiwa (right) at a creative advisors meeting at the Sundance Resort. Photo by Sandria Miller
Nicole Holofcener, Karyn Kusama, and Nancy Richardson have each attended the Directors Lab as creative advisors three times. Holofcener first attended the Sundance Film Festival in 1992 with her short Angry. Like Rick Famuyiwa, Holofcener was also a Directors Lab fellow, attending the 1992 Directors Lab with her project Walking and Talking, which later premiered at the 1996 Festival. She has screened three other films at the Festival, including Friends with Money (2006), Please Give (2010), and You Hurt My Feelings (2023). Karyn Kusama premiered her first feature Girlfight at the Festival in 2000 and XX in 2017. In turn, Nancy Richardson has edited six Festival films, including Charles Burnett’s 1990 film To Sleep with Anger, Gregory Nava’s 1995 film My Family, fellow creative advisor Catherine Hardwicke’s 2003 first feature thirteen, and most recently Stephen Merchant’s 2019 film Fighting with My Family.
Creative advisor Catherine Hardwicke (right) talks with fellow Elgin James as he workshops “Goodnight Moon” at the 2009 Directors Lab. The film was later screened at the 2011 Festival as “Little Birds.” Photo by Fred Hayes
Joi McMillon, Estes Tarver, and Amy Vincent will be advising for the second time at the upcoming Directors Lab. McMillon has edited three Festival films including Frankie Shaw’s 2015 short SMILF and Janicza Bravo’s features Lemon and Zola in 2017 and 2020 respectively. McMillon first served as a creative advisor in 2021. Estes Tarver first attended the Directors Lab as a creative advisor in 2024. Amy Vincent, who first attended the lab in 2021, was a cinematographer on three Festival films, including Darren Stein’s 1999 movie Jawbreaker, Ryan Shiraki’s 2004 feature Home of Phobia, and Kirby Dick’s 2006 film This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
Jomo Fray will serve as a Directors Lab creative advisor for the first time this summer, though he is not new to the lab scene. He attended the Directors Lab as a Director of Photography on the production crew in 2019 and again in 2024. Before that, he was a cinematographer on Carey Williams’ 2018 Festival short Emergency and the Director of Photography on Tayarisha Poe’s 2019 Festival feature Selah and the Spades (a 2017 Directors Lab–supported project).
Jomo Fray works with 2019 Directors Lab fellow A.V. Rockwell on the set of her project “A Thousand and One Nights.” The film later premiered at the 2023 Festival as “A Thousand and One” and won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. Photo by Jen Fairchild
Last but not least, director and screenwriter Jason Reitman will serve his first stint as a creative advisor at this summer’s Directors Lab. Over the years, Reitman has screened six films at the Sundance Film Festival, including his first short Operation in 1998, his first feature Thank You for Smoking in 2006, and Tully in 2018.
One more time for the memories – Gyula Gazdag and Joan Darling share a sweet moment together at the 2018 Directors Lab. Photo by Brandon Cruz
For more in-depth coverage of the Directors Lab and other Sundance Institute labs, check out the editorial team’s From the Labs blogs.
