Sundance Institute and The Walt Disney Studios today announced the filmmakers supported through the second and third cycles of the Project Advancement and Completion Fund and the Artist Fellowship. The collaboration pairs Sundance Institute’s longstanding expertise in identifying and cultivating exceptional filmmaking talent with Disney’s support to help artists advance their work and build sustainable creative careers. The Project Advancement and Completion Fund provides filmmakers with $25,000 unrestricted grants to advance their feature projects, while the Artist Fellowship provides filmmakers with $15,000 unrestricted grants focused on their artistic and professional development.
“We are grateful for the collaboration with The Walt Disney Studios, which enables us to provide critical financial and tactical support to talented filmmakers, empowering them to advance their films and cultivate sustainable creative careers. We are proud to champion these filmmakers as they continue to refine their voices and share their unique perspectives with the world.,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Director, Artist Accelerator & Women @ Sundance Institute, Sundance Institute.
“Sundance Institute has an incredible track record of finding and nurturing breakout talent. We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with the Institute to champion this next generation of filmmakers and provide meaningful support as they continue developing their craft and careers,” said Mahita Simpson, who oversees Creative Talent Pathways for The Walt Disney Studios.
The filmmakers and projects supported through Cycles Two and Three are:
Project Advancement and Completion Fund
Cycle Two
Urvashi Pathania — Skin
Haunted by childhood myths that equate fair skin with divinity and dark skin with the demonic, a dark-skinned Indian-American woman undergoes a secretive and drastic skin-lightening procedure.
Urvashi Pathania is an LA-based filmmaker—by way of India and New Jersey—exploring biopower, bereavement, and beauty. A 2024 Sundance Screenwriters Lab Fellow, she is currently developing her feature Skin. Among her short films, Beast premiered at Tribeca, while Unmothered was acquired by HBO Max.
Jane Casey Modderno — Here For The Weekend
A buddy-comedy about three trans best friends chasing love in Palm Springs. As Cherry pursues a hotel guest who can make her fashion dreams come true, she falls for him but can’t shake the belief that happy endings aren’t written for girls like her.
As a screenwriter, Jane Casey Modderno wrote and developed genre TV for Peacock, Netflix, Paramount, and Facebook Watch. She has shifted focus to directing films about queer women with severe wit, navigating love and careers. Her first feature is supported by the Sundance Institute Labs and Gotham Week.
Jesus Celaya — Chalino
Chronicles the legend of Chalino Sánchez, the “true” story of the Mexican immigrant who became a music icon in 1990s Los Angeles by originating the narcocorrido, a genre of music that tells the stories of outlaws through song.
Jesus Celaya is an award-winning screenwriter and director who has participated in programs for Sundance Institute, Film Independent, and McDonald’s Spotlight Dorado as an inaugural winner. He was a Sundance Institute Feature Film Lab Fellow with his feature project Chalino.
Andrew Reid — Asia A
After a spinal cord injury leaves a college basketball player completely paralyzed, he and his track-star girlfriend fight to keep their love alive as he rebuilds his identity with a disability and discovers who he is beyond the game.
Originally from Jamaica, Andrew Reid is a physically disabled director whose films explore disability and overlooked perspectives. A USC MFA graduate and former Artists Equity creative executive, he is currently in post on his latest short film and preparing to direct his debut feature, Asia A.
Sushma Khadepaun — Anita
Anita escapes her conservative town in India by orchestrating an arranged marriage and begins a fierce pursuit of the American Dream, only to realize she must confront the very life she escaped to achieve true independence.
Sushma Khadepaun is an Indian-born filmmaker based in New York City. Her films have screened at major festivals, including Venice, Stockholm, and Dublin. Sushma’s work has been supported by SFFILM, Sundance, Disney, Film Independent, The Gotham, NFDC India, and CNC France.
Hanna Gray Organschi — Rubber Hut
Rhode Island, 1992. An entrepreneurial ex-Pan Am stewardess opens a drive-thru condom kiosk in her tight-knit Italian Catholic community and overnight becomes the local lightning rod.
Hanna Gray Organschi is a New England filmmaker with an MFA from NYU. Her work is supported by the Sundance Institute, The Gotham, Film Independent, The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and The NYU Purple List. She’s inspired by women who stand out because they don’t like what it means to fit in.
Beth de Araújo — Josephine
After witnessing an event, a young girl is haunted by the trauma of the disturbing incident, opening her eyes to the violence that surrounds her.
Tij D’oyen — Lollygag
In an attempt to outrun her hypochondria, a woman convinces her husband to move upstate, where their marriage begins to quietly disintegrate. Haunting the margins of the woman’s new suburban existence is the boy next door… an uncanny reminder of a macabre childhood memory.
Cycle Three
Haley Elizabeth Anderson — Coyote Boys
A train-hopping road odyssey following a young traveler’s life across contemporary America.
Haley Elizabeth Anderson is a Houston-born writer-director and visual artist named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Following her 2024 Sundance Film Festival debut Tendaberry, she is working on Coyote Boys, her second feature.
Kate Tsang — Sprout
Sprout is a fantastical tragicomedy about a workaholic auctioneer who discovers she’s turning into a tree. Her only hope for a cure lies in reconnecting with her estranged children whom she abandoned 20 years ago.
Kate Tsang is an artist, filmmaker, and multiple Emmy-nominated TV writer creating imaginative stories with heart. Her debut feature Marvelous and the Black Hole premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. She’s written for shows including Adventure Time (HBO Max) and Steven Universe (CN).
Chheangkea — Little Phnom Penh
A Cambodian woman searches for connection and belonging as a daughter, wife, and mother — while a lost first love continues to find her across time and continents, from post-Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California.
Chheangkea is a Cambodian-born filmmaker based in Brooklyn. A Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs alum, he is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. His short film, Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites, won the Jury Award for International Fiction at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Alexandra Qin — Thirstygirl
When Charlie is forced to drive her estranged younger sister cross-country to rehab, her own secret addiction comes to the surface in the most devastating and hilarious ways.
Alexandra Qin is a French Filipino Chinese writer-director with a background in software engineering and prison reform activism. Her first short film, Thirstygirl, was an official selection of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival among 50 other festivals worldwide. She is one of Vimeo’s 10 Breakout Creators of 2024.
Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker — The Dispute
A failing designer duo from South Central Los Angeles is desperate to make it, so they leave everything behind for a magazine shoot in London that could change their lives.
Andrea Ellsworth is a Black and Filipino American writer, director, and performer from Los Angeles. A Sundance Institute Comedy Fellow, she is adapting her short The Dispute into a feature with Riley Keough’s and Donald Glover’s companies. She recently starred in Netflix’s The Vince Staples Show.
Kasey Elise Walker is a writer, director, and actor whose work spans narrative film, music videos, and advertising. Her short Hoop Dreams premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, while her debut feature, Too Many Hoops fka The Dispute, was selected for the 2025 Sundance Institute Screenwriters & Directors Lab.
Liz Sargent — Take Me Home
A disabled woman named Anna helps provide caregiving for her aging parents. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive.
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.
Sonejuhi Sinha — Seven Days in Rome
At the height of the War on Terror, an American diplomat in Rome is unmasked as a covert agent and accused of masterminding a CIA kidnapping plot. Inspired by true events.
Sonejuhi Sinha is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has premiered at Cannes, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, and Tribeca. She has sold television projects to HBO Max and Universal and is a 2025 Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Scholar WGA Showrunner Program alum, and part of IndieWire 25 Rising Filmmakers to Know.
Courtney Loo — Bangbang Teahouse
Mimi and Hayley, a Chinese American music duo, stop at absolutely nothing to convince their label to release their long-awaited album over a raucous, self-destructive 48 hours in New York City—all while fighting to keep their relationship alive.
Courtney Loo is a filmmaker and entrepreneur. She’s a Sundance Institute Screenwriting Fellow, Film Independent Fellow, and SFFILM Rainin Grant recipient. Her short film premiered at SXSW. Loo also co-founded Thrice Cooked—a media company that provides label services for independent artists, amassing 7 billion+ streams.
Ayşe Altınok — Headlock
After an assault, a troubled teen is sent to his grandparents’ farm for the summer. Angry with his mother and the world, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young local oil wrestler. This allows him to gain a new perspective on masculinity.
Ayşe Altınok, born and raised in Istanbul, is an ex-advertising creative turned commercial director and filmmaker. With an art and graphic design education, Ayşe has created short films, music videos, and ad campaigns for companies like Nike and Wieden+Kennedy. She is a worldwide award-winning storyteller.
Artist Fellowship
Cycle Two
Sofian Khan — Karachi Sky
Memoir meets in memoriam as filmmaker Sofian Khan assembles this intimate visual poem in remembrance of Pakistani journalist Annie Ali Khan, combining archival material, home videos and animation to tell a story of love, creativity and loss.
Sofian Khan is an Emmy-nominated director, producer, and founder of Capital K Pictures, focused on creating work that pushes the boundaries of nonfiction storytelling.
Huda Razzak — Home of the Birds
A small bird and her grandpa, both unable to fly, embark on a mythical cross-country journey with a human family to their hometown in 1963 Iraq, with the hopes of reuniting with her long-lost parents.
Huda Razzak is an animation filmmaker based in Atlanta. Her short The Ocean Duck won the 2022 NYICFF Oscar-qualifying Jury Award. A SCAD MFA graduate, Huda has produced and directed content for Sesame Street, worked on Netflix Animation’s The Twits, and is currently directing her first feature.
Rebin Zangana — Qareen
A Kurdish-American man on the verge of his American dream is hunted by a doppelganger jinn intent on taking over his life.
Rebin Zangana is a Kurdish-American writer/director focused on thriller and horror rooted in immigrant identity. His work has been recognized at Austin Film Festival, Stowe Story Labs, and Killer Shorts, among others. His latest feature, Qareen, was selected for the 2026 Gotham Week Project Market.
Fawzia Mirza — Heirloom
A queer South Asian journalist recruits her chosen family to steal back her ancestral heirloom jewelry in time for her wedding.
Fawzia Mirza is a queer, South Asian, Muslim filmmaker. Her feature The Queen of my Dreams screened at TIFF, SXSW, and BFI London. She directed on S1 & S2 of Deli Boys, S3 of Late Bloomer, Tubi Original feature Kissing is the Easy Part, and is in post on Written in the Stars and is a 2026 USA Artists Fellow.
Cycle Three
Jessica Kingdon — Untitled Animal Project
Untitled Animal Project is a feature documentary that explores global food supply chains through the elusive lens of animal sentience. It investigates the ambivalent and conflicted relationship we have to animals.
Jessica Kingdon, named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces and DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40, directed the Oscar-nominated Ascension. She is currently directing Untitled Animal Project, supported by Sandbox Films and Impact Partners, and producing the Chicken & Egg-supported Untitled Panda Film.
Maryam Mir — Sapna (Dream)
On a tiny desert island in the Arabian Gulf, two dreamers—a whimsical ice-cream truck driver and a Bollywood-obsessed manicurist—build a fantasy world together, until Sapna, his beloved truck, offers them a chance at the life they’ve always imagined.
Maryam Mir is a Kashmiri-Canadian filmmaker whose work centers warmth and whimsy. Her short film Sweet Refuge won a DGA Student Film Award and was acquired by AMC+. She earned her MFA in Film from NYU’s Graduate Film Program and is a 2026 Directing Resident at the Canadian Film Centre.
David Fritz Fortune — SUMMA
SUMMA follows a family’s final summer moments before losing their home. A nostalgic ode to baggy FUBU jeans, VHS movies, and running barefoot, we are transported to the magic of childhood summers in the early 2000s.
David Fritz Fortune is a writer and director from Atlanta, Georgia. Named one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2025, he received the 2023 AT&T Untold Stories Award, which funded his debut feature, Color Book. The film premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival before being acquired by Netflix.
About The Walt Disney Studios
For 100 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today it brings quality movies, episodic storytelling, and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. The Walt Disney Studios encompasses a collection of respected film studios, including Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Studios. It is also home to Disney Theatrical Group, producer of world-class stage shows, as well as Disney Music Group.
Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Institute advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me by Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Dìdi (弟弟), Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, Fruitvale Station, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, RBG, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola. Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of such artists as Paul Thomas Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Nia DaCosta, Ryan Coogler, The Daniels, Robert Eggers, Rick Famuyiwa, David Gordon Green, Sterlin Harjo, Marielle Heller, Miranda July, Nikyatu Jusu, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Boots Riley, A.V. Rockwell, Ira Sachs, Walter Salles, Quentin Tarantino, Erica Tremblay, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Bluesky.
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