Indigenous Program

Fellowships

• Merata Mita Fellowship

  Application	The 2020 Merata Mita Fellowship application is available here.
  Deadline	October 28, 2019
  Dates	2020 Sundance Film Festival
  Fellowship Description	One artist will be selected as a Merata Mita fellow. This fellow will be endeavoring to make their first feature film. Recipient will receive a cash grant and a yearlong continuum of support from the Indigenous Program and Sundance Institute. Recipient is required to attend the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
  Location	Park City, Utah
  Eligibility	Indigenous artists who identify as women and are first-time feature filmmakers.
  Description	The Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship pays tribute to the immense artistic contributions and memory of Merata Mita (Ngāi Te Rangi/Ngāti Pikiao). Merata served as an advisor and artistic director to the Sundance Institute’s Native Filmmakers Lab from 2000 to 2009, where she mentored and developed some of the top Indigenous talent in today’s film industry. In her time as a screenwriter and director herself, she is the first—and only—Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature film. This fellowship serves to continue Merata Mita’s legacy and to cultivate a stage for other Indigenous women around the world to tell their stories.

  If you have additional questions, please contact indigenous_program@sundance.org.

• 2019 Full Circle Fellowship

  Application	Application now closed
  Dates	Native Filmmakers Lab (May 2020); 2021 Sundance Film Festival
  Fellows	Three to attend Native Filmmakers Lab, Sundance Film Festival, and other TBD Indigenous Program events
  Location	Santa Fe, New Mexico; Park City, Utah; and TBD locations
  Eligibility	Native American youth (18–24), must reside in the United States
  Description	Each year, Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program aims to support the next generation of Native American storytellers through the Full Circle Fellowship.

Labs

The Indigenous Program has built and sustained an Indigenous film circle, which now spans over three generations. The cycle of work begins by scouting for and identifying Indigenous artists, bringing them through the mechanisms of support at Sundance Institute to get their work made and shown, then bringing the filmmakers and their work back to Native lands. The Native Lab Fellowship has been a vital part of supporting Indigenous filmmakers full-circle since 2004.

• Native Filmmakers Lab Fellowship

  Application	Application now closed
  Dates	May 2020
  Grant Pool	Two projects
  Location	Santa Fe, New Mexico
  Eligibility	Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists working in the U.S.
  Description	Fellowship to provide direct support to emerging Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists working in the U.S. The fellowship will support first-time filmmakers through the process of shooting a short film under the guidance of a supervising producer and mentoring director.