The Sundance Institute is hosting a group in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the latest edition of its Native Lab.
The four fellows selected are three US-based participants, Taylor Forman-Niko (Samoa), Miles T. Redcorn (Osage/Caddo), and Sabrina Salha (Navajo) along with Canadian participant Ashley Kilavak-Savard (Inuk/Inuit), the latter selected in partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office. Also joining this year are two resident artists: Sayon Simong (Taial) and Taylor Chang (Kanaka Maoli).
The lab, which runs April 6-11, is the signature program of the institute’s Indigenous Program and provides filmmakers with an “immersive and nurturing environment to develop their projects and hone their artistic voice” under the guidance of creative mentors. Over five days, the group will refine texts for featured and showcase projects through feedback sessions, readings and roundtable discussions.
This year’s creative consultants include Patrick Price, Bernardo Brito, Alex Lazarowicz (Cree), and Graham Foy. The Native Lab is overseen by Adam Perron, the Institute’s Indigenous Program Director, along with Ianita Lee, Senior Program Director, and Katie Arthurs, Coordinator. The Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program is supported by the Federation of Graton Rancheria Indians, the Eleventh Hour Project, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Crystal Echo Hawk, Meryl, the Office of Indigenous Screen, SAGindie, the Susan Frydenberg, and Indigenous Media Initiatives.
“Native Lab is grounded in advancing storytelling and how that can advance when approached in the community through the lens of indigeneity,” Perone said in a statement.
Foreman-Nico was previously selected for BloodList’s 2022 Best Unproduced Horror and Thriller Scripts, an inaugural PEAK Writers Fellowship, and a 2024 Stowe Narrative Lab. Long fang The film is about a half-Samoan man who returns to his estranged family from Samoa to confront an ancient demon that feeds on shame. The encounter forces him to confront buried secrets and fight for the life of the cousin he left behind.
Kelavak Savard is a writer, director, and producer whose work explores decolonization and Indigenous narratives. It’s working on carryWhich focuses on Mayali, who suffers from failed in vitro fertilization treatments and a failed marriage. She then seeks to become a mother, and finds her child in an unusual way – buried in the land of her home community.
Red Corn is a self-taught writer and director from Oklahoma with a short film, Two brothersIt is expected to be shown for the first time this year. At Native Lab, he works on Once upon a time in Indian countrywhich is set in the late 1990s and focuses on an obsessive young indigenous lawyer who becomes immersed in the Wild West of the Indian gaming industry. As he tries to keep construction of a casino on track, his plans are threatened by a drug-addicted tribal leader, the Russian mob, the FBI, and his own crumbling personal life.
Saleha, writer, director and writer for AMC Dark windssaw her brief debut The Myth of Fry Roti: The Rise of Dough It won the Best New Mexico Short Jury Award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the deadCenter Film Festival. It’s working on Sadness camp It’s about a rebellious Navajo teen who is sent to an all-Native grief camp. While there, she discovers that it is a border way station between the living and the dead, and is tasked with solving the mysteries of the magical map in order to reunite with her younger brother.
