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PARK CITY — The Sundance Institute on Thursday announced five fellows who will get help with their ideas involving Indigenous storylines and experiences.
The Native Lab program has supported Indigenous filmmakers and storytellers for almost two decades. Fellows develop their work through roundtable discussions, one-on-one feedback sessions with advisors and exploring ways of indigenizing their creative practices.
"One of the core tenets for us in the Indigenous Program is that we support a broad spectrum of Indigenous storytelling — our cohort of Native Lab fellows and their projects offering different global and tribal perspectives demonstrate that commitment to supporting diverse narratives and approaches," Indigenous Program Director Adam Piron said.
This year's fellows are:
- Eva Grant, a Canadian writer and director of mixed St'at'imc Indigenous, Asian and European heritage whose accomplishments include stints as a Vancouver Queer Film Festival Disruptor Fellow and an Artist in Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Grant will work on "Degrees of Separation" during the fellowship. The comedy series follows Indigenous Ph.D. student Delphine, who plans a daring heist to return ancestral remains to her tribe.
- Quinne Larsen, a Chinook writer and cartoonist in Los Angeles who has worked on shows at Sony Pictures, Cartoon Network and Netflix. Larsen will work on "Trouble," which follows five people living in an abandoned desert motel who try to put their world and their giant robot together from scraps.
- Anpa'o Locke, a Hunkpapha Lakota and Ahtna Dené writer, filmmaker, and curator from the Standing Rock Nation. She was a 2022 Sundance Indigenous Fellow focused on the Native diaspora experience and self-determination in filmmaking. During the fellowship, Locke will work on "Growing Pains," in which urban Native teen Kawá and her mother return to their hometown in South Dakota.
- Jana Schmieding, a Lakota writer, producer and actor who has had roles in "Rutherford Falls," "Reservation Dogs," "The Great North" and "Spirit Rangers." Schmieding will work on "Auntie Chuck." which follows "a rezzy spinster" who must find her inner auntie when she's tasked with taking care of her siblings for two weeks.
- Cian Elyse White is a Te Arawa, Ngāti Pikiao/ Ngāti Te Tākinga, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou (Te Whānau a Ruataupare, Te Whānau a Hinetāpora), Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Tainui writer, director and actress born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She won the 2022 award for Outstanding Newcomer at the New Zealand Women in Film & Television awards. She will work on "Te Puhi,'" which follows 19-year-old Te Puhi's overnight rise to international fame when she is crowned the first Māori Miss New Zealand.
Previous Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellows include Taika Waititi, whose work includes directing "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Thor: Love and Thunder," and Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of FX/Hulu series "Reservation Dogs."
