Disney & Sundance Fund 24 Indie Filmmakers — SkimNews
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- Disney and the Sundance Institute announced Cycles 2 and 3 of their joint filmmaker support initiative, awarding grants to 24 early-career creators across the Project Advancement and Completion Fund and Artist Fellowship tracks.
- The Project Advancement and Completion Fund provides $25,000 grants to help filmmakers complete a specific film, while the Artist Fellowship offers $15,000 grants aimed at longer-term career development.
- The Disney–Sundance partnership was first announced in November 2023, with the latest cycle list including Beth de Araújo, director of "Josephine."
- Cycle 2 Project Advancement recipients include Urvashi Pathania ("Skin"), Jesus Celaya ("Chalino"), Andrew Reid ("Asia A"), Sushma Khadepaun ("Anita"), and Hanna Gray Organschi ("Rubber Hut").
- Cycle 3 recipients span an international slate, including Chheangkea ("Little Phnom Penh"), Alexandra Qin ("Thirstygirl"), Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker ("The Dispute"), and Ayşe Altınok ("Headlock").
- Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, director of the Artist Accelerator & Women @ Sundance Institute, said the Disney collaboration provides "critical financial and tactical support" for filmmakers refining their voices.
- Mahita Simpson, head of Creative Talent Pathways for The Walt Disney Studios, cited Sundance's "incredible track record of finding and nurturing breakout talent" as the reason for continuing the partnership.
Why it matters: The Disney–Sundance partnership delivers concrete sums — $25,000 per project and $15,000 per fellowship — directly to independent filmmakers across two new grant cycles, an unusual corporate-nonprofit bridge that targets both finished-film completion and long-term career sustainability at a time when emerging-voice pipelines remain scarce.
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