Sundance Institute Selects Three Filmmakers for 2018 Sundance Institute Open Borders Fellowship Presented by Netflix, in
Recognition and Support of Emerging Independent Filmmakers Working in Narrative and Documentary Film
Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute, in a new collaboration with Netflix, today announced the recipients of the
inaugural Sundance Institute Open Borders Fellowship presented by Netflix. The Institute’s Feature Film and Documentary
Film programs worked in collaboration to select three of the most exciting emerging filmmakers, working in both narrative
and nonfiction forms.
Designed to support distinctive new voices in world cinema, the fellowship includes a development grant, a trip to the 2018
Sundance Film Festival in Park City to receive the award and attend a curated slate of industry meetings, networking opportunities,
panels, and screenings. Further, the filmmakers are eligible to receive year-round creative and strategic support from
the Sundance Institute Feature Film and Documentary Film programs for their next feature-length project
The Open Borders Fellowship reflects the Institute’s longstanding commitment to world cinema. Through Labs and Workshops,
financial support, and public engagement, the Institute’s Artist Programs strive to support underrepresented voices in
regions of the world going through socio-political transitions and where freedom of expression is challenged.
This year’s recipients are
Talal Derki (Syria),
Tatiana Huezo (Mexico), and
Chaitanya Tamhane (India).
Talal Derki was born in Damascus and has been based in Berlin since 2014. He studied film directing in Athens
and worked as an assistant director for many feature film productions and as a director for different Arab TV programs
between 2009 and 2011. Talal Derki’s feature documentary
Return to Homs won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in 2014. His most recent film,
Of Fathers and Sons, premiered at IDFA, and is currently in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2018 Sundance
Film Festival.
Tatiana Huezo‘s most recent film,
Tempestad, was one of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2016. Following its premiere at Berlinale, the film was
Mexico’s official submission to the Academy Awards, and won four Ariel Awards, including Best Director and Best Documentary
feature. She is currently working on her narrative feature debut,
Night On Fire, which was selected for the Sundance | Morelia Screenwriters Lab this past Fall.
Chaitanya Tamhane‘s debut feature, the Marathi language courtroom drama,
Court, premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where it won Best Film in the Horizons section, and went on to
appear on many best-of lists following its theatrical release last year and served as India’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language
Film Oscar. He was selected by Alfonso Cuaron for the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative, and is working on his currently
untitled second feature.
The Sundance Film Festival®
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three
decades, including
Boyhood,
Beasts of the Southern Wild,
Fruitvale Station,
Whiplash,
Brooklyn,
Twenty Feet from Stardom,
Life Itself,
The Cove,
The End of the Tour,
Blackfish,
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,
Dope,
Little Miss Sunshine,
sex, lies, and videotape,
Reservoir Dogs,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch,
An Inconvenient Truth,
Precious and
Napoleon Dynamite. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. The Festival is a program of the
non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2018 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, and Chase Sapphire®;
Leadership Sponsors – Adobe, Amazon Studios, AT&T, DIRECTV, Dropbox, Omnicom, Stella Artois® and YouTube; Sustaining
Sponsors – Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, GEICO, Google Pixel 2, Grey Goose Vodka,
High West Distillery, IMDbPro, Lyft, Unity Technologies and the University of Utah Health; Media Sponsors – Los Angeles
Times, The New York Times and Variety. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor’s Office of
Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the
Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Look for the Official Partner
seal at their venues at the Festival. sundance.org/festival
Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space
for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. 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. The Sundance
Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices,
and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as
Boyhood, Swiss Army Man, Manchester By the Sea, Brooklyn, Little Miss Sunshine, Life, Animated, Sonita, 20 Feet From Stardom,
Beasts of the Southern Wild,
Fruitvale Station,
Sin Nombre,
Spring Awakening,
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and
Fun Home. Join
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