By Jessica Herndon
What does it take to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival? Filmmakers Charlie Shackleton, Rashad Frett, Rohan Kanawade, Alireza Khatami, Kate Beecroft, Sara Khaki, and Mohammadreza Eyni know firsthand. Their incredible 2025 Sundance Film Festival premieres, ranging in categories from NEXT to the U.S. Dramatic, World Cinema Dramatic, and World Cinema Documentary, all earned awards at the 2025 Festival.
Sundance Collab, our online global artist community offering invaluable resources for filmmakers and creators, sat down with these artists to get their takes on innovative documentary filmmaking, tackling their first feature, the directing process, and more in a series of Festival Spotlight 2025 events.
The filmmakers behind the award-winning films — spanning from an intimate look at life after incarceration in Frett’s Ricky to a detailed account of the groundbreaking work of a councilwoman in Iran in Khaki’s and Eyni’s Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) — are featured in these Sundance Collab events.
Scroll down to find the video recordings of the Sundance Collab Festival Spotlight 2025 events featuring this year’s Fest winners and storytellers offering diverse perspectives, insights, and invaluable tools to help other artists thrive in the filmmaking landscape.
Plus, explore online courses in screenwriting, TV writing, directing, producing, and documentary filmmaking; book a consultation with a Sundance Collab Advisor; and browse through our Video Library to find on-demand recordings. Sign up for a FREE Sundance Collab account and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest on courses and events.
Zodiac Killer Project — winner of the NEXT Innovator Award Presented by Adobe
Zodiac Killer Project logline: Against the backdrop of sunbaked parking lots, deserted courthouses, and empty suburban homes — the familiar spaces of true crime, stripped of all action and spectacle — a filmmaker describes his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary and probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight 2025: The Art of True Crime with ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT
Join Sundance Collab and filmmaker Charlie Shackleton for a conversation about storytelling outside of the box, the art and craft of documentary filmmaking, and tackling the true crime genre.
Ricky — Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic went to Rashad Frett
Ricky logline: Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight 2025: Making Your First Feature
Join Sundance Collab and some of the artists whose debut features are premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
This event will bring together filmmakers from an array of sections at Sundance 2025 for a candid conversation about the process of making their first feature film. The filmmakers will discuss their research and writing processes, casting their actors, and the journey to getting their first features made.
Panelists for this event will include filmmakers Fretty (Ricky), Alex Russell (Lurker), and Evan Twohy (Bubble & Squeak).
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) — winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic award
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) logline: Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight 2025: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Tune in to this panel to hear from some of the artists whose films premiered in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The filmmakers will discuss their directing process, regional filmmaking, and collaboration.
The World Cinema Program at the Sundance Film Festival showcases emerging talent from around the world who offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles. Panelists include directors Nadia Fall (Brides), Rohan Kanawade (Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)), and Alireza Khatami (The Things You Kill).
The Things You Kill — winner of the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic
The Things You Kill logline: Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight 2025: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Tune in to this panel to hear from some of the artists whose films premiered in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The filmmakers will discuss their directing process, regional filmmaking, and collaboration.
The World Cinema Program at the Sundance Film Festival showcases emerging talent from around the world who offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles. Panelists include directors Nadia Fall (Brides), Rohan Kanawade (Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)), and Alireza Khatami (The Things You Kill).
East of Wall — winner of the Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe
East of Wall logline: After the death of her husband, Tabatha — a young, tattooed, rebellious horse trainer — wrestles with financial insecurity and unresolved grief while providing refuge for a group of wayward teenagers on her broken-down ranch in the Badlands.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight 2025: NEXT
Join Sundance Collab and filmmaker Kate Beecroft for a discussion about the art and craft of storytelling, filmmaking outside of the box, and her journey to making her first feature.
Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) — winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary award
Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) logline: As the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi aims to break long-held patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil.
Sundance Collab event: Festival Spotlight Event 2025: World Cinema Documentary Competition
Join Sundance Collab and some of the artists whose films are premiering in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition category for a discussion around the art and craft of nonfiction filmmaking.
Panelists will include directors Violet Du Feng (The Dating Game), Maia Lekow and Christopher King (How To Build A Library), and Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni (Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار)). All three films received support from the Sundance Institute during their production.
