Past Participants

Independent Filmmaker Project

Since the program’s inception in 2005, the Labs have nurtured over 125 filmmakers’ inaugural films. 70% of alumni projects are complete and have premiered at major U.S. and International film festivals. 60% have had distribution outside of festival play, including theatrical release, television broadcast and DVD, VOD or digital platforms release.

All completed Labs films have played in festivals around the world, and fully half have premiered in the top U.S. and international festivals including at Berlin (Una Noche; Yelling to the Sky; Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell), IDFA (Alias Ruby Blade, The Light in Her Eyes; Smokin’ Fish; An Encounter With Simone Weil), Slamdance (Welcome to Pine Hill ; Stranger Things), Sundance (Blue Caprice; Concussion; An Oversimplification of Her Beauty; Pariah; Kinyarwanda; Restless City; The Imperialists Are Still Alive!; Tibet In Song), SXSW (Booster, Extracted, Pavilion, Welcome to the Machine, Wildness), Tribeca (Nancy Please; Future Weather, High Tech Low Life, Give Up Tomorrow, Our School, Stuck Between Stations), Toronto (Detroit Unleaded, The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best; The Patron Saints), and Venice (Habibi; Zero Bridge).

Beyond the festival circuit, many Lab alumni secure theatrical distribution, via traditional methods and new models. These include Pariah (Focus Features); Kinyarwanda & Restless City (AFFRM); Welcome to Pine Hill & The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best (Oscilloscope Laboratories); Yelling To The Sky (MPI); The Imperialists Are Still Alive (IFC/Sundance Selects); Pavilion (Factory 25), Junkie Nurse (Prescreen.com); Sahkanaga (Southern Circuit Tour); Stuck Between Stations (Wreckin Hill/NECA Films); and Zero Bridge (Film Desk).

Several Lab films were broadcast on television in the U.S. and abroad, including on Al Jazeera English (Burning in the Sun), Arte (Land of Opportunity), BBC (Give Up Tomorrow), Documentary Channel (Our House); The Visitors, HBO (War Don Don), PBS (The Light in Her Eyes; Sun Kissed; Smokin’ Fish; Mine; Between the Folds), Showtime (Good Intentions), and Sundance Channel (Sorry, Thanks).

One third of Lab directors are on to directing their 2nd project and beyond, notably including David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Rooney Mara & Casey Affleck and Andrew Dosunmu’s Mother of George – both premiering at Sundance 2013; as well as Brian Cassidy & Melanie Shatzky’s Francine (Berlin 2012, starring Melissa Leo), Amy Siemetz’s Sun Don’t Shine (SXSW 12), and Alex Karpovsky’s 4th feature, Red Flag (LAFF 2012) – all nominated for a 2012 Gotham Independent Film Award.

2012 Narrative Lab Alumni

Bastards of Young
Writer, Director: Josiah Signor
Producers: Robert Profusek, Ryan Silbert

Blue Caprice
Writer, Director: Alexandre Moors
Producers: Kim Jackson Stephen Tedeschi, Isen Robbins

Cantuckee
Writer, Director: Kimberly Levin
Producer: Kurt Pitzer
Editor: Francesc Sitges-Sarda

Concussion
Writer, Director: Stacie Passon
Producer: Rose Troche
Editor: Anthony Cupo

El Empantanado
Writer, Director, Editor: Felipe Echavarria
Producer: Maggie Drayton
DP: David Marcus

Go Down Death
Writer, Director: Aaron Schimberg
Producer, Editor: Vanessa McDonnell

Hide Your Smiling Faces
Writer, Director, Producer: Daniel Patrick Carbone
Producers: Matthew Petock, Zachary Shedd, Jordan Bailey Hoover

I Believe In Unicorns
Director: Leah Meyerhoff

Karaoke Girl
Writer, Director: Visra Vichit-Vadakan
Co-Producer: Samina Akbar
Editor: Perry Blackshear

The Forgotten Kingdom
Writer, Director, Editor: Andrew Mudge
Producer: TR Boyce
Executive Producer: Terry Leonard

Click Here for a Full List of Previous Narrative Alumni

2012 Documentary Lab Alumni

Alias Ruby Blade
Director: Alex Meiller
Producer: Tanya Ager Meillier

Big Joy Project: The Adventures of James Broughton
Directors, Producers: Stephen Silha, Eric Slade
Editor: Dawn Logsdon

For Thousands of Miles
Writer, Director: Mike Ambs
Production Manager: Erica Hampton

Brave New Wild
Writer, Director: Oakley Anderson-Moore
Producer: Alexander Reinhard

Lucky
Director, Producer: Laura Checkoway
Producer: Neyda Martinez

Our Nixon
Director, Producer: Penny Lane
Producer: Brian Frye

Purgatorio: A Journey into the Heart of the Border
Director, Producer: Rodrigo Reyes
DP: Justin Chin
Editor: Manuel Tsingaris

Survival Prayer
Director, Producer: Benjamin Greene
Editor: P. Corwin Lamm
Composer: Michael Beharie

These Birds Walk
Directors, Producers: Bassam Tariq, Omar Mullick
Producer: Valentina Canavesio

Where God Likes to Be
Writer, Director: Nicolas Hudak
Writer, Producer: Anna Hudak

Click Here for a Full List of Previous Documentary Alumni

Only those who attended the Labs are listed in the credits section.

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