Sundance is continuing to up its inclusion game ahead of its 2019 festival. As previously reported, the fest has agreed to make its submissions data transparent and is working to ensure a more diverse group of critics will able to attend next year. Now comes word the Sundance Institute has launched a new year-long program, the Momentum Fellowship, for women and underrepresented filmmakers. It offers creative and professional support to filmmakers who are women, non-binary, and/or transgender, people of color, or people with disabilities.
Eight filmmakers were accepted to Momentum’s inaugural class: Alexandria Bombach (“On Her Shoulders”), Eva Vives (“All About Nina”), Amber Fares (“Speed Sisters”), Megha Kadakia (“The Tiger Hunter”), Alysa Nahmias (“Unfinished Spaces”), Yance Ford (“Strong Island”), Ro Haber (“New Deep South”), and Josh Feldman (“This Close”).
The Momentum Fellowship evolved from the Women at Sundance Fellowship. By broadening its scope, the program is designed to make an “impact across a greater cohort of underrepresented communities.” Supported by The Harnisch Foundation and Warner Bros. Pictures, Momentum will offer participants professional mentorship, coaching via the Harnisch Coaching Program, an artist sustainability grant, travel grants to Sundance Film Fest, and introductions to branded and episodic content.
“Our inaugural class of fellows bring such an array of unique talents and experiences to the creative table, and we are beyond excited for this year of collaboration and development,” said Karim Ahmad, Sundance’s Director of Outreach & Inclusion. “We also hope that this intersectional approach will be a model for increasingly vital conversations about allyship across demographic silos in the artist and industry communities at large.”
“After supporting six classes of Women at Sundance fellows, we are thrilled to expand the fellowship to include voices from underrepresented communities,” added Caroline Libresco, Director of Women at Sundance. “The Momentum Fellowship offers critical support so that artists can fulfill their potential, create sustainable careers, and form a close-knit cohort that will develop into an invaluable alliance.”
You can find out more about Momentum and its 2019 fellows over on Sundance’s website.
The Sundance Film Festival will take place January 24-February 3 in Park City, Utah. The lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
