FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Seanna Hore, Ginsberg/Libby
seanna.hore@ginsberglibby.com

Gladys Santos, Ginsberg/Libby
gladys.santos@ginsberglibby.com
 

LOS ANGELES (April 26, 2023) — Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced the eight screenwriters selected for its 25th annual Screenwriting Lab. Bri Brooks, Karina Dandashi, Thais Drassinower, Chloé Hung, Adam Meeks, Nat Moonhill, Veronica Moonhill and Richard Van were chosen for this intensive program, which is designed to provide individualized story and career development for screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.

“In our 30th year of championing independent storytellers in our Artist Development Programs, we are thrilled to support this exceptional group of filmmakers who bring compassion, authenticity and curiosity to their work exploring unique communities and characters,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We’re so fortunate to be able to give filmmakers the space to focus on not just their current projects but their overall careers in the program.”

Film Independent is also excited to award the MPAC Hollywood Bureau Writing Fellowship Grant to Karina Dandashi, who will receive a $10,000 grant from the MPAC Hollywood Bureau for her script Out of Water.

Over the course of the program, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Andrew Ahn, Javier Fuentes-León, Jeff Stockwell and Robin Swicord. Additional guest speakers and advisors include Ruth Atkinson, Angela Cheng Caplan, KD Dávila, Greta Fuentes, Jordan Hart, Eliza Hittman, Ana Leocha, Ilyse McKimmie, Lauren Mann, Kiva Reardon, Pamela Ribon and Ellen Shanman.

Past Screenwriting Lab projects include Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao’s feature debut Songs My Brothers Taught Me; Andrew Ahn’s Spirit Award-winning debut Spa Night; 37 Seconds by HIKARI, which won the Panorama Audience Award and CICAE Art Cinema Jury Prize at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival; Ani Simon Kennedy’s A Short History of the Long Road, which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and received a Special Jury Mention for Best Screenplay; and Kate Marks’ The Cow of Queens, which was a 2020 recipient of the prestigious Nichols Fellowship.

Celebrating 30 years in 2023, Film Independent Artist Development programs promote unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through Project Involve; Filmmaker Labs (Directing, Documentary, Episodic, Producing and Screenwriting); Fast Track finance market and Fiscal Sponsorship, as well as through grants and awards that provide over one million dollars annually to visual storytellers. 

The Film Independent Screenwriting Lab is supported by Final Draft and the National Endowment for the Arts.
 
For more information on any of the Labs, or the projects that have been developed in them, please contact artistdevelopment@filmindependent.org. Additional information and an application form can be found at filmindependent.org.
 

The 2023 Screenwriting Lab participants and their projects are:

 
Gem & Shaz
Writer/Director: Chloé Hung
Logline: In this coming-of-age story, two Asian-Canadian best friends struggle with their strict households to find their independence as one begins an unlikely romance and the other discovers a new artistic passion. As their paths diverge, their friendship will be put to the test.

Kiki Goes Baby Crazy!
Writer/Director: Nat Moonhill
Writer/Director: Veronica Moonhill
Logline: In this absurdist rom com a queer woman’s Uterus becomes sentient and starts hounding her to get pregnant against the wishes of her trans partner.

Out of Water
Writer/Director: Karina Dandashi
Logline: A young woman raised by a Syrian Muslim immigrant father and an American mother navigates the dual nature of her upbringing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Girl of the Shining Snow
Writer: Bri Brooks
Writer/Director: Thais Drassinower
Logline: When her disillusioned father refuses to participate in the annual religious pilgrimage of their people, an indigenous eight-year-old girl embarks on the perilous journey alone to retrieve the sacred ice from a remote mountain glacier – the last remaining hope for her dying mother.

Uncle Hiep’s Casino
Writer/Director: Richard Van
Logline: Somewhere between his mother’s house and his uncle’s illegal casino, a prisoner finds a new life.

Union County
Writer/Director: Adam Meeks
Logline: Mandated to a court drug recovery program, a young man in rural Ohio tests the boundaries of his sobriety.
 

ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT

For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.

In addition to producing the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the organization supports creative professionals with Artist Development programs, grants and labs. Signature mentorship program Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Weekly Education events and workshops equip filmmakers of all ages and experience levels with tools and resources. Global Media Makers, a cultural exchange program produced in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, provides career-building opportunities for international film professionals. And year-round screening series Film Independent Presents delivers monthly, unique cinematic experiences to Members in Los Angeles and beyond.

For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.