2025 Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund Recipients Announced
The Sundance Institute announced the inaugural recipients of its Filmmakers Fund this week, awarding 10 projects $120,000 each through a program sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve.
The fund, rooted in the Institute’s Artist Accelerator Program, provides financial backing for creative projects in support of a mission Robert Redford established over four decades ago: to empower artists whose voices may otherwise go unheard.
The grantees span an extraordinary range of stories and perspectives, reflecting the urgency and diversity that define Sundance:
- Roni Jo Draper and Marissa Lila Kongao’s “We Arrive With Fire,” documents the Yurok people’s return to fire medicine to heal the land.
- Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs’ “High Steel,” explores a Mohawk ironworker’s search for identity.
- Cris Gris’ “Forward,” is a queer coming-of-age story that shares how a Latinx teen navigates a summer romance in the Hamptons.
- Masami Kawai’s interwoven Indigenous narrative, “Valley of the Tall Grass,” is a multicharacter tapestry, highlighting interconnectedness.
- Khaula Haider Malik’s “Alien Nation” portrays a search for alien life and themes of belonging.
- Mackie Mallison’s “Everything Must Go,” tells the story of a Japanese American family united by anxiety and struggles to cope with death.
- Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig’s “Jaripeo” explores hidden queer encounters within a hypermasculine rodeo environment.
- Steve Pargett’s “Blacked Out Dreams,” documents a coming-of-age story shared by three Black teenagers in Flint, Michigan.
- Huda Razzak’s “Home of the Birds” shares a mythical cross-country journey to 1963 Iraq.
- Walter Thompson-Hernández’s haunting “If I Go Will They Miss Me,” is expanded from his award-winning short featuring Black life in South Central, Los Angeles.
“These 10 projects represent the diversity, innovation, and artistic excellence that are at the heart of the artists we support at Sundance Institute,” says Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, director of the Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance. “We are deeply grateful to Chase Sapphire Reserve for sharing our commitment to uplifting independent voices and helping us build a more vibrant future for storytelling.”
A New Chapter
That future arrives at a moment of transition for the acclaimed institution.
Just two weeks ago, Sundance’s founder, Robert Redford, passed away at age 89. His death deeply affected the film world. He was an acclaimed actor and director and the architect of a creative ecosystem that has nurtured generations of filmmakers outside Hollywood’s studio system.
Since founding the Institute in 1981, he insisted that risk-taking and authenticity mattered more than box office returns.
“Independent film is the lifeblood of American culture,” Redford once said. His vision became reality as Sundance grew from an experimental lab in the Utah mountains into the most influential independent film festival in the world. His absence will be deeply felt at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, scheduled for Jan. 22 through Feb. 1 in Park City and Salt Lake City.
That festival will mark the end of an era. The 2026 edition will be the last held in Utah before the Institute relocates the event to Boulder, in 2027.
Bringing Indie Film to the Front Range
Boulder offered a $34 million incentive package to secure the festival’s move from Utah, with Institute leaders praising the city’s creative energy and inclusive ethos.
The relocation represents both a bold gamble and a natural evolution. With more theater capacity, strong community buy-in and a Rocky Mountain backdrop, Boulder promises to shape the next generation of Sundance.
Still, the Park City years will live on in the hearts of filmmakers and attendees. Organizers have signaled that the 2026 festival will honor both its Utah legacy and Redford’s imprint on American cinema.
The announcement of the Filmmakers Fund grantees is a fitting tribute to a legacy of filmmaking excellence. In their own way, each of the recipients has succeeded in telling stories that challenge, illuminate and heal.
In a few months, the torch will be passed and Redford’s influence of using art as a force for change will continue to guide Sundance into its next chapter.
About the Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Its signature labs, granting and mentorship programs take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally.
Sundance Institute Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Institute advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress.
Editor’s note: Join Sundance Institute onFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Bluesky.
