Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship Announce 2024 Cohort

The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the ten emerging filmmakers selected for the yearlong Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship. Now in its ninth year, the fellowship is designed as an early support system for storytellers ages 18 to 25, providing them with artist-centered support and professional development throughout the stages of their creative process. The year of support kicks off with the Ignite Lab, taking place at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, from June 16 to June 21. The lab is a weeklong residency that fosters community and connection. Fellows receive a $3,000 artist grant and a one-year complimentary membership to Adobe Creative Cloud to refine their craft. Following the lab, they also participate in monthly webinars focused on creative and professional development, a curated program at the Sundance Film Festival, and networking and relationship-building events with the Ignite community at workshops. Artist granting is supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation.

The Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship cohort was selected from more than 900 global applicants who submitted a collection of work reflective of their voice and artistic vision. The fellowship originated from the shared mission Sundance Institute and Adobe have of identifying and amplifying underrepresented voices from the next generation of filmmakers while contributing to the development of new audiences for independent storytelling.

“We are so appreciative to have partners like Adobe supporting the important work that the Ignite Fellowship makes possible,” said Toby Brooks, Assistant Director, Sundance Ignite. “Early-career filmmakers face unique challenges and have significant things to say, and it’s so rewarding to collaborate on nurturing those voices. We’re excited for our return to MASS MoCA in June with this accomplished cohort and look forward to seeing how they grow together through this opportunity.”

The Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship began in 2015 and now has an alumni network of more than 100 artists. Fourteen alumni have had projects selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival, with several projects winning jury awards. Former participants of Ignite include Sean Wang (2023 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs fellow and winner of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic for his feature Dìdi (弟弟)), Charlotte Regan (her debut feature, Scrapper, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and later opened the 2023 Sundance Film Festival: London), Lance Oppenheim (his feature Some Kind of Heaven premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival), Terrance Daye (his film –Ship: A Visual Poem was awarded a Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival), Aurora Brachman (co-producer of Girls State, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival), and Olivia Peace (winner of a 2022 Student Academy Award for Against Reality). Past Sundance Ignite x Adobe fellows have also gone on to win prizes at SXSW and Tribeca Festival, as well as the Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination. Former participants have also been part of other Sundance Institute artist programs, including Directors, Screenwriters, and Episodic Labs, and received funding from the Documentary Fund.

For advice from Sundance Institute advisors and Ignite resources, check out the various offerings on Sundance Collab, Sundance Institute’s digital space for artists to learn from experts and build a global filmmaking community.

The fellows selected for the 2024 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship are:

Devon Blackwell is a filmmaker and MFA student in documentary film at Stanford University. Her debut film, Goodbye, Morganza, premiered at Tribeca Festival, garnering a special jury mention in Short Documentary. 

Bridget Frances Harris is a director, actor, writer, and Tiny Desk Concert enthusiast from Las Vegas, Nevada. She received the Panavision NFP grant, and she’s screened at Palm Springs Short Fest, Florida Film Festival, and NFFTY. Harris graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University with her BFA in acting. 

Natalie Jasmine Harris is a filmmaker from Maryland passionate about centering Black queer joy and girlhood in her work. Harris has directed shorts that have been acquired by HBO and played at the Sundance Film Festival, Palm Springs ShortFest, Outfest, and more. She is currently developing her first feature.

Taylor Sanghyun Lee is a director and cinematographer based in New York City. He is currently a Directing fellow at NYU Tisch Graduate Film, where he is the recipient of the Ang Lee Scholarship. His short film Layover won the NYU Black Family Prize and premiered at the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival.

Mackie Mallison is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York. He was named one of FilmmakerMagazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2023, and his work has screened at New York Film Festival, SXSW, Palm Springs, BAM, SIFF, and BFI. Mallison’s short films will premiere on The Criterion Channel in 2024.

Justine Martin is a director based in Montréal whose first short, Oasis (2022), was selected for festivals like IDFA and DOK Leipzig before getting onto the 2024 Oscars shortlist. Martin is currently working on a fiction film and on the development of a feature-length documentary.

Cormac McCrimmon is a documentary cinematographer, journalist, and director based in Denver, Colorado. He’s interested in telling stories that force us to reckon with long-held myths, reimagine our relationship to nature, and capture the beauty of ordinary lives. 

Justine Prince is a French Canadian director whose work explores gender representation and nostalgia. Her works stand out for their benevolence, treating drama in a soft and poetic way.

Samina Saifee is a filmmaker and New York University Tisch graduate based in Brooklyn. Her second short, Ayat, starring Laith Nakli (Ramy, Problemista), is in the festival circuit. Her work has been supported by Sundance Institute and Film Independent, and she is currently developing her first feature. 

Philip Thompson is a filmmaker from New England, based in Brooklyn, listed as one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” His work investigates popular media’s influence on culture and the one-sided “looking” relationship between audiences and image subjects.

Sundance Ignite is supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation.