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EXCLUSIVE: Sundance Institute has named nan 10 emerging filmmakers selected for nan latest version of its yearlong Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship.
Chosen from a excavation of much than 1,100, they are Simisolaoluwa Akande, Aicha Cherif, Blake Knecht, Franciszek Korolczuk, Haneol Lee, Josiah Mendoza, Muskaan Razdan, Mia Lima Rocha, Yace Sula, and Japhet E. Velázquez.
For much than a decade, nan Ignite fellowship has brought together storytellers ages 18 to 25 for master improvement and community-building. This year’s programme kicks disconnected pinch nan Ignite Lab astatine MASS MoCA successful North Adams, Massachusetts, from June 14–19, pinch monthly webinars to travel focused connected various aspects of imaginative and master development.
Fellows will besides stitchery successful personification again for a curated programme astatine nan 2027 Sundance Film Festival successful Boulder, Colorado. Each will person a $5,000 creator assistance done nan fellowship, arsenic good arsenic a one-year complimentary rank to Adobe Creative Cloud to support their master development.
“It’s pinch awesome pleasance that we return to MASS MoCA to footwear disconnected a caller twelvemonth pinch our Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe fellows,” said Sundance Institute Ignite Director Toby Brooks. “The filmmakers selected correspond an breathtaking transverse conception of perspectives, and we’re appreciative of our partners astatine Adobe for their collaboration successful bringing nan group together this week. Our squad is looking guardant to facilitating a move cohort of emerging filmmakers and connecting them pinch nan devices needed to build a coagulated instauration for their careers successful this coming twelvemonth and beyond. Ignite is first and foremost a organization — of alumni and mentors alike — and we’re thrilled to invited these 10 fellows into it.”
Amy While, Adobe’s Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, added: “Every filmmaker deserves nan chance to bring their imagination to life. Together pinch nan Sundance Institute, we’re moving to make judge entree to devices and backing is ne'er what stands betwixt a creator and their story. Over 15 years arsenic partners, we’ve seen firsthand what happens erstwhile emerging filmmakers get that support and we couldn’t beryllium much excited to spot what nan caller cohort of fellows brings to nan screen.”
Since its founding successful 2015, nan Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship has had 19 alumni projects selected to surface astatine nan Sundance Film Festival, pinch respective winning assemblage awards. Former fellows see Giselle Bonilla (The Musical), Sean Wang (Dìdi (弟弟)), Charlotte Regan (Scrapper), Lance Oppenheim (Some Kind of Heaven), Terrance Daye (Ship: A Visual Poem), Aurora Brachman (Girls State), and Olivia Peace (Against Reality). Former fellows person besides won prizes astatine SXSW and Tribeca Festival, arsenic good arsenic nan Short Film Palme d’Or astatine nan Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination.
Earlier this year, nan Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship expanded to see a short movie money disposable to Ignite alumni that will support much projects moving from conception to surface successful nan coming years.
Learn much astir this year’s fellows below.
Simisolaoluwa Akande is simply a Nigerian British multiaward-winning creator filmmaker whose activity spans fabrication and speculative nonfiction. Grounded successful queer African epistemologies, her believe challenges ascendant narratives astir African identity, memory, and representation.
Aicha Cherif is simply a head based successful New York City drawn to storytelling arsenic a intends of excavation and nan affectional architectures that style really we beryllium to 1 another. Her documentary Heat screened successful Film Forum’s Tenement Stories, a century-spanning New York City retrospective, wherever she was nan youngest director.
Blake Knecht is simply a filmmaker from Las Vegas, Nevada. Her activity explores landscapes arsenic evolving narratives, tracing relationships betwixt land, labor, and movement. She earned her MFA successful documentary media from Northwestern University, and her activity has screened astatine IDFA, Slamdance, American Cinematheque, and more.
Franciszek Korolczuk is simply a Polish student filmmaker and euphony video head whose activity blends communicative filmmaking pinch documentary realism. His debut short, Princeska, is presently connected nan show circuit and premiered astatine nan Brussels Short Film Festival.
Haneol Lee (이한얼) is an award-winning filmmaker exploring 1.5 procreation Korean American identity, diaspora, and generational treatment done a contemplative lens. His activity has screened astatine BFI, Palm Springs Shortfest, and True/False.
Josiah Mendoza is simply a filmmaker and documentarian from O’ahu, Hawai’i. His films analyse nan effect of representation done familial dynamics successful varying communities. A postgraduate from Chapman University, his activity has played astatine Hawai’i International Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and NFFTY.
Muskaan Razdan is an Indian writer and filmmaker based successful London. An alumna of nan Roundhouse Poetry Collective and Barbican Young Poets, her activity appears successful Berlin Lit, Magma, among others. She received nan Roundhouse Film Fund for her short movie Salt, presently connected nan show circuit.
Mia Lima Rocha is a Brazilian filmmaker from Rio de Janeiro. Her activity explores civilized ambiguity and nan limits of empathy done women-centered stories shaped by discomfort drama and occasionally breaking into philharmonic numbers. Her latest film, TAG, tackles nan find of sexuality successful childhood.
Yace Sula is simply a filmmaker who often plays successful nan experimental arena. Their films person screened astatine festivals specified arsenic nan New York Film Festival, Fantasia Film Festival, and Ann Arbor Film Festival. In 2025, they were named 1 of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Japhet E. Velázquez is an LA-based filmmaker from Arroyo, Puerto Rico, and a caller postgraduate of nan AFI Directing program. He began making scary shorts successful San Antonio, Texas.
