The nonprofit Sundance Institute has announced fellows selected for the 2025 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive programmes. Among the chosen fellows is Eritrean-Ethiopian filmmaker Bethiael Alemayoh, who will participate in the Screenwriters Intensive programme with her project I Didn’t Forget You.
Alemayoh’s project, I Didn’t Forget You, tells the story of a young Eritrean woman who hopes to connect with her favourite Eritrean pop star when his tour comes to Dallas, Texas, in 1993.
Alemayoh’s work follows women in the midst of little misfortunes causing big emotional impacts. Her films have screened at SXSW, BlackStar, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Alemayoh also received the 2023 Indie Memphis Black Filmmaker Residency for Screenwriting.
The Screenwriters Intensive programme, which will take place from March 6–7, selected 12 writers across 10 projects to a two-day online workshop, with the aims to support the emerging writers in developing their first fiction features.
“We feel privileged to bring together this remarkable group of storytellers, each of whom has written a uniquely compelling screenplay that connects us to fascinating characters and worlds we haven’t often seen represented on screen,” said Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program. “These are singular voices telling urgent stories, and the intensive is the first step in our long-term commitment to supporting them realizing their visions.”
Other selected filmmakers for the Screenwriters Intensive include Sammi Cannold and Safi Rauf with The Homecoming, Karishma Dev Dube with Strangers, Melina Valdez with Saca Tu Lengua, Nate Gualtieri with Queerbait, Ward Kamel with If I Die in America, Shehrezad Maher with Theory of Colors, Joanne Mony Park with The Windiest Day, Alisha Tejpal and Mireya Martinez with For the Eyes Are Blind to the Stairwells, and Catalina Torres with Anoche Creí Que Nadaba.
The Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab has also selected 10 projects from a pool of 3,380 submissions. Here, 11 fellows will convene at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah from January 18-22.
The selections for the Screenwriters Lab include Verano by Leo Aguirre, The Dispute by Andrea Ellsworth and Kasey Elise Walker, Sitora by Diffan Sina Norman, Thirstygirl by Alexandra Qin, Trou Normand by Chloe Sarbib, In Vacuo by Yelizaveta Smith, Eruption by Katla Sólnes, and Back Seat by Lana Wilson, amongst others.
