Nigerian-American filmmaker Kaelo Iyizoba has been announced as one of eight fellows selected for the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency. Iyizoba, who is based in New York, will join seven other early-career storytellers from around the world for the six-month online residency program.
According to the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency, “the six-month online residency program (through August 2025) will uplift early-career underrepresented storytellers with a focus on creative, social, and cultural impact and galvanize them with opportunities, hope, creative support, and inspiration.”
Iyizoba’s Sundance project, Birthright, is a historical drama set in 19th-century Nigeria. The film tells the story of a man who was saved as a child by the gods but now secretly profits from the slave trade of his people. But the expansion of British colonialism and Christianity threatens to destroy the same deities who spared his life.
Iyizoba is selected alongside other fellows from around the globe, including Caron Creighton, Jennifer Huang, Kristal Sotomayor, as well as Alejandra López, A. D. Smith, Wendi Tang, and Caitlin McCarthy. The fellows were selected across three tracks, including writing-directing in fiction, nonfiction, and episodic. Fellows at the residency will have meetings with Sundance Institute advisors and receive feedback on their projects.
About Kaelo Iyizoba
Kaelo Iyizoba holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film from Columbia University, where he was the first filmmaker to win top honours in both producing and screenwriting. His thesis film, Mr. Bold, received the Jury Selects honor and his teleplay, II, earned the Faculty Selects honor. Mr. Bold also got shortlisted for a BAFTA student award.
Iyizoba also received the Lisa Rubin Teleplay Award and the Arthur Krim Award for Excellence in Producing. He is also a Blackhouse-Meta fellow and a recipient of the Facebook SEEN Future Filmmaker grant. In 2023, he joined the Berlinale Talents programme.
Iyizoba’s short film, Boy Meets Girl, won the Outstanding Experimental Film award at the 2021 Abuja International Film Festival. His subsequent short film, Nkemefuna, premiered at the 2022 Phoenix Film Festival and screened at the Lincoln Center as part of the New York African Film Festival.
Here’s a list of the 2025 Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency fellows
- Kaelo Iyizoba, writer-director, working on Birthright
- Caron Creighton, documentary filmmaker, working on Wood Street Chosen
- Jennifer Huang, documentary filmmaker, working on The Long Rescue
- Kristal Sotomayor, documentary filmmaker, working on Untitled PARS Project
- Alejandra López, writer-director, working on Salmon Run
- A. D. Smith, writer-director, working on r.e.g.g.i.n
- Wendi Tang, writer-director, working on Fishtank
- Caitlin McCarthy, writer, working on A Native Land
