Sundance Institute Announces Fellows for 2010 Documentary Edit and Story Lab

Films highlight stories from the U.S., China, Israel/Palestinian Territories and the Philippines

Los Angeles, CA –Sundance Institute today announced the 12 Documentary Film Fellows representing five film projects participating in the seventh Documentary Edit and Story Laboratory, June 19 – 27 in Sundance, Utah. Held in the Wasatch Mountains at Sundance Resort, the Lab supports filmmakers whose projects represent some of the most visionary, committed and crafted films now in production.

Fellows are invited from the grantee pool of about 60 active projects which the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program is currently funding. The Documentary Film Edit and Story Laboratory represents additional support for selected grantees, and offers an intensive artist-to-artist collaborative experience where nonfiction storytelling is engaged with rigor and candor. World class documentary editors and directors join with Sundance Institute staff as Advisors to the Fellows. Sundance Creative Labs are an open, creative environment in which Fellows advance works in-progress and are encouraged in the spirit of experimentation and risk taking.

“The Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab is welcoming Fellows working around the world on stories that impact every aspect of our lives,” said Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program. “Many of these artists have been following their subjects for years, reflecting a deep engagement with their subjects. We expect these films to be completed in the coming year, and given the breadth of topic and richness of story, we anticipate that they will have a great impact.”

Lab Fellows in alphabetical order are: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (Directing Fellow), Michael Collins (Directing Fellow), Heather Courtney (Directing Fellow), Ramona Diaz (Directing Fellow), Ron Goldman (Editing Fellow), Kyle Henry (Editing Fellow), Stephen Maing (Directing Fellow), Leah Marino (Editing Fellow), Eric Daniel Metzgar (Editing Fellow), Jonathan Oppenheim (Editing Fellow), Trina Rodriquez (Editing Fellow), Marty Syjuco (Directing Fellow).

These Fellows will be joined by six Creative Advisors, including Directors and Editors, to jointly engage in the creative process. Editors: Kate Amend (Academy Award–winner Into the Arms of Strangers and The Long Way Home), Jean Philippe Boucicaut (Citizen King), Jean Tsien(Shut Up And Sing, Please Vote for Me), and Mary Lampson (Harlan County, A Lion in the House), Directors: Laura Poitras (The Oath, Academy Award nominee My Country My Country) and Robb Moss (Secrecy, The Same Rive Twice).

The films selected for the 2010 Sundance Institute Documentary Editing and Story Lab are:

GIVE UP TOMORROW (U.S.)
After languishing for 12 years on death row in a Philippine prison, Paco Larrañaga finds hope when the international human rights community upholds his innocence and launches a grass-roots campaign that triggers the total abolishment of the death penalty.

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE (U.S./China)
High Tech, Low Life follows the personal journey of two of China’s most well-known roving citizen reporters as they travel the country chronicling under-reported news and social issues stories.

THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (Israel / Palestinian Territories)
What happens to the rule of law when a democracy enforces military rule over a neighboring population in a territory one third of its size?

THE LEARNING (U.S.)
The Learning follows four Filipino teachers recruited to from the Philippines to teach in Baltimore City. Across the school year’s changing seasons, the film chronicles the sacrifices they make as they try to maintain a long-distance relationship with their children and families, and begin a new one with the mostly African-American students whose schooling is now entrusted to them.

WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM (U.S.)
Looking for money for college, a group of childhood friends join the National Guard when they graduate from their rural high school. Thus begins their 4-year-journey from teenagers stuck in their town, to soldiers looking for bombs in Afghanistan, to 23-year-old combat veterans trying to restart their civilian lives.

Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program is made possible by generous support from The Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, the Skoll Foundation, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, Cinereach, the MacArthur Foundation, the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation, the Woodruff Charitable Memorial Trust, Wallace Global Fund and the Bastian Foundation. Sundance Institute also gratefully acknowledges the generous assistance provided by the following organizations: Alesis Corporation, Apple Computer, Avid Technology, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, HP Marketing, JBL Professional, LaCie Limited, Mackie, Mark of the Unicorn, Sony Business and Professional Products, Sony Media, Sony SXRD and Soundcraft.