Sundance and Adobe launch fellowship filmmakers challenge

The annual Sundance Ignite x Adobe Film Challenge is how young filmmakers are chosen for a yearlong fellowship. Photo: Riccardo Sanmartini.

PARK CITY, Utah – Sundance Institute and Adobe launch this year’s collaboration, the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows Short Film Challenge, where they find emerging filmmakers ages 18 to 25. The competition leads to the selection of 10 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows.

Those chosen for the yearlong fellowship receive mentorships from experienced professionals in their field, resources to develop their medium, and the chance to attend the 2023 Sundance Film Festival with the fellowship cohort.

The fellowship begins with a weeklong digital lab orienting filmmakers to the fellowship and the year ahead. Throughout the year, filmmakers will:

• Work with a Sundance Institute alumni mentor
• Receive a $2,000 artist grant, supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation
• Participate as a cohort in monthly webinars, workshops, and workshares throughout the year
• Receive a complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud membership, where Creative Cloud is available

Aspiring filmmakers are asked to submit a one-to-15-minute short expressing the artists’ artistic vision and unique voice. The challenge requires that candidates represent the filmmaker’s perspective as an artist. Submissions can span any genre or topic. Applicants will also include materials supporting a new project that they intend to work on throughout the fellowship.

The challenge kicks off today, February 16 – March 14, 2022. Short films should be uploaded on Sundance Collab. For advice from Sundance advisors for crafting submissions, check out the many Ignite Resources on Sundance Co//ab.