With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Fatales Forward provides a career advancement platform for emerging trans directors and fosters a creative cohort of gender-nonconforming creators. Together we will build community, nurture artistic development, and plant the creative spark for future collaborations.

The 2025 edition of the Fatales Forward Fellowship will begin in March with an online weekend intensive.

Participants will be matched with experienced feature film directors for one-on-one mentorship and peer workshops over the following three months. The program will culminate in an Industry Showcase for a curated community of funders, producers, and other allies. Fellows will receive a participation stipend to use at their discretion.  

“The response to the Intensive — both from applicants and the industry — proves how vital creating spaces like the Trans Possibilities Intensive is. Visibility has never been enough nor has it been our sole goal; we need sustainability,intentionality, and opportunity and that is what our program uniquely offers. Uplifting a variety of trans voices and offering these storytellers intentional resources and a lasting community opens up opportunities for the artists and audiences eager to hear their stories alike,” said Moi Santos, Manager of Equity, Impact, and Belonging. “This year’s cohort will be in great hands with the Creative Advisors as they gather to refine their craft and reflect on their careers, and the Sundance Institute looks forward to championing them well beyond the duration of the program.”

The Disruptors Fellowship is an unprecedented fellowship supporting emerging television writers of color who identify as transgender, non-binary, disabled, or undocumented/formerly undocumented. During this 3-month program, fellows are provided with mentorship, professional development, master classes and an opportunity to build community with other writers of color, both emergent and leaders in their field.

For over 30 years, Lambda Literary has championed LGBTQIA+ books and authors based on its belief that lives are affirmed and culture preserved when our stories are written, published, and read. Since 2007, Lambda Literary has offered the Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices—the nation’s premier LGBTQIA+ writing residency, which brings together emerging poets, playwrights, screenwriters, essayists, novelists, and memoirists in a safe, welcoming, and love-centered community.

The Screenwriters Intensive will take place online from March 5-6, supporting 13 writers across nine first-feature projects. Past intensive alumni include Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men”), Laurel Parmet (“The Starling Girl”) and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz (“Mutt”).

The intensive fellows are Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder, Julien Figueroa, Allison Janae Hamilton, Gulet Isse, Daeil Kim and Don Cabreana, Esteban Pedraza, Matthew Rosenbaum and Nicolette Johnson, Samina Saifee, and Sylvie Weber and Anouk Shad.

“The artists and projects included in this year’s Screenwriters Intensive comprise an impressively wide range of singular perspectives and storytelling styles,” McKimmie said. “What they have in common is unforgettable cinematic vision, and we couldn’t be more excited to support them every step of the way.”