The Sundance Institute has announced six fellows for its fifth annual Trans Possibilities Intensive. The program, taking place online over the next three days, gives a diverse group of trans artists an opportunity to meet with mentors in their field with the hope of honing their voices and developing future projects.
“Creating a trans-centered and trans-led environment where trans artists of color could work on their craft and build community has been a key part of my vision since I started at Sundance Institute. I am proud of the vibrant and dynamic artists we’ve supported who continue to reify, amplify, and center transgender experiences,” said Moi Santos, manager of equity, impact, and belonging at Sundance. “It’s significant to be celebrating a half-decade of the Trans Possibilities Intensive: to witness the opportunities these artists have created for themselves, their communities, and each other, how they’ve poured back into it, and how each of them has forged their own path in a landscape that needs their stories and always has. Five years and 30 storytellers later, we’re just getting started.”
Mentors for this year’s intensive include “Baby Reindeer” star Nava Mau, Video.Store.Age founder Ash Cook, and “Lingua Franca” writer/director Isabel Sandoval, who will participate in a keynote conversation to conclude the program on Wednesday.
Information on the six fellows and their films, with language provided by Sundance, can be found below.
Stella Alfjaro (writer/director) with “The Places We Go” (U.S.A.): A young trans woman training as a death doula discovers she has a son, forcing her to confront her past and step into unexpected motherhood.
Autumn Boxley (writer/director) with “A Man Named Autumn” (U.S.A.): Autumn, a transmasculine person, sets out to find a new name that aligns with how they want the world to see them.
Song Hà (writer/director) with “All of Our Children” (U.S.A.): In a state facility where children control adult bodies, a mother is assigned to a training cohort run by her own teenage daughter.
Emory Chao Johnson (director) with “Tainan Story” (U.S.A./Taiwan): Traveling across Taiwan, the filmmaker and his uncle team up to restore the family’s abandoned home. While the filmmaker is allergic to dust and Uncle has no more shoeboxes, they uncover treasures that might just hold the answer to Taiwan’s future.
Justice Jamal Jones (writer/director) with “La Prophetess” (U.S.A.): When a young queer medical entomologist discovers a misfiled archive that awakens the spirit of an 18th-century Haitian revolutionary, Romaine-la-Prophétesse, she is drawn into a haunted battle between history, desire, and possession.
Kevin Xian Ming Yu (writer/director) with “I Saw You In The Flood” (U.S.A.): Over one night of heavy storms, Kai, a transfemme nonbinary Chinese American, is visited by manifestations of their grandfather’s ghost.