Sundance Institute has announced the 13 projects which have been selected for Screenwriters and Directors Lab. Set at the Sundance Resort in Utah, the Directors Lab will run from May 26 to June 19 and the Screenwriters’ Lab will run from June 21-26. Vasan Bala’s new script Side Hero has been selected for the Screenwriters Lab.
Here’s more on the film (from the official statement) –
Vasan Bala (writer/director) / Side Hero (India): A teenager who lives by the codes of his beloved kung fu movies must find his own way when he discovers that he may never get to be the hero.
Vasan Bala was born and raised in Mumbai. Both his father and grandfather were film buffs whose love of film inspired his own. Bala has collaborated in various capacities with filmmakers including Anurag Kashyap, Michael Winterbottom, and Danis Tanvoic. His debut feature as a writer/director, Peddlers, screened in Critics Week at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
The Directors Lab fellows are: Gabriela Amaral Almeida, The Father’s Shadow (Brazil); Jordana Spiro and Angelica Nwandu, Night Comes On (U.S.A.); Sofia Exarchou, Park (Greece); Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$ (U.S.A.); Oorlagh George, Stranger with a Camera (U.S.A. / Northern Ireland): Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Swiss Army Man (U.S.A.); Johnny Ma, Ten Thousand Happiness (U.S.A. / China / Canada); Jeremiah Zagar and Daniel Kitrosser, We the Animals (U.S.A.).
The Screenwriter Lab fellows are: Ana Lily Amirpour, The Bad Batch (U.S.A.); Karrie Crouse and Will Joines, Dust (U.S.A.); Fernando Frias, I’m Already Not Here (U.S.A. / Mexico); Hong Khaou, Monsoon (Vietnam / UK); and Vasan Bala, Side Hero(India).
Creative Advisors include Robert Redford, Michael Arndt, Miguel Arteta, John August, Walter Bernstein, Kathryn Bigelow, Scott Z. Burns, Joan Darling, Deena Goldstone, Keith Gordon, Catherine Hardwicke, Ed Harris, Azazel Jacobs, Brian Kates, Christine Lahti, Kasi Lemmons, Josh Marston, Pamela Martin, Walter Mosley, Howard Rodman, Ira Sachs, Marjane Satrapi, Susan Shilliday, Peter Sollett, Dana Stevens, Wesley Strick, Chris Terrio, Joan Tewkesbury, Athina Tsangari, Tyger Williams, and Erin Cressida Wilson.
The Oscar-nominated Beasts Of The Southern Wild was a 2011 Screenwriters Lab participant. January 2012 Screenwriters Lab alumni Ryan Coogler saw his Fruitvale Station, which debuted at the 2013 Festival, attract awards and acclaim. (via Deadline)
Sounds like a pretty cool movie. There was a good one by Audiard in the 90’s called Self-Made Hero.