The Sundance Institute and Disney have selected the first cohort for their Muslim Artist Fellowship.
Each of the four filmmakers will receive an unrestricted $15,000 grant as they participate in a year-round professional development program that will include personalized support, networking and community-building opportunities in service of their respective goals and projects.
“Our partnership with The Walt Disney Co. will help further opportunities to uplift Muslim artists and their narratives,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Sundance Institute director of Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance Programs, in a statement. “Supporting these artists through a bespoke fellowship will not only elevate Muslim representation but also bring more visibility to their stories.”
The fellowship is part of the Disney Future Storytellers initiative, which also includes investments in Ghetto Film School and Chicas en Tecnología, as well as scholarships with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, United Negro College Fund, Asian Pacific Islander American Scholars and the American Indian College Fund, in addition to the Disney Storytellers Fund at Howard University.
“We are honored to join forces with the Sundance Institute to launch the Muslim Artist Fellowship – an initiative that reflects our shared dedication to fostering the next generation of filmmakers,” Mahin Ibrahim, Disney’s director of Creative Talent Pathways, Representation and Inclusion Strategies, said in a statement. “Through this collaborative effort, we aim to amplify the diverse perspectives of these artists while empowering them to propel their careers and craft compelling narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide.”
The inaugural fellows of the Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Company Muslim Artist Fellowship and their projects are:
Kamau Bilal is a Midwest-based Black American filmmaker whose short film Baby Brother premiered at Sundance in 2018 and now can be seen on The New York Times’ website.
- Debut feature Brick Thieves: When William’s only son and business partner decide to leave their antiquated demolition business, William finds himself knee-deep in the black market brick theft world to keep his family together.
Razi Jafri is a documentary filmmaker who previously participated in the Sundance Producing Fellowship. His co-directed doc Hamtramck, USA premiered at SXSW in 2020 and aired on PBS, as did his recently produced doc Three Chaplains.
- Documentary feature Sanctuary, Purgatory, which follows a refugee living in South Korea after fleeing the Yemeni civil war as he struggles to reunite with his family in the U.S., who are living in Michigan.
Sarah Mokh is an NYU graduate student whose screenplays have been selected or recognized by the Sundance Institute, Film Independent and the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship.
- Diary of a Muslim Cynic, which tells the story of a woman desperate to escape her Midwest small-town life after a tragedy; a depressed teen’s pursuits of love and big-city dreams are upended by the ghosts of her past and mystical encounters.
Jumai Yusuf is a Nigerian immigrant who has a B.A. in neurobiology from Harvard and an MFA from USC.
- Animated series Layla and the Starship Afrotopia, which follows a shy Black Muslim girl who discovers the power to create wormholes and is whisked away from her small town to Afrotopia, a spaceship searching for a home planet.
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