The goal of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation film school program is to influence the next generation of filmmakers to create more realistic and dramatic stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers through the visual media.
An annual award in the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, this production award for $150,000 is given to the director of a feature-length narrative project that portrays intellectually engaging, entertaining images of scientists/engineers, a scientific discovery, or technology.
Applicants submit a 1-page synopsis/pitch and an application to the faculty committee that will select up to 12 quarter-finalists. These quarter-finalists then submit three to five page treatments. From these treatments, the committee selects up to six semi-finalists. The finalists have development meetings with committee members and consult with a science advisor.
Finalists (up to three) will be selected to receive a $5,000 grant to write a first draft of their feature screenplay while continuing to consult with a science/technology advisor to ensure the accuracy of their project. Finalists submit the first draft of their script and a budget. The $150,000 award should be a significant portion of the film's budget.
Narrative Feature Scripts should be no more than 120 pages, written in English, and written or co-written by the applicant.
Contact Dara Feivelson at dlf1@nyu.edu for more information.
Friday, June 19 - 1-page synopsis/pitch due
Week of September 21 - Announcement of up to twelve Quarter-Finalists
September 21 – November 6 - Quarter-Finalists write 3-5 page treatments
Friday, November 6 - Quarter-Finalists submit treatments
Week of December 7 - Committee announces up to six Semi-Finalists and holds development meetings with Semi-Finalists
December 7 – February 19 - Semi-Finalists consult with science advisors and write revised 5 to 7-page treatment/production plan, and a budget top sheet
Friday, February 19 - Semi-Finalists submit treatments and budgets
Friday, April 23 - Up to three Finalists announced; each receive $5,000 to write their scripts
April - August - Finalists write feature script and continue to meet with advisors
August - Finalists submit script and revised budget
September - Committee selects winner
Winner must go into production within eighteen months of announcement. Please note that the schedule is subject to change.
Mark Ingber, Grad Film, for Terroir
Written by Mark Ingber
When Marianne, a rebellious college student, finds herself trapped back at her family vineyard to care for her ailing father, she escalates a contentious relationship with her conservative mother into a war between generations when she hatches a plot to humiliate her family by winning the regional wine championship with a lab-made artificial wine.
Written by Tim Delaney
When the redefinition of planethood threatens to exclude Pluto, a motley coalition of astronomers and outsiders conspires to defend it by any means necessary, challenging what it means to be special in an indifferent universe.
Written by Nicholas Ma & Joy Goodwin
No one at her new school gets Callie, an awkward kid whose one friend, Mabel, is a potted plant—except Ms. Garrett, the charismatic science teacher who introduces her to the controversial world of “plant intelligence.” Desperate to impress her teacher, Callie starts building a secret greenhouse laboratory in her backyard, but Callie’s obsession threatens her first real friendship with another kid.
Written by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit
Javed, a young techie, finds his life stuck in limbo between heaven and hell when he tries to bring his broken family together using virtual reality. A drama set in the underbelly of Dhaka's fringe studios.
Written by Eric Cohen
Based on a true story that occurred in 1994. A sixteen-year-old chemistry prodigy sets out to build a prototype nuclear reactor in his mother’s backyard for a Boy Scout merit badge, endangering his life and the community in the process. Adapted from the book by Ken Silverstein.
Written by Shawn Snyder & Jason Begue
Shmuel Rosenblum, a 48 year old Hassidic Rabbi in Upstate New York, distraught by the untimely death of his wife, struggles to find solace in traditional mourning rituals, while secretly nurturing an unexpected obsession with the science of decomposition and a desperate need to understand how his wife's body will decay.
Written by Frances Bodomo
On 16 July 1969, America prepares to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon. Inspired by true events.
Written by Ginny Mohler & Brittany Shaw
A mysterious illness propels working class teenage sisters into a radical coming of age.
Written by Marni Zelnick
Druid Peak is a coming of age story about a troubled teenage boy who finds his place in the world tracking wolves in the wild lands of Wyoming.
Written by Musa Syeed
In war-torn Kashmir, a lakeside city is plunged into a military curfew. Stranded together on breathtaking Dal Lake, a working-class boatman and a beautiful young scientist form an unlikely bond. But as violence spills in from the city, their budding romance may not survive.