Ten new documentaries at the rough cut stage have been selected to participate in IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Lab taking place this week.

The Labs offer a free mentorship programme for first-time feature projects under $500,000 that have shot all or a substantial amount of footage but have not completed post-production.

Ten documentaries and ten narratives are selected for a year-long fellowship that includes one-on-one mentorship, workshops, meetings with potential buyers and festival programmers, and inclusion in a Lab Showcase presentation in September during IFP’s Independent Film Week.

The 2009 documentary projects are: Miao Wang’s Beijing Taxi; Laure Sullivan, Terry Jones and Paul Wilson’s Casino Nation; Julia Haslett’s An Interview With Simone Weil; Luisa Dantas’ Land Of Opportunity; and Greg King’s Our House.

Rounding out the line-up are: Jonathan S Lee’s Paul Goodman Changed My Life; Marie Helene Carleton’s The Road To Nasiriyah; Treva Wurmfeld’s Texas Heart; Anna Farrell’s Twelve Ways To Sunday; and Rebecca Richman Cohen’s War Don Don.

The 2009 pre-Lab mentors include Sandi DuBowski, who produced A Jihad For Love and Trembling Before G-d, Born Into Brothers co-director Ross Kauffman, and Mad Hot Ballroom writer and producer Amy Sewell.

“IFP’s strongest niche has always involved proactively supporting film-makers at the work-in-progress stage, the precise moment in their post process when they are most in need of mentorship,” IFP executive director Michelle Byrd said.

The Independent Filmmaker Lab is supported by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, New York State Council For The Arts, SAGIndie and Time Warner. Lab partners include The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, Artists Public Domain, BMI, Edgeworx Inc., Filmmaker Magazine, Goldcrest Post New York, Rooftop Films, and The Workbook Project.

Topics