The Sundance Institute announced today the eight participants selected for the fifth annual Momentum Fellowship, a program designed to support and provide coaching to mid-career artists with a focus on career development during a pivotal moment in their creative practice. This year’s cohort includes two Latin American filmmakers: Francisca Alegría from Chile, and Michelle Garza Cervera from Mexico.
Created to support storytellers from historically marginalized communities who have recently achieved a noteworthy accomplishment, such as a highly regarded feature film or series, Momentum provides fellows with a full-year program of deep, customized support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their craft and career. The Momentum Fellowship is a program of Women at Sundance, with support from Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
Alegría is an award-winning filmmaker whose short film And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye received the award for Best International Fiction Short at Sundance Film Festival. Her debut feature The Cow Who Sang A Song Into the Future premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and was supported by the 2017 Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Lab, along with the Catalyst Forum.
Garza Cervera is a director and screenwriter who graduated from Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC) in Mexico City and Goldsmiths in London. Her debut feature Huesera premiered at Tribeca 2022, where it won the Best New Narrative Director and the Nora Ephron awards. Michelle also won the Citizen Kane award for the best new director at Sitges 2022.
