Current Student Victoria Rivera Named Film Independent Directing Lab Fellow

Current Student Victoria Rivera was selected as a Film Independent Directing Lab Fellow with her feature film project Malpelo. Before Rivera’s Directing Lab Fellowship, she was previously chosen for Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab in February 2020. Malpelo is being produced by alumna Camila Zavala '19 who developed the project as part of last year’s Film Independent’s Producing Fellowship. 

Malpelo tells the story of Mia, a solitary free diver, who is recruited by someone from her past to take the treacherous journey to Malpelo—a remote Colombian island—in order to investigate the troubling disappearance of hammerhead sharks. To do so, she has to reconcile with her past and navigate the dangerous waters of the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a boat with an all-male crew that seems to be just as slippery as the predators she’s studying.

Rivera is one of only six participants of the lab which is now in its 20th edition. According to the website, “Over the course of the Lab, Fellows will workshop scenes from their projects, receive script feedback and engage with Creative Advisors and Guest Speakers, including Karyn Kusama, Daniel Barnz, Susanna Fogel and Chloe Zhao.”

Regarding her selection, Rivera commented: “Film Independent has been such an incredible ally and a crucial part of my development as a filmmaker. It's an honor and a privilege to be a part of an organization that cares so much about its filmmakers, and who are completely invested in helping independent filmmakers grow and see their projects through.”

Victoria Rivera is a New York-based writer/director who hails from Colombia. Her award-winning short films have screened at Telluride Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Palm Springs Shortfest, where she was awarded a Jury Award in 2019 for Night Swim. In 2018, the Directors Guild of America awarded her the Student Film Award for Verde. She’s currently developing Malpelo, her first feature, which in addition to receiving recognition from Film Independent was awarded a screenwriting grant by the Sloan Foundation.

Camila Zavala is a Peruvian writer and producer based in Los Angeles. As a producer, she has won several awards and has been selected to screen at festivals such as the Tribeca Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shortfest and Telluride Film Festival. Her Columbia University thesis film, The Catch, which she wrote and produced, received the Katherina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant and the Bertha Tamayo Grant during the production stage, and was awarded the Richard Brick Fund for special distinction in Producing.