Film Alumni Tony Yang '20 and Valerie Castillo Martinez '16 Selected for Sundance Producers Lab and Intensive

The Sundance Institute has named the participants of both their Producers Lab and Producers Intensive and two Film alumni are among the 2023 cohort: Tony Yang '20 and Adjunct Assistant Professor Valerie Castillo Martinez '16.

“The labs are a unique space for producers to interrogate their work, build community, hone leadership skills, develop strategies to advance their current projects, and build sustainable careers,” said Sundance Institute Producing and Artist Support Director Shira Rockowitz and Documentary Film Program Deputy Director Kristin Feeley in a statement to Deadline. “Cultivating the next generation of bold, creative entrepreneurs is critical, and we’re thrilled to welcome these independent filmmakers into the fold.”

The Sundance Producers Fellowship is a year-long program designed to nurture emerging fiction and documentary film producers with project-specific support through the Producers Lab and Producers Summit, a grant to support the producer and the project, year-round mentorship from a dedicated industry mentor, and ongoing support from Sundance Institute staff. The program is designed to hone emerging producers’ creative instincts and evolve their communicating and problem-solving skills at all stages of their next feature fiction or documentary film project. The 2023 Producers Lab took place July 24–27 at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort.

Castillo Martinez is among just ten producers selected for the 2023 iteration of the lab. Her project, titled Anita, follows the titular character as she escapes her conservative town in India by orchestrating her own arranged marriage and moving to the US. When her fierce pursuit of the American Dream threatens her marriage, she must confront the very life she escaped in order to achieve true independence.

Valerie Castillo Martinez is a Filipina American filmmaker who founded IndieFlip to make films dealing with underrepresented subjects and cross-cultural themes. Her first feature, Death of Nintendo, premiered at the 2020 Berlinale Generation. She is a Project Involve fellow, Berlinale Talent, and US Air Force veteran currently teaching at Columbia University.

Fellow Film alumnus Yang was selected to participate in Sundance’s 2023 Producers Intensive, which will take place later this fall. The Producers Intensive provides emerging producers with the opportunity to hone their craft in a two-day concentrated workshop. The program provides creative, strategic and professional development support for 10 fiction and nonfiction producers from traditionally underrepresented communities who are poised to take the next step in their filmmaking career. Like the residency lab, the Intensive features interactive group sessions and round table conversations with producer and industry advisors on topics including the producer/director collaboration, pitching, legal and business affairs, packaging and financing, budgeting and fostering community among the participants.

Yang was selected to participate with his project, Let The Sleepers Lie. In this fiction film, when Helena’s brother suddenly dies and her grieving mother’s behavior becomes increasingly feral, Helena is forced to confront long-hidden secrets that threaten to shatter her family.

Tony Yang is a Chinese-American film producer based in New York City. He has helped produce three feature films and over thirty short films, which have screened at numerous festivals, including the Palm Springs International Shortfest, Traverse City Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more. His most recent short film that he produced, Same Old, played in the main competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and New York Film Festival. Yang recently finished internships with two production companies: The Population, co-founded by Oscar-Winner Mollye Asher, Assistant Professor Mynette Louie, & Derek Nguyen and Emjag Productions, led by Wolf Of Wall Street Executive Producers Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert. Yang holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Film and TV Production from Michigan State University and an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University. 

Read more about the Sundance Institute and its initiatives here.