Katla Sólnes ’24 and Chloe Sarbib ’20 Bring Columbia Talent to Prestigious Sundance Screenwriters Lab

The Sundance Institute has announced its 2025 Screenwriters Lab fellows, with Film alums Chloe Sarbib ’20 and Adjunct Assistant Professor Katla Sólnes ’24 both earning spots in the competitive program. Taken from a pool of over 3,380 submissions, Sarbib and Sólnes account for two of only 10 projects and 11 fellows selected for the honor. The lab, which took place from January 18 to 22 at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, saw fellows developing their screenplays with the support of accomplished creative advisors.

Sarbib is an American and French Algerian filmmaker whose body of work includes directing duties for the CW series In the Dark. She entered the program with her project Trou Normand, the story of an aging actress obsessed with unearthing a lost heirloom, only to discover the dark side of her family—and herself.

Sólnes is an Icelandic filmmaker currently teaching screenwriting at Columbia after completing her MFA last year. Her project Eruption, set in Iceland’s volcanic highlands circa 1972, finds a geologist’s wife flirting with disaster when an alluring American student arrives. Sólnes also received a $17,000 award for the project as recipient of the Sloan Development Fellowship. The grant is part of the Sundance Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Science-in-Film initiative, which supports filmmakers highlighting the diverse roles of science and scientists in their work.

“The Screenwriters Lab marks the start of our in-depth development process with these 11 fiercely talented writer/directors,” said Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs. “We look forward to seeing their projects flourish at the labs and will continue to support their filmmaking journey creatively and strategically as they move forward to get their films made and captivate audiences around the world.”

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, the Sundance Institute (also home of the renowned Sundance Film Festival) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the next wave of American filmmakers. The Screenwriters Lab is part of its larger Feature Film Program, which has been a launchpad for acclaimed filmmakers including Academy Award winners Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), among several others. 

Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program, joined Satter in leading this year’s lab, with the help of Artistic Director Scott Frank and Co-Artistic Director Jessie Nelson and creative advisors Ritesh Batra, Scott Z. Burns, Linda Yvette Chávez, Marielle Heller, Nicole Kassell, Walter Mosley, Nicole Perlman, Howard A. Rodman, Dana Stevens, Tyger Williams, Virgil Williams, and Doug Wright. Joan Tewkesbury and Bill Wheeler also contributed, leading pre-lab writing workshops for the fellows.

See the full list of fellows and their projects here.