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Original: November 21, 2022
Student Anika Benkov has been named as one of the finalists for the 2022 Sloan Student Prize.
A collaboration between the Museum of the Moving Image and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Sloan Student Prizes are the centerpiece of their nationwide Film Program. The Sloan Student Grand Jury awards two outstanding film or series screenplays that integrate science or technology with a cash prize of $20,000 and a year-round mentorship from a scientist and film industry professional.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Museum of the Moving Image and to honor the best-of-the-best screenplays from our partner film schools while also discovering new screenwriters who integrate science and technology into their work,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Sloan Foundation. “The 2022 nominees for the Sloan Student Prizes represent an incredibly strong selection of young filmmakers across the country, and we are excited to help develop their stories and bring them to the attention of the film industry.”
Benkov has been named a finalist in recognition of their feature screenplay project, When it Thaws, which follows an aging scientist as he recruits his estranged daughter to come to the remote wilderness of Siberia and help him restore the tundra to Pleistocene-era plains—battling the melting permafrost and his deteriorating memory in the process. As a finalist, Benkov will be guided in their script revisions by a team of leading industry professionals.
Winners of the 2022 Sloan Student Prizes will be announced this winter.
Anika Benkov is a nonbinary filmmaker and storyteller who writes about the kinks in our lives and in ourselves, loneliness, and growing pains at all ages. They're an alumnus of the New York Stage and Film Filmmaker’s workshop and have received several awards at festivals around the world, including the Film Movement award for Best Narrative Short at SFJFF.
