Two Alumni Selected for Film Independent's Project Involve Program 2020
Alumni Gauri Adelkar '19 and Lauren López de Victoria '19 were selected to participate in this year’s Film Independent Project Involve program. López de Victoria was chosen as one of six producers to partake in the program while Gauri was the only participant selected in the writer/director category. The two are part of a group of 30 writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers and entertainment executives from diverse backgrounds, and will receive a nine-month training and mentorship, form creative partnerships, create short films and gain industry access.
According to Deadline, “the roster of past fellows features some of today’s most talented and trailblazing creators including Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Linda Yvette Chávez, Marvin Lemus and Aaliyah Williams (Gentefied) as well as Effie T. Brown (Dear White People), Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) and Justin Simien (Bad Hair, Dear White People).
Film Independent calls the program its most vital and impactful, stating “We're proud to be a leader in the ongoing fight to build a more inclusive and equitable industry by supporting emerging filmmakers from communities underrepresented in film and entertainment. This robust program pairs participants with mentors at the top of their respective field, provides hands-on filmmaking experience from pre-production through premiere and much more.”
Regarding her selection, Gauri commented: “Project Involve is a wonderful, collaborative opportunity and I am grateful to be selected as this year's only Writing/Directing Fellow. I love the people I have met and get to collaborate with through this program. Finding this sense of community in LA is what makes it most special for me.”
Gauri Adelkar is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. She has a MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University, where she was the 2018 recipient of the Breaking Barriers Award for Female Directors and a Directing Fellow. Prior to this, she received a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Adelkar’s film The Little Goddess was shortlisted for the 2019 BAFTA student film awards and won the Breaking Boundaries Prize at the Academy Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival. Her work has screened globally at venues such as the Hamptons International Film Festival, Athens International Video & Film Festival, New York Women in Film & Television Immigrant Series amongst others. Her debut short - The Theft – won several awards including Best Director at the Boston International Film Festival. In 2017, Adrift, a short she co-wrote, won the #NewView film competition organized by Glamor Magazine and the GirlGaze project. Adelkar recently completed production on her film starring Kalieaswari Srinivasan (Dheepan, 2015 Palme d'Or) and Ahmad Razvi (Man Push Cart) in New York City.
Lauren López de Victoria is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Creative Producing program. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Lauren obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009. Prior to Columbia, Lauren worked in finance for seven years, spending three of those years in South America and different parts of the world. While in the MFA program, Lauren has produced several short films that have played in festivals both in the US and abroad. Lauren is the recipient of an Entertainment Scholarship award from the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and was the recipient of the 2018 Arthur Krim Memorial award. In 2019, she was a finalist for a SFFILM Rainin grant as a producer for Amal, the recipient of a Katharina Otto-Bernstein production grant and the PGA Debra Hill grant recipient. Lauren currently works at United Talent Agency in the Independent Film department.