Sabrina Saleha, Taylor Foreman-Niko, Miles T. Redcorn and Ashley Oilavaq-Savard, participants in the Sundance Institute’s 2026 Native Lab. Courtesy of Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is hosting a group in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the latest installment of its Native Lab.
Four fellows selected include three U.S.-based participants Taylor Foreman-Niko (Samoan), Miles T. RedCorn (Osage/Caddo) and Sabrina Saleha (Navajo) with Canadian participant Ashley Qilavaq-Savard (Inuk/Inuit), the latter of whom was selected in partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office. Also joining this year are two artists-in-residence: Sayun Simung (Tayal) and Taylour Chang (Kanaka Maoli).
The lab, taking place April 6-11, is the signature program of the institute’s Indigenous program and it offers filmmakers “a nurturing, immersive environment to develop their projects and refine their artistic voice” under the guidance of creative advisors. Over five days, the group will refine scripts for feature and episodic projects through feedback sessions, readings and roundtable discussions.
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Creative advisors for this year include Patrick Brice, Bernardo Britto, Alex Lazarowich (Cree) and Graham Foy. The Native Lab is overseen by Adam Piron, director of the institute’s Indigenous program, alongside Ianeta Le’i, the program’s senior manager, and Katie Arthurs, coordinator. Sundance Institute’s Indigenous program is supported by Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the 11th Hour Project, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Crystal Echo Hawk, Merrell, Indigenous Screen Office, SAGindie, Susan Friedenberg and Indigenous Media Initiatives.
“The Native Lab is grounded in storytelling development and how that can progress when it’s approached in community through a lens of Indigeneity,” said Piron in a statement.
Foreman-Niko was previously selected for 2022’s BloodList of best unproduced horror and thriller scripts, the inaugural PEAK Writers Fellowship and the 2024 Stowe Narrative Lab. He’s working on The Long Fang about a half-Samoan man who returns to his estranged Samoan family only to confront an ancient demon that feeds on shame. The encounter forces him to face buried secrets and fight for the life of a cousin he left behind.
Qilavaq-Savard is a writer, director and producer whose work explores decolonization and Indigenous narratives. She’s working on Carrying, which focuses on Miali, who endures failed in vitro fertilization treatments and a failed marriage. She then endeavors to become a mother, finding her baby in the most unusual way — buried in the land of her home community.
RedCorn is a self-taught writer-director from Oklahoma who has a short film, Two Brothers, expected to premiere this year. At the Native Lab, he’s working on Once Upon a Time in Indian Country, which is set in the late 1990s and focuses on a young, obsessive Native attorney who plunges into the wild west of the Indian gaming industry. As he attempts to keep construction of a casino on track, his plans are threatened by a drug-addicted tribal chairman, the Russian mob, the FBI and a crumbling personal life.
Saleha, a writer-director who is a staff writer on AMC’s Dark Winds, saw her debut short Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough win a best New Mexico short jury award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and an audience award at deadCenter Film Festival. She’s working on Grief Camp about a rebellious Navajo teenager who is sent to an all-Native grief camp. While there, she discovers it’s a liminal way station between the living and the dead, and she is tasked with solving a magical map’s riddles in order to reunite with her younger brother.
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