The Sundance Institute has named the fellows selected for their 2026 Native Lab, taking place at the Hotel Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico from April 6–11, along with two artists-in-residence.
Fellows and the projects they’re coming in with are Taylor Foreman-Niko with The Long Fang, Ashley Qilavaq-Savard with Carrying, Miles T. RedCorn with Once Upon a Time in Indian Country, and Sabrina Saleha with Grief Camp. The artists-in-residence, meanwhile, are Sayun Simung (Tayal) and Taylour Chang (Kanaka Maoli).
Designed to bolster artists of Native and Indigenous backgrounds centering Indigeneity in their work, Sundance’s Native Lab has been around since 2009. It’s the signature initiative of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, which was launched as a focused means of uplifting Native talent who had been part of Sundance since its inception.
Over the course of the lab, fellows refine their screenplays for feature and episodic projects in one-on-one feedback sessions, script readings, and roundtable discussions with industry advisors while forming connections on Native land in Santa Fe. This year’s creative advisors are Patrick Brice, Bernardo Britto, Alex Lazarowich (Cree), and Graham Foy. The Native Lab is overseen by Adam Piron (Kiowa and Mohawk), Director of the Institute’s Indigenous Program, alongside Ianeta Le’i, the program’s Senior Manager, and Katie Arthurs (Chickasaw), Coordinator.
Said Piron in a statement, “The Native Lab is grounded in storytelling development and how that can progress when it’s approached in community through a lens of Indigeneity. We’re grateful for our advisors and excited for our fellows — this program is impactful because of the generosity all involved bring to the experience, and our Indigenous Program team is looking forward to the development of these projects and storytellers as they come together to share their work and insights in Santa Fe this week.”
For more information on this year’s fellows and their projects, read on.
Taylor Foreman-Niko (Writer-director) with The Long Fang (U.S.A.): A half-Samoan man returns to his estranged Samoan family, only to confront a deadly ancient demon that feeds on shame, forcing him to face buried secrets and fight for the life of the cousin he left behind.
Taylor Foreman-Niko is a Samoan American writer based in Los Angeles. He enjoys writing character-centric genre stories. He was selected for 2022’s BloodList of Best Unproduced Horror and Thriller scripts and chosen to participate in the inaugural PEAK Writers Fellowship and the 2024 Stowe Narrative Lab.
Ashley Qilavaq-Savard (Writer-director-producer) with Carrying (Canada): Failed uterus, failed in vitro fertilization treatments, failed marriage, hat trick of ouches for Miali as she endeavors to become a mother, finding her baby in the most unusual way, buried in the land of her home community.
Ashley Qilavaq-Savard is an Inuk writer, artist, and filmmaker from Iqaluit. Qilavaq-Savard explores decolonization and Indigenous narratives.
Miles T. RedCorn (Writer-director) with Once Upon a Time in Indian Country (U.S.A.): In the late 1990s, a young, obsessive Native attorney 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 his crumbling personal life.
Miles T. RedCorn (Osage and Caddo) is a self-taught writer-director from Oklahoma. RedCorn’s love for and influences from classic cinema guide his storytelling in dissecting themes of sovereignty politics and influential yet underrepresented periods of Native history. RedCorn’s short film Two Brothers will be premiering this year.
Sabrina Saleha (Writer-director) with Grief Camp (U.S.A.): A rebellious Navajo teenager is sent to an all-Native grief camp, only to discover it’s a liminal way station between the living and the dead, where solving a magical map’s riddles may be her only chance to reunite with her younger brother before time runs out.
Sabrina Saleha is a Navajo writer-director and staff writer on AMC’s Dark Winds. Her debut short film, Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough, won the Best New Mexico Short Jury Award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and the Audience Award: Best Short at deadCenter Film Festival. She is a Tulsa Artist Fellow. Her work centers contemporary Native stories exploring family, grief, and joy.
