Inside the Sundance Directors Lab at the Stanley Hotel

For two weeks in June, the Stanley Hotel became a working film lab.

“Michelle Satter, who is the founding director of the program, always says is your worst day at the (Directors) Lab will be your best day at the lab,” Ilyse McKimmie, who led this year’s Directors Lab in Estes Park. :That’s because It means that you have learned something or tried something that didn’t work, that informed you, that was a discovery, but you did it in this safe, protected space. And that means that you’re hopefully not making that same mistake or learning that same lesson when you’re out in the world making your film.”

The Sundance Institute Directors Lab, held June 9-24 in Estes Park, brought eight writer-directors to town to do something more private and more vulnerable: test scenes from films that do not yet exist, discover what fails, and leave with a clearer sense of what the next version might become.

The 2026 Directors Lab fellows were Joanna Rothkopf with “Attachment,” Renee Zhan with “BAOBAO,” Said Zagha with “Black Harvest,” Philip Thompson with “Dance Monkey Dance,” Roberto Fatal with “Electric Homies,” Taylor Sanghyun Lee with “Rounds,” Bec Pecaut with “The Terrible Child,” and George Watsky with “yellowwood.”

All eight had already been through one of Sundance’s screenwriting programs. That progression matters, said Ilyse McKimmie, deputy director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. The Directors Lab is not an open application program. It is available only to alumni of Sundance’s screenwriting programs, and it is designed for filmmakers whose scripts are still developing but ready to be tested through directing.

“People don’t realize how creatively rigorous these artists really have to be to make sure that what’s on the page is the fullest realization of their vision,” McKimmie said. “Coming up with a great idea and writing a great script, well, that’s not the end of the process. That’s just one step in the process.”

At the Lab, each fellow chooses two difficult scenes to rehearse, shoot, and edit with actors, professional crews, and creative advisers.

“I often say pick the scene that’s keeping you up at night that you know represents a crucial moment in your script,” McKimmie said. “That if this scene doesn’t work, the movie doesn’t work.”

Fellows begin with workshops on directing actors, using a camera to tell story, working with crew, and interpreting a short generic scene that each filmmaker shoots in a different way. Then creative advisers arrive, along with the actors for each scene. The fellows move through rehearsal, production, and editing, with advisers observing, questioning, and intervening when needed.

“They’re there in a very generous and nurturing way to push, to provoke, to ask questions,” McKimmie said.

That structure is rooted in the founding philosophy of the Sundance Institute, which Robert Redford created in 1981 as a place where independent filmmakers could take risks away from commercial pressure. This year’s program was framed in celebration of Redford’s mission and legacy, which McKimmie said was “very present” in Estes Park.

“His commitment to the power of art, both as entertainment and as a connecting force and an agent of change in this world, is really the sort of catalyst and the sustaining flame of why we keep doing the program,” McKimmie said. “And I think everyone felt very, very connected to that.”

For Zhan, the Directors Lab built on the work she began at the January Screenwriters Lab, where advisers helped her think more deeply about Mimi, the difficult central character in “BAOBAO.”

“She’s a really selfish kind of character that you can hate, but she also needs to be a character that you love and a character that you root for,” Zhan said.

In Estes Park, Zhan shot two scenes. The first, in which Mimi meets her strange new baby brother, went smoothly. The second, in which Mimi discovers her mother is breastfeeding the baby with blood instead of milk, was much harder.

Zhan, an animator, said much of her past work has found emotion through color and atmosphere. This scene forced her to focus on two people talking to each other.

“How do I make people feel something just from hearing two people talk to each other?” Zhan said. “So that was different for me. It was a struggle.”

That struggle became useful.

“I learned so much from that scene and from how it didn’t quite come together in the way that I wanted,” Zhan said. “Now I definitely know what not to do for when I shoot it for real.”

Thompson arrived with a different challenge. His film, “Dance Monkey Dance,” is structured as a fake found-footage documentary about Wesley Harris, a Black comedian who discovers that white audiences reward him when he makes fun of Black people. Because the script is built from fragments — interviews, stand-up clips, photographs, voicemails, and invented archival footage — Sundance staff initially asked how he would adapt the project to a Lab built around full scenes.

“Every scene is, like a minute, so they were asking, ‘How are you gonna be able to do this Directors Lab where you need to actually have a full scene?'” Thompson said. “So we had discussions about that and what that was going to look like, and I had a plan for what I was going to do. So then I think after that, they had confidence that I wouldn’t just be wasting my time there.”

For the Directors Lab, Thompson shot a comedy club scene in which Wesley bombs until he begins mocking a Black audience member who leaves the room. The white audience laughs, and Wesley recognizes both the danger and the power of what he has found.

“It was like a very uncomfortable scene because we had extras of white audiences who (I told), ‘All right, you guys gotta laugh at all these racist jokes that this Black comedian’s doing,'” Thompson said. “And of course, I know you guys don’t find it funny, but that’s the point of the scene.”

The Lab also gave the fellows time with artists they admired. Thompson worked with Christopher McQuarrie on set, met Colman Domingo, and smoked a cigarette with Ed Harris. Zhan said the strongest part of the experience was bonding with the other fellows.

“Those are seven people that I just know will be friends and people that I’ll be rooting for and people who will be rooting for me for forever,” Zhan said.

Estes Park also became part of the experience. Zhan said she felt at home in the mountains. Thompson said waking up near the Rockies helped him understand why people had hyped the town on his way up from Denver. McKimmie said that connection to nature has always been central to Sundance’s work.

“Also, we saw a bear, which was really cool,” Zhan said. “The bear was really memorable.”

After the Lab, the work continues. Zhan is revising her screenplay before her producers pursue casting and financing. Thompson is also looking toward casting as a route to financing. McKimmie said Sundance will continue supporting fellows through new drafts, producer connections, financing strategy, and later, feedback on cuts.

“We view a filmmaker’s participation in one of our programs as the beginning of our relationship with them,” McKimmie said.

She left Estes Park hopeful, despite the difficulties facing independent film.

“I always leave the lab feeling hopeful,” Mackimmie said. “This group of filmmakers has a truly extraordinary group of stories to tell. They are deeply personal, but all of them are really doing the creative work.”

Thompson left with a simpler reminder.

“This reminded me to have fun when I make work,” Thompson said. “The Sundance Directors Lab reminded me that filmmaking is fun.”