Screenplays by four emerging filmmakers from Columbia University’s graduate film program have been awarded Sloan grants. Two $10,000 awards were given to screenplays by Jamil Munoz and Nic Yulo. Two $30,000 production awards were given to short film scripts by Ciara Doll and Josalynn Smith to go support the production of each of their short. Each film is about a female scientist.

Nic Yulo’s screenplay for a TV pilot called NIGHT WITCHES is set in Russia during World War II. The story centers on a group of civilian female fighter pilots defending against invading Nazi forces. Yulo is a writer-director who has won an Adobe Design Achievement Award for Film & Video, and is a recipient of the Breaking Barriers Grant for Female Filmmakers. She previoulsy directed Christopher Abeel’s Sloan-winning short film KNIGHTS IN NEWARK which will premiere at the 2018 Columbia University Film Festival.

BARETIA is a feature film screenplay written by Jamil Munoz, which tells the true story of Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the world which she did as a man. Munoz is a writer-director whose most recent short film, KIKO, won a Davey Foundation Grant.

Ciara Doll’s short film INTO THE VOID is set in 1950s New York and is based on the true story of pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin. Ciara Doll is the film’s writer and will produce. She has experinece working on both shorts and features, and has also held positions in the industry such as at Phoenix Pictures and Eclectic Pictures. INTO THE VOID will be directed Yossera Bouchtia, who has written, directed, and produced a number of other shorts.

SOMETHING IN THE WATER, written by Josalynn Smith, is about a 13-year-old girl who discovers lead conaminating her home and school’s water supply. Smith, who will also produce the film, who has studied and worked at the intersection of environmental issues and poverty.

The Columbia University-Sloan partnership annually awards grants to graduate film students whose screenplays or short films integrate scientific or technological themes. For more on these projects, stay tuned to Science & Film.