SFFILM closed out 2024 by announcing its Sloan Science in Cinema Fellows: filmmakers Sara Crow, David Rafailedes, and Lara Palmqvist. All three have been awarded prior Sloan grants in support of the same projects the fellowship acknowledges, demonstrating the power of Sloan’s development pipeline created through partnerships like the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative at SFFILM. Launched in 2015, the initiative is designed to support projects which bring the art of storytelling and science together, with the fellowship providing $35,000 to each selected project. Read more about the grantees and their projects below.
THE GARDEN by Lara Palmqvist
Drawing on timely concerns of climate change, biodiversity loss, and agricultural innovation, THE GARDEN follows a passionate plant breeder as he tries to secure his family’s future by developing genetically enhanced seeds while working for a controlling socialite who wants to transplant an elaborate garden onto her Kentucky estate.
Palmqvist, who won the 2023 Sloan Student Discovery Prize, describes THE GARDEN as an ecological drama interested in interconnection, drawing links between social and environmental justice. She was named a semifinalist for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2023 Nicholl Fellowship.
SATOSHI by David Rafailedes and Sara Crow
The potentially true story of a teenage anime-obsessed hacktivist who, after losing her scholarship to Stanford, returns home to Arizona to become the mysterious inventor of a new digital currency called Bitcoin.
Rafailedes and Crow have been recognized by the Sloan Foundation twice before. SATOSHI received Sloan’s 2023 $100k First Feature Award at New York University. In January 2024, Rafailedes and Crow were selected for the Sloan Lab Fellowship at Sundance Institute.
Stay tuned for updates on these projects as their development continues.
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