This grant provides ongoing support for science and film programming and awards at the Sundance Institute, which hosts the Sundance Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious showcase of independent cinema in the United States. Sloan funds will support the Sloan Commissioning Grant; the Sloan Episodic Fellowship; the Sloan Development Fellowship; the annual Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, one of only six juried prizes at the Festival; a high-profile panel discussion with scientists and filmmakers; and a reception celebrating the Sloan-winning screenwriters and filmmakers at the Festival.

This grant provides ongoing support to the Sloan Film Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), which will develop science screenplays and produce short science or technology-themed films and games over the next three years. Grant funds will allow NYU to maintain three screenplay awards, one production award, and one gaming award each year, while providing every project with a science advisor. To increase the number of high-quality screenplay submissions during this grant cycle, NYU will select five writing finalists to receive $1,000 in the fall and will provide each finalist with support to refine their submissions from screenwriting faculty and science mentors. 

This grant provides continued support for science and film programming at SFFILM. SFFILM awards the $20,000 Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, one of only two major Sloan feature film prizes. The San Francisco-based organization also makes a second, smaller Science on Screen Award at the SFFILM Festival in April, which includes screenings and panels with scientists. Additionally, SFFILM supports two screenwriters a year with a $35,000 cash award, residency, and mentorship by filmmakers and scientists. SFFILM will also compile a list of the ten best discoveries in science and award two $10,000 prizes for a filmmaker to develop the story of one of the discoveries into a screenplay. 

This grant renews support for the Sloan Science on Screen Program in partnership with the Coolidge Corner Theatre, an independent cinema in Brookline, Massachusetts. The program provides awards to independent cinemas across the country to support science and film programming. These events showcase scientific experts at screenings of popular or cult-classic films for a discussion about the films’ scientific or technological themes. Sloan support will allow the Coolidge to make new grants to 70 participating theaters over the next two years, bringing the total number of independent cinema houses that have participated in Science on Screen to well over 150.

This grant provides three years of support to the Columbia University School of the Arts’ Film Program to encourage young screenwriters and directors to create new work with science and technology themes and characters. Funded activities include two annual Production Awards, three annual Screenwriting Awards, information sessions about science and film, and screenings of Sloan-supported short films at the Columbia University Film Festival. Grant funds also support a mentorship program that competitively selects a short list of screenwriting finalists and provides each candidate with increased faculty feedback and additional research with a science advisor. 

This grant provides three years of support for two separate programs: (1) to maintain the Sloan Science & Film website, scienceandfilm.org, the most comprehensive site for the Sloan Film Program, and develop related events, outreach, and educational materials and (2) to administer the annual Sloan Grand Jury Prize and Sloan Student Discovery Prize, which celebrate two outstanding feature film screenplays each year that integrate scientific or technological themes or characters.   New initiatives include an annual virtual film summit for all Foundation-supported filmmakers, annual screenings of Sloan student shorts, a catalog of supported films in active development for agents and producers, and a scholarly catalog or teacher’s guide. This grant will also partially fund an exhibition about medical imaging technologies and contemporary art inspired by a Sloan book, Naked to the Bone: Medical Imaging in the 20th Century by Bettyann Kevles.    The Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize was created to pick a “best of the best” from winning screenplays at the Foundation’s six year-round film school partners to support its next level of development. In addition to a $20,000 cash prize, the winners receive industry exposure, feedback, and year-round science and film industry mentorship. The Discovery Prize selects screenplays from six new film schools not partnered with Sloan year-round.