EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Institute has named the 10 emerging filmmakers selected for the 2025 edition of the Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship. They are Omolola Ajao, Harlan Banks, Ruairí Bradley, Siwoo Kim, Rahul Koul, Giles Perkins, Cloe Raffo Velarde, Leon Ristov, Anooya Swamy, and Brittany Alexia Young.
A yearlong program, the Ignite x Adobe Fellowship begins with the Ignite Lab at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, taking place June 23–27. This year marks 10 years of the Lab, created to support the career launch of storytellers, ages 18 to 25, from underserved groups. Participants in the lab are offered a $3,000 artist grant and a one-year complimentary membership to Adobe Creative Cloud. Thereafter, the cohort will participate in monthly webinars geared toward specialized creative development, networking and relationship-building events with the Ignite community at workshops, and a curated program at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
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This year’s fellows were selected from over 1,000 applicants worldwide. Riley Hooper and Claire Ave’Lallemant, the inaugural fellows of Sundance’s Documentary Edit Residency Program, will join the Ignite Lab cohort as artists-in-residence to further develop their nonfiction project Vestibule, currently in post-production.
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Said Sundance Institute Ignite’s Assistant Director, Toby Brooks, in a statement to Deadline, “Bespoke support for early-career storytellers is more crucial now than it ever has been — there are so many ways to grow as a young artist and finding a community to do that within is really special. It is an honor to be celebrating a decade of partnership with Adobe that has provided foundational support for visionary emerging voices. We look forward to gathering at MASS MoCA with the talented 2025 cohort.”
Learn more about the cohort below.
Omolola Ajao is an artist working within film, video, and theater. Her work repeatedly attends to the metaphysical and psychological. Her short film After Sunday premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. She holds a Master of Visual Studies degree from the University of Toronto.
Harlan Banks is a writer, director, editor, and Miles Morales fanatic from Stanford, California. He’s interested in shining new lights on often overshadowed perspectives through telling stories that subvert genre conventions while blurring lines between documentary and narrative.
Ruairí Bradley is a director from Ireland. His debut short film, We Beg To Differ, screened at SXSW, Clermont-Ferrand, and Shortfest. It qualified for the Oscars, was nominated for Best Short at the London Critics and Irish Film and Television Awards, and is a 2026 European Film Awards candidate.
Siwoo Kim is a filmmaker and animator based in New York. He graduated from Pratt Institute as a recipient of the Seeman Burse scholarship. His animated thesis, Inside My Worn Out Drawer, is an Ocean, was awarded by a panel of external jurors to screen at BAM and is in the festival circuit.
Rahul Koul is an Indian American filmmaker exploring spirituality and cultural identity. His debut short, Yajñopavīta, written and directed with Ford Cowan, is in the festival circuit. A Vanderbilt alum based in Seattle, Koul draws from his South Asian heritage to craft meditative, poetic narratives.
Giles Perkins is a Brooklyn-based writer and director from Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of NYU Tisch, his work explores interpersonal conflict shaped by misguided American ideals. His latest short, Expiration Date, premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival.
Cloe Raffo Velarde, born in Lima and raised on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, draws inspiration from nature and the surf-beach culture. With a BA in film and TV, she focuses on directing and cinematography — telling stories that explore human experience, female perspectives, and cultural depth with visual emotion.
Leon Ristov is a Macedonian filmmaker based in New York. He is currently completing the film MFA at Columbia University as a Miloš Forman fellow. His films have screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival, NFFTY, and over 30 international festivals. He is an alum of Clermont-Ferrand Euro Connection.
Anooya Swamy is a New York–based Indian filmmaker born and raised in Bangalore pursuing her MFA at Tisch School of Arts in film/TV production. She is an Ang Lee Scholar, a BAFTA Scholar, and Spike Lee’s current assistant. Her films are for women and people who live life in pursuit of love.
Brittany Alexia Young is a Florida-born, LA-based filmmaker making coming-of-age, genre-blending films following Black and queer protagonists. She is currently developing a feature for her latest short, Munchies, which was backed by the WAVE Grant and screened at Palm Springs International ShortFest, Frameline49, and NFFTY.