Sydney Freeland

Sydney Freeland (Diné), one of the Institute of American Indian Arts’ faculty members and an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, has had her latest project, the Netflix original film, Deidra and Laney Rob a Train, accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. The festival takes place in Park City, Salt Lake City, and at Sundance Mountain Resort from January 19-29, 2017. This will be the film’s premiere.

The Sundance Institute will convene a full slate of provocative and agenda-setting independent films at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, beginning with the recent announcement of the 66 films selected for U.S. competition and world competition, as well as a slate of environmentally focused programming under the festival’s New Climate Program. The festival celebrates creativity and independence at the summit of the institute’s year-round public programming, which also includes festivals in London, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. Sundance Institute programs support artists year-round, with more than $2.5 million in grants and 25 global residency labs across theater, film, and episodic content.

Freeland’s debut feature film, Drunktown’s Finest, premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Prize and HBO Outstanding First Feature awards at LA Outfest 2014. Another film, Her Story, was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding short-form drama. Sydney is also a recipient of the 2015 Fox Global Director’s Initiative, the 2015 Sundance Women’s Fellowship, a 2015 Ford Fellowship, a 2014 Time Warner Fellowship, and a 2004 Fulbright Scholarship. She was selected to participate in both the 2010 Sundance Screenwriting and Directing Labs and the 2009 Sundance Native Lab.

Deidra and Laney Rob a Train focuses on two teenage sisters who start robbing trains to make ends meet after their single mother’s emotional meltdown in an electronics store lands her in jail. The cast includes Ashleigh Murray, Rachel Crow, Tim Blake Nelson, David Sullivan, Danielle Nicolet, and Sasheer Zamata.

Santa Fe Poet Laureate Emeritus Jon Davis, director of the IAIA Low Residency MFA Program, noted, “Sydney Freeland has been part of the IAIA family since 2006 when she participated in the ABC/Disney Summer Television and Film Workshop. We continue to be proud of her accomplishments and excited at her success, and pleased that she has chosen to return and share her knowledge with MFA students.”