Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge Sundance Institute

A young girl in rural India tills a small plot of land to feed her family and plant seeds of independence and financial freedom in her male dominated community. Director Megan Mylan directed and produced the Oscar-winning film Smile Pinki, which broadcast on HBO and the Sundance Channel. Her film, Lost Boys of Sudan, had a 70-city theatrical release and a national television broadcast on PBS's POV.

"Am I Going Too Fast?" is a digital tapestry of the intersecting worlds and interactions of craftspeople, shopkeepers, and ordinary folks whose lives have been transformed by new technologies, cell phone banking, and micro-finance; threads that weave together to form a web of connection and possibility in contemporary Nairobi. Hank Willis Thomas is the creator of Question Bridge: Black Male a non-fiction new media project and recipient of a New Media Fellowship, New Media Fund grant from the Tribeca Film Institute and Aperture West Book Prize. Co-Director Christopher Myers is an artist and writer best known for his books for young people which have garnered Caldecott Honors and been shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Haiti's internally displaced people start a micro-garden movement to combat post-earthquake hunger and despair. Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman produced and directed the feature documentary "Remote Area Medical," which premiered at the 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and was supported by the Sundance Documentary Film Fund.

Akhil, a young shoeshine boy, dreams of becoming a gourmet chef when he has a chance encounter with India's most popular TV cuisiner. Director Ritesh Batra's "The Lunchbox" will make its US Premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2014. It won the Grand Rail d'Or at Cannes 2013 and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for North America. Batra also won the Best Director prize at the Odessa International Film Festival.

A 9 year-old girl tells the tale about how her family and village came back from near starvation after their fishing village adopted sustainable fishing practices. Director Tod Lending is an Academy Award nominated and national Emmy winning producer, director, and cinematographer whose work has aired nationally on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, HBO, Al Jazeera.