ANNE LAI

About the Film

Anne Lai

Director for Creative Producing Initiatives, Sundance Institute

 

Anne Lai is Director of the Creative Producing Initiatives in the Feature Film Program at Sundance Institute which focuses on identifying and nurturing emerging independent writers, directors, and producers in fiction film. Through a series of Labs, granting, networking events, and educational programming, she tailors support for artists on their current feature film while also providing ongoing creative and strategic feedback. Recently supported films include Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation, the Daniels’ Swiss Army Man, Marielle Heller’s Diary of a Teenage Girl, Kat Candler’s Hellion, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Haifaa al Mansour’s Wadjda, as well as the Academy Award-nominated film from Benh Zeitlin Beasts of the Southern Wild. Beyond the Labs, Anne leads the Creative Producing Summit which provides a forum for over 50 top industry professionals and over 40 filmmaking fellows to engage in curated panels, case studies, roundtables, and one-on-one meetings. She also leads the curation of fiction projects participating in the annual Catalyst Forum which brings together over 30 investors and a dozen feature projects looking for equity financing in various stages of development and post. Prior to joining Sundance, Anne served as Vice President of Production at Scott Free, the film and television company founded by directors Ridley and Tony Scott. During her time with the Scotts, she worked on films including Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and co-produced the independent and internationally financed filmed Tristan & Isolde starring James Franco. Anne attended the University of Michigan and received her degree in film production from the University of Southern California.