It was October 2022 when we last provided an update on what our previously featured filmmakers have been up to, but despite this five-month gap between news, this isn’t to imply nothing has happened in this time. In fact, this latest offering of alum success contains probably the most important accolade any filmmaker could ever receive, alongside a number of other prizes collected by names recognisable to the S/W audience and some exciting upcoming projects to get excited about.

Awards

We don’t usually have a whole section of these updates posts dedicated to awards, but after this year’s Oscars, how could we not?

• DANIELS win big at the 95th Academy Awards
  Featured on our site multiple times over the years, filmmaking duo the DANIELS completed their decade long rise from viral video creators to Hollywood royalty on March 12th when they went home with the Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture awards at the 95th Academy Awards. Having charted their careers in this recent retrospective, directors Kwan and Scheinert have now become a shining example to all emerging filmmakers.


• S/W Alums claim multiple short film awards at SXSW 2023
  Announced a few days after the Oscars, and without the same fanfare, the annual prize-giving at SXSW saw a number of S/W alums walk away with awards. Sean Wang’s (3,000 Miles, Still Here, H.A.G.S.) beautiful new doc Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma) won the Documentary Short Competition, while Elizabeth Hobbs’ (I’m OK, The Flounder) The Debutante won the Animated Shorts Competition, with Tom CJ Brown’s (Teeth) Christopher at Sea receiving a special mention. Kayla Abuda Galang (Learning Tagalog with Kayla) also won an award, with her short When You Left Me On That Boulevard following its win at Sundance (see below) by getting a Special Jury Award in the Texas Shorts Competition.
  
• Charlotte Wells & Aftersun celebrated by BAFTA & BIFA
  Alongside Everything Everywhere All at Once, there’s been another A24 feature slaying it on the festival circuit in the last year, Charlotte Wells’ (Laps) lauded debut Aftersun. The film’s success carried into the 2023 awards season as Wells landed a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer and BIFA awards for Best British Independent Film, Best Screenplay, Best Debut Director and Best Director.


• S/W Alums dominate awards at Sundance 2023
  One that definitely falls into the news we should have brought you sooner category, it gave us deep pleasure to see our previously featured filmmakers impress the jurors at Sundance this year. With the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic going to A.V. Rockwell’s (Feathers) A Thousand and One, the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic presented to Charlotte Regan (Standby, Fry-up and Drug Runner) for Scrapper and the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision prize awarded to Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck (Jobs for All!) for their feature Fantastic Machine. It wasn’t just in the Features competitions where our alums impressed, with Kayla Abuda Galang’s (Learning Tagalog with Kayla) short, When You Left Me On That Boulevard, winning the Short Film Grand Jury Prize and Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis (When the Day Breaks, Wild Life) adding to what must already be a stacked trophy cabinet as their film The Flying Sailor won the Short Film Jury Award: Animation award.

In Development

Away from the above awards news, we’ve also got updates on some exciting, upcoming projects from our previously featured filmmakers including biopics, post-apocalyptic rock operas and Star Wars series’.

• Nikyatu Jusu to direct Night of the Living Dead Sequel
  Having showcased her directorial talents on her short film Suicide by Sunlight and then on her debut feature Nanny, Nikyatu Jusu is now set to direct a follow-up to George A. Romero’s seminal ’60s Zombie feature Night of the Living Dead.
  Source: Deadline
  
  
• Jonathan Entwistle to helm Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers biopic
  Entwistle (Human Beings) is becoming somewhat of a regular in these filmmaker updates pieces. It seems like only yesterday (OK, it was a year ago!) we heard news of his Power Rangers reboot coming to Netflix and now he’s set to helm a very different project, Fred & Ginger, a musical about the relationship between Hollywood dance legends, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
  Source: Deadline
  
• Viral hit The Backrooms getting feature adaptation
  Clocking-up an impressive 46m views (at time of publishing) since it was launched online just over a year ago, it should come as no real surprise to hear that Kane Pixels’ viral sensation The Backrooms is set for feature adaptation. With A24 attached, the 17yr old filmmaker (real name Kane Parsons) is set to direct, working from a script by direct from a script by Roberto Patino (DMZ).
  Source: Deadline
  
  
• Details of Geremy Jasper’s post-apocalyptic rock opera released
  If you been desperately hankering for a post-apocalyptic rock opera about a farm girl on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom then the details of Geremy Jasper’s (Outlaws) latest feature O’Dessa are about to make your dreams come true. Starring Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink, O’Dessa is Jasper’s follow-up to his 2017 debut feature Patti Cake$.
  Source: Deadline
  
• Rob Savage’s The Boogeyman now set for theaters in June
  Our admiration of UK director Rob Savage has been evident in our write-ups for Dawn of the Deaf, Healey’s House and Salt, as we’ve followed his career from inventive short filmmaker to hot property in the features landscape. Well aware of his passion for Horror, he must have ticked an item of his bucket list by getting to direct a Stephen King adaptation and things just got even better for the director as it was announced the film would now hit theaters, instead of going straight to streamers, after strong test screenings.
  Source: The Hollywood Reporter
  
  
• Ariel Kleiman to direct on Andor season 2
  The transition from short film to television isn’t a new path for emerging filmmakers, but if you’re looking for an example of how impressing in the world of shorts can lead to opportunities in TV, then look no further than Australian director Ariel Kleiman. Having directed episodes on some standout television shows, including Top of the Lake, Yellowjackets and The Resort, he was recently announced as one of the names set to helm entries in the latest series of Disney+ hit Andor.
  Source: Slash Film