The Sundance Institute has announced a series of initiatives to support independent feature and documentary producers.

Activities include the Creative Producing Labs, Fellowships and the annual Creative Producing Summit.

Nine projects have been selected to participate in the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Labs and Fellowships from August 16-20.

The Fellows and projects selected for the Feature Film Creative Producing Fellowship are: Amy Lo with Americano; Kyle Martin with Bluebird; Adele Romanski with Ella Walks The Beach; Alicia Van Couvering with Nobody Walks; and Jennifer Cochis with The West Memphis Three.

The Fellows and projects selected for the Documentary Film Creative Producing Lab are: Michael L Brown (US) with 25 To Life; Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza (US/South Africa) with Dear Mandela; Megan Gelstein (US) with Green Shall Overcome; and Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon (US) with Semper Fi: Always Faithful.

The Fellows represent five films from the Feature Film Program and four projects from the Documentary Film Program. The Institute said the Creative Producing initiatives were designed to “nurture independent producers with project-specific support through Labs, grants, and long-term advisor relationships, as well as reinvigorate dialogue within the independent producing community.”

The Fellows receive ongoing creative and strategic support throughout the year from industry mentors and the Feature Film and Documentary Program staffs, as well as direct granting designed to further development and production of film projects.

Immediately following the Creative Producing Labs, a wider group of projects supported by the Sundance Institute are invited to join the Creative Producing Lab Fellows for the Creative Producing Summit that runs from August 20-22. This group will also include four Stories Of Change Fellows working on films about leading social entrepreneurs as part of the Stories Of Change partnership with the Skoll Foundation.

The Creative Producing Summit is a three-day invitation-only gathering that connects 40 independent film-makers with 20 top film industry professionals, producers, distributors and directors. This year, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings will give the keynote address.

Other panellists include Michael Barker (Sony Pictures Classics), Arianna Bocco (IFC), Meredith Blake (Cause & Affect), Peter Broderick (Paradigm Consulting), Craig Emanuel (Loeb & Loeb LLP), Marian Koltai-Levine (PMK/BNC), Charlotte Mickie (Entertainment One), Ted Mundorff (Landmark Theaters), Josh Radnor (on behalf of SAGIndie), film-makers Jennifer Arnold and Heather Rae, John Sloss (Cinetic Media), and Graham Taylor (William Morris Endeavor).

“As with all the artists we support, independent producers are in critical need of resources, mentoring and an environment to brainstorm creatively in order to navigate the changing currents of the film industry,” Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam said. “We are grateful to the veteran leaders and trailblazers alike who are lending their time and expertise to the next group of talented independent producers.”