IFP has selected the year’s ten rough cut narrative projects to participate in its Independent Filmmaker Lab in New York next week.

The Lab is a free, year-long mentorship programme for first-time film-makers with projects budgeted up to $1m that have shot all or a substantial amount of footage without completing post-production. IFP announced the ten 2009 documentary projects in April, as previously reported on this site.

Selected film-makers will also take part in meetings with with potential buyers, financiers and festival programmers at IFP’s Independent Film Week in September and feature in a sneak preview showcase.

“By focusing intensively on only 20 projects per year we are seeing a measurable impact from the Labs while ensuring that the development of the next generation of diverse artists continues to sit squarely at the centre of IFP’s mission,” IFP executive director Michelle Byrd said.

The 2009 Narrative Lab leaders are producers Scott Macaulay and Gretchen McGowan. Workshop leaders include composer Anton Sanko, music supervisor Barry Cole, and editors Sabine Hoffmann, Brian Kates and Lee Percy.

The selected projects and Lab Fellows are:

  • Au Pair Kansas from director J T O’Neal, producers Joan Jerkovich, Catherine A McCabe and O’Neal, and editor Brad Roszell;
  • City On A Hill from director Amy Seimetz, producer Justin Barber, and editor Adele Romanski;
  • The Imperialists Are Still Alive! from director Zeina Durra, producer Vanessa Hope, and editor Michael Taylor;
  • The Myth Of Time from director Miller “Jaguar X” Koepenick, producer Scorpion Hernandez, and editors Koepenick and Hernandez;
  • Perfection from director Christina Beck, producer Annette Murphy, and editor Rob Poswell;
  • Phasma Ex Machina from director and editor Matt Osterman, and producer Jennifer Kramer;
  • Postales from director Josh Hyde, producers Clare Connelly, Dan Fischer, Maxim Holland and P J Fishwick, and editors Hyde and Evan Smith;
  • Stranger Things from co-directors, co-producers and co-editors Ron Eyal and Eleanor Burke;
  • The Tested from director Russell Costanzo, producer Melissa Miller, and editors Costanzo and Michael Taylor; and
  • Wanderlost from director David Kabler, producers Kabler, Dan Judson, Mitch Rumfelt and Troy Scott Burnette, and editor Judson.