The Sundance Institute and Time Warner have chosen playwrights Quincy Long and Matthew Paul Olmos and film-makers Ritesh Batra and Elgin James as the 2009 Time Warner Storytelling Fellows.

The Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund, established in 2007, provides support over four years to help fund the development and celebration of independent artists across Sundance Institute’s Feature Film and Theatre Programmes.

Time Warner Storytelling Fellows receive grants enabling them to focus on the advancement of the narrative and voice in their projects. Fellows receive a combination of year-round guidance, residency support, mentoring and professional development.

The recipient’s projects include:

  •  The Huntsmen by Quincy Long is about a boy whose dark dreams lead him into trouble and song.
  • I Put the Fear Of Mexico In ‘Em by Matthew Paul Olmos centres on an American couple visiting Mexico who are accosted by a Mexican couple in an alley and must deal with the consequences.
  • Goodnight Moon by Elgin James follows two 14 year-old girls from the Salton Sea whose friendship is tested when they run away together to Los Angeles.
  • The Story Of Ram by Ritesh Batra is about a chance encounter over the radio that leads to an extraordinary friendship between the Prime Minister of India and an ordinary tea vendor.