SundanceInstitute and the Producers Club of Maryland have announced that Doug Sadler'sdrama Swimmers is toreceive the 2003 Producers Club of Maryland Fellowship. The fellowship was setup to help film-makers who participate in the Sundance Lab meet pre-productionexpenses and offers a $10,000 towards casting, budgetary and location costs,among others.

Previous recipients include Michael Burke for The Mudge Boy, which premiered at this year'sfestival, and Rodrigo Garcia, whose Things You Can Tell Just By Looking AtHer premiered at the2000 edition.

New Orleans-bornSadler's first feature, Riders, world premiered at the 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival. Swimmers is set in a small Maryland fishingcommunity where the traditional way of life is dying out. "Chosen by a diversegroup of people in Maryland, none of whom are involved in the film business, Swimmers represents everything the Sundance Labsstand for - brave work, regardless of marketability, great passion, and greatcraft. It will make a wonderful movie, and we are thrilled to help push it intoproduction," Jed Dietz, founded the Maryland Producers Club, said in astatement.