The NYU Production Lab, a development center supporting NYU alumni and student artists, announced today the addition of three new titles to its slate of feature films. May You Outlive Us from French-Lebanese filmmaker Isabelle Mecattaf, Throuple from director/editor Greyson Horst and writer/actor Michael Doshier, and Tomahawk Springs from Syrian-American filmmaker Ramzi Bashour bring the number of films receiving the NYU Production Lab’s support to 32.
The 2023 slate of projects are in various states of development. They were selected because they tell new and compelling stories, says John Tintori, NYU Production Lab co-founder and academic director.
"We believe in these filmmakers, who are all diving into the complexities of cross-cultural dynamics through nuanced perspectives and tones,” Tintori says. “Through a lengthy application process, we were impressed by the passion that each of them brings to the work. They highlight the mission of the NYU Production Lab to support NYU alumni who are diverse filmmakers, producers, writers and musicians across schools and programs."
After making its first financial investments in 2014, the NYU Production Lab opened in 2015 as a bridge to help NYU students and recent alumni move from an academic to a professional setting. The lab provides slate fellows with in-kind support and financial investment and actively mentors filmmakers until they secure distribution.
In less than a decade, it has built a remarkable track record of success. Early projects include Dead Pigs, written and directed by Cathy Yan (Birds of Prey), who co-founded the lab while a graduate student, and Songs My Brothers Taught Me from Chloe Zhao, who won critical acclaim for Nomadland, winner of six Academy Awards.
More recently, the Lab has supported Starling Girl, a coming-of-age drama from Laurel Parmet. Part of the 2019 slate, it premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released in the U.S. earlier this year. Invisible, director TJ Parsell’s documentary about gay women in Southern music that was part of the 2018 slate, premiered at Frameline Film Festival and has won 15 audience and jury awards. Another 2019 slate project, Settlers, is a science fiction thriller from director Wyatt Rockefeller that was released in 2021 and is currently streaming on Hulu. Finally, the NYU Production Lab supported Jarreau Carrillo’s short film, The Vacation, winner of the Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The short is a proof-of-concept for the feature length, Last to Survive in America.
