Native filmmaker Billy Luther receives Sundance’s Momentum Fellowship

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The nonprofit Sundance Institute recently announced its fourth class of the Momentum Fellowship, a program that supports professional development for mid-career artists from historically marginalized communities as they explore and develop their creative practice.

Among those selected was filmmaker Billy Luther (Diné, Hopi, Laguna Pueblo). Luther is a long-time affiliate of the Sundance Film Festival, having made several films that have graced the annual Park City, Utah-based event.

“It’s an honor to be chosen for the fellowship,” Luther said.

Luther is a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

“It’s a very welcomed distinction,” he said.

Officials said a total of eight fellows will participate in a full-year program of deep, customized creative and professional support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their careers.

The fellowship includes unrestricted grant funding, industry mentorship, year-round support from Sundance Institute staff, writing intensive and industry meetings and professional coaching.

Additionally, officials said, as part of an ongoing partnership with NBC Universal, the studio will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative. The two-year at-will initiative, led by Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team, provides participants access to NBC Universal’s creative executives and producers to build career momentum and exposure to potential directing opportunities across the company’s portfolio.

“With the comprehensive professional development and creative support the Momentum Fellowship offers, we’re thrilled to provide a space for community-building and personal growth,” said Adella Ladjevardi, associate director of the Women at Sundance, Sundance Institute.

The Momentum Fellowship, which launched in 2018, evolved from the Women at Sundance Fellowship, a highly successful model that merited expansion for impact across a broader cohort of underrepresented communities.

Luther’s most recent film is “Frybread Face & Me,” which was written and directed by Luther. It recently wrapped up filming in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Española.

The film’s storyline follows an 11-year-old city boy who is sent to his grandmother’s ranch on the Navajo reservation against his will. He is introduced to a new way of life and an unexpected guest teaches him the importance of family, tradition and what it means to be a Navajo man. The experience on the reservation opens the young boy’s eyes to his own family and history, as well as to that of his wider Indigenous culture.

Frybread, Face & Me’s cast includes, Charly Hogan, Martin Sensmeier (Westworld, Wind River, Magnificent Seven), Kahara Hodges and Morningstar Angeline (Yellowstone, Outer Range, Ice Road and Drunktown’s Finest).

About Billy Luther

Luther was born in Winslow and graduated from the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. He spent time growing up in Laguna Pueblo and Fence Lake, New Mexico and has been associated with the Sundance Film Festival since 2007 when his film “Miss Navajo” debuted.

Luther began directing and making short films while a student at Hampshire College. “Miss Navajo’s” theme is centered on the competition in a women’s beauty pageant and was Luther’s first self-directed documentary.

The hugely popular film “Grab!” was Luther’s second major documentary film which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story about the Laguna Pueblo ceremonial practice of giving.

“Grab!” delves into the lives of the pueblo’s families who have pledged to gift and help the community. The families toss food, cultural items and other goods from the roofs of their residences to pueblo members gathered to “grab.”