EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Institute has announced the six artists participating in the 2025 edition of its Trans Possibilities Intensive, taking place online from July 28–30.
Now in its fourth year, the intensive is designed to uplift transgender storytellers of color developing projects in a space where they hone their skills and strengthen their practice in a community. This year’s fellows are Logan Alcosiba, Chica Andrade, Rraine Henson, Jameson P. Murray, Jess Waters, and Grace Zhang.
Over the course of the program, fellows will take part in conversations centered and led by trans creatives, including fireside chats with their creative advisors, tackling key areas of craft via group creative exercises, discipline-specific workshops, and close work with experienced creative advisors including Rhys Ernst (Adam), Luis De Filippis (Something You Said Last Night), Éri Sarmet (Vollúpya), and Mars Verrone (Union).
The intensive will conclude with a public conversation streaming on Sundance Collab at 10 a.m. PT on July 30. In addition to the online component, fellows will receive direct support with project-based granting and custom creative and professional development opportunities. Fellows were selected via nominations-based applications. This year, the Institute received the most nominations in the history of the program, reflecting the continued interest in and significance of trans-led projects.
“I set out to create this program because I know, firsthand, that community is foundational, both to storytelling and to being trans,” said the Institute’s Manager of Equity, Impact, and Belonging, Moi Santos. “The Trans Possibilities Intensive takes this guiding principle to create opportunities and communities that are intentional, sustainable, and collaborative. Our fellows and their projects boldly, truthfully, and proudly reflect the gender diversity that makes trans storytellers vital to the world we live in. Our advisors and alumni are examples of the possibilities this program is named after, and we look forward to supporting the fellows as they forge their unique paths.”
Alumni of the Trans Possibilities Intensive include River Gallo, whose intensive-supported 2024 Sundance feature, Ponyboi, received theatrical distribution in June; AX Mina, whose feature Rubbish: The Queer Kingdom of Leilah Babirye was a 2024 Kickstart with Canva award winner; and Kyle Casey Chu, whose intensive-supported short After What Happened at the Library received a Special Jury Award from the Florida Film Festival.
Learn more about this year’s fellows and their intensive-supported projects below.
Logan Alcosiba (Writer) with Leaving Flowers (U.S.A.): Inspired by the Native Hawaiian legend of ‘Ōhi’a and Lehua, when a māhūwahine meets her boyfriend’s family, their doubts prompt memories of familial loss and her deep desire for ʻohana.
Logan Alcosiba is a multiracial transgender actress, writer, and filmmaker. Her upcoming short film Amid the Noise & Haste explores the underrepresented trans experience of dysphonia. She continues to create stories rooted in love and empowerment.
Chica Andrade (Director) with House Of Hilton (Brazil): After two decades of exile, the director returns to her hometown searching for transgender friends. Learning they were murdered, she finds hope in a young Black trans woman, reigniting the fight for dignity and change in their community.
Director, screenwriter, activist for trans community rights Chica Andrade has directed documentaries for TV channels and is co-director of the series Segura Essa Pose. She is a consultant for the Brazilian Black Unspoken projects at Warner Bros.
Rraine Hanson (Writer-Director) with Transcend (Jamaica): A medley of summer memories from the eyes of a grieving father and his transmasculine son as they find solace in their reflections of one another throughout his childhood.
Rraine Hanson is a Jamaican transdisciplinary artist designing worlds through mixed media to tell stories centering the imaginations of queer people of color. His visual style is informed by surrealism and the aesthetics of his Caribbean upbringing.
Jameson P. Murray (Writer-Director) with The Starter (U.S.A.): The trans son of a recently retired NBA champion fights for a spot on his high school team to repair their bond, bringing unwanted attention for them both where a bitter New Orleans inner-city basketball rivalry explodes into national controversy.
Jameson P. Murray (he/him) is a Black, trans New Orleanian writer, director, comedian, and 2024 Disruptors Fellow. He has been seen in the New Orleans, Atlanta, and Pan African Film Festivals, and will feature in the upcoming The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays Vol. 3.
Jess Waters (Writer-Director) with Tank (U.S.A.): Overwhelmed by debt, gender dysphoria, and caring for their sick aunt, Tank finds unexpected power in committing small-time robberies disguised as the man they wish the world could see.
Jess Waters is a Black nonbinary writer-director originally hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, and currently residing in Los Angeles. Their work focuses on themes of queerness, awkwardness, and the unsettling nature of hope.
Grace Zhang (Writer-Director) with 20X8 (U.S.A.): 20X8 is a Buddhist cyberpunk family drama about three generations of a Chinese immigrant family searching for their own versions of utopia.
Grace Zhang is a filmmaker from New York whose work interweaves slice-of-life scenes with dream sequences and memories. Created with the support of their QTPOC community, their work depicts the ebbs and flows of queer existence and diasporic life.
