On June 9th, writer/director David Fortune and producer Kiah Clingman were selected as the winners of this year’s Untold Stories program. Their film COLOR BOOK was awarded $1 million and comprehensive mentorship to support the feature’s production. Much like Fortune’s prior films, COLOR BOOK normalizes themes of compassion and intimacy in inner-city communities.
The 2023 Untold Stories event took place in front of a live audience at the Tribeca Festival, giving emerging filmmakers including David Fortune, Maria Mealla, Miguel Angel Caballero, Moon Molson and Selyna Warren and Marissa Read, the opportunity to present their stories to an expert jury comprised of renowned industry talents and professionals.
Audiences at home can watch the full event on YouTube now.
Please note:
Tribeca and AT&T stand in solidarity with the WGA. Untold Stories celebrates the power of diverse storytelling and believes writers are the cornerstone of creativity. All participating projects were written and submitted by January 2023. The winning team owns and controls the distribution rights to the film. COLOR BOOK will delay re-writing for production until strike rules are lifted.
Angel in Retrograde
Written by Luis Antonio Aldana and Miguel Angel Caballero
Directed by Miguel Angel Caballero
Produced by Helena Sardinha and Rafael Thomaseto
After a car accident, Angel awakens from a coma with retrograde amnesia, unaware of the last 20 years. As he attempts to adapt to a middle-aged life with a wife and a teenage daughter, Angel unexpectedly reignites his attraction with his high school best friend, Joshua.
Bat Mitzvah
Written and Directed by Selyna Warren and Marissa Read
Produced by Josh Heald, Dina Hillier, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Babe Brenner, broke and stumbling through early adulthood, makes a wager with her Bubi to advance her inheritance by getting Bat Mitzvah’ed by her 30th. Forced to attend Hebrew school with a bunch of hormonal 12-year-olds, her new tween-age besties teach Babe the real meaning of becoming a woman.
Body Shop
Directed and Written by Maria Mealla
Produced by Laura Fries
In an alternate reality where “body shops” replace hospitals, Lupe’s body suffers an accident that forces her into the loaner frame of a white Anglo woman. Desperate to expedite the repairs, Lupe ventures to a rumored black market to source skin that matches her true identity.
Color Book
Written and Directed by David Fortune
Produced by Kiah Clingman, Kristen Uno and Saleah Smith
Following the passing of his wife, a devoted father is learning to raise his son with Down Syndrome as a single parent. While adjusting to their new reality, the two embark on a journey through Metro Atlanta to attend their first baseball game.
Hyper/Space
Written and Directed by Moon Molson
Produced by Sue-Ellen Chitunya, Robert Chang and Mary Jane Skalski
An urban Black Millennial, suffering from a bundle of unnamed neurological disorders, is launched into a low-key manic quest to unravel the mystery of his mother’s death after his live-in girlfriend “disappears.”
Set in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, Smoking Tigers is a portrait of a lonely 16-year-old Korean American girl named Hayoung who is taken under the wings of three wealthy students she meets at an elite academic boot-camp. As she falls deeper into their world, Hayoung works harder to hide her problematic family and lower-income background from her new friends, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood that will forever shape her life.
In development; will premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
First-generation Punjabi truck driver Kiran is about to become a father, but his irresponsibility is alienating everyone close to him. When he hears pounding on a shipping container at work and discovers an undocumented girl named Elena inside, everything changes as he sets out on a cross-country road-trip in search of her family. Over the arduous journey, the pair evade the police while feuding and bonding over music, paint swatches, and what it means to be seen as “other” in white America.
Watch now on Max.
Teenage delinquent Sammy Ko teams up with a surly children's party magician on a bizarre adventure to navigate her tumultuous home life and inner demons. A coming-of-age comedy that touches on unlikely friendships, grief, and finding hope in the darkest moments.
Available to stream on multiple platforms
Set in New York City’s Chinatown, the film follows an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandma who goes all in at the casino, landing herself on the wrong side of luck… and in the middle of a gang war.
Available to stream on multiple platforms.
A troubled American teenager, sent away to his mother's native Nigeria, finds himself entangled in a dangerous web of scams and corruption with a con-artist cousin as his guide.
Available to steam on Netflix and other platforms.