Today at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, the nonprofit Sundance Institute, in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, announced the recipients for the Science-In-Film initiative’s Feature Film Prize and artist grants. At the annual reception, the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize was awarded to In The Blink of An Eye from director Andrew Stanton and screenwriter Colby Day, which centers around the connection between science and human existence. In addition, the recipients of three artist grants to support projects currently in development were announced: Sonia Kennebeck and Tetiana Anderson received the Sloan Episodic Fellowship for Speak for the Dead: Excited Delirium, Daeil Kim was granted the Sloan Development Fellowship for Stem, and Alan Fischer and Jonathan Cuchacovich were awarded the Sloan Commissioning Grant for Cyborg Beast. The filmmakers received a total of $84,000 in cash awards and were honored at a reception hosted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in Park City. Prior to the reception, the Feature Film Prize winners Andrew Stanton and Colby Day participated in a Sloan Foundation–sponsored Beyond Film event, The Big Conversation | From Fire to Flight: Humans, Technology and Time.
“We are immensely grateful for our long-standing partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the continuation of our shared efforts to uplift filmmakers who explore the intersection between art and science,” said Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute Acting CEO. “The Science-In-Film Initiative Feature Film Prize and artist grants enable us to highlight voices that use science as a profound lens with which to explore humanity. We are honored to join together at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and celebrate their innovative work.”
“We are delighted to honor Andrew Stanton’s In The Blink of An Eye, a sweeping saga with three storylines spanning thousands of years that dramatizes the value of science and the abiding human quest for progress and meaning,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We are also immensely pleased to award three screenwriting fellowships to outstanding writers — Jonathan Cuchacovich, Alan Fischer, Sonia Kennebeck, Tetiana Anderson, and Daeil Kim — who portray the conflicts and challenges faced by scientists and engineers working outside the mainstream. This year’s winners are wonderful additions to the nationwide Sloan film program and further proof of the vitality of our landmark two-decade partnership with Sundance Institute.”
In The Blink of An Eye has been awarded the 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and received a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at today’s reception. The prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. The 2026 jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize included Sophie Barthes, Dr. Heather Berlin, Dr. Andrea Ghez, Ari Handel, and Nicole Perlman.
The jury selected Andrew Stanton’s In The Blink of An Eye “For its deft, moving depiction of three distinctive time periods separated by thousands of years but linked by an underlying human search for meaning and continuity, and for its expansive portrayal of science and scientists striving for progress and a shared, common humanity.”
In The Blink of An Eye / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Stanton, Screenwriter: Colby Day, Producer: Jared Ian Goldman) — Three storylines, spanning thousands of years, intersect and reflect on hope, connection, and the circle of life. Cast: Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas, Tanaya Beatty. World Premiere. Fiction. 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Winner.
Sonia Kennebeck and Tetiana Anderson will receive a $17,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for Speak for the Dead: Excited Delirium through the Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Fellowship. Previous recipients of the Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Fellowship include Greenwashers, Tektite, The Professor and the Spy, Our Dark Lady, The Harvard Computers, and Higher.
Sonia Kennebeck is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated director, writer, producer, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her films, including Reality Winner (SXSW), Enemies of the State (TIFF), and National Bird (Berlinale), explore power and secrecy. They were distributed by Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, PBS, and others.
Tetiana Anderson directs, executive-produces, writes, and is a narrative consultant for brands including L’Oréal, United Way Worldwide, Bank of America, and more. A Telly Award winner and three-time Emmy nominee, she hosts Comcast’s national show Newsmakers. Raised in Mid-Michigan, she’s lived around the world and tells truth-inspired stories.
Speak for the Dead: Excited Delirium / A brilliant young medical examiner hunts one of the worst serial killers in U.S. history as junk science almost derails the investigation into the murders of 32 women and girls. Inspired by the untold true story and life of the woman who became America’s first Black chief medical examiner.
Daeil Kim will receive a $17,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for Stem through the Sundance Institute | Sloan Development Fellowship. Previous recipients of the Sundance Institute | Sloan Development Fellowship include Eruption, Satoshi, Light Mass Energy, Moving Bangladesh, Chariot, and Tidal Disruption.
Daeil Kim is a South Korean–born filmmaker based in Los Angeles and a recipient of the 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant. His work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, the Cannes American Pavilion, and AFI Fest. He holds an MFA from USC, where he was an Annenberg fellow.
Stem / A devoted scientist risks everything to win the approval of the world’s leading stem cell pioneer, only to be pulled into the dark secrets behind his “miracle cure” that claims it can end human disability.
Alan Fischer and Jonathan Cuchacovich will receive a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for Cyborg Beast through the Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant. Previous winners of the Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant include Thin Ice, Inverses, Incompleteness, The Futurist, Pharmacopeia, The Plutonians, and Challenger.
Alan Fischer is a Chilean American writer and director based in Los Angeles drawn to cross-cultural stories shaped by migration, innovation, and everything in between. His feature films, shorts, and documentaries have been recognized internationally. He holds a bioengineering degree and an MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Jonathan Cuchacovich is an Emmy-nominated Chilean writer based in Miami. He wrote the internationally acclaimed miniseries Isabel: The Intimate Story of Isabel Allende and has developed over 25 television dramas as writer, head writer, or script consultant.
Cyborg Beast / Based on a true story, a brilliant Latino student sacrifices everything to develop a groundbreaking prosthesis for children with disabilities, one that could either change the world or destroy his future.
Ahead of the Feature Film Prize reception, guests attended a Beyond Film talk, The Big Conversation | From Fire to Flight: Humans, Technology and Time, hosted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, that focused on the themes explored in In The Blink of An Eye, this year’s Feature Film Prize winner. Moderated by neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berli, and featuring In The Blink of An Eye director Andrew Stanton and screenwriter Colby Day, Co-Founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute Ariel Ekblaw, and IHO Research Scientist and Professor at ASU Institute of Human Origins Denise Su, the panelists discussed the shifting and vital relationship between science and film.
For over 20 years, the Science-In-Film initiative has supported emerging filmmakers whose work heightens public awareness of science in our culture, portrays the full range of humanity engaged in scientific and technological pursuit, illustrates the vital and unique role of scientists and their work in our society, and highlights the special possibilities of communicating through independent film. In addition to the prize, the Sloan-funded initiative underwrites the development of projects with science and technology themes through the Sloan Episodic Fellowship in the Sundance Institute Episodic Program and the Sloan Development Fellowship and Sloan Commissioning Grant in the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. Over 50 scripts have been developed or are currently in development through this program, with numerous feature films produced and released theatrically. The initiative also expands public discourse about science and cinema through a dedicated panel at the Sundance Film Festival. Panelists and jurors over the past 21 years have included Alan Alda, Paula Apsell, Darren Aronofsky, Kerry Bishé, Mike Cahill, Sean Carroll, Antonio Damasio, Ann Druyan, Jim Gaffigan, Brian Greene, Clark Gregg, Dr. Mandë Holford, Tenoch Huerta, Clifford V. Johnson, Flora Lichtman, Brit Marling, Marvin Minsky, Jonathan Nolan, Sev Ohanian, Theresa Pak, Alex Rivera, Octavia Spencer, John Underkoffler, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Heather Berlin, Leland Melvin, Jill Tarter, Tracy Drain, and Cady Coleman.
Previous recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize include Cristina Costantini’s SALLY (2025), Sam & Andy Zuchero’s Love Me (2024), Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation (2023), Kogonada’s After Yang (2022), Alexis Gambis’ Son of Monarchs (2021), Michael Almereyda’s Tesla (2020), Chiwetel Ejiofor’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019), Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian’s Searching (2018), Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime (2017), Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent (2016), Kyle Patrick Alvarez and Tim Talbott’s The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), Mike Cahill’s I Origins (2014), Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess (2013), Jake Schreier and Christopher D. Ford’s Robot & Frank (2012), Musa Syeed’s Valley of Saints (2012), Mike Cahill’s Another Earth (2011), Diane Bell’s Obselidia (2010), Max Mayer’s Adam (2009), Alex Rivera’s Sleep Dealer (2008), Chen Shi-Zheng’s Dark Matter (2007), Andrucha Waddington’s The House of Sand (2006), Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005), Shane Carruth’s Primer (2004), and Mark Decena’s Dopamine (2003).
