We can confirm that it’ll have been a noteworthy 2024 for Hanna Gray Organschi. With a recent visit to Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the eventual premiere of her next short in “F*ck That Guy,” we’re set for what might be a new acerbic and clever voice – with a possible thorny, circa 1990s dramedy-like exploration of entrepreneurship and reproductive rights sub-genre sphere circa 1990s. With one of her first creds being an Director’s Assistant for Antonio Campos on The Devil All the Time, there’ll be some connective tissue between the pending short project and her eventual feature in Rubber Hut. I had the pleasure to speak to New Haven raised filmmaker about the time, space and place of her project, learned about the support of Recipients of Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award and learned about what it is like to find early support from key people in the business.
Sundance project synopsis: Rhode Island, 1992. An entrepreneurial ex–Pan Am stewardess opens a drive-thru condom shop in her Italian Catholic town. Overnight, Emanuella DelVecchio becomes the local lightning rod, a radical hero to the neighborhood teens and an unlikely threat to her tight-knit community.
Throughout this week, we’ll be featuring profiles of several fellows from the recent 2024 Sundance Screenwriters Labs, all of whom we had the pleasure of speaking with during the Sundance Film Festival. Some of these projects are slated to become future films and may even debut in Park City, while a smaller fraction might not find their way to the big screen. However, being part of this select group serves as a significant source of encouragement and progression within the film industry. What’s particularly inspiring is witnessing how each of these distinctive voices is crafting original works spanning various genres, often exploring themes of politics and social engagement through cinema.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Ilyse McKimmie and all the talented artists Claire Fowler, Francesca Canepa & Miguel Ángel Papalini, Jane Casey Modderno, Hanna Gray Organschi, Kristine Gerolaga, Sara Crow & David Rafailedes, and Christian Moldes — they generously spared their time to meet with us. Despite their hectic schedules and fresh experiences from the labs, they felt comfortable discussing projects and worth noting this is one of the earliest instances where we’ve had the opportunity to delve into projects still in their developmental stages.
