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The Sundance Institute has chosen 13 projects for development at its June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, happening May 25-June 25 at the Sundance resort in North Provo Canyon, Utah.

"The projects selected for this year's Labs represent a diverse group of artists who are experimenting with different forms and mediums, demonstrating how, more than ever before, the boundaries between creative disciplines are blurring," said Michelle Satter, founding director of Sundance's Feature Film Program, in a statement.

Here is a rundown of the projects and their creators in the Directors Lab, with synopses provided by the Sundance Institute:

• Bart Layton (writer/director), "American Animals" (UK): "Combining elements of documentary and drama, this existential heist movie is the improbable but entirely true story of a group of well-read university students who plot an escape from middle America by planning the perfect robbery. Along the way reality and fiction become blurred as they attempt to live deeper and deeper inside a movie version of their lives." Layton's first feature documentary, "The Imposter," debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

• Yung Chang (writer/director), "Eggplant" (China/Canada): "A neo-noir love story set in China, Eggplant follows a mysterious woman who cons countryside bachelors for their money and a wedding photographer escaping a troubled life in Taiwan. When they meet in a collision of fate, the past quickly confronts the present in an explosion of events as these two Chinese millenials struggle to find a meaningful existence in a society fixated on money, materialism and duty." Yung Chang's feature documentaries include "Up the Yangtze" (2008) and "China Heavyweight" (2012), both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

* Olivia Newman (writer/director), "First Match" (U.S.A.): "Hardened by years in foster care, a teenage girl from Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood decides that joining the all-boys high school wrestling team is the only way back to her estranged father." Olivia Newman received her MFA in film from Columbia University, and her short films have screened at the New York Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest and the Palm Springs International Shortsfest.

• Christopher Makoto Yogi (writer/director), I Was a Simple Man (U.S.A.): "Like marionettes on a stage, the ghosts of an elderly man's past haunt the countryside in this tale of a Hawai'i family dealing with the death of their patriarch." Yogi, born in Honolulu, has screened his short films at the Palm Springs International ShortsFest, Raindance Film Festival and the Hawai'i International Film Festival.

• Nia DaCosta (writer/director), "Little Woods" (U.S.A.): "For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the struggling fellow residents of her North Dakota oil boomtown access Canadian health care and meds. When the authorities catch on, she plans to abandon her crusade, only to be dragged in even deeper by her foster sister's desperate plea for help." DaCosta, a New York-based filmmaker, has written and directed projects for stage, film and new media platforms.

• Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (writer/director), "Mustang" (France): "Roman Coleman is halfway through an 11-year sentence for attempted murder when he is offered the chance to participate in a rehabilitation program that trains inmates to break captured wild mustangs. Based on a real-life program, Mustang is a portrait of one man's unique connection to these wild animals and his complex struggle to control his own ferocity." Clermont-Tonnerre is a French actress, producer and director, whose short film "Rabbit" played at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The script for "Mustang" won this year's Sundance Institute/NHK Award in January.

• Mark Kindred (writer/director), "Rogue" (U.S.A.): "An ex-cop gone rogue wages unconventional warfare on the institutional forces that wronged him. Inspired by true events." Kindred, currently a grad student at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, premiered his short "America" at the SXSW Film Festival.

• Brent Green (co-writer/director), Michael McGinley (co-writer) and Thyra Heder (co-writer), "Untitled Loveless Fable" (U.S.A.): In this stop-motion animated film, a young boy begins inventing strange, hand-made machines to ease his mother's hard labor and bring joy to her monotonous life, but his ambitions quickly grow. When his most daring invention backfires and changes life on Earth forever, his neighbors struggle to understand whether he has done them harm or shown them what they have been missing." Green is a self-taught filmmaker and visual artist from rural Pennsylvania. Heder is an author, illustrator and artist whose books include "Fraidyzoo" and "The Bear Report." McGinley is a musician and painter from Chicago.

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These eight filmmakers will be joined in the labs' final week, June 20-25, for the Screenwriters Lab, which will be dedicated to the memory of Stewart Stern, award-winning screenwriter and longtime Sundance creative advisor. The writers and their projects are:

• Frances Bodomo (writer/director), "Afronauts" (Zambia/U.S.A.): "Just after Zambian Independence in 1964, an ingenious group of villagers builds a homemade rocket in a wild bid to join the Space Race. As the launch date approaches, their astronaut—17-year-old albino Matha Mwambwa—must decide if getting into their precarious rocket vindicates her traumatic past or just makes her a glorified human sacrifice. Inspired by true events." Bodomo's short film "Afronauts," on which this script is based, premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Bodomo is a Sundance Institute/Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.

• Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (co-writer/director), Vladimer Katcharava (co-writer/producer) and Irakli Solomanashvili (co-writer), "Dede" (Georgia): "As Georgia fights for its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a young woman struggles to make a life in the remote, isolated villages high in the Caucusus Mountains, where ancient patriarchal laws threaten to separate her from her daughter." Khatchvani directed the short film "Dinola," which was nominated for a European Film Award and screened at several international film festivals. Katcharava, born in Tbilisi, Georgia, was a producer on Mohsen Makhmalbaf's feature "President." Solomanashvili is a Georgian writer known for the films "Bolo Gaseirneba," "The Conflict Zone" and "Gaseirneba Karabaghshi."

• Fernando Coimbra (writer/director), "The Hanged" (Brazil): "A family dispute upsets the ruling order in Rio de Janeiro's underworld, triggering a bloody escalation of betrayals and double crosses. Set in the unique world of traditional Brazilian gambling syndicates, The Hanged is a dark comedic tale of greed and trust which illuminates the moment at which even the closest relationships can't survive." Coimbra's first feature, "A Wolf at the Door," premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013.

• Dan Krauss (writer/director), "The Kill Team" (U.S.A.): "Based on the true story of an American soldier forced to choose between his conscience and his survival when members of his platoon carry out a scheme to murder Afghan civilians." Krauss received an Oscar nomination for his 2004 short documentary "The Life of Kevin Carter." The script for "The Kill Team" is adapted from his Independent Spirit Awards-nominated documentary of the same name.

• Boots Riley (writer/director), "Sorry to Bother You" (U.S.A.): "A black telemarketer with self-esteem issues discovers a magical key to business success, propelling him to the upper echelons of the hierarchy just as his activist comrades are rising up against unjust labor practices. When he uncovers the macabre secret of his corporate overlords, he must decide whether to stand up or sell out." Riley is founder and frontman of the political hip-hop band The Coup, and claims to be the only musician whose surveillance by intelligence agents was exposed via Wikileaks.