The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced today the ten documentaries selected for the 2013 Independent Filmmaker Labs, IFP’s  annual year-long fellowship for first-time feature directors.  The key creative teams of the selected films will participate in three week-long sessions over the course of 2013, with the first – the Time Warner Foundation Documentary Completion Lab – taking place May 13-17 in New York City.

The selected projects for the 2013 Documentary Lab and Lab Fellows are:

Approaching the Elephant

Given uncommon freedom and individual rights, a group of young children enroll in a newly opened ‘free school,’ where rules are created democratically – students and teachers have an equal vote – and classes are voluntary. Fellows: Amanda Wilder (Director/DP), Jay Craven (Producer). Brooklyn, NY

Bringing Tibet Home

Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol sets out on a mission to bring Tibet closer to Tibetan exiles through an unprecedented art project, inspired by his late father’s unfulfilled wish to breathe his last breath in his homeland. Losing his father made Tenzing realize that wishing to return home is common among all Tibetan exiles.  Thus an art project was born to make this common dream a reality as the artist struggles to bring 20,000 kilos of native soil from Tibet to Tibetan exiles in India. Fellows: Tenzin Tsetan Choklay (Director/ Producer /Writer/DP/Editor); Milica Zec (Editor). Queens, NY

Do I Sound Gay?

Determined to overcome his shame about “sounding gay,” director David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious, poignant, taboo-shattering exploration of the phenomenon of the “gay voice.” With Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn, Dan Savage, David Sedaris and George Takei. Fellows: David Thorpe (Director/Writer); Howard Gertler (Producer). Brooklyn, NY.

Evolution of a Criminal

Deep in the heart of Texas, what begins as an innocent tale of family, sacrifice, and financial hardship quickly escalates into a true-crime thriller. Fusing together compelling interviews, striking re-enactments, and home video, we are forced to ask ourselves how a 16 year-old honor roll student evolved into a bank robber. Darius Clark Monroe (Director); Jen Gatien (Producer); Doug Lenox (Editor). Brooklyn, NY.

Farmer Veteran

Watching a chicken hatch makes combat veteran Alex Sutton smile, so he decides to become a farmer. The sense of purpose he once felt as a soldier returns, but his crippling PTSD remains. Along with his wife, Jessica, he toils through four seasons on a different kind of battlefield and wonders if, for him, the war will ever end. Fellows:  D.L. Anderson (Director/Producer/Editor); Alix Blair (Director/DP); Mikel Barton (Editor). Durham, NC.

In Country

War is hell. Why would anyone want to spend their weekends there? “In Country” is a cinematic feature documentary following a “platoon” of historical reenactors who are recreating the Vietnam War in the woods of Oregon.  Not just a film about the aftermath of the Vietnam War or the fantasies of grown men; it’s a meditation on how the drums of war continue to draw men to battle despite devastating consequences. Fellows: Megan O’Hara (Director/Producer); Mike Attie ((Director/Producer/DP); Lindsay Utz (Editor).  San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA.

Kasamayaki (Made in Kasama)

Shaken by the tsunami and nuclear disasters, a grown daughter returns to her rural Japanese artist community to reconnect with her estranged parents and hometown. Meditative moments at the pottery wheel punctuated by tense family conversations, sudden earthquakes and radiation level readings,Kasamayaki exposes the fragility of life and the imperfect nature of human relationships. Fellow: Yuki Kokubo (Director/ Producer/DP/Editor). Brooklyn, NY

The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest

Mark DeFriest is an American prison legend, an escape artist who has spent 32 years behind bars, most of it in long-term isolation, with little light, hope, or human contact. When the doctor whose diagnosis originally condemned DeFriest to prison admits he was wrong, a new chance for freedom is borne. But is it too late for redemption?  Fellows:  Gabriel London (Director/Writer/DP); Daniel Chalfen (Producer); Nick Clark (Editor). New York, NY

Mateo

Mateo follows L.A.’s most notorious troubadour, Matthew Stoneman, as he fulfills his most recent obsession, “Una Historia de Cuba,” a record of original compositions recorded over the course of six years piece meal style in Havana, Cuba. Ultimately, “Mateo” is a study of barriers — cultural, geographic, and moral — and a man who doesn’t believe in any of them. Fellows: Aaron Naar (Director/Writer/Producer/DP/Editor); Nicole Vaskell (Editor). Los Angeles, CA

Roots and Webs

If you lose your family, you must build it anew. Amid the desolate Oregon wilderness, the lives of two former soldiers intersect. Roger, a former US Army sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a platoon leader with the Khmer Freedom Fighters who fought against Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, come together each autumn for the matsutake mushroom hunt. The two each wrestle with wounds from Southeast Asian wars, attempting to find the high-priced mushroom before snowfall. An odyssey into the woods, into the memory of war and survival, we tell a story of family from this enigmatic woodland realm. Fellows: Sara Dosa (Director); Josh Penn (Producer). Berkeley, CA.