THE Film Lab presented by Justice Film Festival & unRival.Network
For Filmmakers to Grow, Create, and Share in Nonrivalrous Community
This 8-week Fall Intensive is designed to support and connect filmmakers who are actively at work on a project. By bringing pitch decks, scripts, treatments, or rough cuts to one another and to professional mentors in a nonrivalrous space, participants receive deep and meaningful feedback and encouragement and leave with a renewed sense of their capacity to complete the project with excellence and effectiveness.
Each filmmaker commits to joining 8 weekly, 2hr group sessions engaging in one another’s projects and 1 60-minute one-on-one mentoring session.
Applications for the 2024 Film Lab are currently CLOSED
program mentors
HOST & program mentor: Billy Price
Billy is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and actor. His work spans collaborations with non-profits, Grammy-winning artists, healthcare companies, start-ups, and social justice movements. A fireman’s son, Billy honed his filmmaking craft as a trade by working as a grip and production intern. His stories today represent the ongoing search for justice and peace, exploring the brutal tensions of life—beauty and suffering, terror and mercy. As Creative Director and Program Co-Director for unRival Network, Billy launched a yearly Film Lab with Justice Film Festival to support filmmakers dedicated to justice and peace. He also helped create Artisans of Peace, a co-learning space for peacebuilders and artists to foster well-being and vitality. Additionally, he co-hosts the unRival Spaces podcast and oversees brand, content, and communications for the organization’s vision of nonrivalry and justpeace.
PROGRAM MENTOR: Sonia Lowman
Sonia is an accomplished filmmaker, writer, and human rights advocate known for her powerful storytelling on social justice issues. With a focus on peacebuilding, racial justice, and global inequality, she has directed and produced impactful documentaries like Teach Us All and Black Boys, which explore education equity and the systemic challenges facing Black communities in the United States. Lowman combines her background in public policy with her creative vision to amplify marginalized voices, driving dialogue and action around human rights. She frequently engages in speaking, writing, and advocacy to further her mission of promoting equity and justice.
PROGRAM MENTOR: JT ROYSTON
JT Royston is a creative director, social impact strategist, and founder of Never Whisper Justice with a strong background in designing programs that bridge culture, community, and justice. With expertise in visual storytelling, branding, and organizational leadership, Royston has led numerous initiatives aimed at fostering equity and inclusion through creative expression. His work spans the nonprofit sector, where he has co-directed transformative programs that engage communities in meaningful dialogue and advocacy. Passionate about using creativity for social change, Royston is known for his innovative approach to addressing pressing issues of well-being, peacebuilding, and justice.
PROGRAM MENTOR: Lina Lyte Plioplyte
Lina's passion for moving images started while studying journalism in Lithuania and later at the University of Colorado Boulder. The best film school has been New York city, where Lina established herself in 2008 making films for NYLON magazine and fashion brands. For the past 10 years, Lina has been working as a freelance director & cinematographer, making numerous documentaries, commercials, travel content and short films that have been shown on MTV, PBS, Venice Biennale, and various film festivals, including Hot Docs, MIFF and IDFA. Lina's directorial debut was Advanced Style, a feature documentary about stylishly eternal women of the certain age, currently streaming on Amazon, after a successful run on Netflix. Her second feature Periodical, a feature documentary about the science, mystery and politics of menstrual cycle, premiered on MSNBC and Peacock.