- By Mabel Pais
The 69th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM,) which runs April 24 – May 4, 2026, announced $115,000 in awards and grants for the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative. The awards presentation took place on Sunday, April 26 at 7 pm at the Premier Theater at One Letterman, San Francisco, California.
This Cinema initiative is in partnership with Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a New York based, philanthropic institution that makes grants for research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science.
SFFILM’s Executive Director, Anne Lai, expanded on this unique partnership, which is also responsible for supporting filmmakers at the screenwriting and development stages. “When we launched this initiative with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2015, the premise was simple and also ambitious: bringing science and cinema together would elevate and spotlight both mediums in a complimentary way, helping audiences connect to and better understand the world we all share. Ten years later, with 40 supported artists and growing, that theory has proven to be true. This year’s fellows and grantees are at the very beginning of that journey—developing screenplays where real scientific discovery and processes shape the story from the ground up.”
THE SLOAN INITIATIVE HONOREES
2025 Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund Recipients
“One Inch From Earth”
Writers: Sid Gopinath, Aditya Joshi
A group of plucky scientists must overcome NASA leadership, rival teams, the specter of Mars, and the US government to launch a mission that proves life exists on a distant moon of Jupiter.
Sid Gopinath is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, musician, and photographer.
In 2021, his writing partner Aditya Joshi and he sold SHIKAAR, a horror thriller TV show set in colonial India, to FX. Most recently, Sid was a writer on Seasons 1 and 2 of the Amazon show WE WERE LIARS and co-directed the short documentary FINDING OUR WILD, created with REI Co-Op Studios. He also has directed music videos for various indie artists including Mayyadda, bluesoul, and NOAMZ.
Sid is a 2025 WGAE & Filmnation New York Screenwriting Fellow, 2025 Ucross Artist in Residence, 2025 Stio x 5Point Short Film Challenge Winner, 2024 Signpost Fellow, 2024 Birch Fellow at Tofte Lake Artist Residency, Rideback RISE Circle Member, and was selected for the Rickshaw Shorts Program. As the son of Indian immigrants, Sid tells stories about memory, belonging, and defragmentation.
Aditya Joshi is a…
Writer. On screen, Aditya was most recently a story editor on the second season of WE WERE LIARS from Amazon & UTV. He co-wrote episode 105, which premiered on June 18, 2025. Previously, he sold and developed SHIKAAR, a limited series about a doomed tiger hunt in colonial India, at FX. In collaboration with Sid Gopinath, Aditya is a 2025 WGAE/Filmnation New York Screenwriting Fellow, where they are developing Aditya’s feature directing debut film under the guidance of Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and Anne Carey (Can You Ever Forgive Me). He is also a 2026 SloanxSFFILM Stories of Science Grantee and a member of the 2026 Rideback Rise Circle.
In the theatre, Aditya is a member of the 2026 Page 73 Writers Group and the 2026 Workshop Theatre Spring Intensive. His plays includes La Tormenta (SolFest 2024, LPC, 2026 Step Up Residency @ Pregones/PRTT, 2025 Distillery Selection @ Seattle Public Theatre, 2026 Repertorio Español Play Festival, DQT Playtime Lab) and The Last Shaker (2025 Princess Grace Award Semifinalist, 2026 Workshop Theatre Intensive). He also produced the LATA award winning La Traición en la Amistad Off-Broadway at Repertorio Español.
Director. Aditya’s latest short film, A WEST SIDE STORY STORY, had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival and is EP’d by Luis Guzman (Magnolia). He also co-directed the REI Co-Op documentary short, FINDING OUR WILD, which premiered at the the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival before receiving a limited theatrical release through AMC & Mountainfilm.
Model. Aditya also indulges his vanity of the camera as an actor and model, modeling in campaigns for Indian boutique label Kalki Fashions and walking in 2022’s South Asian New York Fashion Week and 2024’s NYRAA (a one-stop online marketplace for the latest South Asian fashion) Fashion week.
In this initiative, besides Sid and Aditya, the other honorees are Destiny Macon, Justin Kim WooSŏk, Lane Unsworth.
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POETS USE THEIR WORK TO STEP INTO THE ROLE OF ADVOCATE FOR A MORE COHESIVE FUTURE
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By Mabel Pais
Four poets: Cortney Lamar Charleston; Mayda del Valle, Camonghne Felix, and Danez Smith through their work will engage in a virtual conversation that grapples with contemporary politics. This will take place via zoom on Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 7 PM. This event is a collaboration of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC – https://njpac.org) and the Dodge Poetry Foundation (https://grdodge.org).
Cortney Lamar Charleston, whose verses examine how national political decisions ripple through and specifically impact Black communities;
Mayda del Valle, the Poet Laureate of Chicago, who brings the voice of the South Side to the highest levels of government, having performed at the Obama White House;
Camonghne Felix, provides a direct link between the literary and the legislative, drawing from her personal experience working with Senator Elizabeth Warren; and
Danez Smith of Minneapolis, who uses poetry as a tool to support and uplift that city’s immigrant populations.
In an era when the headlines highlight our national fractures, can poetry help us navigate the complexities of both national politics and local struggles? Americans have always embraced diverse and conflicting political views — but in our particularly divisive time, poets are stepping into the role of advocate, using their work to foster understanding and call for a more cohesive future.
Registration
Dodge Poetry Foundation
Learn more at https://grdodge.org
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)
Learn more at https://njpac.org
Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Education, Business, Spirituality, Health and Wellness, and Cuisine.
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