Applications Are Open for This Filmmaker Sabbatical in Colorado

Rest is not a word the film industry uses much. It's the entire premise of the Ouray Film Sabbatical, a four-day, fully funded residency in the San Juan Mountains that just announced its 2027 facilitator lineup.

The dates are Jan. 7-10, 2027, in Ouray, Colorado, which is a tiny town tucked into a canyon that markets itself as the "Little Switzerland of America."

The sabbatical is a spinoff of the Ouray International Film Festival, now heading into its seventh year. OIFF has built a reputation as a filmmaker-first fest, and the sabbatical extends that ethos beyond the festival's four-day annual run.

The sabbatical is all about rest, community, and being in the same room with people who do what you do to have time to play and recuperate.

Applications are open through Oct. 5. Learn more below.

Why It's Different from the Usual Lab

Most opportunities you'll find on our seasonal grants and fellowships roundups are structured around a project. You bring a script, a rough cut, or a pitch. You leave with notes and a way forward.

Ouray is doing something else. Co-founder Benjamin Wiessner (who received the SXSW Janet Pierson Champion Award in 2026) said of the program:

“We started this initiative to provide unsiloed support for mid-career film workers, giving them an opportunity to be cared for, truly listened to, and asked the simple questions at the right time that can spark their own transformation. I am so thrilled about the terrific humans we have as facilitators for the sabbatical. In addition to their incredible bona fides, these people are also creating new space for film and film workers by thinking about and building for others.”

In a Short of the Week piece on the inaugural 2026 cohort, Jake Abell, another co-founder of the sabbatical, said, "Nobody's talking about rest, apart from as a cry for help."

You don't have to arrive with a deliverable. You can arrive tired and ready to connect. And the "unsiloed" bit means the cohort includes filmmakers, programmers, curators, critics, and academics all at the same table, which, if you've ever tried to figure out why your festival strategy isn't working, can be super valuable and invigorating.

Who You'll Be Working With

There are six facilitators offering a community of support for the group of eight to 10 fellows to be selected later this fall.

The 2027 team pulls from documentary, scripted, and hybrid filmmaking, plus programming and film academia.

Bill Ross IV (one half of the Ross brothers, whose casting approach on Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets we've dug into before) returns to Ouray after receiving the festival's Film in Action Award earlier this year alongside his brother Turner. If you make anything in the hybrid space, this could be a great resource for you.

“I visited the festival this year for the first time and came away with the feeling that something very special was happening there in Ouray,” Ross said in a press release. “I’m thrilled to head back this winter.”

Documentary filmmaker Robie Flores, whose The In Between premiered at SXSW in 2024, also joins as a facilitator.

“I’m thrilled that our 2027 fellows will be enriched by Robie’s many gifts as a filmmaker and academic,” Abell said in a release. “Robie’s talent behind the camera reflects her commitment to the communities that her work champions and supports.”

So does Alexandria Bombach, whose Yazidi-focused doc On Her Shoulders took the U.S. Documentary Directing prize at Sundance in 2018 and who is returning after facilitating the sabbatical's first go.

“Seeing the impact of the sabbatical last year was incredibly moving,” said Bombach. “Offering time and space to reflect on our creative lives and connect on a deeper level is such a unique gift. I'm thrilled to continue to take part and see what another year of the program makes possible.”

Co-founders Benjamin Wiessner (VP of Sales & Distribution at Vanishing Angle), Abell (OIFF co-director), and Jared LaCroix (OIFF co-director) round out the team.

What Last Year's Cohort Said

The 2026 sabbatical wrapped last March.

Rob Munday, managing editor at Short of the Week and a 2026 fellow, said the experience "not only helped reinforce my perspective on my work and where it might be heading, but also shifted how I think about life more broadly" (via FilmFreeway).

Per the OIFF's sabbatical page, the days are built around morning check-ins with the lab hosts, group meals in a restored 1902 Victorian home, and excursions to nearby venues including a theater space in Silverton.

The Money Stuff

Fully funded means travel and lodging are covered. So if you're a working professional who is constantly grinding and can't just take four days off and drop money on flights and an Airbnb, it's a great opportunity.

Flores said of the OIFF 2026 event:

“Ouray crew knows how to do it. It’s a life-first, friends-first kind of vibe. You get to bond as a human and nerd out on movies and music and art and nature. I’m so honored I get to be a part of this community.”

How to Apply

Applications are open through Oct. 5 via FilmFreeway or the Ouray International Film Festival website.

If you're a working director, DP, editor, or screenwriter somewhere in the middle of your career, this could be a great opportunity for you. Same if you're a programmer who's watched hundreds of shorts this year and forgotten why you started, or a critic buried under assignments, or an academic trying to write about the industry while also participating in it. Production, curation, programming, criticism, and academia are all fair game.

The application is straightforward. Per FilmFreeway:

A brief application will ask you to answer a few questions about your creative journey and what you hope to get out of this sabbatical. You will be asked to upload a work sample.

If you've been thinking you need to step out of the churn for a minute, this is a low-lift application with a high potential payoff.

The 2027 sabbatical will take place between Jan. 7 and 10, 2027. Selected cohort members will fly out a day prior and depart from Ouray on Jan. 11.