Aranya Sahay’s feature Humans in the Loop has been awarded the Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant, as the film officially qualifies for Academy Awards consideration.
The Sloan Distribution Grant, given by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supports narrative features that engage meaningfully with science or technology themes or characters, helping to reach wider audiences through strategic release support. Over the past two decades, the Sloan Film program has backed more than 850 screenplays, short films and feature films, including The Imitation Game, Hidden Figures, The Man Who Knew Infinity, and Oppenheimer. The grant makes Aranya Sahay and Mathivanan Rajendran Film Independent Fellows.
Humans in the Loop tells the story of an Indigenous woman working at a rural data-annotation centre in India. The film examines the ethics and inequities of machine learning while foregrounding empathy, lived experience, and cultural knowledge.
“We are at a cusp with artificial intelligence, and humanity needs to take responsibility for the kind of AI and the kind of future we are building. I’m deeply grateful to Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for allowing us to take this conversation across the US. Humans in the Loop is about the human heartbeat inside technology, and this grant recognises the people whose labour and stories often remain unseen.” said Aranya Sahay, Writer- Director.
“Through Humans in the Loop and our work at the Museum of Imagined Futures, we’ve been creating space for technologists and creatives to rethink how stories about technology are told,” added Mathivanan Rajendran, Producer. “The Sloan Foundation’s support and now the film’s entry into the Oscar race are a validation of Aranya’s screenplay that creatives can help shape the future of tech” He added.
“We are proud to help bring awareness in the US about Humans in the Loop through the Sloan Distribution Grant,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs at Film Independent. “The film’s rigorous and deeply human approach to exploring AI and the role of technology in our lives perfectly reflects the mission of the grant.”
Earlier this month, the producers onboarded Misaq Kazimi as Executive Producer to lead the film’s US distribution strategy, which the grant will support further. “It is no surprise that Humans in the Loop has received this prestigious grant from a preeminent US film institution, as the film is both timely and relevant globally,” said Kazimi. “We have already begun our impact screenings, hosting a weeklong theatrical showcase in Los Angeles and at UCLA, bringing together filmmakers, academia, and technologists to have interconnected discourse on the film’s pivotal question of how AI is handled by humanity. These conversation-sparker screenings will continue, and anyone interested in the film’s themes are invited to help us bring the film to their city.”
Following its U.S. theatrical release and meeting other eligibility criteria, Humans in the Loop has officially qualified to be a contender for the 98th Academy Awards, where it will compete to be in the Best Original Screenplay category.
Click here to learn more about the Sloan Distribution Grant.
ABOUT THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants for research in science, technology and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports Books, Radio & Podcasts, Film, Television, Theater, YouTube & TikTok and New Media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.
Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with a dozen leading film schools and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs with the Sundance Institute, SFFILM, Film Independent, The Black List, the Athena Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. The Sloan Film Program has supported over 850 film projects and has helped develop over 30 feature films, including Tesla, Radium Girls, Adventures of a Mathematician, One Man Dies a Million Times, The Sound of Silence, To Dust, Operator, The Imitation Game and The Man Who Knew Infinity. The Foundation has supported feature documentaries such as Werner Herzog’s Theater of Thought, David France’s How to Survive a Pandemic, Picture a Scientist, Coded Bias, In Silico, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, The Bit Player, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Particle Fever and Jacques Perrin’s Oceans. It has also given early award recognition to standout films such as Frankenstein, Twisters, Oppenheimer, Don’t Look Up, After Yang, Linoleum, Son of Monarchs, Ammonite, The Aeronauts, Searching, The Martian, First Man and Hidden Figures.
The Foundation’s book program includes early support for Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the best-selling book that became the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017, and Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus, adapted for the screen in Christopher Nolan’s hit film Oppenheimer.
For more information visit sloan.org or follow @SloanPublic on X, Instagram or Facebook.
ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT
For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms and foster a culture of inclusion, in support of a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision.
In addition to producing the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the organization supports creative professionals with Artist Development programs, grants and labs. Signature mentorship program Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Weekly Education events and workshops equip filmmakers of all ages and experience levels with tools and resources. International programs provide cultural exchanges and career-building opportunities for film professionals around the world. And year-round screening series Film Independent Presents offers a robust program of unique cinematic experiences, including screenings, conversations, Live Reads and Bring the Noise musical events.
For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.
