FANGORIA’s own Diffan Sina Norman has added another exciting achievement to his roster, with the award of a filmmaker grant via the Austin Film Society's new film funding program, Texas Lights.
Per Variety, who revealed the news earlier today, the launch of the Texas Lights fund will provide cash for rising artists to create independent films. The inaugural Texas Lights Grant is awarded to Texas artists that previously received support through the AFS Grants program, which director Norman's Sitora, FANGORIA Studios' first feature film, was a recipient of last year.
Sitora has been in development with FANGORIA Studios since 2021, inspired by the lost 1964 Malay horror film Sitora Harimau Jadian. Following a tyrannical shaman who puffs up the threat of a supernatural half-man, half-tiger as a means of preserving his feudal control, the film is set to star Wan Hanafi Su, and has been shooting on location in Malaysia. The Texas Lights grant is the latest exciting update on the project since Norman took the film to this year’s Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
Norman is one of three Texas artists who will receive support through the Texas Lights grant, with Margaret Brown (The Yogurt Shop Murders) and Annie Silverstein (Bull) also taking home the prize.
Founder and artistic director of AFS Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Blue Moon) had the following to say of the exciting new opportunity:
“Thirty years of the AFS Grant is a major milestone for the Austin Film Society. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished by committing our organization to funding filmmakers and showing films […]
When we started a grant for Texas filmmakers, the idea that artists could live and work here wasn’t taken very seriously. In looking back at the caliber of work and the artists supported through this program over the years, we’ve proven that artists can come from anywhere. With the launch of this new Texas Lights fund, we’re renewing our commitment to something we truly believe in – expanding creative culture by funding artists locally.”
“What the Austin Film Society has built proves that great stories can come from anywhere. Sitora exists because a community of artists, institutions, and believers kept saying yes to Diffan, a Texas filmmaker, telling a Malaysian story,” said Armen Aghaeian, SVP at Fangoria Studios. “For every indie filmmaker still waiting on their first yes, hold the line, because your story matters and the right people will find it.”
Stay tuned for more Sitora updates as they roar through.
