Aranya Sahai’s feature film Human in the Loop has been awarded the Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant, making it officially eligible for an Academy Award.
The grant, administered by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supports films with meaningful storytelling around science or technology themes and provides strategic release support to help films reach wider audiences. Over the past 20 years, the Sloan Film Program has supported more than 850 screenplays, shorts and feature films, including The Imitation Game, Hidden Figures, Infinity and Oppenheimer. With this award, Sahai and producer Mathivanan Rajendran were named Film Independent Fellows.
“Humans in the Loop” follows indigenous women working in a data annotation center in rural India. The film examines the ethics and inequalities of machine learning, bringing empathy, lived experience, and cultural knowledge to the fore.
“We are at the pinnacle of artificial intelligence, and humanity must take responsibility for what kind of AI and what kind of future we build,” Sahai said. “We are deeply grateful to Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for allowing us to spread this conversation across America. Human in the Loop is about the human heartbeat inside technology, and this grant recognizes those whose labor and stories often go unseen.”
Rajendran added that through this film and his work at the Imagining Future Museum, he is creating a space for technologists and creators to rethink how stories about technology are told. “The Sloan Foundation’s support and this film’s entry into the Oscar race are validation of Aranya’s script that creators can help shape the future of technology,” he said.
“We are proud to be able to help raise awareness about ‘Human in the Loop’ in the United States through the Sloan Distribution Grant,” said Dia Vasquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs at Film Independent. “This film takes a rigorous and human approach to exploring AI and the role of technology in our lives, which perfectly reflects the grant’s mission.”
The grant will further support the producers’ hiring of Misak Kazimi as executive producer earlier this month to lead the film’s U.S. distribution strategy. “It is no surprise that “Human in the Loop” received this prestigious grant from America’s premier film institution, as the film is timely and globally relevant,” Kazmi said. “We have already begun screening Impact and are hosting a week-long theatrical showcase in Los Angeles and UCLA, bringing together filmmakers, academia, and technologists for interconnected discussions about this film’s pivotal question of how AI will be treated by humanity.”
After being released theatrically in the United States and meeting other eligibility criteria, “Humans in the Loop” is now officially eligible to be considered for the Best Original Screenplay category at the 98th Academy Awards.
