Natalie Qasabian’s movie wins 2021 Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Award

At a virtual ceremony, Natalie Qasabian was awarded the 2021 Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award for Fiction Filmmaking  for her film, Run.

The awards honor bold vision and a commitment to continuing work as a creative producer in the independent space, Deadline reports.

Qasabian’s husband/partner Sev Ohanian won the award two years ago for his work on Searching, which they produced together. Qasabian was presented by the award with her frequent collaborator, director Aneesh Chaganty (Searching, Run).

“As producers, we may doubt whether or not we can do something: but we can’t ever doubt if it’s worth doing,” Qasabian said in accepting the award. “If we don’t cast the people that haven’t been cast before, if we don’t hire the crew member that hasn’t been hired before, tell the story that hasn’t been told before, or work with that first-time director who’s never been produced before…we’ll never know what could be on the other side. So, thank you again to the Sundance Institute and Amazon Studios for recognizing a job that we ourselves doubt sometimes. It helps us see what can be on the other side if we can just push through.”