AI Drama ‘Humans in the Loop’ Receives Film Independent’s Sloan Distribution Grant, Enters Oscar Race (EXCLUSIVE)

Aranya Sahay’s feature “Humans in the Loop” has received the Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant as the film officially qualifies for Academy Awards consideration.

The grant, administered by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supports narrative features that engage meaningfully with science or technology themes, providing strategic release support to help films reach wider audiences. The Sloan Film program has backed more than 850 screenplays, short films and features over the past two decades, including “The Imitation Game,” “Hidden Figures,” “The Man Who Knew Infinity” and “Oppenheimer.” The award makes Sahay and producer Mathivanan Rajendran Film Independent Fellows.

“Humans in the Loop” follows an Indigenous woman working at a rural data-annotation center 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,” said Sahay. “I’m deeply grateful to Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for allowing us to take this conversation across the U.S. ‘Humans in the Loop’ is about the human heartbeat inside technology, and this grant recognizes the people whose labor and stories often remain unseen.”

Rajendran added that through the film and their work at the Museum of Imagined Futures, they’ve been creating space for technologists and creatives to rethink how stories about technology are told. “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 said.

“We are proud to help bring awareness in the U.S. 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 brought on Misaq Kazimi as executive producer to lead the film’s U.S. 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 U.S. 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.”

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 in the best original screenplay category.