The Sundance Institute has named Los Angeles-based editor Marco Rosas its 2026 Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellow, continuing a program with deep roots in the Park City arts community even as the festival itself prepares to relocate.

Rosas, whose credits include An Almost Successful Dating App Love Story (screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival) and HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, learned of his selection in a way that took a moment to sink in. "My wife had to finally say to me, 'I think you're the one,'" he told the Sundance Institute in a profile published Monday, July 27.

The fellowship was created in 2010 by Sally Menke's husband, Dean Parisot, and their children to honor the late Oscar-nominated editor of every Quentin Tarantino film from Reservoir Dogs through Inglourious Basterds. Menke served as a creative advisor at the Sundance Institute Directors Lab in 2001 and 2005. Each year, one fellow is selected by invitation or recommendation to receive a yearlong mentorship, American Cinema Editors associate membership, and a residency at the summer Directors Lab, where they edit scenes alongside two filmmakers.

Rosas completed his lab residency June 9–24 in Estes Park, Colorado, working with directors Roberto Fatal and George Watsky. He described a six-hour workshop led by creative advisor Gyula Gazdag as a turning point. "Hearing Gyula talk to the directors really helped me find that language I've been searching for for a very long time," Rosas said. Michelle Satter, founding director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, introduced Rosas to Parisot during the lab.

The fellowship is now in its 16th year.

Past fellows include Daysha Broadway (Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody), Troy Lewis (Daughters), and Debbie Berman (Black Panther). Julia Bloch was the first fellow in 2011 and went on to work as associate editor on Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.

Rosas also edited Sender, a film starring Britt Lower and Jamie Lee Curtis that premiered at SXSW on Saturday, March 14. Variety praised his "montages and abrupt cuts" for giving the film "an electric energy and deliberate discomfort." He is finishing his second feature, Strange But Perfect, a comedy-drama he described as "pretty close to being done."

His next fellowship step is selecting a yearlong mentor with guidance from the Sally Menke fellows cohort.

For Park City residents, the Sundance Institute's artist development programs, including the Directors Lab and the Menke fellowship, continue to operate independently of the festival's move. The 2027 Sundance Film Festival runs January 21–31 in Boulder, Colorado.