In Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1980 film The Shining, terror strikes the Torrance family during their stay at an isolated mountain retreat, inspired by The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. But last week, the team behind Sitora—the upcoming FANGORIA Studios feature from Malaysian Iranian filmmaker Diffan Sina Norman—brought its own brand of horror to The Stanley Hotel during The Sundance Institute's Catalyst Forum, a highly competitive film financing program.
Sitora is an inspired adaptation of a lost 1964 horror film by Malaysian auteur P. Ramlee. It revolves around a young doctor who establishes a health clinic in a Malay village, jeopardizing the community's allegiance to a racketeering shaman and his unlikely accomplice: an elusive half-man, half-tiger.
The film was one of eight projects invited to participate in this year's Catalyst program, which marks the latest chapter in Sitora's growing journey with Sundance, following previous support through the Sundance Horror Fellowship and the 2025 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. These successes are a testament to the project's bold vision as a genre-bending horror story rooted in Southeast Asian folklore and to Norman's singular voice as a filmmaker.
Now, with its inclusion in the Catalyst Forum, Sitora enters the next critical phase of its development: building strategic partnerships and closing the financing necessary to bring this ambitious vision to life.
The Catalyst Experience
Sundance's Catalyst program consists of two distinct tracks. The first, a year-round investor track, offers funders a guided entry into film financing, as well as a variety of educational programming, curated financing opportunities, and engagement with the wider Sundance community. The second track offers filmmakers and producers months of guidance on how to develop financing plans, build successful investor relationships, and effectively present projects for independent financing.
These two branches of programming culminate with the Catalyst Forum, a multi-day retreat that connects these communities through a series of presentations, one-on-one meetings, panels, and informal social events. Since its founding in 2013, Catalyst has helped raise over $55 million for more than 125 independent films.
During this year's Catalyst Forum, Diffan Sina Norman was joined by producers Armen Aghaeian, Tara Ansley, and Abhi Goel of FANGORIA Studios. The Stanley Hotel furnished the perfect backdrop for sharing Sitora with investors and industry professionals; participants even had the opportunity to discover the hotel's paranormal history during guided tours. On the final evening, attendees were invited to cap off the event with a 1920s-themed celebration, in homage to The Shining's legendary final sequence.
With the Sundance Film Festival set to move to Boulder, Colorado in 2027, the three-day Forum seemed like both a homecoming and a glimpse of the festival's bright future. Tara Ansley, Co- Owner of FANGORIA and producer of Sitora, says, “The support, generosity, and passion from the Sundance Institute staff and labs team has been nothing short of extraordinary. Their commitment to fostering genre filmmaking—and their embrace of horror as a vital, artistic force within independent cinema—is something we at FANGORIA Studios are endlessly grateful for.
Armen Aghaeian, Senior Vice President of FANGORIA Studios and producer of Sitora, added, “To be welcomed into Sundance's community, to see Sitora celebrated alongside an incredibly diverse slate of projects, and to connect with investors whose open-mindedness and love for bold, boundary-pushing storytelling is unmatched—it's a reminder of why we do this.”
What's Next for Sitora?
With the ongoing support of the Sundance Institute, FANGORIA Studios, and its growing pool of creative partners, Sitora continues its steady path toward production. Stay tuned for more updates as the journey unfolds.
