Ellius Grace Announced as Stowe Story Labs’ 2026 Launch Fellow
Stowe Story Labs is pleased to announce that Dublin-based director, writer, and photographer Ellius Grace has been awarded the 2026 Stowe Launch Fellowship with his body horror feature HALFCAST (A mixed-race man, desperate to assimilate, undergoes a ritual burial to become white. His new confidence however rots when the identity he abandoned claws its way back from the grave.) Stowe will support Ellius as he continues to develop the film with production company Wildcard.
Ellius joined the Stowe community when selected as a 2025 Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann Fellow for Stowe’s Connemara Writers’ Retreat.
“We were struck by Ellius’s story and his approach to telling it,” said David Rocchio, Founder and Director of Stowe Story Labs. “We are honored to welcome Ellius into the Launch program and look forward to working with him as he refines the script, and eventually to see the film made,” he said.
“The Connemara Retreat was instrumental to my first draft of this script, and I'm excited to continue my involvement with Stowe Story Labs! I'm looking forward to having David Pope as a mentor while I develop this script and get closer to production!” said Ellius.
Stowe Launch is Stowe’s advanced development program. Each fellowship is customized to fit the needs of the artist and their project to help prepare them for market.
ABOUT ELLIUS
Ellius Grace is a multi-award winning director, writer and photographer from Ireland. Ellius has directed a number of narrative shorts, most recently a Screen Ireland funded short titled A Song which is adapted from a short story by Colm Tóibín of the same name. He is currently writing and developing his first feature film Halfcast alongside production company Wildcard Film. Ellius attended the Stowe Story Labs Connemara Retreat as a Screen Ireland Fellow with his feature film script. Ellius has also directed numerous music videos for artists such as Christy Moore, James Vincent McMorrow, SOAK, Junior Brother and many more. Ellius has won numerous awards for his directing including the Discovery Award at the Dublin international Film Festival, Kinsale Shark Awards, and multiple other festival awards for his short films. Throughout his photography career, Ellius has photographed such figures as Sinead O’Connor, Graham Norton, Sally Rooney and Shane MacGowan for clients such as The New York Times, i-D Magazine, The Financial Times amongst many others.
ABOUT STOWE STORY LABS
Stowe Story Labs is a Vermont-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping top emerging and established screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers get work made and seen. We do this through labs, retreats, workshops, online writing programs, one-on-one mentorship, fiscal sponsorship, market experience programs, advanced development support, and production grants. Our mission is to help artists develop skills and projects and through that work to bend the world through story.
