Indigenous Film "Humans in the Loop" Wins Sloan Grant, Qualifies for Oscars

In November 2025, the feature film "Humans in the Loop" by director Aranya Sahay has received the coveted Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant. This grant, administered by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supports narrative films that engage meaningfully with science or technology themes and helps them reach wider audiences.

The film, which follows an Indigenous woman working at a rural data-annotation center in India, examines the ethics and inequities of machine learning. By foregrounding empathy, lived experience, and cultural knowledge, "Humans in the Loop" aims to spark conversations about the human impact of emerging technologies.

With the Sloan Film program's support, the film has now officially qualified for consideration at the 98th Academy Awards, where it will compete in the Best Original Screenplay category. Sahay and producer Mathivanan Rajendran have also been named Film Independent Fellows through this grant.

"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. The Sloan Foundation's recognition of "Humans in the Loop" is a validation of the film's mission to reshape how stories about technology are told, giving voice to the people whose labor and stories often remain unseen.