Anika Benkov, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2022, Columbia University, Screenwriting Award / 2022, Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize Honorable Mention

Project Type: Feature 

Field of Science: Biology

Synopsis: 

An aging scientist recruits his estranged daughter to come to the remote wilderness of Siberia and help him restore the tundra to Pleistocene-era plains, battling the melting permafrost, and his deteriorating memory, in the process.

Anika Benkov is a nonbinary writer and filmmaker based in New York. They are an alumnus of the NYSAF (New York Stage and Film) Filmmaker’s workshop, for their feature script, ‘The Bitter Pill’, which made it to the second round of selections for the Sundance Development Lab. Anika writes about strange science, the kinks in life and in ourselves, and growing pains at all ages. Anika Benkov is receiving their MFA in TV Writing and received their BA in Creative Writing at Columbia University.