The Latest
Bass Ackwards Moves Forward into Creative Distribution
Introduction: Orly Ravid, founder of nonprofit educational and services site The Film Collaborative, has given us an exclusive sneak at TFC’s digital book Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul: Case Studies in Hybrid, DIY and P2P Independent Distribution. This “deep dive into the real numbers and real details of independent film distribution,” as Ravid calls it, will be available in September. It’s a mostly free digital book (the enhanced iBook is $4.
First-Ever Sundance Institute Comedy ShortsLab to be Held August 6 in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute is pleased to announce the schedule and featured participants for its first Comedy ShortsLab, a one-day symposium focused on the craft of comedic short-form filmmaking and exhibition. The Comedy ShortsLab will be Saturday, August 6 at Cinefamily@The Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.
A Failure (or Opportunity) to Communicate
As chief innovation officer at Universal McCann, Marc Ruxin leads the agency’s global innovation practice across businesses and disciplines, working with traditional media companies on brand integrations, social media, and working with VCs and emerging media technology startups to create scalable digital marketing opportunities for clients. Ruxin writes about music and film at snooze button, and technology and media on HuffPo, among others.
“What we’ve got here is (a) failure to communicate…,” the warden in Cool Hand Luke said to the prisoner 45 years ago.
ShortsLab: NYC Wrap-Up
“Every time you make a short, it will never be in vain. It’s a win-win situation,” said Debra Granik to a full crowd during an early Saturday morning at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “The short may never come together the way you want it, but look at all the things you just learned.
Calling All Alumni to #ArtistServices
Welcome Sundance Institute Alumni! We’re so pleased you could join us here at our newest and greatest tool for communicating directly with alumni. One thing we hear again and again from Filmmakers and Fellows is that Sundance is more than a Festival, or a Lab, or a Grant. It’s a community, a family.
The Independent Filmmaker’s Guide on How *Not* to Do Kickstarter
Mark Kitchell is best known for “Berkeley in the Sixties,” one of the defining documentaries about the protest movements that shook America during the 1960s. He produced, directed and wrote the film, led a huge archival research effort as well as a successful distribution campaign. In the twenty years since that film, he has worked in non-fiction television, made films for hire, taught at UC Santa Cruz, done various freelance production work and developed “A Fierce Green Fire.
Life in a Day
Hitting Theatresby John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film FestivalIt’s been almost seven months since I shared the stage in Park City, Utah, with Kevin Macdonald and the international filmmakers from the Life in a Day project. We had just created a kind of history: not only were we premiering a user-generated film to the Sundance audiences, we were simultaneously streaming it live to a global audience and taking their responses for a Q&A from Twitter and Facebook.It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year now since we first started working with YouTube and Scott Free on the concept for this unique premiere at our Festival.
Filmmaker Ty Sanga on an Indigenous Experience
Ty Sanga is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker and 2011 Native Lab Fellow whose film Stones was selected for the Shorts Program at the 2011 Festival. He recently participated in the five-day Lab in Mescalero, New Mexico with his project Kalama Brothers, chronicling a boy’s struggle to reconnect with his estranged family in order to avoid the foster care system.I had the extreme honor of being a Fellow at the 2011 Sundance Native Lab that was held on the homeland of the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico.
Tin Dirdamal on What Inspired Him to Make His Film ‘Death in Arizona’
Tin Dirdamal is a Mexican filmmaker and Sundance Institute alum whose documentary DeNADIE took home the World Cinema Audience Award at the 2006 Festival. He used Kickstarter to fund his 2014 project, Death in Arizona.I arrived in Bolivia from Mexico some years ago, both fascinated and compelled by a small city that fought a war over water.
Sundance Institute to Host a Week of Independent Film Producing Initiatives
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, both held in the same week at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah.
Nine projects have been selected to participate in the Labs (July 18-22) and receive ongoing creative and strategic support throughout the year, as well as direct granting to further development and production. The Fellows represent five projects from the Feature Film Program and four from the Documentary Film Program.
Sundance Institute Announces Six Fellows for 2011 Feature Film Composers Lab
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the six composers selected to participate in the 2011 Feature Film Composers Lab, July 13-27 at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. These composers will join the four Fellows previously announced for the 2011 Composers + Documentary Lab (July 6-12). Both Labs are produced by the Sundance Institute Film Music Program, in conjunction with the Feature Film Program and Documentary Film Program, respectively.
Second Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Manda (East Africa) to be July 17-31
New York, NY — The artists and Creative Advisors selected for the second Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Manda will soon be traveling to the island off the coast of Kenya in East Africa. The two-week (July 17-31) exchange and development program provides East African artists with guidance in their creative development toward final production and is modeled on the annual Sundance Institute Theatre Labs. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, Christopher Hibma, Associate Director, and Roberta Levitow, Artistic Associate, the Lab in East Africa is a core component of the Theatre Program’s year-round efforts.
Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue to be Presented in Kenya July 15-25
NAIROBI, KENYA (July 6, 2011) — Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, a Sundance Institute initiative created in partnership with U.S. federal cultural agencies, will be presented in Kenya July 15-25, in conjunction with FilmAid and supported in part by the Embassy of the United States, Nairobi, Kenya, it was announced today by Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.
Renegade Support: How I Realized We’re All Producers
I’ve just returned from my first Sundance Institute Creative Producing Summit. It was an intense weekend at the Sundance Resort where producers and independent film executives gathered to discuss the state of the industry and, more importantly, meet the brilliant filmmakers who just participated in Sundance Institute’s signature labs. At the Creative Producing Summit, I discovered a way to translate what I do as director of external affairs into film industry terms.
Filmmaker Carlo Mirabella-Davis on Searching for Story at the Sundance Directors Lab
Writer/director Carlo Mirabella-Davis participated at the Directors Lab with his project The Storm King. Each fellow had the opportunity to rehearse, shoot, and edit selected scenes from his or her screenplay in a workshop environment, where the focus was completely on creative exploration and discovery. Below, Carlo chronicles his experience at Sundance and discusses the magic of this storytellers community.