Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program
New projects selected for support include a wide range of filmmaking styles and approaches including experimental, character driven narrative nonfiction, and investigative documentaries. Stories range from very personal moments (Art and Craft, Never Better) to cultural appreciation (Like Ants for Sugar) and examples of social inquiry (The Campus Project, Down By Law). Together these artists engage with distinctive stories in creative ways.
The Fall 2013 round accepted nearly 750 applications worldwide from filmmakers working in 93 countries who submitted work of great artistry and humanity. Selected grantees include original voices from in-country artists from Bangladesh, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Syria, Uruguay, and People’s Republic of China. In funding a broad spectrum of innovative and creative non-fiction storytelling from around the world, Sundance Institute embraces documentary film as a vital contributor to the language of the 21st century.
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program provides creative and financial support to cinematic feature documentaries from independent filmmakers globally. In addition to financing, the Program offers a year-round suite of creative support opportunities including Creative Labs, Fellowships, and editorial consultation. Past films supported include Why We Fight, Trouble the Water, Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry, The Queen of Versailles, The Invisible War, Powerless, Dirty Wars, and The Square. Submission deadlines are in February and July of each year.
DEVELOPMENT
3.5 Minutes (Marc Silver, U.K.), The Betel Begins The Conversation (Bao Nguyen, Xuan Anh Duong, Vietnam/U.S.), Brick (Jessica Dimmock, Christopher LaMarca, U.S.), The Campus Project (Kirby Dick, U.S.), Day After Tomorrow, Kamar Ahmad (Bangladesh), Down By Law (George Amponsah, U.K.), Freedom Fighters (Jamie Meltzer, U.S.), How To Change The World, Jerry Rothwell (U.K.), Like Ants For Sugar (Shirley Abraham, India), The Lovers And The Despot (Rob Cannan, Ross Adam, U.K.), Never Better (Claudia Abend, Adriana Loeff, Uruguay), Recovering Irma (Sandra Salas, U.S.), The Trial Of Ratko Mladic (Henry Singer, Robert Miller, U.K./U.S.), Untitled Cold Case Film (Jason Osder, Will Youmans U.S.).
PRODUCTION/POST-PRODUCTION
Art And Craft (Jennifer Grausman, Sam Cullman, U.S.), Baglar (Berke Bas and Melis Birder, Turkey), Bukom Fighter Makafui Zimrani (Ghana), Cocaine Prison (Violeta Ayala, Bolivia), (T)Error (David Felix Sutcliffe, Lyric R. Cabral, U.S.), In Country (Meghan O’Hara and Mike Attie, U.S.), The Look Of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer, U.S.), The Notorious Mr. Bout (Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin U.S./Russia), Please Remember Me (Qing Zhao and Violet Du Feng, People’s Republic of China), Silvered Water (Ossama Mohammad, Syria), Wind On The Moon (Seung‐Jun Yi, South Korea), A Young Patriot (Haibin Du, People’s Republic of China).
CANDESCENT FILMS AWARD
E-Team (Katy Chevigny, Ross Kauffman, U.S.), Marmato (Mark Grieco, U.S.), Private Violence (Cynthia Hill, U.S.).
TIME WARNER FELLOWSHIP
Recolectores (The Gatherers) (Bernardo Ruiz, U.S.)
CINEREACH PROJECT AT SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
Rich Hill (Tracy Droz Tragos, Andrew Droz Palermo, U.S.)
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Diagnosis Of A Faun (Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright, U.S.), The House I Live In (Eugene Jarecki, U.S.), Inequality For All (Jacob Kornbluth, U.S.), The Invisible War (Kirby Dick, U.S.).
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program is made possible by generous support from Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, Hilton Worldwide, The Skoll Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, TED, CNN Films, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Compton Foundation, Emerald Data Solutions, Time Warner Foundation, Joan and Lewis Platt Foundation, Candescent Films, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J.A. & H.G. Woodruff, Jr. Charitable Trust, and David desJardins and Nancy Blachman.
