Category: From the Labs

Dogfight, A Dry White Season, The 40-Year-Old Version, El Norte, Reservoir Dogs, The Wood, Pretty Woman—these are just a few of the memorable independent films that have gone through the Sundance Institute’s summer labs over the past four decades. Bringing together established mentors and exciting talent from a wide range of artistic disciplines, the labs have been a core part of the nonprofit Institute’s mission since the very beginning.
From 1981 up until this year, most of these gatherings have taken place high in the mountains of Utah at the Sundance Resort, an idyllic backdrop that allows participants from all over the world—among them directors, screenwriters, XR artists, actors, playwrights, composers, and editors—to shut out the demands and pressures of the outside world and really focus on their craft.

Michelle Satter is the director of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, a post she has held since the Institute was founded in 1981. In the letter below, she offers insights into how the Institute’s signature Labs have been carefully adapted and reimagined to go digital on Sundance Co//ab.
For the thousands who gather in Park City each winter, the Sundance Film Festival is the most visible part of Sundance Institute.

Summer at Sundance Institute means one thing: lab season. Our labs are week-or-more-long intensive residency programs pairing budding artists with experienced mentors, all designed to help new voices hone their craft.
And the labs aren’t just on writing or directing (though we have those, too)—we have labs for everything from creative producing to composing music for film to working with VR and new media.

It can be an arduous, often inscrutable process to find and secure creative support. As part of Sundance Institute’s online learning community, Sundance Co//ab—and in an effort to demystify the application experience—Sundance Institute’s team of artist program
staff convened to talk about the myths, insights, and realities of applying for labs and grants.
These are the people who
know the ins and outs of the Sundance Institute labs and application process, as well as other means of artist support
within the organization.

When my editor and I first got word in May 2015 that we were headed to the mountains for Sundance Institute’s Documentary Edit and Story Lab, it was all very mysterious. “Don’t expect to edit much,” they said. Bring a jacket; leave your ego.

Adam Ashraf Elsayigh is a playwright, translator, producer, and independent scholar who splits his time between Cairo and New York. Adam has recently contributed to our creative communities at our Theatre Labs at both the Sundance Mountain Resort and MASS MoCA.The application for the 2020 Theatre Lab is now open and is available in English, French, and Arabic.