By the Archives team
During a recent trip to the archives, our team came across several early Sundance Institute newsletters. The newsletters are always a fun way to look back on early years of the Institute and we love getting a peek at the evolution of the branding too To finish out this month, we wanted to share our nostalgic joy with you and give a quick glimpse at the 1986 Summer/Fall Edition, which highlights the Directors Lab from that year. It’s such a delight to see the moment captured of creative advisor Alan Alda and founder and president Robert Redford during a reading at the lab, as well as updates on the Labs and the International Exchange program at the time.
With the 2024 Directors Lab just wrapping up, we’re going back to when it all started, highlighting photos from the first decade of the lab. It’s inspiring to reflect on the artists that have helped to shape its legacy as a place for experimenting, creative exploration, and taking risks.
Just four years before This is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest served as a resource actor during the inaugural 1981 Directors Lab, seen here with a special canine guest. He later appeared in Robert Altman’s Beyond Therapy, which premiered at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival and then made his directorial debut at the 1989 Festival with The Big Picture.
Photographer unknown
Creative advisor and resource actor Chris Spotted Eagle, Artist Programs Founding Senior Director Michelle Satter, creative advisor Monte Dolack, and lab fellows Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas during a work session at the 1981 Directors Lab. Nava and Thomas’ lab project El Norte was released in 1984 to critical acclaim and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. A graphic artist, Dolack’s 1980 commissioned piece Deerlodge Floral is on the table in the foreground.
Photographer unknown
Two years before starring as Stef in The Goonies, Martha Plimpton attended 1982’s Directors Lab as a resource actor. She returned as a resource actor in 1990, 1996, 1999, and 2004, and has appeared in many Festival films over the years including Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol in 1996 and, most recently, Fran Kranz’s Mass in 2021.
Photographer unknown
Robert Redford on set at the 1982 Directors Lab. Redford took an active role in the lab, collaborating with artists while they workshopped their scenes and discussing their projects with them individually. In his 1985 intro letter for the labs, Redford emphasized their significance, saying, “When one thinks of a word to define the work that we do, the one that comes to mind is ‘experiment.’ I have always felt the need for artists to have a place where they can try new things, experiment with new ideas and have the freedom to fail. That is what growth is all about.”
Photographer unknown
Creative advisor and resource actor Edward James Olmos alongside fellow resource actors (including Robert Duvall and Gail Youngs) in the editing room during the 1983 Directors Lab. Olmos has had numerous Sundance Institute–supported films over the years, including Robert Young’s The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and several Gregory Nava projects including the 1995 Festival film Mi Familia. Robert Duvall and Gail Youngs both went on to work on the production of the 1983 Directors Lab project Belizaire: The Cajun, Duvall as a creative consultant and Youngs as an actor. They’ve also appeared in several Festival projects over the years.
Photographer unknown
Director Joyce Chopra (center, left) consults with creative advisor Irvin Kershner (center, right) on the set of The Woman Warrior at the 1984 Directors Lab. The script for the project was adapted from Maxine Hong Kingston’s novel of the same name. Hong Kingston also attended the Lab, acting as a consultant for the project.
Photographer unknown
Director Ayoka Chenzira films a scene with resource actors Anna Maria Horsford, Tisha Campbell, and Rosalind Cash on the set of her 1984 Directors Lab project Violette (Balancing Dreams).The coming-of-age story was released as Alma’s Rainbow in 1994. The film was recently restored in 4K in 2022 by Kino Lorber and Milestone Films and was included in Slate’s 2023 list of the 75 greatest films by Black directors.
Photographer unknown
Robert Redford and Euzhan Palcy discuss her film A Dry White Season at the 1985 Directors Lab. Set in 1970s Apartheid South Africa, the movie was released in 1989 and starred Donald Sutherland, Winston Ntshona, Susan Sarandon, and Marlon Brando (the latter of whom came out of self-imposed retirement because he was drawn to Palcy’s commitment to social change). The film went on to receive serious recognition, including an Academy Award nomination. With this film, Palcy became the first Black woman to direct a major Hollywood studio movie.
Photo by Roger Christiansen
William Greaves had several films screen at the Sundance Film Festival in the 1990s and early 2000s, but his first project with Sundance Institute was an adaptation of Langston Hughes’ book, The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Greaves is seen here with Lindy Wilson, editing the project at the 1985 Directors Lab.
Photographer unknown
Elizabeth McGovern and Aidan Quinn on set for the project The Wizard of Loneliness, written by Nancy Larson, at the 1985 Directors Lab. The Wizard of Loneliness was eventually released in 1988 starring Lukas Haas and Lea Thompson. Both McGovern and Quinn have acted in multiple films that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
Photo by Roger Christiansen
Author Maurice Sendak with resource actors Stanley Tucci, Katherine Borowitz, and Andrew Palmacci on set at the 1987 Directors Lab, where Sendak workshopped a screenplay adaptation of his book Very Far Away. They are seen here reading Sendak’s book In the Night Kitchen. This was Stanley Tucci’s first involvement with Sundance Institute, returning as a Creative Advisor for several years in addition to acting in and directing multiple films at the Sundance Film Festival.
Photo by Elliott Marks
Zimbabwean filmmaker and poet Albert Chimedza and Sigourney Weaver on the set of Menage a Trois during the 1988 Directors Lab. Sigourney Weaver has been in several films at the Sundance Film Festival, including Gary Winick’s Tadpole, which won the Directing Award for a Dramatic Feature at the 2002 Festival. Weaver also returned to the Directors Lab in 2001 as a Creative Advisor.
Photo by John Schaefer
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