Category: News

At Sundance Institute, we are proud to have fostered a diverse community of creative storytellers for over three decades. We support and amplify independent creators who break new ground in film and other forms of media. Independent media creators make work that moves, informs, challenges, and inspires.

Music and Sound Design Lab 2016
Credit Brandon Joseph Baker

Music and Sound Design Lab 2014
Credit Steve Jennings

Music and Sound Design Lab 2016
Credit Brandon Joseph Baker

Los Angeles and Marin, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs, which return to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the fifth year.

At the Labs, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for documentary and narrative film projects. Workshops and creative exercises, guided by leading film composers and sound designers acting as Creative Advisors, will mentor Fellows to explore sound and music’s crucial role in storytelling.

Sundance NEXT FEST comes to LA this August for a summer celebration that brings you the LA premieres of films straight from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. We’re breaking down the lineup to help you choose from our full weekend of movies, music, and mischief. See the full lineup.

Athens, Greece: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos’ Faliro House Productions (The Founder, The Lobster), in collaboration with Sundance Institute, will host the second edition of the Faliro House | Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop in Costa Navarino, Greece July 3-9. The workshop is designed to support emerging filmmakers from Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and this year will include filmmakers from Cyprus.

You know how we indie filmmakers are, right? We’re pessimistic, worst-case thinkers. When I saw the schedule for the 2017 Financing & Strategy Intensive, my eyes fixated on those dreaded words: “Pitching Workshop.” I thought, OK, I’m staying home with my cat.

“Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”—John DeweyIn the wake of two corporations pulling their funding from the Public Theater’s free production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, like many of my artist colleagues I have been pondering the grave resonances.Let me be clear.

15 June 2017The BBC World Service and Sundance Institute have announced a new collaboration to produce a series of radio documentaries and podcasts for launch in 2018. The partnership will allow for up to six new projects exploring the theme of ‘Neighbour’, with the resulting radio programmes airing on the BBC World Service, also available as podcasts, and accompanied by visual storytelling online.
Mary Hockaday, Controller of BBC World Service English said: “We’re very excited about collaborating with Sundance Institute who share our passion for the very best storytelling.

Park City, Utah — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced that its 2017 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah in January, generated a total economic impact of $151.5 million. These numbers come from an independent economic and demographic study conducted by Y² Analytics,which used updated methodology and technology to give a more complete picture of the Festival’s impact on the state of Utah’s economy.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the eight projects selected for its annual Documentary Edit and Story Labs, taking place in two sessions at the Sundance Resort in Utah from June 23-July 1 and July 7-15. An anchor point of the nonprofit Institute’s year-round work with filmmakers, the Documentary Edit and Story Lab creates an incubation space for nonfiction storytellers to creatively interrogate their projects during the later stages of post-production. Among the breathtaking scenery of the Sundance Mountain Resort, filmmakers take advantage of the Lab’s creative environment to intensively explore story, dramatic structure and character development, centering their work around their own original motivation and intention.

Photographer Credit: Jonathan Hickerson
Park City, UT — It’s a Utah summer tradition 20 years in the making: Sundance Institute will celebrate summer with free outdoor screenings of Sundance Film Festival favorites in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden and Kamas. These screenings will also feature food, special guests, fun activities and a few 20th anniversary surprises.
Betsy Wallace, CFO and Managing Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Enjoying these great films with friends, neighbors and colleagues, surrounded by Utah’s natural beauty, is a highlight of our year-round programming — and, now that we’re in our 20th year, it’s safe to say it’s a local tradition as well.

DinaCredit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Quentin Tarantino and Steve Buscemi at 1991 Directors LabCredit: Sandria Miller

Sleigh BellsCredit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance NEXT FEST takes it to the NEXT level with the announcement of seven films direct from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, paired with three energizing musical performances. The fest lights up Los Angeles August 10-13 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, and this year will include presentation of the Institute’s Vanguard Awards to Quentin Tarantino and Dee Rees. This marks the fifth annual Sundance NEXT FEST and fourth consecutive year that The Theatre at Ace Hotel has hosted the festival.

Shamir, Credit: Frazer Harrison/WireImage

The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles Marquee, Credit: Ryan Kobane

Elizabeth Wood, Credit: Ryan Kobane

Los Angeles, CA — The Sundance Film Festival travels from the snow-capped peaks of Park City, Utah to the summer sun of Los Angeles for the fifth Sundance NEXT FEST, August 10-13. The movie and music festival celebrates the renegade spirit of independent artists in one of the most remarkable and historic gems in the city — The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, a bold and loving reanimation of a 1920s movie palace. Each movie will be paired with exclusive, dynamic live elements, including musical performances and provocative conversations with filmmakers and cinema-world favorites.