Category: News

Regardless of our political views, the results of this election rocked many of us, taking us by surprise. Win or lose, the rhetoric of divisiveness during the campaign was made manifest by a vote that tore our country in half, with each side barely recognizing the other.Let’s bravely stride into this breach to understand the anxiety and fear that have motivated both parts of our electorate this year — never to excuse hatred and bigotry, and always as allies with those whose voices are overlooked.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has selected 18 creators of short form digital series for its inaugural Sundance Institute | YouTube New Voices Lab, November 10-12 at YouTube Space Los Angeles. Through hands-on workshops and story meetings with showrunners and industry leaders, the New Voices Lab will cultivate a growing group of emerging creatives who are shaping the form and content of episodic storytelling. The New Voices Lab is part of Sundance Institute and YouTube’s ongoing commitment to supporting independent creators working in narrative forms.

People’s Republic of Desire
Credit: Jinyang Cheng

Mudflow
Credit: Michael Crook

United Skates
Credit: Chris Vanderwall

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has awarded over $1 million to documentary projects and artists at the forefront of global nonfiction storytelling, whose subjects and forms reflect the inclusive range of the Institute’s mission.

Subject matter ranges from police violence, natural disasters and income inequality to family legacy, trans rights and education in the developing world. Works originate in 10 countries on six continents, and teams include Academy Award® winners and nominees (Frederick Wiseman, Cynthia Wade, Rebecca Cammisa, David France, Matthew Heineman), a Guggenheim Fellow (Julia Bacha) and a MacArthur Fellow (James Longley) alongside first-time filmmakers and creators (including Tim Hawkins, Dyana Winkler, Yu Gu, Mike Milano,Sandra Salas, Hope Litoff, Damon Davis and Sabaah Jordan).

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 11 original projects selected for its third annual Episodic Story Lab. The spec pilots, which range from dystopian sci-fi to historical comedy, explore themes of personal and social identity, family dysfunction, political extremism, and the limits of human understanding. The Episodic Story Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round support program for emerging television writers.

Heather Rae, a Sundance-supported producer and the director of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival documentary selection “Trudell,” was recently on the ground with other Native filmmakers, Cody Lucich and Ben Dupris, at Standing Rock in North Dakota telling their story of the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The following is an account of their time protecting Native lands.

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Since April of this year, Native people from all over North America have been gathering on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their fight against a pipeline proposed to traverse treaty land and impede their water source, the Missouri River.

This post was originally published July 14 and has been updated with Emmy winners in bold.The 2016 Emmy Award nominees were announced today and honored a number of Sundance-supported films, including five nominations for Matthew Heineman’s perilous journey exploring Mexican drugs lords in Cartel Land, and six nominations for the sweeping portrait of Nina Simone in Liz Garbus’ What Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction ProgramCartel Land (winner)Mapplethorpe: Look At The PictureWhat Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Directing For A Nonfiction ProgramMatthew Heineman, Cartel LandLiz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program Cartel Land What Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Program (Single Or Multi-Camera)Cartel Land (winner)What Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special Becoming Mike NicholsListen To Me MarlonMapplethorpe: Look At The PicturesWhat Happened, Miss Simone? (winner) Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking (two winners)The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the RevolutionCartel Land (winner)Jim: The James Foley Story (winner)Racing Extinction Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera)What Happened, Miss Simone? Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Supporting Role11.22.

To much of the world Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, Bill McKay, Jeremiah Johnson, or invariably, The Sundance Kid. He is an artist, an activist, and a creative leader. But Robert Redford also inhabits another world, one where he’s known simply as “Bob.

(Hong Kong – 18 August, 2016) Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong returns for the third time in September, with a delegation of independent filmmakers presenting a line-up that includes premieres of award-winning films direct from this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.

Suggested Release: #NewFrontier: @SundanceLabs and @JauntVR Announce Latest Additions to VR Residency Program bit.ly/SI-news

Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Institute and Jaunt Studios announced today their latest class of creatives, at the forefront of innovation in media and entertainment, to join the Sundance Institute New Frontier | Jaunt VR Residency Program. Daniel Arsham, Yung Jake, and Lily Baldwin & Saschka Unseld will participate in the six-month program designed to empower artists on the cutting edge of storytelling.

After receiving Sundance Institute’s annual Vanguard Award to kick off NEXT FEST, Birth of a Nation writer/director/actor Nate Parker went off script to channel his attention and remarks towards a handful of Ignite Fellows—a group of 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers supported by the Institute with year-round mentorship. Parker’s message should resonate with all artists who’ve fought to have their voices heard, and the filmmaker’s own trajectory—tales of driving around in a rundown Honda Civic with no A/C included—are a revitalizing reminder the journey is almost never without peril. Check out excerpts from his moving speech below.

Click HERE for Photos (Credit: Ryan Kobane/Sundance Institute)
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Additional Photos at Wireimage.com

Los Angeles, CA — Nate Parker and the cast, Producers, and Executive Producers of The Birth of a Nation are investing in the next generation of diverse independent creativity with the Sundance Institute | The Birth of a Nation Fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers participating in the Institute’s Ignite program. Parker shared details at Sundance Institute’s NIGHT BEFORE NEXT benefit at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles this evening, where he also received the Institute’s annual Vanguard Award presented to him by actor and Sundance alum Michael B.

There’s something almost therapeutic about Morris From America. It would be remiss to owe the film’s charming qualities to its pastoral German landscape, so we’ll just tip our hat to writer and director Chad Hartigan for an unfamiliar coming-of-age narrative, one that confronts race while providing a respite from violence (and no surprise that he must take us to Europe to do so). At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Morris From America quickly became known as the attractive vehicle for one of this year’s most salient breakout actors in Markees Christmas, who plays the aspirational rapping teen ‘Morris.