Category: News

In honor of Memorial Day we have two films that explore the fighting spirit and its impact on the lives of brave men in combat. Both tap into the heart of what makes us human by showing wartime scenarios layered with complexities.
For aviation fans, get ready for a ton of wonderful archival footage coming your way in William Lorton’s Spitfire 944.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will present its Vanguard Awards to Academy Award winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu and filmmaker Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) at the fifth Sundance Institute Celebration benefit hosted by Acura in Los Angeles, bringing the creative community together to highlight a great visionary in independent film and an emerging artist with unique talent and creative independence. Iñárritu will be presented with the Vanguard Leadership Award for the originality and independent spirit of his films.

Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute today announced that its 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah in January, generated an overall economic impact of $83.4 million for the State of Utah, according to the independent annual economic and demographic study conducted by the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the David Eccles School of Business (BEBR).
The Economic Report, posted in full on the Institute’s website, also found that the 2015 Festival generated $7 million in state and local tax revenue; supported 1,350 jobs; and was attended by more than 46,000 people.

There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that avows, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” One can doubt the veracity of the citation (it wasn’t found on Instagram, so that’s a start), but the notion itself is hardly disputable. As with all relationships, great cinema has a way of capturing the nuances that define a mother-child connection–from the joys of infancy to the precarious years of adolescence (during which I, for one, was goodness incarnate).

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah from May 25 through June 25. The Labs are the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with narrative feature filmmakers and are part of 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.
Projects and participants selected for the 2015 June Directors and Screenwriters Labs are from the United States, Brazil, China, France, Georgia and the United Kingdom, and the Fellows bring experience from an unprecedented diversity of creative backgrounds, including documentary, theatre, music, new media, visual art and animation.

It was a prolific morning for Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s Fun Home, which garnered 12 Tony Award nominations today, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. Kron and Tesori’s adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name was developed in part at the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. After a critically acclaimed run Off-Broadway in 2013-2014, Fun Home made its Broadway premiere on April 19 at Circle In the Square Theatre.

New York, NY —  Sundance Institute today announced the nine projects selected from 827 submissions for its 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, July 6-26. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community and is one of 24 residency Labs the Institute hosts each year for independent artists in theatre, film, new media and episodic content.
The Theatre Lab supports both emerging and established theatre-makers developing new work for the stage, with a focus on assuring that the playwright’s deepest impulses and visions can be realized.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute announced today that it will continue its film festivals in Hong Kong this year and London next year, with selections for each largely drawn from the Institute’s renowned Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles, co-founders of the Female Filmmakers Initiative, unveil Phase III of a groundbreaking study that reveals the barriers and opportunities in the careers of female narrative film directors after premiering a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The study, authored by Dr. Stacy L.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will host Sundance NEXT FEST August 7-9, 2015, for the second year at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The weekend-long summer festival celebrates the renegade spirit of independent artists by pairing five new independent films with either a special music act that shares a complementary artistic sensibility or conversations between the filmmakers and those who inspired them.
This will mark the festival’s third year in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and New York University (NYU) Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions today announced they will host Sundance Institute Film Music Program at NYU: Steinhardt, a day-long workshop for composers, filmmakers, students and other industry professionals interested in music in film and television on Saturday, May 9 at the Fredrick Lowe Theatre (35 West 4th Street, between Greene Street and Washington Square East). This marks the first collaboration of its kind between the Institute and NYU Steinhardt and the Institute’s first-ever film music workshop in New York. For more information and to purchase tickets ($20 each), visit http://2015filmmusiclabnyu.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Drishyam today announced the artists and creative advisors selected for the inaugural Drishyam | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in Goa, India April 12-16. The Lab supports emerging filmmakers in India, as part of the Institute’s sustained commitment to international artists, which in the last 25 years has included programs in Brazil, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, Israel and Central Europe.
The Lab is a five-day writer’s workshop that gives independent screenwriters the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking.