Category: News

This interview was originally published following the world premiere of the film at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.George Takei is on a mission. With boundless energy, relentless good cheer and a hearty chuckle, he’s been omnipresent in Park City while promoting To Be Takei, Jennifer Kroot’s vibrant portrait of the energetic 76-year-old actor, worshipped around the globe as Star Trek’s helmsman, Sulu.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced that the organization is deepening its commitment to its New Frontier program for artists innovating the art and form of storytelling, including the appointment of Shari Frilot and Kamal Sinclair as Co-Directors of the program.
New Frontier at Sundance Institute is a cross-programmatic initiative created to identify and foster independent artists working at the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music and technology. Since 2007, the New Frontier exhibition at the Sundance Film Festival has provided the highest level of curation in the field, incorporating fiction, non-fiction and hybrid storytelling to showcase multi-media installations, performances and films.

(August 21, 2014) Sundance Institute and The Metroplex announced today the eight  new independent films that will premiere as part of the Sundance Film Festival – Hong Kong Selects screening series, September 19 to 28, 2014, at the newly opened state-of-the-art cineplex in Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong. Drawing on the Sundance Film Festival’s 30-year history of discovery and innovation and The Metroplex’s commitment to supporting film culture, Sundance Film Festival – Hong Kong Selects will offer the Hong Kong premieres of eight new films direct from the 2014 Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.

Throughout 2014, Sundance Institute has celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Native American and Indigenous Program and its growth as a fundamental facet of our president and founder Robert Redford’s original vision for the Institute. The Native Program extends the festivities this week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with an exhibition of feature and short films by Native American and Indigenous directors from the U.S.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the independent directors and composers selected for the second of two Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound. This will be the second year the Music and Sound Design Labs take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California. This is one of 15 residential Labs Sundance Institute will host this year, collectively representing 20 weeks of residency support and mentorship for the most promising new independent film and theatre projects and artists from the United States and around the world.

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published January 23, 2014, following the world premieres of “The One I Love” and “Listen Up Philip” at the Sundance Film Festival. “The One I Love” makes its theatrical release Friday, August 22. Though she’s too experienced and celebrated to be considered a Sundance discovery, Elisabeth Moss is nevertheless turning heads at this year’s Festival.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today that Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue will host free screenings of eight films with moderated discussions, panels and artist roundtables in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Denpasar, Banjarmasin and Palangkarya.  Sundance Channel Global is a supporter of the Film Forward program in Indonesia which is hosted by the U.S.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute invites Los Angeles-area filmmakers to its first day-long ShortsLab focusing on short-form documentary, taking place September 13 at the Cinefamily.
ShortsLab L.A.

If Day 3 at Sundance NEXT FEST heralded the vigor of independent film, Sunday’s closing events celebrated the arrival of an assured new female filmmaking voice. Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night played like the satiating denouement to the four-day festival, transporting audiences to the film’s fictitious Bad City, a home to debauched drug users and other degenerates where a subdued vampire stalks the denizens. However improbable, our vampire “Girl,” stunningly portrayed by Sheila Vand, only changes her ways upon being seduced by a debonair romantic named Arash.

Vitality reigned at Day 3 of Sundance NEXT FEST. If skeptics needed a testament to the health and diversity of independent film, last night’s display was it, as stories from disparate communities throughout the country hit the screen.
First up was David and Nathan Zellner’s beautifully paced drama Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, which follows a young woman (Rinko Kikuchi) who ditches the austerity of Japanese work life and treks to Minnesota to discover the buried loot from the film Fargo.

Last night’s Sundance NEXT FEST opener at the Theatre at Ace Hotel felt more like a reunion of old pals than a glitzy Los Angeles premiere. Perhaps that’s what you get when Aubrey Plaza and Father John Misty take the helm as your unofficial co-hosts. The versatile pair was on hand for the Los Angeles premiere of Plaza’s zombie romance Life After Beth and a post-screening performance from indie crooner – and all-around droll entertainer – Father John Misty.

Breaking Bad, Mad Men, House of Cards, Girls, The Office—the list could continue ad infinitum. Whatever your show preference, it would appear we are firmly entrenched in the era of serialized entertainment, where one’s fluency in pop culture is directly proportionate to their consumption (see: binge watching) of scripted shows on television or online. For audiences, the medium’s attributes are clear: accessible content that can be ingested in one heaping dose or savored over time.