Category: News

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees today announced that Pat Mitchell has been elected as new Board Chair effective immediately.  Mitchell succeeds Walter L. Weisman who has served on the Sundance Institute Board of Trustees since 1988 and has been designated by the Board as Chair Emeritus.

Los Angeles, CA —Sundance Institute and The Royal Film Commission – Jordan announced the six projects selected for the 10th anniversary of the Rawi Screenwriters Lab, which took place October 28 to November 1 in Amman, Jordan. Created as a cornerstone of the Institute’s deep commitment to artists in the Middle East, the Lab has supported over seventy artists from more than a dozen countries.
The two first features produced from the inaugural 2005 Lab premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: Pomegranates and Myrrh, written and directed by Najwa Najjar (Palestine) and Amreeka, written and directed by Cherien Dabis (Palestine/Jordan/US).

Miami, FL — Sundance Institute and Knight Foundation announced today the first Artist Services workshop in Miami will take place this Saturday, October 25 at O Cinema Wynwood. Miami-area filmmakers are invited to attend the free day-long workshop and join industry experts in a critical conversation around creative financing, digital distribution, guerilla marketing and independent theatrical distribution.
Featured speakers include: Dennis Scholl (Knight Foundation), Straith Schreder (BitTorrent Inc), Jeremy Schwartz (SquareSpace), Emily Eddey (Light Iron), Toby Halbrooks (Producer, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), Jessica Jalsevac (Gumroad), James M.

New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the projects and artists that will participate in its two Fall artist development programs: the inaugural Playwrights Studio at Flying Point in Water Mill, NY (October 19-26), as well as the two-week Theatre Lab (November 30 – December 14) for musical theatre, ensemble-generated projects and solo work at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the initiatives are among the Theatre Program’s five annual Labs and Residencies for theatre artists and part of the 24 artist residency labs across many creative disciplines Sundance Institute offers annually.
New this fall, the Playwrights Studio at Flying Point offers Theatre Program alumni an uninterrupted period of  time and the space to work on their projects in a studio setting.

Los Angeles — Sundance Institute today announced that $1 million in new funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will bring  artist development day labs to eight cities across the U.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the six projects selected for the New Frontier Story Lab, October 22-27 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Inspired by New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival and built on the renowned Sundance Institute Lab model, the Lab specifically supports artists innovating the art and form of storytelling at the convergence of film, visual art, media, live performance, music and technology.
The selected creative teams and projects are: Karim Ben Khelifa and Chloé Jarry (The Enemy), Dandypunk and Darin Basile (Heart Corps), Tracy Fullerton and Lucas Peterson (Walden, A Game), Braden King and Matthew Moore (Weather), Hasan Minhaj and Greg Walloch (Sakoon/Paint The Town) and Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari (1979 Revolution).

From Iraqi role-players to a demolition derby driver to an Ivy League impostor—provocative, unique, and emotionally compelling characters have always been central to Jesse Moss’s storytelling. The latest film by this award-winning documentary filmmaker and cinematographer is no exception. The Overnighters, which recently premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking, follows a Lutheran pastor in the oil boomtown of Williston, North Dakota.

Seven million people live in Hong Kong, an area that’s just half the size of Rhode Island. The waterfront skyline is a mashup of skyscrapers and mountains. The humidity makes the air heavy and still.

Shawntai Genell Brown is a freelance blogger, playwright, storyteller and poet living in Detroit, Michigan. She is sharing her experience of Film Forward: Michigan on her blog: Shawntai’s Spiral Notebook.
Last night at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History, Detroiters kept the moderator dancing the mic around the room, giving voices with something to say a chance with the talking stick.

Sundance Institute and Knight Foundation present:#ArtistServices Maimi Workshop
Sundance Institute and Knight Foundation invite you to enjoy exclusive access to the first annual #ArtistServices Miami Workshop free of charge.  Join these unique conversations with industry experts as they discuss the latest technology, tools, and tactics in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. Stay tuned for presenters and full schedule to be announced.

(September 19, 2014) Sundance Institute and The Metroplex officially unveiled the opening of Sundance Film Festival – Hong Kong Selects tonight on September 19, which is a screening series of new American independent films accompanied by a delegation of filmmakers and Festival organizers. The screenings run from today to 28 September, 2014, at the newly opened Cineplex, The Metroplex, 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 offers eight new films direct from the 2014 Festival in Park City, Utah, U.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced the 10 writers selected for its inaugural Episodic Story Lab, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from September 27 through October 2. The Episodic Story Lab, established with founding support from Lyn and Norman Lear, is the Institute’s first program for emerging writers creating series for television and online platforms, adding to its existing support programs for film, theatre, music, and New Frontier artists.
Every applicant for the program was required to submit a spec pilot and series overview as the basis of their creative work at the Lab.