Category: News

5 Takeaways from the Sundance Institute | Women in Film Financing Intensive

Money may not be the root of all evil, but it’s certainly a root cause of one: holding back women filmmakers. Financing was the most frequently cited barrier for female directors and producers of independent films, according to a 2012 study commissioned by Sundance Institute and Women in Film (WIF) Los Angeles.
That was only the beginning, though, as the two organizations geared up to find practical solutions to the problems the study revealed.

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Shared Identity: Students in BiH Find Parallels in 20 Feet From Stardom

Walking into the cold, dark, empty school building in Busovaca, a small village about an hour outside of Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, with a ‘no guns allowed’ sign on the front door, I was not sure what to expect. I have attended few international screenings of 20 Feet From Stardom and even fewer screenings exclusively for young people, so I didn’t know what the response might be or if the students would even relate to the film.
This school is where I began my Film Forward trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina .

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Sundance Institute to Host 4-day Summer Festival in Downtown Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA — Sundance Institute will present the Sundance NEXT FEST summer festival August 7-10 in Los Angeles, headquartered at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel and offering feature and short film screenings, some paired with live music performances and all celebrating the renegade spirit of independent artists. The event is an extension of the popular NEXT <=> section at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which showcases stylistically adventurous and bold films, and builds on the Institute’s NEXT WEEKEND event, hosted in 2013. The Sundance Film Festival programming staff will select films and music acts for NEXT FEST.

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Creating Community: Director Nisha Pahuja Shares Taiwan Experiences

As soon as I stepped into the car that had come to collect me at the airport in Taiwan, Wanda handed me a bubble tea, smiled brightly and told me that plans had changed. I had ten minutes to wash away 12 hours of travel before we had to leave for our orientation session at the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT). This fact was of course utterly disorienting but Wanda was charming, no nonsense, completely unapologetic and tougher than Jackie Carlson.

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Sundance Institute Brings $86.4 Million to Utah with 2014 Sundance Film Festival

Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute today announced that the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah in January, generated an overall economic impact of  $86.4 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 Sundance Institute website, also found that the 2014 Festival: supported over 1,434 jobs; generated over $65.

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Sundance Institute Celebrates 20th Anniversary of its Native American and Indigenous Program

Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute marks the 20th anniversary of its Native American and Indigenous Program with a series of events around the country for Native artists and the public. The Institute also announced today the four artists selected for the 2014 NativeLab Fellowship, which is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with the Native community and is one of 10 residential labs the Institute will host for artists this summer, collectively representing the most promising new independent film and theatre projects.
True to founder Robert Redford’s original vision, the Institute maintains a strong commitment to supporting Native and indigenous filmmakers.

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Glenn Close to Receive Sundance Institute Vanguard Leadership Award

Los Angeles, CA — Glenn Close will be honored at the Sundance Institute Celebration benefit on June 4, 2014 in New York for her distinguished career in entertainment and continuing advocacy of, and participation in, independent films. The Sundance Institute Vanguard Leadership Award will be presented to her by her longtime friend Jeremy Irons, with whom she has worked in film and on stage, in projects including The Real Thing, Reversal of Fortune and House of the Spirits. Also at the event filmmaker Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) will receive the Sundance Institute Vanguard Award, presented by The Lincoln Motor Company.

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Sundance Institute Selects 13 Projects for June Directors and Screenwriters Labs

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 13 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 26 through June 26. The Labs are the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with narrative feature filmmakers and are part of 10 residential labs the Institute will host for artists this summer, collectively representing the most promising new independent film and theatre projects.
Projects and participants selected for the 2014 Directors and Screenwriters Labs are from the United States, Brazil, Europe, China, India, Vietnam and Mexico.

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Producer Christine O’Malley Screens If You Build It in Pennsylvania

Harrisburg
It is always rewarding to screen If You Build It with a young audience.  High school students seem to relate to the subjects in the film no matter how different their life may be from life in small town rural North Carolina.  The first screening we had on our trip to Pennsylvania was with the students of the Captial Area School for the Arts (CASA) in Harrisburg.

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Global Digital Platforms Unite April 28th to Create Worldwide Conversation on Poverty and Hunger

Los Angeles — On Monday April 28th, 2014 many of the internet’s most popular websites—including El Pais, Fandor, Huffington Post, Hulu, IndieWire, Reelhouse, RYOT News, Salon, The Guardian, Upworthy , VHX, Vimeo and VICE News —will unite in a common mission to create an international conversation and increase awareness of the global problems of poverty and hunger. Sundance Channel Global is the international media partner.   
Each site will independently showcase the Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge project in order to inspire discussion, shift perception and dismiss stereotypes of poverty and hunger.

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