Category: News

2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Short Film Program

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The 2013 Short Film program is comprised of 65 short films selected from a record 8,102 submissions (427 more than for the 2012 Festival).
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “The Short Film section of our 2013 Festival is comprised of bold works by adventurous filmmakers who have mastered creative ways to embody their unique perspectives in the short form onscreen.

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2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Premieres and Documentary Premieres

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the out-of-competition Premieres and Documentary Premieres sections of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said, “We are pleased to see a number of returning filmmakers in our Premieres and Documentary Premieres sections, indicating that there is sustainability, longevity and personal reward to careers in independent film. The films announced today build on each filmmaker’s personal artistic legacy and contribute to the ever-growing and inspiring achievements of the independent film community.

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John Cooper Talks Programing Process, Digital Distribution, and His Favorite Films of 2012

On the heels of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival program announcement, Festival Director John Cooper hosted a Reddit ‘AMA’ (Ask Me Anything) session for film fans and other users. Below are just a sample of the questions Cooper responded to, click here for the full conversation.  
Jayprofeen: With no star power usually, more modest budgets, and with so many film schools churning out these guys: how important is to wait on a final deliverable for submission rather than making the deadline with a Work in Progress (temp sound, color, etc)?
SundanceFest (John Cooper): Hard question! You have to know your own product to know how far along it is.

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2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier, as well as the installations and performances to be featured in the Festival’s New Frontier venue. The Festival takes place January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce the films selected for these sections because they illustrate the tremendous creativity and vibrancy of the independent film community.

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John Cooper and Trevor Groth Dissect the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Program

The assignment is unnerving: Shape an unwieldy 12,000 submissions into a svelte program of the world’s finest independent film. That’s the annual conundrum facing the Sundance Film Festival programming team, led by Festival Director John Cooper and Director of Programming Trevor Groth.
In a year when submission numbers reached unprecedented levels—an unremarkable statistic when considering the trend since the Festival’s inception—that selection process only becomes more challenging.

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2013 Sundance Film Festival Program Announcements

Our staff wants to sincerely thank the thousands of artists who have generously submitted their work to be considered for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. We know you are all waiting patiently and we wanted to share our announcement schedule.
Our Press Center will have all the releases and you can subscribe to our email list for breaking blasts or follow us on Twitter for the instant latest news.

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Sundance Institute Announces Acting Company & Collaborators for Fall Musical and Ensemble Lab at MAS

New York, NY — The Sundance Institute Theatre Program announced the acting company and collaborators for the three projects being developed at its Fall Lab, which begins today at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director of the Theatre Program, and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the two-week Lab provides creative support and direction for innovative musical theatre and ensemble-generated projects.
Participants include:
ACTING COMPANY & COLLABORATORS Jay Ansill, Jesse Blesky (Middletown), Hannah Cabell (A Man for All Seasons, 3C), Cindy Cheung (Middletown), Larry Cohen, Edward Cosla, Veanne Cox (Caroline or Change, Company), Eamon Farell (Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse), David Garrison (Married with Children, Silence! The Musical), Elizabeth Barrett Groth, Rebecca Hart (On The Levee), Charlie Hofheimer (Mad Men), Daniel Kluger, Joseph Lark-Riley, Betsy Lippitt, April Mathis (On The Levee), Annie McNamara (GATZ), Greg Mehrten (The Wooster Group), Maude Mitchell (Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse), Deirdre O’Connell (In the Wake, Circle Mirror Transformation), Kyoung Park, Luly Santangelo, Jill Schackner (Les Misérables), Jessica Weinstein (Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse)
STAGE MANAGEMENT Amy Ehrenberg, McKenzie Murphy & Matthew Melchiorre
DRAMATURGS Janice Paran (Senior Program Associate), Jill Morris & Thomas White
CREATIVE ADVISORS Lynn Nottage & Jeanine Tesori
CASTING DIRECTOR Henry Russell Bergstein
PRODUCTION MANAGER David Nelson
As previously announced, the projects selected for the Lab are:
Adler & Gibb Conceived and directed by Tim Crouch
Tim Crouch’s Adler & Gibb is the story of the attempted appropriation of another person’s life and work.

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A Sundance Selection of Dysfunctional Families for Thanksgiving

Cue the platitudes about the perils of family gatherings. You know, the ones that have you equating Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws to a lifetime of forced drudgery. But the ‘dysfunctional family’ gripe is a tired one, and so are the stories about Aunt Sally’s charred turkeys and Grandpa Bill’s propensity for losing his dentures in the gravy.

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A Letter From Bird Runningwater

As the director of the Native American and Indigenous Program, the most common question I get is “How can we see these Native films that you are supporting?” It has always been a struggle for the Native audience to watch Native films. Not only is this audience isolated from art-house theaters in major cities, but Native films receive varying distribution deals that don’t quite compete in a flooded market of film releases.In today’s world, audiences are viewing films and content in so many different ways—on their televisions, their iPads, and even their game stations.

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Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with Three Films Making Their Digital Premier

Los Angeles, CA — With November as ‘Native American Heritage Month,’ three films about Native American culture make their digital premieres today through the Sundance Institute Artist Services access to distribution program, which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. Look for the films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox Video, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, VUDU and YouTube. Films will be available on Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms in the coming weeks.

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