Category: News

Graduation season: A time of great optimism, renewal, and blissful naiveté. There is a sweet oblivion that comes with being a recent grad, before dreams have turned to fantasies and a glaring cynicism permeates every aspect of life. Ok, maybe post-grad life isn’t that bad.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced three new members of the Institute’s Board of Trustees: Sean Bailey, Anand Mahindra and Jacki Zehner.
Under the guidance of President & Founder Robert Redford and in close collaboration with Executive Director Keri Putnam, the 23-person Board is responsible for the governance of Sundance Institute and works to actively advance creative and financial support for artists developing original stories for the screen and stage. Wally Weisman continues as Chairman of the Board.

FILM FORWARD returned to Morocco for a second year and had another successful collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, Rabat.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sundance Institute and Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today released a new report based on findings from the most recent National Arts Policy Roundtable.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced the four films to be featured at eight free outdoor film screenings for the 2012 Sundance Institute Summer Series. Now in its 15th year, screenings kick off on June 20 at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and June 21 in a new Park City venue for the summer series, Canyons Resort.
Jill Miller, Managing Director of Sundance Institute said, “Our Summer Series is one way we share independent film with audiences year round.

The way Calexico and Mexicali play off each other gives reason to be excited about traveling to the Imperial Valley in California. The blending of names and place, people and ideas on the border of Mexico made this an ideal setting for Film Forward to visit. Our team met at LAX.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced that the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Utah, in January, generated an overall economic impact of $80 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 2012 Festival: supported over 1,731 jobs; generated over $69 million in media exposure; provided nearly $6.9 million in tax revenue; and was attended by more than 46,000 people, a 2% increase over the prior year.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and the Time Warner Foundation announced today the seven artists selected for the 2012 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program. Each Fellow was identified by one of the following core programs of the Institute: Documentary Film Program, Feature Film Program, Film Music Program, Native American & Indigenous Film Program and Theatre Program.
Fellows attend an annual Lab and receive continued support from the Institute, including mentoring, strategic granting, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and participation in screenplay readings, work-in-progress screenings and related programs and events.

It’s been months since premiering Mosquita y Mari at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and I think I’m still in a daze over the whole thing. It came and went like the unpredictable weather patterns here in Northern California. I remember calling my spouse when I had first arrived in Park City, a few days before my premiere, and sharing that I felt like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz – straight picked up off the ground and dropped into another world.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday. Of course, you already knew that. Because while it may not be the paramount holiday of the spring season, we nonetheless treat it as such—and rightly so.

Australian director Rachel Perkins wanted the world to see Aboriginal people in a different way. Their culture had been negatively represented in cinema repeatedly over the years, and Perkins wanted to change that. In Bran Nue Dae, the story of a marginalized people is told in a vibrant, musical comedy that reached an audience of more than 8.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the four fellows and projects selected for the 2012 NativeLab Fellowship, a two-stage development program that provides continuous and direct support to Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists. For the first stage, filmmakers participate in an intensive five-day workshop (May 23-27) on the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, where they receive guidance from seasoned artists including Fenton Bailey (Inside Deep Throat; Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Adam Bala Lough (Bomb The System, The Carter), Billy Luther (Miss Navajo, Grab) and Zach Sklar (JFK, The Feast of the Goat). The second stage brings Fellows to the Native Forum during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and provides opportunities networking with film professionals who advise them on the business of cinema.