Category: News

The third annual Creative Producing Summit kicked off last night at the Sundance Resort with a panel of independent producers and directors mulling the state of the independent film industry. Festival Director John Cooper prefaced the discussion with a few sales numbers from the boom that was the 2011 Festival (a record 78 film sales), and moderator Dan Steinman of CAA sarcastically noted that this panel would—with ease—capture the “unified” mood of independent film in the allotted hour.With film sales spiking at many of the premier Festivals internationally, Steinman opened the discussion with the most pertinent question—is independent film back in business? Eric d’Arbeloff (Roadside Attractions) led the hesitantly optimistic responses, suggesting that the industry saw encouraging signs this year: “Maybe we’re back in business, but I’m not sure I see the sea changing.

Deborah Asiimwe is a Ugandan playwright and Specialist for Sundance Institute East Africa. Below she shares her experience at the ongoing Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Manda off the coast of Kenya.
Here, the stars shine brightest and they seem so many—how does this sky hold all of them? We arrive as the sun is about to “return to his mother.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute is pleased to announce the schedule and featured participants for its first Comedy ShortsLab, a one-day symposium focused on the craft of comedic short-form filmmaking and exhibition. The Comedy ShortsLab will be Saturday, August 6 at Cinefamily@The Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.

“Every time you make a short, it will never be in vain. It’s a win-win situation,” said Debra Granik to a full crowd during an early Saturday morning at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “The short may never come together the way you want it, but look at all the things you just learned.

Hitting Theatresby John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film FestivalIt’s been almost seven months since I shared the stage in Park City, Utah, with Kevin Macdonald and the international filmmakers from the Life in a Day project. We had just created a kind of history: not only were we premiering a user-generated film to the Sundance audiences, we were simultaneously streaming it live to a global audience and taking their responses for a Q&A from Twitter and Facebook.It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year now since we first started working with YouTube and Scott Free on the concept for this unique premiere at our Festival.

Ty Sanga is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker and 2011 Native Lab Fellow whose film Stones was selected for the Shorts Program at the 2011 Festival. He recently participated in the five-day Lab in Mescalero, New Mexico with his project Kalama Brothers, chronicling a boy’s struggle to reconnect with his estranged family in order to avoid the foster care system.I had the extreme honor of being a Fellow at the 2011 Sundance Native Lab that was held on the homeland of the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, both held in the same week at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah.
Nine projects have been selected to participate in the Labs (July 18-22) and receive ongoing creative and strategic support throughout the year, as well as direct granting to further development and production. The Fellows represent five projects from the Feature Film Program and four from the Documentary Film Program.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the six composers selected to participate in the 2011 Feature Film Composers Lab, July 13-27 at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. These composers will join the four Fellows previously announced for the 2011 Composers + Documentary Lab (July 6-12). Both Labs are produced by the Sundance Institute Film Music Program, in conjunction with the Feature Film Program and Documentary Film Program, respectively.

New York, NY — The artists and Creative Advisors selected for the second Sundance Institute Theatre Lab on Manda will soon be traveling to the island off the coast of Kenya in East Africa. The two-week (July 17-31) exchange and development program provides East African artists with guidance in their creative development toward final production and is modeled on the annual Sundance Institute Theatre Labs. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, Christopher Hibma, Associate Director, and Roberta Levitow, Artistic Associate, the Lab in East Africa is a core component of the Theatre Program’s year-round efforts.

NAIROBI, KENYA (July 6, 2011) — Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, a Sundance Institute initiative created in partnership with U.S. federal cultural agencies, will be presented in Kenya July 15-25, in conjunction with FilmAid and supported in part by the Embassy of the United States, Nairobi, Kenya, it was announced today by Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.

Writer/director Carlo Mirabella-Davis participated at the Directors Lab with his project The Storm King. Each fellow had the opportunity to rehearse, shoot, and edit selected scenes from his or her screenplay in a workshop environment, where the focus was completely on creative exploration and discovery. Below, Carlo chronicles his experience at Sundance and discusses the magic of this storytellers community.

Writer/director Keith Davis was recently at the Sundance Resort in Utah, developing his screenplay The American People as one of eight fellows at this year’s Directors Lab. Each Fellow has the opportunity to rehearse, shoot and edit selected scenes from his or her screenplay in a workshop environment, where the focus is completely on creative exploration and discovery. We’ve asked Keith to share a glimpse into his process at the Lab in a couple of blog pieces, the second of which is below.