Category: News

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.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 29 feature-length documentary films selected to receive a total of $575,000 in Documentary Film Program (DFP) grants for the Spring 2011 round. The DFP received applications for grants from 650 filmmakers in 80 countries, and submissions were judged on their approach to storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, subject relevance and potential for social engagement.
Filmmakers selected are working in 9 countries and represent a broad range of experience, including Academy Award-winning documentarians Roger Ross Williams and Frieda Lee Mock as well as first-time feature documentary filmmakers.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the selection of 18 Documentary Film Fellows representing nine film projects to participate in the eighth Documentary Edit and Story Lab (June 24 – July 2) and ninth Composers + Documentary Lab (July 6-12) at Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP) provides a  global resource for contemporary independent documentary film, including  the Sundance Documentary Fund, Labs/Workshops and other support opportunities. The DFP advances innovative nonfiction storytelling about a broad range of contemporary social issues, and promotes the exhibition of documentary films to audiences.

Puerto Rico has a unique cultural richness that is recognized worldwide. However, the availability of independent films and foreign films was lacking on the Island until recently. The Puerto Rico Film Society, a not-for-profit organization dedicated establishing and educating audiences, has developed a plan to extend the dialogue about films outside of the metropolitan area of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico was ripe for Film Forward! Sundance Institute Director of Programming Trevor Groth and I landed on Tuesday, June 21, and went straight from the airport to the opening remarks for Film Forward Puerto Rico and introduction of Last Train Home. We arrived at the beautiful Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico and literally had to fight our way through the crowds, who had gathered earlier for the opening reception, into the theatre. As we made our way upstream, I was thrilled to see so many people doing exactly what we were: fighting their way to get into a 400-seat theatre, but without any idea of just how many of us there were.