Category: News

The Jordanian desert hills, a storybook setting in itself, provides a perfect backdrop for storytellers to gather. The RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab took place earlier this month in Jordan. The lab is an initiative of the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, and this year, one of the fellows is Haifaa Al-Mansour.

Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the seven projects chosen to participate in the fifth annual RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab run by the Royal Film Commission in consultation with Sundance Institute, to be held in Jordan from October 3-7, 2009. An initiative of the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, the RAWI (an Arabic word that means storyteller) Middle East Screenwriters Lab, is part of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program which supports emerging filmmakers from around the world.
Launched in 2005, the RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished Creative Advisors in an environment that encourages storytelling at the highest level.

Park City, UT – An advocacy documentary can be measured by its ability to bring an unrecognized issue to glaring illumination and to inspire a filmgoer to take on the cause as one of their own. The 2009 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner The Cove managed to do both to such an extent that last month, the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan began very differently from previous years. Sundance Institute returns to Park City the part-spy thriller, part-exposé documentary, The Cove, on Wednesday, October 7th at 7:00 p.

PARK CITY, UTAH – Ticket passes and ticket packages registration for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival is open! The Festival will take place January 21-31, 2010 with screenings and events in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Registration for individual tickets will occur in November.
Festival goers should visit: http://festival.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Sundance Institute announced today the projects chosen to participate in its annual Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak. The two projects selected for this season’s Lab are Like Water for Chocolate, a musical adaptation of the best-selling 1989 novel by Mexican author Laura Esquivel composed by Lila Downs and Paul R. Cohen with book by Quiara Alegria Hudes; and Little Miss Sunshine, a musical adaptation of the popular 2006 film by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris with music and lyrics by William Finn, and book and direction by James Lapine.

Los Angeles – Sundance Institute announced today the expansion of its Theatre Program with two new labs: the first to be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) from March 28-April 11, 2010, and the second to be held on New York’s Governors Island from May 23-June 6, 2010. The labs are two-week developmental retreats designed to provide private, creative environments for playwrights, directors, composers and librettists to devise new work with the support of dramaturgs and full casts. Participants will be chosen from an open submission process.

PARK CITY – The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will feature NEXT, a new section featuring six to eight films selected for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking. Festival Director John Cooper made the announcement today, citing the desire to discover and promote filmmakers forging new ways to tell their stories, limited by resources but uninhibited by creativity. Presented by the non-profit Sundance Institute, the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 21 – 31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Park City, UT – On Sept. 10, Sundance Institute will explore issues of human rights and asylum with a free screening of Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter, a film about one Malian woman’s journey to protect her daughter.

Los Angeles, CA – Today, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announced documentary film projects to receive grant awards and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Fund. A record number of proposal submissions were received and considered for this round, totaling close to 900 applicants working in 61 countries. 15 feature documentary films in either development or in production/post-production will receive awards.

NEW YORK – The Sundance Institute will receive a $5 million grant for its Documentary Film Program to help raise awareness on human rights, the Open Society Institute announced today.
“Films can play a powerful role in inspiring action on human rights, justice, accountability, and other open society issues,” said Aryeh Neier, president of the Open Society Institute. “The Sundance Institute’s work helps filmmakers shed light on the most pressing challenges of our time.

Los Angeles, CA — Today, Sundance Institute announced the six musicians selected for the 2009 Sundance Institute Composers Lab, which runs from July 15 – July 29 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. This year’s Composers Lab Fellows are Kim Carroll, Chanda Dancy, Magda Giannikou, Lili Haydn, Christopher Lord, and David Poe. The selected composers bring an eclectic range of talent to the two-week lab, which focuses on the process of writing music for film with the support and guidance of the industry’s leading film composers and film music professionals.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Sundance Institute announced today the expansion of its Creative Producing Initiative designed to nurture emerging independent producers in both narrative and documentary fields. For 2009-2010, the Initiative will include the re-conceived Creative Producing Summit (formerly the Independent Producers Conference), the Creative Producing Lab supporting six Fellows from the Feature Film Program and, new for this year, four from the Documentary Film Program, as well as Sundance Industry Meetings to connect filmmakers with industry members at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
The Creative Producing Initiative is designed to support producers with project-specific support through Labs, grants, and long-term advisor relationships and to also reinvigorate dialogue within the independent producing community.