Category: News

Meet the 2021 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees

Los Angeles — The Sundance Institute today announced the latest cohort of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees. A total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support has been provided to 18 projects in various stages including five in development, eight in production, and five in post-production. Grants are made possible by The Open Society Foundations, the John D.

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Young white woman in cap, gray hoodie and red protective trousers holds onto a rope while apparently sitting in a boat

Sundance Institute Keeps It Local This Summer with For the Locals Screenings

PARK CITY, UTAH — Sundance Institute shared details of their live, free summer events slate today, with screenings and collaborative engagements across a wide range of events in Park City and Salt Lake County, an invigoration of the organization’s deep local roots. For the Locals events will include a weekend-long film program and a series of partnerships across organizations such as Arts Council Park City + Summit County, Ballet West, Christian Center of Park City, Craft Lake City, Dragonfli Media, Park City Film, Salt Lake City Arts Council, THE BLOCKS and Utah Film Center.
The focal point of the Institute’s summer For the Locals program will be the weekend of July 14–17.

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Perspectives: “Cousins” Directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith on Making Films — and Making History

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program would like to recognize the Indigenous Asian and Pacific Islander storytellers who have contributed to examining and extolling the richness of Indigenous Asian and Pacific Islander diasporas in their work. Essential to this is the critical examination of the AAPI label. While the term can be mobilized for coalition building, it can also conflate and erase the unique histories and experiences of Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

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In Focus: Stephen Gong on Transforming Equity in Storytelling Across Platforms

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize the long line of visionary storytellers who have contributed to the independent film canon over the years — and an opportunity to underline the richness and diversity of Asian diasporas in the United States. To celebrate the month, we introduced a new series called In Focus, in which we turn the spotlight on our friends at AAPI-led arts organizations around the country. In previous editions, we talked to Visual Communications’ Francis Cullado and Pacific Islanders in Communications’ Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer; this week, we close out the month with Stephen Gong from the Center for Asian American Media.

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In Focus: Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer on Preserving Pacific Heritage Through the Language of Multimedia

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize the long line of visionary storytellers who have contributed to the independent film canon over the years — and an opportunity to underline the richness and diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander diasporas in the United States. To celebrate the month, we’re introducing a new series called In Focus, in which we turn the spotlight on our friends at AAPI-led arts organizations around the country. Last week, we kicked things off chatting with Visual Communications’ Francis Cullado, and this week, we’re back with Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer, executive director of Pacific Islanders in Communications.

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In Focus: Francis Cullado on Building Solidarity Inside and Outside of the “AAPI” Label

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize the long line of visionary storytellers who have contributed to the independent film canon over the years—and an opportunity to underline the richness and diversity of Asian diasporas in the United States. To celebrate the month, we’re introducing a new series called In Focus, in which we turn the spotlight on our friends at AAPI-led arts organizations around the country, and we’re kicking things off chatting with Francis Cullado, executive director of the Los Angeles–based nonprofit Visual Communications.
Founded in 1970 as a filmmaking collective, Visual Communications was the first U.

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2021 Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition

Sundance Film Festival: Asia presented by XRM Media and fully supported by IDN Media is proud to announce a Short Film Competition sponsored by Argo as part of the Festival. Argo is a streaming platform and global curator of short films. The competition is open to Indonesian filmmakers and aims to discover, nurture and bring attention to emerging talents who are within the territory to a global platform.

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2021 Sundance Episodic Fellows

Los Angeles — Sundance Institute announced today the 21 Fellows across 18 projects completing its first-ever multi-track Episodic Lab, designed as an immersive two-part experience hosted on Sundance Collab. This year, Fellows were divided into either the Idea to Pilot Track, in which they developed an original pilot from a nascent early idea to a completed original polished draft, or the Series Track, in which they workshop an existing original pilot and develop a professional series pitch to sell. This structural evolution of the Lab emerged in dialogue with the rapidly shifting ecosystem of the industry, including scaling demand for fresh content across networks, streamers, and platforms.

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17 Coming-of-Age Films to Watch During Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

From 1980s rural Arkansas (Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari) to Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood (Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night) to 1910s Hawaii (Kayo Hatta’s Picture Bride)
and beyond, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander filmmakers have covered
a lot of ground over the years.
To celebrate these filmmakers and their
work during
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States (and Asian Heritage Month
in Canada!), we’ve dipped into our archives to put together a list of
coming-of-age stories and intergenerational family dramas that have
played the Sundance Film Festival or gone through Sundance Institute
programs over the years.
In this genre-spanning (but certainly not exhaustive) list, you’ll find LGBTQ+ romances, heartfelt dramas, immigrant stories, and so much more.

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Save the Date! The 2022 Sundance Film Festival Is Set for Jan. 20–30

We can’t wait to return to Park City, Salt Lake City — and beyond — for next year’s Sundance Film Festival. The 2022 Festival will take place in person and online January 20–30. We are in the process of designing a safe and accessible Festival where our audiences and artists can come together to celebrate and discover new work, and each other.

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Sundance Institute Names 20 Fellows Across Feature Film Directors and Screenwriters Labs, Native Lab

PARK CITY, UTAH — The Sundance Institute today named the artists and projects selected for the first group of the upcoming signature summer Labs including 12 fellows for the Directors and Screenwriters Labs and 9 fellows participating in the Native Lab (one fellow will participate in both Labs). The Labs provide a space for writers and directors to spend time developing their craft and selected projects. Elements of this year’s Labs will take place digitally via Sundance Collab.

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2021 Sundance Film Festival: London to Take Place 29 July–1 August at Picturehouse Central

LONDON—The Sundance Institute and Picturehouse Cinemas are delighted to announce that Sundance Film Festival: London will return to Picturehouse Central for its sixth year from 29 July to 1 August 2021, as an in-person event. The Festival will once more welcome filmmakers to present their work to cinema audiences, with this year’s programme promising to include upwards of 12 features, panel discussions, Q+As and special guest appearances. The Festival opens with the UK premiere of Edgar Wright’s debut documentary The Sparks Brothers, a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron and Russell Mael.

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