Category: News

With support from the GRAMMY Museum, Sundance Institute has digitized more than 700 audio and video recordings, pages of sheet music, photographs, and other documents from the early days of its Film Music Program—including seminal work in independent film composition from as early as the 1980s.
A few highlights of the catalogued items include a 1987 recording of a conversation with Brave Little Toaster composer David Newman and director Jerry Rees, and 1988 video of a panel on the philosophy and methods of composing for low-budget films, among many other gems. The project also uncovered correspondence with Robert Redford regarding the founding of the Film Music Program, as well as early newsletters and reports that give insight into the successes and challenges of the program’s beginnings.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has selected 10 original independent pilots for holistic support at its fourth annual Episodic Lab. With topics ranging from awkward family dynamics to the rippling-effect of crime on a community, the scope of this year’s projects, and the diverse backgrounds of their creators, speaks to the Institute’s broad and visionary support of the episodic format; the Episodic Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round support program for emerging television writers.Beginning with the Lab, Fellows will benefit from customized, ongoing support from Feature Film Program staff, Creative Advisors and Industry Mentors, led by Founding Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, Michelle Satter, and Senior Manager of the Episodic Program, Jennifer Goyne Blake.

Three artists created a future Los Angeles as part of the Sundance Institute New Frontier World Building Residency. Join the artists for a presentation of their project on Wednesday, October 4, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.

Before you decide to embark on making a documentary — a process that often takes years, drains your savings, and tries the patience of your friends and family — ask yourself this simple not-so-simple question: Does your film want to get made?

That’s one of the questions filmmaker and Stanford professor Jan Krawitz urged the crowd of would-be filmmakers to consider at the Sundance Institute/Knight Foundation Documentary Workshop at the Hammer Theatre in San Jose, CA, this past August.

Before you shoot even a minute of film, consider, Krowitz suggested, “Does this want to be a film? Not an article? A dance? A painting?”

Krowitz was onstage having a conversation with Richard Ray Perez, the Sundance Institute’s Director of Creative Partnerships, Documentary Film Program before a screening of Perez’s 2014 film Cesar’s Last Fast. The hundred or so guests at the Hammer listened in and asked questions as Perez explained how he discovered that Last Fast, the dramatic story of Latino labor rights activist Cesar Chavez’s dramatic final act of consciousness-raising, was, most definitely, a film.

Los Angeles, CA — A diverse range of projects and artists on the frontlines of nonfiction storytelling received nearly $2 million in grants from Sundance Institute, furthering their work across a broad array of subjects and forms.

Works originate in 26 countries and six continents, and teams include Academy Award© nominees (Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar, Richard Rowley, Jon Else and David France), and first-time feature filmmakers (Cody Lucich, Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas, Nadia Shihab, Bing Liu, T Cooper, Sandi Tan, Hana Mire, Jon Kasbe, Jonathan Bogarín, Elan Bogarín and Paula Eiselt). Funding for audience engagement goes to series including The Keepers and films such as The Force, Sembene! and The Death and Life of Marsha P.

Tearrance Chisholm

Chico Colvard

Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.

Reinaldo Marcus Green

Paola Lázaro

Jhane Myers

Jesi Nelson

Shawn Peters

Tayarisha Poe

Sharyn Steele

Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Los Angeles, CA — Eleven diverse independent artists have been selected to receive support
from the 2017
Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship. These Fellowships and
accompanying grants are part of the non-profit Institute’s year-round efforts to discover and support
independent artists from diverse backgrounds in getting their work made and seen by a wide audience.

New York, NY — Five theatre directors are slated for the fifth Sundance Institute | LUMA
Foundation Theatre
Directors Retreat
, which convenes in Arles, France, August 25 through September 7. The Retreat is one
of 24
residencies and Labs the Institute hosts annually across the world, and is an integral part of the Theatre
Program’s ongoing engagement with global theatremakers.

The retreat, the only director-centered residency of its kind, comprises 14 days of rigorous creative
interchange.

In recognition of her singular filmmaking vision, Dee Rees accepted the Sundance Institute Vanguard Award presented by Acura last night to round out the weekend at NEXT FEST. An alumni of the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Rees made her directorial debut with “Pariah” at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and returned this year with “Mudbound,” arriving in theaters later this year. With last week’s tragedy in Charlottesville providing yet another glaring reminder of our country’s ongoing fight against hate and discrimination, Rees powerfully and poignantly reminded us that we have work to do, and that we’re more than capable of it.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Program will convene in the mountains of Utah July 31 – August 6, including 11 feature film and documentary filmmakers participating in the weeklong Creative Producing Labs and more than 90 independent filmmakers and industry leaders gathering for the three-day Creative Producing Summit.The Institute’s Creative Producing Program champions the current and next generation of producers, supporting creative vision and best practices from development through distribution in an evolving ecosystem. Across both scripted and nonfiction storytelling from the US and globally, the program provides an unparalleled array of support systems including immersive Labs, the annual Summit, year-round mentorship, granting, financing education and matchmaking, distribution education and opportunities, and network and community building.

Los Angeles, CA — World premiere music videos, conversations between film legends and up-and-coming creatives and three female comedians have been added to the lineup for Sundance NEXT FEST, August 10-13 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. They join music acts like Lizzo, Electric Guest and Sleigh Bells, the Los Angeles premieres of some of the Sundance Film Festival’s most talked-about films and NEXT FEST After Dark, Presented by Acura, featuring a 25th anniversary screening of Reservoir Dogs on restored 35mm and ceremony honoring Quentin Tarantino. More info, tickets ($15-35) and ticket packages are at sundance.

Detractors will have you believe Los Angeles is a town too sprawling, too disconnected, too eternally vain to become a whole – let alone argue whether that whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Au contraire! Sundance NEXT FEST, our summer film and music festival eschews Eastside vs Westside, Beach vs Valley, and 405 vs 101 in favor of convening our collective stories and soundtracks at the heavily air conditioned Theatre at Ace Hotel DTLA for a weekend in sweltering August.
Direct from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, these movies make their LA debuts alongside comedic and musical performances and Q&As moderated by special guests.

Park City, Utah — With exactly six months until Day One of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute today detailed a standalone Episodic section, the return of ‘The New Climate’ strand of environmental work and a new award. Feature film, short film, episodic and Virtual Reality submissions are now being accepted via Withoutabox, with early deadlines beginning August 7; more information about submissions and deadlines is at sundance.org/submit.