Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will host Sundance NEXT FEST August 7-9, 2015, for the second year at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The weekend-long summer festival celebrates the renegade spirit of independent artists by pairing five new independent films with either a special music act that shares a complementary artistic sensibility or conversations between the filmmakers and those who inspired them.
This will mark the festival’s third year in Los Angeles. Highlights of last year include the premiere of Life After Beth with a solo acoustic performance by Father John Misty, a screening of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night with a live performance by Warpaint, and a screening of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter followed by a conversation between the filmmakers and Werner Herzog. Sundance NEXT FEST is an extension of the Sundance Film Festival’s popular NEXT section, which has launched films including Obvious Child, Compliance, Appropriate Behavior, Tangerine and Escape from Tomorrow.
The Sundance Film Festival programming staff will select films and music acts for Sundance NEXT FEST, with the films primarily drawn from selections for the most recent Festival. The program will be announced this summer, and tickets will go on sale then. More information at sundance.org/next. Sundance Institute members will have special access to Sundance NEXT FEST; join at sundance.org/membership.
The Theatre at Ace Hotel is a delicate restoration of the 1,600-seat United Artists Theater, built in the 1920s for the Maverick Film Studio founded by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W Griffith and Charles Chaplin. Designed by C. Howard Crane, the Theatre is a shrine to the arts, with a three-story, 2,300-square-foot grand lobby, an ornate open balcony and mezzanine, vaulted ceiling and richly colored murals depicting the legends of film’s Golden Age, immortalized in mythic attire.
Sundance NEXT FEST supporters to date include: Principal Sponsor – Acura, Major Sponsor – Kickstarter; and Supporting Sponsors – Beachside Films, Dolby, FilmL.A., Inc., ShopHouse, Southwest Airlines, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and the Utah Film Commission.
Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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Editor’s note: For images, visit http://press.sundance.org/press?page=1&q=next+fest. Press that wish to attend and cover NEXT FEST should visit http://www.sundance.org/about/press for more information.
