Park City, UT– Sundance Institute announced today that Sydney Freeland, with her project, Drunktown’s Finest, has been named the 2010 George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation Directors Lab Fellow. Freeland is attending the 2010 Sundance Institute June Directors Lab at the Sundance Resort, June 1 – 12, 2010.
The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation has provided significant funding over the past two decades for the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film and Theatre Programs. The Foundation’s support has enabled theatre and filmmaking fellows to nurture their independent vision and expand their storytelling skills at the Institute’s summer labs. Located in the shadows of Mount Timpanogos, the Labs draw on the transformative atmosphere of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains to support emerging artists and give them room to take risks and push boundaries. The funding of the Eccles Foundation supports one residency at a Lab. Past recipients of the Eccles Foundation fellowship have included, Darci Picoult (Lil’s 90th) and Andrew MacLean (On the Ice).
Freeland will work with a group of Creative Advisors on shooting, editing, and writing key scenes from her script, Drunktown’s Finest: a feature-length film about three Native Americans —a rebellious father-to-be, a devout Christian, and a promiscuous transsexual—who find their self-images challenged, and ultimately strengthened, as they come of age on an Indian reservation. Born and raised in New Mexico, Sydney Freeland is a 2009 Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow, a 2008 Disney Fellowship semi-finalist, and a 2007 Disney Scholarship recipient. She has an MFA in film and a BFA in computer animation. Freeland received a Fulbright scholarship in 2004 for a field study of indigenous peoples in Ecuador. She currently splits her time between Los Angeles and New Mexico.
In addition to the Eccles Foundation, Sundance Institute gratefully acknowledges support from Director’s Guild of America, SAGIndie/Screen Actors Guild, and Writer’s Guild of America, West; Sheila C. Johnson and Stephen Denkers Willard Eccles Foundation; and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, B.Co., Cinereach Ltd. , The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The James Irvine Foundation, and Time Warner Inc. for their generous support of the 2010 Feature Film Program.
The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation is dedicated to serving the people of the State of Utah by carrying forth the philanthropic interests and goals of its founders. The Foundation supports projects and programs that have the potential to make a significant difference in bettering Utah’s communities and enriching the quality of life of its citizens.
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don’t Cry and Born into Brothels.
