Category: Press Release

Updates from the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs

Dear family and friends,
Nearly a year ago, we announced our Respond and Reimagine Fund, which dedicated a million dollars in grants to artists and organizations impacted by the pandemic, with priority support for BIPOC artists and organizations that have been disproportionately affected. In the difficult months since then, the resilience, collective action, and creativity of the independent artist community have continued to inspire us, as they persisted despite adversity.
Submissions to the Sundance Institute’s labs and granting programs have been steady — in some cases, they’re higher than ever — and we recognize the ongoing urgency of providing creative and financial support to artists making new work during a time of great difficulty.

Read More »

Announcing the 2021 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive Fellows

We’re thrilled to announce the 11 screenwriters selected to participate in Sundance Institute’s ninth annual Screenwriters Intensive, taking place digitally on March 4–5, 2021. The Intensive is a two-day workshop for emerging independent writers and writer/directors developing their first fiction features. This cohort of artists from traditionally underrepresented communities will have the opportunity to interrogate their stories and refine their artistic practice, all under the guidance of established writers and the Institute’s Feature Film Program, led by me and the program’s Founding Director, Michelle Satter.

Read More »

12 Sundance Institute–Supported Projects from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival

Back in 2015, writer-director Christopher Makoto Yogi was one of eight filmmakers who spent several weeks of their summer at the Sundance Resort for the Sundance Institute’s annual Directors Lab. Under the guidance of creative advisors like Joshua Marston, Miguel Arteta, Kasi Lemmons, and the late Lynn Shelton, Makoto Yogi was there to work on I Was a Simple Man, a ghost story set in the pastoral countryside of the north shore of Oahu, Hawai’i.
Nearly six years later, at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Makoto Yogi’s film had its world premiere, along with 11 other projects that were directly supported by the nonprofit Institute’s various labs, grants, and programs.

Read More »
Default missing

2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Audience Attendance

Park City, UT —The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced attendance information for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which took place both online and in-person in 20 cities across the country from January 28 through February 3. The seven day Festival reached a total audience 2.7 times larger than at the typical 11-day Utah edition, despite the shorter duration and with fewer feature films (73) than the festival’s typical 120 features.

Read More »
Default missing

2021 Sundance Film Festival Awards Announced

Park City, UT — After six days and 73 feature films, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place tonight, hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, with jurors presenting 24 prizes for feature filmmaking and seven for short films. Honorees, named in total below, represent new achievements in global independent storytelling. Bold, intimate, and humanizing stories prevailed across categories, with Grand Jury Prizes awarded to CODA (U.

Read More »
Default missing

2021 Sundance Film Festival: Juries Announced

Park City, UT — 22 celebrated voices across film, art and culture will bestow this year’s awards to feature-length and short film at the Sundance Film Festival, at a digital ceremony taking place February 2nd. This year’s Festival is fully available online at Festival.Sundance.

Read More »
Default missing

Sundance ’21 Goes Beyond Film

PARK CITY, UTAH — The lineup for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, taking place on a Sundance-built and feature-rich online platform, goes well beyond feature and short films, episodic work and the VR/XR of New Frontier — it also encompasses a curated program of free special events, conversations and activations available to the global public. These Talks & Events, presented on the Sundance platform, include our new Opening Ceremony, Sundance Dailies, and The Big Conversation series, trademark gatherings at Cinema Café and the Power of Story, Awards Night and the concluding It’s a Wrap session. Additional partner programming will take place in a bustling digital Festival Village, which includes Main Street, Satellite Screens, and the Artist Lounge.

Read More »
Default missing

2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Additional Films

Park City, UT — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today adds two more world premiere feature films to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival lineup. The 2021 Festival will take place digitally via a feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform and in person on Satellite Screens across the country (public health permitting) from January 28-February 3, 2021. Tickets for these additions are now on sale at festival.

Read More »
Default missing

2021 screenwriters lab fellows

PARK CITY, UTAH — Fifteen emerging storytellers from Chile, India, Kenya, Tunisia and the U.S. will convene digitally for Sundance Institute’s January Screenwriters Lab, taking place online via Sundance Co//ab from January 11–15, 2021.

Read More »