Having just returned from watching the run-throughs of two new music theatre pieces in development at a Sundance Theatre Lab, as well as having watched a number of films which will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival next month, I am reminded of the role that artists play in our society. Where else but the arts does one find story-telling for adults that draws upon history and politics while remembering the importance of both beauty and humor.

How fortunate we are at the Sundance Institute to be able to nurture artists who see themselves as full participants in their own times. In conversation with the playwright Doug Wright he said that he was attracted to stories about people on the fringe of society because it is in the most eccentric examples of the human species that we may find the most enduring truths about the human condition. The common thread between the new plays and the new films I have been watching is their determination to find truth and to deliver it to the audience in a voice that is authentic. Whether we choose to incorporate the information into our future actions will be our own decision but the artists have generously given us the opportunity to see ourselves reflected, and that may their greatest gift.

	Ken Brecher Executive Director, Sundance Institute

82 Short Films Complete 2005 Festival Line Up
With the Institute’s announcement of the Festival’s short film program, the full scope of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival was made public. U.S. and international filmmakers submitted 3,887 short films, and Festival programmers selected 82 films to show at the Festival, which runs January 20-30 in Park City. The final shorts program includes narrative, documentary, and animated films with run times of 30 minutes or less.

“Short films have always had an important role in cinema and at Sundance,” said John Cooper, the Festival’s director of programming. “New technologies have made filmmaking more accessible, and short films have become an epicenter for some of the most creative work being done today. We tell people looking to find the next generation of filmmakers that they should pay special attention to our shorts programs.”

At the ’05 Festival, shorts will be presented before select feature-length films, as part of six shorts-only programs, and two shorts by Native filmmakers will be shown together as a Special Screening. Many of the short films will be accessible to audiences in Park City and around the world through the newly re-conceived Sundance Online Film Festival at www.sundance.org. A jury will award prizes in American Short Filmmaking and International Short Filmmaking. Full Shorts Program

The Egyptian Theatre on Park City’s Main Street is one of eight Festival theatres in which audiences will experience short and feature-length films during the ’05 Festival.

On-site and Online: SOFF is the Festival’s New Media Venue
When curious film-lovers and fans of new media log on to the Sundance Online Film Festival (SOFF), which goes live on January 20, they will gain access to some of the most innovative work being made for the Web. Located at www.sundance.org, the Online Festival runs through June, 2005 and new content will be posted monthly. As part of the Festival’s Frontier section, SOFF will present five distinct works from an international group of artists. To create these pieces, each of these artists has utilized creative applications of Web technologies that allow for substantive innovations in the visual and narrative elements of storytelling that can essentially change the ways in which viewers experience the art works. Full Story

	How to Bow, from Nora Krug, is one of the five new media pieces presented by the Online Festival.
	Maya Churi’s Forest Grove traces a boy’s journey through the swimming pools of suburbia.

Insider Goes Daily at the Festival
During the Festival, the Insider will take on a new role as a daily newspaper designed to help audiences navigate the many facets of the Festival. With up-to-date schedule and transportation information, live coverage of panels and events, stories that focus on inde film trends, and behind-the-scenes tales of how Festival films were made, the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Daily News is the official news and information source for Festivalgoers. The Daily Insider will be distributed at all official Festival venues, and will also be available on the Sundance Online Film Festival at www.sundance.org. The monthly Email Insider will not appear in January, but will return in February with a full issue of Institute news.

Leading Playwrights Develop Musical Works at White Oak Lab
Playwrights Doug Wright and Terrence McNally, along with their teams of directors, musicians, and casts, recently spent two weeks at the White Oak Plantation in Yulee, Florida, as fellows in the Institute’s annual Theatre Lab at White Oak. Created as an extension of the Institute’s annual Theatre Lab in Utah, the program at White Oak is designed to support ensemble theatre work and innovative musical theatre. The Lab is a collaborative effort of the Institute’s Theatre Program and the Howard Gilman Foundation. Full Story

NHK Finalists announced
Sundance and the Japanese Broadcasting Company recently announced twelve filmmakers as finalists for the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award. Offering a cash prize and broadcast distribution in Japan, the Award provides assistance to filmmakers in four global regions – Europe, Latin America, Japan, and the U.S. Three finalists from each of the regions are considered for the Award, and an international jury selects the four winning filmmakers. Full article

Life After the Labs
Seven projects recently supported by the Institute’s Feature Film Program will premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and two others are lauded with Gotham Awards and nominations for Independent Spirit Awards. Full article.

In anticipation of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Patron Circle members are looking forward to a series of Festival-related events in LA, New York, and Park City.

In the coming weeks, intimate gatherings in Los Angeles and New York will give Patron Circle members the rare opportunity to hear from Sundance programmers about Festival highlights. At the Festival, the Patron Circle will host a private reception for members to meet Festival filmmakers, as well as Institute trustees and program directors.

The Sundance Institute’s Patron Circle is a donor group that shares the Institute’s commitment to the development of artists and projects of independent vision. Events are by invitation only. For more information, please contact patroncircle@sundance.org.

Documentary Series Presents Surprise Park City Screening in January
The 2004-2005 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series offers a surprise for filmgoers on January 6 when it presents a free preview screening of a film that will be shown during the 2005 Festival.

Launched in November, the free monthly screening series presents a selection of noteworthy documentaries that have been shown at the Sundance Film Festival in recent years. A variety of special guests such as filmmakers, critics, and subjects of the films, are on hand after each screening for open forum discussions.

Screenings begin at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month through June, 2005, in the Jim Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library, 1255 Park Avenue. Tickets or reservations are not required. The series is part of the Institute’s Arts & Audiences Utah Initiative and is generously supported by the Summit County Recreation, Arts, and Parks Program.