Creative Documentary Labs

The Documentary Film Program hosts three creative Labs each summer at the Sundance Resort in Utah. The Documentary Film Labs are invitation-only and participants are selected from the pool of active DFP grantees generally nearing or in advanced stages of postproduction. Participants are encouraged to experiment and take risks in moving their projects forward by working with Creative Advisors, Fellows, and staff in the secluded Utah mountains.

Edit and Story Lab

The Documentary Edit and Story Lab supports the creative development of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund filmmaker teams in critical moments of the postproduction process. This intensive week brings together five projects, with six Advisors and Sundance Institute staff to address current challenges in their work and support creative risk-taking around issues of story, dramatic structure, and character development.Participants meet daily with four established editors and two directors to discuss the film and evolving rough cuts.

Documentaries ranging from Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Trouble the Water to Laura Poitras' The Oath to Ross Kaufman and Zana Briski's Born into Brothels are among the 375 films that have been supported by the Labs. Click here to learn more about all the past Fellows.

Film Composers and Documentary Lab

The Film Composers and Documentary Lab is a joint lab between the Institute's Documentary Film and Film Music Programs. Each summer, this weeklong Lab offers documentary filmmakers and emerging film music composers the creative opportunity to work together and concentrate on an important and under-developed component of documentary storytelling. Click to learn more about the Composers Lab and past participants including Natalia Almada, Farid Haerinejad, and Mohammad Reza Kazemi.

Creative Producing Lab: Documentary

The Creative Producing Lab: Documentary was conceived to develop and support the next generation of independent documentary producers. In August 2009, four emerging Documentary Producer Fellows participated in the inaugural Lab, which led directly into the Creative Producer's Summit. Fellows worked with Creative Advisors, including Pat Mitchell, Tia Lessin, and Jennifer Fox over the course of the Lab. The Lab is by invitation only and its goal is to develop and support those producers who will go on to produce multiple projects beyond the scope of their own directorial efforts. Learn more about the Creative Producing Lab.