The Latest
#Sundance40th: A Look at the Sundance Institute in the 2020s (So Far!)
Through our #Sundance40th series, we’re offering a decade-by-decade look back at the Sundance Institute’s first 40 years, celebrating the artists and projects that have been such a vital part of our history. And our story doesn’t end here: We need your help in supporting the storytellers of tomorrow. Donate now.
Sundance Institute Releases Independent Theater Study Conducted By Jesse Cameron Alick – Emerging From The Cave
Los Angeles, CA, August 4, 2021—In early 2021, nearly a year into a global pandemic, Sundance Institute commissioned Jesse Cameron Alick, the newly-appointed Associate Artistic Director for the Vineyard Theater in New York and past creator advisor to the Institute’s Theater Program, to launch an in-depth field study to hear directly from theater makers about the most urgent needs of artists and the field. The commission began as part of the Institute’s effort to re-imagine its own work in the field of theater and live performance. The report that resulted yielded the work published today: Emerging from the Cave: Reimagining Our Future in Theater and Live Performance, available at emergingfromthecave.
A New Convergence: Tabitha Jackson on Plans for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival
A message from Festival Director Tabitha Jackson on the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, scheduled for January 20–30, 2022.
Dear Friends,
This time last year, I wrote to share some early thoughts about how we were approaching my first Sundance Film Festival as director — and the first Sundance to be held in the midst of a pandemic.
Since 1985, artists and audiences have gathered at the Festival to affirm the transformative power of independent film and media.
Release Rundown: Sundance Films to Watch in August, from ‘CODA’ to ‘Bring Your Own Brigade’
Even before the 2021 Sundance Film Festival had ended, before the final screening had screened and all the awards bestowed, CODA, Sian Heder’s heartfelt film about a spunky teenager who is the only hearing member of her family, achieved crowd-pleaser status.
Following CODA’s online premiere, Variety pronounced it an “emotional knockout.” Hollywood Reporter called it a “radiant, deeply satisfying heartwarmer.
Sundance Institute Board of Trustees Announces Board Changes; Ebs Burnough Elected Chair
LOS ANGELES — The Sundance Institute Board of Trustees today announced that Ebs Burnough will serve as the nonprofit’s next Chair, Board of Trustees, starting in October 2021. Ebs was appointed as the Board’s Vice Chair in 2020, and he will succeed Pat Mitchell when her term as Chair expires in October 2021. She will continue on as a Trustee when Ebs assumes the role of Chair.
(Almost) Every Week: Join the Sundance Institute on Clubhouse for Club Cinema
It’s here — your chance to get up close and personal with some of the visionary storytellers behind your favorite Sundance Film Festival releases!
Earlier this month, we launched the first edition of Club Cinema, our Clubhouse conversation series with our friends at TheFutureParty, a daily newsletter that brings you the most meaningful business and culture news. Join us every week (usually at 10 a.m.
Sundance Institute Announces Inaugural Uprise Grant Fund Recipients Supporting BIPOC Artists
LOS ANGELES — As part of the nonprofit Sundance Institute’s continued commitment to supporting artists from historically excluded communities, the Institute announced today its latest grantees for both the Uprise Grant Fund and Arts Organization Grants. The Uprise Grant Fund supports BIPOC artists whose careers and creative development have been harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-eight U.
Sundance Institute and Adobe Announce 2021 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows
LOS ANGELES — The class of 2021 has arrived: The Sundance Institute and Adobe announced this year’s Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows today, chosen from a global pool of more than 1,650 applicants from ages 18–25. Hailing from a broad geography, and rooted in a diverse array of creative disciplines from documentary to fiction, these 10 emerging artists will engage with a year of mentorship and support from the Sundance Institute and Sundance Ignite founding partner Adobe.
Fellows were selected from a one- to 15-minute short film submitted to the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Short Film Challenge, hosted on the Institute’s digital community platform, Sundance Collab.
Sundance Institute Announces 10 Producers Lab Fellows, Summit Panelists and Conversations
Park City, Utah – Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its weeklong Producers Lab, taking place July 25 – 29, and the participants in the Producers Summit, August 2 – 5, both taking place digitally on Sundance Co//ab. Five fiction film and five nonfiction producers and their projects have been selected for the Producers Labs, and more than 50 industry leaders and 65 independent filmmakers will participate in the Producers Summit. Under the leadership of Creative Producing and Artist Support Director Shira Rockowitz and Documentary Film Program Deputy Director Kristin Feeley, the Institute’s Producers Program champions the current and next generation of producers across fiction and nonfiction film and encompasses a year-round series of Labs, Fellowships, granting and events.
Please Welcome: Phaedra Marshall, Chief Product Technology Officer
Earlier this year, we saw firsthand the key role technology plays in advancing our mission-critical work of connecting artists with audiences. With the newest addition to the senior leadership team, we’re cementing technological sophistication as a priority
in our ongoing work.
We’re thrilled to welcome Phaedra Marshall to the Sundance Institute family as Chief Product and Technology Officer.
Women’s Financing Intensive from WIF & Sundance Institute Elevates 12 Feature Projects with Tailored Support
LOS ANGELES – The Sundance Institute and WIF (Women In Film, Los Angeles) today announce the projects and creators selected for the annual WIF and Sundance Institute Financing Intensive. The Intensive is designed to help women producers—fiction and documentary—build
the skills and relationships necessary to advance a feature-length project to the next stage of financing success.
On July 14–15, producers and their attached directors participate in small group workshops focused on both pitching and financing strategy, and professional skills development.
Laugh Out Loud and Sundance Institute Announce Women Write Now Screenwriting Fellowship
LOS ANGELES—Today, Laugh Out Loud, the multi-platform comedy brand founded by Kevin Hart, and the Sundance Institute, the nonprofit film organization behind the Sundance Film Festival and labs, announced the launch of Women Write Now, a screenwriting fellowship designed to champion the next generation of Black women in comedy. Through mentorship, advocacy, production, and exhibition, this immersive program will offer a selection of talented writers the opportunity to receive one-on-one mentorship and professional guidance from leading Black women in comedy and to see their original comedic screenplay produced by LOL Studios.
In an effort to bring visibility and opportunity to Black women both in front of and behind the camera, LOL has brought on Meagan Good (The Intruder, Think Like a Man), Bresha Webb (Run the World), and Gabrielle Dennis (A Black Lady Sketch Show), who will each step behind the camera as director of one of the short films.
Now Playing: Jakub Piątek on His Claustrophobic, Y2K-Set Thriller “Prime Time”
As Warsaw-based director Jakub Piątek tells it, shooting his debut feature — a thriller set in the late 1990s with the threat of Y2K looming — during the COVID-19 pandemic felt somewhat fitting. “Our story is claustrophobic, and our protagonists are locked in a TV studio for a couple of hours,” says the director. “After the lockdown, the actors and crew could easily get into that emotional space.
Perspectives: Artists Doane Avery and Jamie John on Pride, Visibility, and Living in the In-Between
On behalf of the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program, we would like to wish everyone a safe, affirming, and happy Pride — not just this month, but every day until our Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community members have the space and opportunity to exist fully and authentically. We also encourage allies to support and center Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQIA+ stories and voices.
As Pride becomes increasingly commodified, we want to affirm the queer and gender-diverse Indigenous people who for the last five centuries have remained steadfast in challenging the imposition of this rigid binary system through their art, their activism, and their existence.
Announcing the 2021 Sundance Institute Accessible Futures Intensive Fellows
The Sundance Institute is thrilled to resume the Accessible Futures Initiative in 2021 as a virtual intensive. Created in 2019, the intensive is part of the Sundance Institute’s ongoing commitment to deepening outreach to and support of artists with disabilities, including amplifying accessibility at the Sundance Film Festival with guidance and support of our partners at Easterseals Southern California and implementing all-staff accessibility inclusion trainings provided by RespectAbility. The 2021 Intensive will take the shape of a cross-genre project consultation and career strategy workshop for artists of color, with disabilities, in the development or early production of fiction and nonfiction projects.