The Latest
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.
Watch This: Nearly 30 Years Later, Filmmakers Reflect on the Birth of New Queer Cinema
During the 1992 Sundance Film Festival, scholar and critic B. Ruby Rich took the stage in Park City to host a panel discussion that delved into an important chapter in independent film history that was just then unfolding. Assembled for the conversation — titled “Barbed-Wire Kisses” by the Festival’s then-director, Alberto Garcia — were preeminent artists and writers like Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien, Tom Kalin, Jennie Livingston, Marlon Riggs, Sadie Benning, and Lisa Kennedy.
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.
Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund Adjusts Application, Adds Assistance to Artists with Disabilities
For more than 20 years now, the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund has supported the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe. Previous recipients have included projects like Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s Crip Camp, Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, and Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons. This year, as we open our latest call for applicants, the fund’s director, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, is writing to explain some recent changes to the process.
Release Rundown: What to Watch in July, from “Summer Of Soul” to “Summertime”
ICYMI, the Sundance Institute teamed up with TheFutureParty recently to launch Club Cinema, a new series on Clubhouse where audiences are invited to hear directly from the creators of their favorite new releases — and maybe even ask a question of their own. More details here!
During Summertime’s world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — during the peak of a snowy Park City, Utah, winter — writer-director Carlos Lopez Estrada called his free-verse love letter to Los Angeles a “miracle movie.” “We basically sold the movie on a three-sentence pitch,” he remarked of the communal project, which weaves together the stories of more than 30 disparate characters in a loose, roving, Slacker-esque narrative style over the course of a hot summer day.
Don’t Miss These 16 Sundance-Supported Projects at This Year’s Tribeca Film Festival
The 20th annual Tribeca Film Festival kicks off in New York today, bringing back in-person screenings at venues around the city. We’re excited to see 16 Sundance Institute–supported projects in the lineup, and we can’t wait for the chance to see them on the big screen. (Not in NYC? Not a problem — the festival is also offering $15-per-title Tribeca at Home virtual screenings for select titles.
Meet the 2021 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees
Los Angeles — The Sundance Institute today announced the latest cohort of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees. A total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support has been provided to 18 projects in various stages including five in development, eight in production, and five in post-production. Grants are made possible by The Open Society Foundations, the John D.
Sundance Institute Keeps It Local This Summer with For the Locals Screenings
PARK CITY, UTAH — Sundance Institute shared details of their live, free summer events slate today, with screenings and collaborative engagements across a wide range of events in Park City and Salt Lake County, an invigoration of the organization’s deep local roots. For the Locals events will include a weekend-long film program and a series of partnerships across organizations such as Arts Council Park City + Summit County, Ballet West, Christian Center of Park City, Craft Lake City, Dragonfli Media, Park City Film, Salt Lake City Arts Council, THE BLOCKS and Utah Film Center.
The focal point of the Institute’s summer For the Locals program will be the weekend of July 14–17.
Perspectives: “Cousins” Directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith on Making Films — and Making History
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program would like to recognize the Indigenous Asian and Pacific Islander storytellers who have contributed to examining and extolling the richness of Indigenous Asian and Pacific Islander diasporas in their work. Essential to this is the critical examination of the AAPI label. While the term can be mobilized for coalition building, it can also conflate and erase the unique histories and experiences of Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
18 Sundance Films to Watch Ahead of Summer Movie Season, from “The Station Agent” to “Better Luck Tomorrow”
The smell of freshly popped popcorn, the whir of an old-school projector, the sheer relief when the industrial air-conditioning unit kicks in — these are the joys of summer moviegoing, and after a year spent cooped up indoors staring at small screens, we’re more excited than ever to head to our favorite theaters. As we head into the long weekend and look forward to venturing out and beginning the (arguably best) season in earnest, we thought we’d give you a bit of homework. The fun kind.
In Focus: Stephen Gong on Transforming Equity in Storytelling Across Platforms
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize the long line of visionary storytellers who have contributed to the independent film canon over the years — and an opportunity to underline the richness and diversity of Asian diasporas in the United States. To celebrate the month, we introduced a new series called In Focus, in which we turn the spotlight on our friends at AAPI-led arts organizations around the country. In previous editions, we talked to Visual Communications’ Francis Cullado and Pacific Islanders in Communications’ Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer; this week, we close out the month with Stephen Gong from the Center for Asian American Media.
In Focus: Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer on Preserving Pacific Heritage Through the Language of Multimedia
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize the long line of visionary storytellers who have contributed to the independent film canon over the years — and an opportunity to underline the richness and diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander diasporas in the United States. To celebrate the month, we’re introducing a new series called In Focus, in which we turn the spotlight on our friends at AAPI-led arts organizations around the country. Last week, we kicked things off chatting with Visual Communications’ Francis Cullado, and this week, we’re back with Leanne Kaʻiulani Ferrer, executive director of Pacific Islanders in Communications.
7 Essential Pacific Films to Add to Your Queue, from “Once Were Warriors” to “Vai”
In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it brings me great pleasure to highlight some of my favourite offerings when it comes to films from and/or about the Pacific. Before I do that, though, I think it’s important to give context around what constitutes a “Pacific Islander.”
Technically, the Pacific Islands consist of three regions: Micronesia (“small islands”), Melanesia (“islands of Black people”), and Polynesia (“many islands”).