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Sundance Institute and Adobe Announce 2020 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows
Ten Emerging Artists Selected from Short Film Submissions on Sundance Co//ab
Winning Short Films to Be Screened As Part of Celebration of Sundance Film Festival: London
Los Angeles — Sundance Institute and Adobe announced the class of 2020 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows today, chosen from a global pool of more than 1,600 applicants. Hailing from a broad geography, from Nashville to Hong Kong, and rooted in a diverse array of creative disciplines from documentary filmmaking to narrative shorts, these 10 emerging artists selected will engage with a year of mentorship and support from 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 for the first time on Sundance Co//ab, the Institute’s digital community platform.
Q&A: Director Natalie Erika James Offers a Peek Inside the Making of Her Debut Feature, ‘Relic’
Natalie Erika James’s debut feature, Relic, had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Midnight lineup. It is now available to rent online (and is screening at select drive-ins around the United States).
As Natalie Erika James recounted during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the seed for the horror story that would become Relic was planted when she went to Japan as an adult to spend time with her grandmother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Now Streaming: Max Barbakow’s ‘Palm Springs’ Is a Playful Romp on Love and Existential Dread
When Palm Springs premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in January, it felt like the temperature rose (at least a few degrees, anyway) in snowy Park City. Max Barbakow’s buoyant comedy starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti begins streaming on Hulu (and playing select drive-ins) today, offering something of a virtual vacation into another dimension of time and space. Below, see what Barbakow and his actors had to say at the film’s world premiere.
Now Streaming: ‘Mucho Mucho Amor’ Reveals Why Famed TV Astrologer Walter Mercado Vanished at His Peak
After premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Mucho Mucho Amor is now streaming on Netflix. The film explores the life and mystery surrounding the late Walter Mercado, a larger-than-life TV astrologer turned cultural icon who captivated Latinx audiences for decades with his over-the-top flair before disappearing from public life at the peak of his fame.
Directors Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch, like so many other Latinx folks who grew up with the famed personality on their TVs, remember being mesmerized alongside their mothers and grandmothers—knowing they couldn’t dare interrupt—as they waited for Walter to get to their sign.
‘The Infiltrators’ Directors on Releasing Their Immigration Docu-Thriller amid ICE Retaliation
After Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra’s genre-defying documentary about a for-profit immigrant detention center screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the high of a successful premiere and winning multiple awards turned into shock and anger when one of the film’s subjects, Claudio Rojas, was detained by ICE and torn apart from his wife and children.
The Infiltrators documented a previous time Claudio was detained, in 2012—and how a group of young immigrant activists hatched a plan to purposely get caught by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, infiltrate the Florida detention center where Claudio was being held, and help him and others fight their deportations. Ibarra and Rivera won accolades for the way they challenge the documentary form, deftly weaving together footage of the activists’ work and reenactments of the detainees in a way that keeps you in the middle of the action.
Sundance-Supported Films to Watch in July, from ‘The Fight’ to ‘Palm Springs’
The slate of Sundance Institute–supported films available in July includes powerful political documentaries that shine a spotlight on critical issues. The Fight follows heroic ACLU lawyers in four historic cases over essential rights in abortion, immigration, LGBTQ+ issues, and voting, while the award-winning Boys State looks at the state of American politics through the unlikely lens of an annual mock election among the best and brightest of Texas’s young men. And She Could Be Next documents the women of color who claimed their power by running for office during the historic 2018 midterm elections—including women like Rashida Tlaib and Stacey Abrams who are transforming politics from the ground up.
Sundance Institute Selects 2020 Native Filmmakers Lab Fellows
Los Angeles, CA — Five Indigenous filmmakers have been chosen to participate in the 2020 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, reimagined and expressed digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. The Lab is at the core of the Institute’s commitment to supporting Indigenous storytellers since its founding.
At the Native Filmmakers Lab (June 29–July 10), Fellows will workshop scripts of their short films under the expert creative mentorship of Indigenous Program alumni and other established filmmaking professionals serving as Advisors along with the Sundance Indigenous Program staff, led by Indigenous Program Director N.
Enduring Indigenous Values and Finding New Ways to Tell Our Stories During This Time of Pandemic
N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache) is the director of Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program.
This year the world changed in a way that many of us would never have dreamed possible.
Now Streaming: ‘And Then We Danced’ Offers Up a Sharp Critique of Homophobia in Georgia
‘And Then We Danced’ is now streaming on Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and beyond. As Pride Month comes to a close, we’re offering up our exclusive video interview with the film’s director, Levan Akin.
When Levan Akin’s coming-of-age feature And Then We Danced had its world premiere at Cannes last spring, the film received a 15-minute standing ovation.
Sundance Film Festival Director Tabitha Jackson Reveals Approach for 2021 Festival
Tabitha Jackson is the director of the Sundance Film Festival.
Dear friends,
As we plan for our 2021 Festival — my first in the Director’s chair — and with submissions now open, I wanted to give you an early insight into how we are thinking. This is not an announcement, but rather an invitation into the process of building something together this year.
Sundance Institute Selects 2020 Art of Editing Fellows
Los Angeles, CA — 8 filmmakers have been chosen to participate in the Sundance Institute’s inaugural Art of Editing Lab and Fellowship. This is a new Lab developed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. The Fellowship evolved out of the Documentary Film Program’s standing commitment to supporting new voices in nonfiction feature editing.
Now Streaming: A Fallen Pageant Queen Chases the American Dream in ‘Miss Juneteenth’
Miss Juneteenth is now streaming—read our report from the film’s world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival below, and don’t miss our interview with the film’s director, Channing Godfrey Peoples.“As programmers, there’s no better feeling than discovering a film that unveils a special new talent, a filmmaker whose voice and vision and craftsmanship immediately make you excited about the prospect of getting to show it at Sundance,” said senior programmer Heidi Zwicker at the world premiere of the U.S.
Now Streaming: Elisabeth Moss Goes to Extremes in Horror-Author Psychodrama ‘Shirley’
This post was originally published after Josephine Decker’s film Shirley premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The project arrived on Hulu on June 5.“I thought it might be a nice thing to start the film off with a round of applause for the real Shirley Jackson, who’s a fucking badass,” announced director Josephine Decker at the premiere of her new film Shirley, which stars Elisabeth Moss as the author of such disturbing literary classics as The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House.
Sundance Institute’s 2020 Theatre Lab Fellows
15 Fellows & 7 Artists in Virtual Residence Develop New Work for the Stage
New York, NY — Eight genre- and format-spanning pieces are among the works being developed by a diverse array of theatremakers at the 2020 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, reimagined and expressed digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. The Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community, and offers theatre makers from the US and Arab region/diaspora the opportunity to advance their work with the benefit of experienced dramaturgs and advisors, and within the context of an intimate artistic group centered around the values of dramaturgy, community and cultural exchange.
This year’s cohort was selected by the Theatre Program’s interim Director, Christopher Hibma, with support of a five-member curatorial team including Jesse Cameron Alick (U.
Sundance Institute’s 2020 Directors & Screenwriters Lab Fellows
Newly Expanded Advisor Roster Spans Filmmaking Disciplines
Los Angeles, CA — 11 independent filmmakers developing 10 projects have been selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, reimagined and expressed digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. These Labs are at the heart of the nonprofit Institute’s long-standing support for artists, and will connect curated selections of Fellows with Creative Advisors and Industry mentors across multiple disciplines.
At the Directors Lab (June 1-19th), filmmakers will participate in a rigorous schedule of advisor presentations, scene analysis sessions, directing exercises, one-on-one meetings, and — new this year — collaborative conversations across a wide range of industry disciplines, including casting, production design, film scoring, and producing.