The Latest
A Note from Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam
To our Sundance community —
After 10 deeply rewarding years, I have decided that it is the right time for me to step down as CEO of the Sundance Institute. Leading this incredible organization through a volatile era in media with the help of such a passionate and talented group of colleagues, artists, audiences, board members, partners, friends, and donors has been one of the greatest joys of my life. As I work with the team and the Board of Trustees to prepare for my departure at the end of this summer, I am confident that Sundance is thriving and poised to begin a transformative new era.
“Minari,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” Lead Sundance-Supported 2021 Oscar Nominees
Early Monday morning, 2021’s delayed awards season picked up more steam with the unveiling of the nominees for the 93rd annual Academy Awards. Priyanka Chopra (star of the 2018 Festival film A Kid Like Jake) and Nick Jonas (who was in the 2016 Festival film GOAT) went live to announce the nods across all 23 categories, and we want to congratulate all of the Sundance-supported projects that are up for awards. In total, Sundance-supported projects received 31 nominations (including four out of eight Best Picture nominations).
Sundance Institute and XRM Media Partner to Present Sundance Film Festival: Asia
Sundance Institute and XRM Media today announced a collaboration to create the Sundance Film Festival: Asia to support, connect, promote, and celebrate the independent film community within Asia while showcasing a selection of films from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
The Sundance Film Festival: Asia is an expansion of the Institute’s programming in the region, further championing and promoting visibility for independent storytelling before a wider global audience. The first edition will take place in late summer 2021 and be hosted in Jakarta, Indonesia, with support from IDN Media, Indonesia’s leading media platform company.
Updates from the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs
Dear family and friends,
Nearly a year ago, we announced our Respond and Reimagine Fund, which dedicated a million dollars in grants to artists and organizations impacted by the pandemic, with priority support for BIPOC artists and organizations that have been disproportionately affected. In the difficult months since then, the resilience, collective action, and creativity of the independent artist community have continued to inspire us, as they persisted despite adversity.
Submissions to the Sundance Institute’s labs and granting programs have been steady — in some cases, they’re higher than ever — and we recognize the ongoing urgency of providing creative and financial support to artists making new work during a time of great difficulty.
Celebrate International Women’s Day with This World-Spanning Sundance Watchlist
At the first-ever Sundance Film Festival in 1985, an English director named Sally Potter brought a unique project to Park City. Her debut feature, The Gold Diggers, was made with an all-women production crew that was paid equally, including Potter’s co-writers, Lindsay Cooper and Rose English; producers Nita Amy and Donna Grey; and cinematographer Babette Mangolte. That same year, the Festival also hosted Lina Wurtmüller’s A Joke of Destiny (Italy), Gillian Armstrong’s Mrs.
Announcing the 2021 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive Fellows
We’re thrilled to announce the 11 screenwriters selected to participate in Sundance Institute’s ninth annual Screenwriters Intensive, taking place digitally on March 4–5, 2021. The Intensive is a two-day workshop for emerging independent writers and writer/directors developing their first fiction features. This cohort of artists from traditionally underrepresented communities will have the opportunity to interrogate their stories and refine their artistic practice, all under the guidance of established writers and the Institute’s Feature Film Program, led by me and the program’s Founding Director, Michelle Satter.
Sundance-Supported New Releases to Watch This March, from ‘Violation’ to ‘The Courier’
Growing up, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli were fascinated by iconic male anti-heroes like Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle and Harvey Keitel’s titular character from Bad Lieutenant. “These were the films that made us want to make movies, and we realized we weren’t really seeing the same number of female antiheroes,” they explained to us before the U.S.
Congratulations to Sundance-Supported Golden Globe Winners “Minari,” “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Just over a year ago, Lee Isaac Chung’s moving family drama Minari premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, where it was awarded the U.
Perspectives: Miciana Alise and Daniel Hyde on Creating Black and Indigenous Narratives
Since its founding, the Sundance Institute has supported and advocated Indigenous artists and voices. Today, nearly 40 years later, in a continuation of our commitment to Indigenous artists, we are proud to publish a new series, Perspectives, from the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, featuring Indigenous artists who have been supported by the Institute’s Indigenous Program and whose work continues to broaden and champion all Indigenous experiences. As we prepare to close out Black History Month, we present the first in the series, in which we talk with artists Miciana Alise (Tlingit) and Daniel Hyde (Navajo).
Black Visionaries: A Chat with Jason Fitzroy Jeffers of Third Horizon
At the Sundance Institute, we firmly believe that Black artists and Black stories should be celebrated and uplifted year-round. During February, aka Black History Month, we’re continuing that work with a series we’re calling Black Visionaries, in which we’ll be spotlighting our friends at Black-run arts organizations around the country. So far, we’ve talked with leaders of the Harlem-based nonprofit Firelight Media; Iyabo Boyd, founder of Brown Girls Doc Mafia; and Brickson Diamond, a founding board member and chair of the Blackhouse Foundation.
Black Visionaries: A Chat with Brickson Diamond of the Blackhouse Foundation
At the Sundance Institute, we firmly believe that Black artists and Black stories should be celebrated and uplifted year-round. During February, aka Black History Month, we’re continuing that work with a series we’re calling Black Visionaries, in which we’ll be spotlighting our friends at Black-run arts organizations around the country. So far, we’ve talked with leaders of the Harlem-based nonprofit Firelight Media as well as Iyabo Boyd, founder of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
Black Visionaries: A Chat with Iyabo Boyd of Brown Girls Doc Mafia
At the Sundance Institute, we firmly believe that Black artists and Black stories should be celebrated and uplifted year-round. During February, aka Black History Month, we’re continuing that work with a series we’re calling Black Visionaries, in which we’ll be spotlighting our friends at Black-run arts organizations around the country. Last week, we talked with Brooklyn-based nonprofit Firelight Media, and this week we’re chatting with filmmaker Iyabo Boyd, founder of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
Black Visionaries: Turning a Spotlight on Firelight Media
At the Sundance Institute, we firmly believe that Black artists and Black stories should be celebrated and uplifted year-round. During February, aka Black History Month, we’re continuing that work with a series we’re calling Black Visionaries, in which we’ll be spotlighting our friends at Black-run arts organizations around the country. First up, we checked in with Harlem-based nonprofit Firelight Media, which produces documentary films by and about communities of color, supports emerging filmmakers of color, and cultivates audiences for their work.
World Premieres, Live Q&As, Floating in Outer Space: Highlights from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
In our 40 years as an Institute, we’ve never hosted a Sundance Film Festival quite like 2021’s. And that’s thanks in large part to you, our adventurous audiences from all 50 states and 120 countries, who joined us (and our friends at Satellite Screens across the U.S.
12 Sundance Institute–Supported Projects from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
Back in 2015, writer-director Christopher Makoto Yogi was one of eight filmmakers who spent several weeks of their summer at the Sundance Resort for the Sundance Institute’s annual Directors Lab. Under the guidance of creative advisors like Joshua Marston, Miguel Arteta, Kasi Lemmons, and the late Lynn Shelton, Makoto Yogi was there to work on I Was a Simple Man, a ghost story set in the pastoral countryside of the north shore of Oahu, Hawai’i.
Nearly six years later, at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Makoto Yogi’s film had its world premiere, along with 11 other projects that were directly supported by the nonprofit Institute’s various labs, grants, and programs.