The Latest
Money and Marketing for Creatives: Tips from the Creative Distribution Master Class
Michael W. Pannell is a writer and one-time filmmaker based in Georgia.I wondered if I wanted to spend my Saturday at a workshop on how to creatively raise money to make movies and then ingeniously promote them and get them in front of an audience.
What to Watch in September
In a month when more Sundance-supported films make their releases than any other in recent memory, a slew of badass women are dominating the screen. To canvass the indie film slate in September is to find yourself among intimate portraits of women brimming with conviction. In Kusama – Infinity, it’s Yayoi Kusama’s against-the-odds journey from the rigid conformity of her home life in Japan to becoming the top-selling female artist in the world; in Colette, Wash Westmoreland revisits the eponymous vanguard French writer whose own husband stripped her of authorial credit; and in Bad Reputation and Matangi/Maya/M.
The Metroplex and Sundance Institute Proudly Present 2018 Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong September 20 to October 1, 2018
(Hong Kong – August 16, 2018) Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong returns for the fifth edition this September with a selection of 12 independent films, direct from this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.
Writer/Director Sky Bruno on His Experience at the Sundance Institute Directors Lab
Insecurity had been commonplace for me in the months leading up to the summer of 2018. Seeing that all my friends and mentors had plans and were working on films, being stagnant was the last thing I wanted. The pressure to create weighed heavy on my shoulders as I sat at my desk staring at blank pages, praying for inspiration to descend.
Documentary Creators Share Tips From Exploring the World of Audio
Introduced by Robert Redford, “Neighbourhood” is a collaboration between the BBC World Service and Sundance Institute that supports new projects exploring the theme of “Neighbourhood,” with the resulting radio programs airing on the BBC World Service, also available as podcasts, and accompanied by visual storytelling online. The series reflects the stories of people across different locations, cultures and demographics to give insight into how communities are built from a patchwork of people and ideas, interacting with each other.
We recently caught up with the documentary makers behind these five new projects and asked them to share the insights and learnings gleaned from their experiences.
What to Watch in August
Four films from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section – the place for films operating on the fringes of genre and shaping the next wave of cinema – make their premieres this August, two of which (We the Animals and Night Comes On) shared honors for the inaugural NEXT Innovator Award. Another theme emerging among this month’s docket: Crystal Moselle (Skate Kitchen) and Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals) both make their dramatic feature debuts after opening their careers on the nonfiction side. Check out all of the Sundance-supported releases coming to theaters and digital platforms this month.
Contemplating the Cut: The Art and Craft of Nonfiction Editing
On Saturday, May 12, in Los Angeles, Sundance Institute and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship partnered for the fourth year in a row to bring together documentary filmmakers to discuss the art and craft of nonfiction editing.
I return time and again to Jonathan Oppenheim’s brilliant keynote, delivered at the first event four years ago, which Sundance Institute’s Kristin Feeley referenced this year in her opening remarks. She highlighted Oppenheim’s distinction between two models for the role of the editor: the “artistic model” and the “industrial model.
Directors Lab Fellow Eimi Imanishi Is Asking Herself the Hard Questions
Eimi Imanishi is a Japanese American filmmaker who grew up in France. She directed two award-winning short films: “Battalion to My Beat” and “One-Up.” Imanishi took part in the 2018 Sundance Institute Directors Lab with her project “Doha: The Rising Sun.
Crystal Kayiza: “Imagining a World Where Your Voice and Storytelling Belong”
One of the challenges of being a young emerging filmmaker, especially one committed to nonfiction storytelling, is imagining a world where your voice and storytelling belong.
In my everyday life, I’ve been blessed to work in a community of artists and mentors that affirms and encourages my work and growth. But the emerging film landscape, the new media world that will arrive faster than many anticipate, is something that I found to be largely inaccessible.
Sundance Institute Convenes Creative Producing Labs & Summit
Independent Fiction and Nonfiction Producers Collaborate With Industry Advisors
Los Angeles — Sundance Institute today announced the Fellows and Advisors slated for the annual weeklong Creative Producing Labs, which commence July 30 at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, as well as the industry leaders and other independent filmmakers who will gather for the three-day Creative Producing Summit immediately following.
Created to champion and develop the current and rising generations of producers, the Institute’s Creative Producing Program nurtures creative vision and holistic best practices at every stage of a film’s progress from development to audience engagement. The program, which recognizes the need for a flexible, robust support system and community in an evolving industry, includes the annual Labs and Summit as well as year-round mentorship, granting, education and opportunities for financing and distribution.
Everything Editors Need to Know About Sundance Institute’s Summer Labs
This month we’re spotlighting The Feature Film Program’s post-production support through the Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship and the Editing Residency, which took place this past June in conjunction with our annual Directors Lab.
The Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship honors the memory of beloved Sundance Institute mentor Sally Menke (editor on Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds) and supports an emerging narrative editor in advancing their craft and building their career. The 2018 Fellow is Kate Hackett, whose work includes Amy Adrion’s acclaimed Half the Picture, a feature documentary about women directors in Hollywood, as well as myriad fiction short films.
Sundance Institute Brings $191 Million in Economic Impact to Utah with 2018 Sundance Film Festival
Expanded Technology Highlights at Least 124,900 Attendees, $19 Million in State and Local Tax Revenue, 3,323 Jobs Supported
Park City, Utah — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced that its 2018 Sundance Film Festival, which
took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah in January, generated a total economic impact of $191.6 million.
These numbers come from an independent
economic impact study conducted by
Y² Analytics, which utilized the methodology and expanded upon the technology introduced last year to give a more holistic
picture of the Festival’s impact on the state of Utah’s economy than has previously been available.
Sundance Institute’s Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles: Fellows Announced
International Stage Directors Convene for Creative Exchange
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the five directors who will gather at the annual Sundance
Institute | Luma Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France, from July 12-23, 2018. The Retreat was developed
in 2013 as an opportunity for mid-career directors to meet, work on upcoming projects and to share ideas and practices
across borders. “This unique collaboration between the Institute and the Luma Foundation reflects our shared values around artist support,”
said
Philip Himberg, the Theatre Program’s Artistic Director, “Specifically, we create a space for attendees
to reconnect with their creative impulses, and for the Fellows to connect with one another across cultural borders as colleagues
and world artist citizens.
Sundance Institute Selects Projects for 2018 Documentary Edit and Story Lab
Los Angeles, CA — Five projects will convene at the Sundance Resort in Utah for the flagship Documentary Edit
and Story Lab on July 6, Sundance Institute announced today.
The Lab creates a space to develop, interrogate and collaborate on independent nonfiction films that are in the later stages
of post-production. Through a rigorous process, director and editor teams come together with renowned documentary filmmakers,
who advise on the process of recentering their work around original motivations, tweaking or reconceiving dramatic structures,
and exploring story and character development.
A Refugee’s Daughter on the Travel Ban Decision: Closed borders impede the global artist community
In 1978, Hala Kaddoura’s father immigrated as a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon to the United States, where Hala was born. She then lived in Lebanon for most of her life until moving to San Francisco, and now resides in Los Angeles where she works as the social media manager for Sundance Institute.
This Independence Day, I’ve been reflecting on what America means to the world—and to me.