The Latest

Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Composers and Directors for 2018 Film Music and Sound Design Lab
Fiction Film and Documentary Labs Combined into One Lab for the First Time Ever
Los Angeles and Marin, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors
selected for the Sundance Institute Film Music and Sound Design Lab, which returns to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities
for the sixth year. More than half of the composers selected for this year’s Lab are female.
At the Lab, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for fiction and nonfiction
film projects.

Sundance Institute Announces 2018 Creative Distribution Fellowship Films
Sundance Institute announced today that three films have been picked for the second edition of the Creative Distribution Fellowship, following the 2017 release of inaugural fellowship films Columbus and Unrest. The new slate consists of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival documentaries The Devil We Know and 306 Hollywood (the latter of which also won the Emerging International Filmmaker Award at HotDocs) as well as Thunder Road, which premiered at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, winning the Feature Film Grand Jury Award. These three films and filmmaking teams feature unique voices, bold release strategies, and a willingness to share their experiences with the field through expansive case studies, following the example of the case studies of Columbus and Unrest released earlier this year.

A Message from Sundance Institute Founder Robert Redford
We don’t often speak together, but as parents and grandparents ourselves, my wife Bylle and I simply could not stay silent today. I hope you won’t either.This is not America.

Honoring the Irrepressible Boots Riley
“Coming up to people as a musician and saying I got a script—nobody wants to hear that. They’re like, yeah, of course you want to make a movie. You probably want to get a line of shoes, and you want to get a barbecue chain or something like that,” said first-time director Boots Riley at last night’s special L.

ReFrame and IMDbPro Announce New Collaboration to Recognize Standout Gender-balanced Film and TV Projects
The ReFrame Stamp is being Awarded to 12 Films from 2017 including
Everything, Everything; Girls Trip; Lady Bird; The Post; and
Wonder Woman
Los Angeles, CA —
ReFrame™, a coalition of industry professionals and partner companies founded by Women In Film and Sundance Institute
whose mission is to increase the number of women of all backgrounds working in film, TV and media, and
IMDbPro (
http://www.imdbpro.com/), the leading information resource for the entertainment industry, today announced a new collaboration
that leverages the authoritative data and professional resources of IMDbPro to recognize standout, gender-balanced film
and TV projects.

Sundance Institute Expands Free Summer Film Screenings in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden, St. George and Kamas
Largest-Ever Summer Film Series Showcases Utah with Eleven Sundance Favorites, Including
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Brigsby Bear, Man on Wire and
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Offscreen: Visiting Filmmakers, Games, Contests and a Vote for Final Series Screening at
sundance.org/utah
Park City, UT — Utah’s summer movie tradition is back for its 21st year with its largest lineup yet! Sundance
Institute will once again celebrate summer and Utah’s natural beauty with free screenings of eleven Sundance Film
Festival favorites, taking place in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden, Kamas and, new this year, St. George.

Thirteen Independent Feature Film Projects Selected to Attend Sundance Institute Directors & Screenwriters Labs
Visionary Storytellers to Receive Individualized Mentorship from Industry Notables and
Year-Round Suite of Creative and Tactical Support
Los Angeles, CA — Thirteen new independent feature projects from the U.S., Cuba, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, and Palestine
have been selected for the 2018 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs.

Sundance Institute: Over Half a Million Dollars to Documentary Projects
Twenty-Three Projects from Twelve Countries Among Documentary Film Program’s Latest Grantees
Los Angeles, CA — More than $585,000 in targeted grants will support a global crop of independent nonfiction storytellers,
Sundance Institute announced today. 58% of the supported projects are helmed by women, and 48% are from outside the U.S.

You Are Not Alone: These Films Are Helping Dispel the Stigma of Mental Illness
It is by no means an indicator that the work is close to—or ever—finished, but with each passing year there are signs of an incremental growth in our approach to mental health, both clinically and in personal circles.
Maybe it’s in the renewed public relations efforts around Mental Health Month, which is recognized in May of each year, or in the desperately overdue conversations in the wake of tragedies surrounding icons and idols whom we deem impervious to the scars and stigmas of mental illness.
Maybe it’s more subtle and subconscious, propelled by a younger and more dauntless generation’s memes and hashtags that pervade social media and point to a very important truth: that we are alike in our stories of struggle, if only we could release those stories so tightly bound to our shame.

Kimberly Pierce, Justin Chon, and Other Filmmakers Reveal How Failure Can Lead to Discovery
Stories transport and can transform us. They allow us to know ourselves and others, and to find meaning in our lives and in our world. They cross borders, transcend culture, and allow us to frame our worlds through new lenses.

Sundance Institute Selects Erica Tremblay and MorningStar Angeline Wilson For 2018 Native Filmmakers Lab
Fellows and Creative Advisors Gather May 13-18 in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Los Angeles, CA — Two emerging Native storytellers,
Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga) and
MorningStar Angeline Wilson (Navajo, Blackfeet, Chippewa Cree) will participate in the
2018 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, continuing the Institute’s year-round work in the discovery and
development of artists from diverse backgrounds.
The Lab takes place May 13-18 in Santa Fe, NM. During the Lab, Fellows work with a cast, crew, and supervising producer to
shoot workshop versions of scenes from their short films under the expert creative mentorship of Program alumni and other
established industry professionals and Program staff.

Announcing: Sundance Institute At Sundown presented by Acura
Special Benefit to Celebrate the Winner of the 2018 Vanguard Award: Boots Riley, Artist and Multi-Hyphenate
Featuring the LA Debut Screening of
Sorry to Bother You and (Raucous) Afterparty: Tickets on Sale Now at
sundance.org/sundown
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute, in collaboration with Annapurna Pictures, invites fans and supporters of
independent cinema to celebrate the irrepressible writer/director/producer/musician/activist
Boots Riley. Boots, an alumni of both the Sundance Labs and Film Festival, will be honored with the Sundance Institute’s
annual Vanguard Award at its summer fundraiser on June 14, 2018 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, just
before the Los Angeles debut of his new film,
Sorry to Bother You and an afterparty for all ticketholders immediately following.

Kim Yutani Named Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival
LOS ANGELES — Sundance Institute’s John Cooper announced today that
Kim Yutani is the Sundance Film Festival’s new Director of Programming. Yutani will lead the curation of
film, media, and off-screen programming at both the Sundance Film Festival and other year-round public platforms and programs
that showcase and elevate independent storytellers and artists. She was formerly Senior Programmer at the Festival, and
will report directly to Festival Director
John Cooper.

Sundance Institute Announces 2018 New Frontier Story Lab Fellows
Groundbreaking Group of Emerging Media Creatives Convene to Push the Boundaries of Storytelling and Technology
Nitzan Bartov | Char Simpson | Michèle Stephenson | Joe Brewster | Raqi Syed | Areito Echevarria |
Stephanie Dinkins |Sadé Dinkins | Shariffa Chelimo Ali | Yetunde Dada | Kevin Cornish | Seyward Darby
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute announces the six projects selected for the annual
New Frontier Story Lab, which supports independent artists working at the cutting-edge convergence of film, art,
media, live performance and technology.
The New Frontier Story Lab is a week-long immersive experience that empowers creatives with individual story sessions, conversations
about key artistic, design and technology issues and case study presentations from experts in multiple disciplines. Past
participants include Roger Ross Williams, Josephine Decker, Silas Howard, Tracy Fullerton, Yung Jake, Chris Milk, Hasan
Minhaj, Tommy Pallotta, Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Hank Willis Thomas, Jillian Mayer, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Navid and Vassiliki
Khonsari, A Dandy Punk, Nicolas Peufaillit, and Yasmin Elayat.

Sundance Institute Announces 2018 Theatre Lab Acting Company and Creative Advisors
Advisors Indhu Rubasingham and Hassan Abdulrazzak join Creative Team
Acting Company includes Yassine Ahejjam, Hanane Hajj Ali, Khris Davis, Teresa Lim, Aya Metwalli, Alano Miller, Hala Omran, Sharif Sehnaoui, Micah Stock, Michelle Wilson and others
New York — Sundance Institute’s Theatre Lab kicks off on May 6th, and today announced this year’s
participating acting company and creative advisors. The Lab, which runs through May 27 at the Fellah Hotel outside Marrakech,
Morocco, is supervised by Artistic Director
Philip Himberg and Producing Director
Christopher Hibma, and is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community,
alternating locations between Sundance Resort in Utah and a venue in the Middle East/North African region, as part of a
multi-year commitment to international work and a means of facilitating cultural exchange between artists writing in English
and Arabic.
For the three-week Lab, the Institute provides rehearsal space, dramaturgical support, and an acting company, creating
an immersive environment where artists can experiment, see their work take shape and collaborate with creative advisors,
dramaturgs and actors.