The Latest
Sundance Institute and Time Warner Fellows
Tearrance Chisholm
Chico Colvard
Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.
Reinaldo Marcus Green
Paola Lázaro
Jhane Myers
Jesi Nelson
Shawn Peters
Tayarisha Poe
Sharyn Steele
Amelia Winger-Bearskin
Los Angeles, CA — Eleven diverse independent artists have been selected to receive support
from the 2017
Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship. These Fellowships and
accompanying grants are part of the non-profit Institute’s year-round efforts to discover and support
independent artists from diverse backgrounds in getting their work made and seen by a wide audience.
Sundance Institute and Luma Foundation: Theatre Director Retreat in Arles
New York, NY — Five theatre directors are slated for the fifth Sundance Institute | LUMA
Foundation Theatre
Directors Retreat
, which convenes in Arles, France, August 25 through September 7. The Retreat is one
of 24
residencies and Labs the Institute hosts annually across the world, and is an integral part of the Theatre
Program’s ongoing engagement with global theatremakers.
The retreat, the only director-centered residency of its kind, comprises 14 days of rigorous creative
interchange.
Dee Rees: ‘Our History Is Perpetually Being Rewritten as We Live It’
In recognition of her singular filmmaking vision, Dee Rees accepted the Sundance Institute Vanguard Award presented by Acura last night to round out the weekend at NEXT FEST. An alumni of the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Rees made her directorial debut with “Pariah” at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and returned this year with “Mudbound,” arriving in theaters later this year. With last week’s tragedy in Charlottesville providing yet another glaring reminder of our country’s ongoing fight against hate and discrimination, Rees powerfully and poignantly reminded us that we have work to do, and that we’re more than capable of it.
No Pain, No Gain: What Goes Down in the Editing Room
Each year The Feature Film Program (FFP) supports more than 50 new projects across various stages of development, production, and post-production. This month, we’re highlighting the ways in which the FFP supports the crucial creative collaboration between directors and editors through the Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship and the Editing Intensive, which took place earlier this summer in conjunction with our annual Directors Lab.Honoring the memory of beloved Sundance Institute mentor and esteemed editor Sally Menke (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds), the annual Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship supports an emerging narrative editor in advancing their craft and building their career.
Sleigh Bells’ Derek Miller On Film, Music, and Sliding Into Alex Ross Perry’s DMs
It’s kind of fun to envision a band like Sleigh Bells scoring a film: Alexis Krauss’ teasing, silky vocals strewn across Derek Miller’s shattering guitar riffs and a barrage of beats. The duo’s penchant for pitting seductive melodies against hardcore arrangements often conjures its own powerful, albeit chaotic, imagery. With last year’s music video for “I Can Only Stare,” off their LP Jessica Rabbit, we got a feel for what that film and music pairing might look like.
‘Dina’ Comes to Sundance: “She’s a Movie Star, and We Are Her Paparazzi”
A singular film about a singular woman, Dina took snowy Park City by storm earlier this year, winning the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary competition and introducing the world to the one and only Dina Buno.
Sundance Institute’s 2017 Creative Producing Program: Lab Fellows, Summit Participants Convene in Utah
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Program will convene in the mountains of Utah July 31 – August 6, including 11 feature film and documentary filmmakers participating in the weeklong Creative Producing Labs and more than 90 independent filmmakers and industry leaders gathering for the three-day Creative Producing Summit.The Institute’s Creative Producing Program champions the current and next generation of producers, supporting creative vision and best practices from development through distribution in an evolving ecosystem. Across both scripted and nonfiction storytelling from the US and globally, the program provides an unparalleled array of support systems including immersive Labs, the annual Summit, year-round mentorship, granting, financing education and matchmaking, distribution education and opportunities, and network and community building.
Sundance NEXT FEST Boosts Lineup with Comedians, Star-Studded Conversations and Music Video World Premieres
Los Angeles, CA — World premiere music videos, conversations between film legends and up-and-coming creatives and three female comedians have been added to the lineup for Sundance NEXT FEST, August 10-13 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. They join music acts like Lizzo, Electric Guest and Sleigh Bells, the Los Angeles premieres of some of the Sundance Film Festival’s most talked-about films and NEXT FEST After Dark, Presented by Acura, featuring a 25th anniversary screening of Reservoir Dogs on restored 35mm and ceremony honoring Quentin Tarantino. More info, tickets ($15-35) and ticket packages are at sundance.
Your Behind-the-Scenes Guide to an L.A. Weekend at NEXT FEST
Detractors will have you believe Los Angeles is a town too sprawling, too disconnected, too eternally vain to become a whole – let alone argue whether that whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Au contraire! Sundance NEXT FEST, our summer film and music festival eschews Eastside vs Westside, Beach vs Valley, and 405 vs 101 in favor of convening our collective stories and soundtracks at the heavily air conditioned Theatre at Ace Hotel DTLA for a weekend in sweltering August.
Direct from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, these movies make their LA debuts alongside comedic and musical performances and Q&As moderated by special guests.
Why Is Data Important for Independent Filmmakers? A Guide
In today’s independent film industry, data analysis is the unknown for many and a superpower for the elite few. For giants like Netflix and Amazon, data analysis permeates their overall strategy and acts as a key driver of success. However, the information flow stops there; there’s an iron wall between indie filmmakers and the proprietors of this data.
2018 Sundance Film Festival Announces New Programming, Award, Graphics
Park City, Utah — With exactly six months until Day One of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute today detailed a standalone Episodic section, the return of ‘The New Climate’ strand of environmental work and a new award. Feature film, short film, episodic and Virtual Reality submissions are now being accepted via Withoutabox, with early deadlines beginning August 7; more information about submissions and deadlines is at sundance.org/submit.
Women at Sundance Fellows: Hitting Their Stride
As 2017 rolls on, Women at Sundance fellows past and present continue to pursue new creative endeavors and make headlines.
CURRENT FELLOWSRebecca Green completed production of two films this year: And Then I Go, a feature film based on the acclaimed novel Project X by Jim Shepard, which premiered at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival, and 44 Pages, a portrait of Highlights magazine following the creation of the cultural phenomenon’s 70th anniversary issue, which premiered at the 2017 SXSWedu Film Program. Cecilia Aldarondo debuted her new documentary short, Picket Line, commissioned by Laura Poitras’ Field of Vision and Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Media for their series “Our 100 Days.
For a Creative, Open Internet
At Sundance Institute, we are proud to have fostered a diverse community of creative storytellers for over three decades. We support and amplify independent creators who break new ground in film and other forms of media. Independent media creators make work that moves, informs, challenges, and inspires.
What Makes for Great Audio Storytelling?
A story is a story is a story—or at least that’s how we see it. Last month we announced that the BBC World Service and Sundance Institute are inviting storytellers to submit original, essential, and thought-provoking audio documentary stories and treatments for a new, nonfiction radio broadcast and podcast series to launch in 2018 (click here to learn more and submit).We’re casting a wide net and calling on nonfiction storytellers across various mediums to submit their stories that explore the world as we experience it today.
How Globalization and Futurism are Impacting Inclusivity in Immersive Storytelling
Hyphen-Labs Director of Research Ashley Baccus-Clark will be presenting with other queer New Frontier alumnae at a virtual reality (VR) storytelling event during Outfest in Los Angeles on July 8th. Join us for a VR viewing at 2:30pm, and a workshop and discussion at 3pm, at the Director’s Guild of America. Click here for tickets.