The Latest
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.
Storytelling, Amplified: Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Composers, Directors for 2017 Music and Sound Design Labs
Music and Sound Design Lab 2016
Credit Brandon Joseph Baker
Music and Sound Design Lab 2014
Credit Steve Jennings
Music and Sound Design Lab 2016
Credit Brandon Joseph Baker
Los Angeles and Marin, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs, which return to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the fifth year.
At the Labs, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for documentary and narrative film projects. Workshops and creative exercises, guided by leading film composers and sound designers acting as Creative Advisors, will mentor Fellows to explore sound and music’s crucial role in storytelling.
Catalyst Women: Putting Our Money on Women Filmmakers
This May in New York City, Sundance Institute and The Harnisch Foundation launched Catalyst Women, a new program connecting film financiers dedicated to women artists with highly anticipated Sundance Institute–supported feature and documentary projects. The day-and-a-half program, which took us from HBO headquarters in Bryant Park to Bloomberg Philanthropies on the upper east side, exposed creative investors to the world of independent storytelling through film presentations, case studies, panels, deep-dive roundtables, and artist spotlights.
We began the day by delving into the moral and economic incentives that drive financiers to invest in diverse and female filmmakers, inspiring us to do the same.
Why Angelenos Will Love (or Hate) NEXT FEST
Sundance NEXT FEST comes to LA this August for a summer celebration that brings you the LA premieres of films straight from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. We’re breaking down the lineup to help you choose from our full weekend of movies, music, and mischief. See the full lineup.
Writers and Creative Advisors Selected for Faliro House | Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop in Greece, July 3-9
Athens, Greece: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos’ Faliro House Productions (The Founder, The Lobster), in collaboration with Sundance Institute, will host the second edition of the Faliro House | Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop in Costa Navarino, Greece July 3-9. The workshop is designed to support emerging filmmakers from Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and this year will include filmmakers from Cyprus.
The Art of Pitching and Financing Your Film (And Finding Your Inner Ninja)
You know how we indie filmmakers are, right? We’re pessimistic, worst-case thinkers. When I saw the schedule for the 2017 Financing & Strategy Intensive, my eyes fixated on those dreaded words: “Pitching Workshop.” I thought, OK, I’m staying home with my cat.
Contemplating the Cut: Takeaways and Tips for Documentary Editors
This blog was first published on POV’s Documentary blog at PBS.org.
The task of the documentary editor can sound like folklore, even to someone who takes it on.
Esteban Cruz Orozco: “La Siembra”
As incoherent as it may sound, on September 8, 2016, I was fortunate enough to be sick at home. I was missing out on an important rehearsal for a live streaming (an assignment for college) because the doctor had given me a three-day order to stay at home, as I was on the border of getting pneumonia. I was feeling very badly.
Do You Have a Screenplay Exploring Science and Technology?
Darcy Brislin and Dyana Winkler attended the 2017 Screenwriters Lab as part of the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, established to support the development of screenplays with science and/or technology themes. Click here to apply for the 2018 Sloan Commissioning Grant & Fellowship,“But why on earth would she stay with him?”
Pencils poised, we sat across the table from writer Erin Cressida Wilson, wrapping our brains around the most profound, soul-searching question within our script.