The Latest
Sabaah Folayan: When Perspective Unseats Objectivity in Documentary Filmmaking
“As an activist, do you think you can be objective?” they asked.I was
quiet. It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten this question, but the stakes seemed
higher now.
Nate Parker Has a Galvanizing Message for Young Filmmakers
After receiving Sundance Institute’s annual Vanguard Award to kick off NEXT FEST, Birth of a Nation writer/director/actor Nate Parker went off script to channel his attention and remarks towards a handful of Ignite Fellows—a group of 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers supported by the Institute with year-round mentorship. Parker’s message should resonate with all artists who’ve fought to have their voices heard, and the filmmaker’s own trajectory—tales of driving around in a rundown Honda Civic with no A/C included—are a revitalizing reminder the journey is almost never without peril. Check out excerpts from his moving speech below.
Nate Parker and The Birth of a Nation Team Announce New Fellowship for Young Filmmakers at Sundance Institute Benefit
Click HERE for Photos (Credit: Ryan Kobane/Sundance Institute)
Click HERE for Video
Additional Photos at Wireimage.com
Los Angeles, CA — Nate Parker and the cast, Producers, and Executive Producers of The Birth of a Nation are investing in the next generation of diverse independent creativity with the Sundance Institute | The Birth of a Nation Fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers participating in the Institute’s Ignite program. Parker shared details at Sundance Institute’s NIGHT BEFORE NEXT benefit at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles this evening, where he also received the Institute’s annual Vanguard Award presented to him by actor and Sundance alum Michael B.
Craig Robinson and Markees Christmas On Creating Our New Favorite Father-Son Duo
There’s something almost therapeutic about Morris From America. It would be remiss to owe the film’s charming qualities to its pastoral German landscape, so we’ll just tip our hat to writer and director Chad Hartigan for an unfamiliar coming-of-age narrative, one that confronts race while providing a respite from violence (and no surprise that he must take us to Europe to do so). At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Morris From America quickly became known as the attractive vehicle for one of this year’s most salient breakout actors in Markees Christmas, who plays the aspirational rapping teen ‘Morris.
Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select 12 Fellows for 2016 Artist Support Grants
Suggested Tweet:12 Fellows Selected by @SundanceLabs and @TimeWarnerFdn for 2016 Artist Support Grants Fostering Diverse Filmmakers bit.ly/sndnc-newsLos Angeles, CA — Twelve diverse independent artists will receive support from the 2016 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program. These Fellowships and accompanying grants mark their 10th anniversary this year and are part of the Institute’s year-round efforts to discover and support independent artists from diverse backgrounds in getting their work made and seen.
Shamir, Craig Robinson, Nick Kroll, and Everything Else Going Down at NEXT FEST
NEXT FEST is officially going down next weekend, August 12-14 (fun fact: Next Weekend was the name of the first iteration of NEXT FEST back in 2013). We’ve got the original Queen of Bounce (and twerk), a sonically indefinable talent in Shamir, a slate of indie films direct from the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and a Pokémon Go gym. OK, not that last part.
5 Native Program Alumni Invited to Join the Academy
Sundance Institute’s commitment to uplifting the voices of Native artists is woven throughout the organization’s history, as the Native American and Indigenous Program has built and sustained an Indigenous film circle throughout the 22 years of its formal existence within the Institute. Through sustained and continuous support of filmmakers with grants, Labs, mentorships, public programs and the platform of the Sundance Film Festival, great strides have been made in nurturing an Indigenous-created body of cinema while supporting the growth of Native American and Indigenous participation in the film industry. In the spirit of supporting Indigenous filmmakers, we’re highlighting the Program’s alumni that were recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Sundance NEXT FEST Amps Up Schedule
Los Angeles, CA — Three music videos, a full slate of VR experiences, a youth talent show and more join the lineup for Sundance NEXT FEST, alongside short film screenings hosted by Nick Kroll, music acts including “Queen of Bounce” Big Freedia, and the Los Angeles premieres of some of the most talked-about films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Sundance NEXT FEST takes place August 12-14 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. More info and tickets ($15-25) at sundance.
Editor Robert Greene Goes Behind the Scenes of the Doc Edit and Story Lab
I came to the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Edit and Story Lab with a mix of emotions. I’d proudly accepted a creative advisor role, joining an esteemed group that included Laura Poitras, Jonathan Oppenheim, Joelle Alexis, Nels Bangerter, and Lillian Benson, but I remained skeptical of what I thought might be a “too many cooks in the kitchen” approach to editing documentaries. Maybe I was intimidated or wondering what I could offer, or maybe I was afraid of how the lab process might affect my semi-solitary preferences for editing my own films.
Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke’s “Beautiful People” Music Video Set to Premiere at NEXT FEST, August 12-14
The music video for Mark Pritchard’s “Beautiful People,” a buoyant and elegiac record featuring vocals by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke – though you’d hardly know it – will make its world premiere at Sundance NEXT FEST, taking place August 12-14. The video will precede the Los Angeles premiere of Under the Shadow on Sunday, August 14, in the 4 p.m.
Q&A: Elliot Page Is Out Here Stealing Babies in Netflix’s ‘Tallulah’
This article was originally published following the premiere of “Tallulah” at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
The complexities of motherhood and its responsibilities are keenly examined in Tallulah, the debut feature from writer-director Sian Heder that offers a dazzling showcase for actors Elliot Page, Allison Janney, and Tammy Blanchard.
Page and Janney are reunited nine years after starring in Jason Reitman’s Juno, but the similarities to that hit comedy end there.
Big Freedia, the Queen of Bounce, Is Coming to Slay NEXT FEST
Big Freedia lets out a teasing chuckle while revisiting how she reminded the world of the real queen of Bounce, a New Orleans-bred musical style know for its frenetic bass beats, call-and-response lyrics, and twerking. “It felt really good once I took my crown back and I’m happy about how things are going in my life and in my career,” she says with a hint of mockery. There’s a sense that the crown is less proverbial than it is real, and the unapologetic confidence that Big Freedia possesses would suggest that she quite literally plucked it from the head of Miley Cyrus when the latter became the unofficial – and according to Freedia, unqualified – ambassador of twerking a few years back.
Sundance Institute Selects Projects and Panelists for Creative Film Producing Labs and Summit, August 1-8
Creative Producing Summit 2015
Credit: Jonathan Hickerson
Creative Producing Summit 2015
Credit: Brandon Cruz
Creative Producing Summit 2015
Credit: Jonathan Hickerson
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its weeklong Creative Film Producing
Initiative
at the Sundance Resort in Utah, August 1-8, including eleven feature film and documentary projects for the
Creative Producing Labs, and more than 50 industry leaders for the Creative Producing Summit. The
Institute’s Creative Producing Initiative encompasses a year-round series of Labs, Fellowships, granting and events focusing on
nurturing the next generation of independent producers and renewing the community of veteran producers who sustain the vibrancy and
vitality of independent film.
The Creative Producing Labs for Feature Film and Documentary will take place concurrently this year (August 1-5), with an added tailored
track for two producers outside of the Lab Fellowship.
Sex, Drugs, and a Whole Lot of Privilege in ‘White Girl’
It’s a tall order to merely get past the title of White Girl, Elizabeth Wood’s tenacious directorial debut, without detecting hints of—or being smacked in the face by—the film’s controversy. White Girl. Is it a drug reference? A bold commentary on race and privilege? A reach for provocation? Perhaps all three, but not without leading viewers on an unflinching exploration of race, socio-economic class, and drug culture, filtered through the blurred lens of a part-sympathetic, part-maddening young woman played by the fresh-faced Morgan Saylor.
Six Directors Selected for Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France
New York, NY — Six theatre directors will participate in the fourth Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France, July 18 through July 31. The Retreat is part of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community and is one of 24 residency Labs the Institute hosts each year for independent artists in theatre, film, new media and episodic content.
Under the supervision of Theatre Program Artistic Director Philip Himberg, Producing Director Christopher Hibma and Program Associate Anne Kauffman, the Retreat is the only theatre director-centered residency of its kind.