The Latest
What It’s Like to Be an Editor at the Sundance Labs
In recognition of the crucial role of editors in the art of storytelling, the Feature Film Program has created a series of initiatives to focus on the craft. The Rough Cut Screening series is a year round initiative that supports approximately 20 feature films in post production, providing feedback to projects that are alumni of the Feature Film Program. Two other initiatives – the Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship and the Editing Intensive – took place just this past month in conjunction with our annual Directors Lab.
Stories of Change Fellows Share Takeaways from Skoll World Forum
The Stories of Change Convening at the Skoll World Forum in April brought seven Sundance Institute Storytelling Fellows together with Skoll Awarded Social Entrepreneurs to explore storytelling potential. Here are some post-Forum reflections on story and change from our Fellows.
On the relationship between change and stories filmmaker Jerry Rothwell asks, “How do we square the visionary idealism required to imagine a better world, with the pragmatic politics that might take us there? What’s the relationship between demanding change (campaigning, protesting, speaking out) and making change (through community action, government, political parties)? How does a movement relate to the organizations it gives birth to? And what part do stories and images play in this process?”
Rothwell points out the kinds of stories that inspire change.
Sundance Film Forward Travels to Cuba July 14-16
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute announced today its return to Cuba with film screenings and filmmaker discussions open to the public as part of Sundance Film Forward, July 14-16. Local artists, students, and film lovers are invited to attend public events at venues across Havana, including Cine Yara and Casa del Festival.
Sundance Film Forward will host free screenings of acclaimed independent films Me and Earl and the Dying Girl with novelist/screenwriter Jesse Andrews and Meru with director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
Sundance Institute Announces Film and Music Lineup for Sundance NEXT FEST, Aug. 12-14
Riley Keough and Jena Malone in Lovesongcourtesy Sundance Institute
Sundance NEXT FEST marqueecredit: Alberto E. Rodriguez
Shamircredit: Matthew Parri Thomas
Los Angeles, CA — The snow-packed gems of the Sundance Film Festival will thaw in the summer heat of downtown LA with Sundance NEXT FEST, August 12-14 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. The program, announced today, features some of the most talented new film and music artists on the verge of breaking out.
The Filmmakers Behind ‘Swiss Army Man’ on Making Tarantino Cry and Finding Magic in the Macabre
Pale, flaccid, and remarkably lifelike, a dummy resembling a
famed actor lounged on a colorful chair on a Hollywood hotel’s rooftop during a
hot summer afternoon. This replica of a dead Daniel Radcliffe, or more
specifically Manny, the character he plays, has been on the road with directors
Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert as they promote their debut feature Swiss Army Man, which is almost
unequivocally the most original film to be released on U.S.
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Film Composers and Independent Filmmakers for July Music and Sound Design Labs
Music and Sound Design Lab 2015Credit: Lauren Janney
Music and Sound Design Lab 2014Credit: Brandon Joseph Baker
Music and Sound Design Lab 2015Credit: Rob Williamson
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound . This will be the fourth year the Music and Sound Design Labs take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California. Half of this year’s composing Fellows are women, extending the Institute’s commitment to female artists to a creative branch of filmmaking with an especially low percentage of women represented.
Behind the Scenes of HITS’ “Pay What You Want” Release
With a heady mix of naivety and cockiness, around a year ago, we (Honora) made a move into distribution (read about Honora’s recently announced involvement with the pilot program BitTorrent Now here). David Cross’ feature directorial debut HITS premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and on its opening night we fielded (what in retrospect) was a generous offer from a well-known distributor. The offer included a plan that would see the film theatrically distributed in 10 major markets with a reputable distributor brand behind it.
Nate Parker to Receive Sundance Institute Vanguard Award at NIGHT BEFORE NEXT Benefit, August 11
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will present its Vanguard Award to filmmaker and actor Nate Parker at NIGHT BEFORE NEXT, a summer celebration benefiting the Institute and its artists on the eve of Sundance NEXT FEST at the iconic Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, August 11. Parker’s directorial debut, The Birth of a Nation, premiered to great response at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize. The Vanguard Award will be presented to Parker during the cocktails and dinner portion of the evening.
Seven Docs to Watch if You’re Mad as Hell About the Orlando Shootings
Like a lot of people, I’ve spent much of the past week thinking about the recent attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando—the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Sundance Institute Brings $143.3 Million in Economic Activity and $72.5 in Gross State Product to Utah with 2016 Sundance Film Festival
Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute today announced that its 2016 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah in January, generated an overall economic activity of $143.3 million and gross domestic product of $72.5 million in the State of Utah, according to the independent annual economic and demographic study conducted by the University of Utah’s Kem C.
New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival: 10 Years of Changing Boundaries
Sundance Institute extends its celebration of the 10th anniversary of New Frontier this week with Virtual Reality: The New Frontier, running June 12–16 at the Walker Art Center. The presentation includes a lineup of works from the 2016 edition of New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival along with specially selected pieces by local Minnesota artists. In the April edition of Leonardo, the Walker’s Sheryl Mousley and our own Shari Frilot (New Frontier’s chief curator) shared an illustrated survey that revisits the sprawling work of New Frontier over the last 10 years.
Sundance Q&A: How a Tickling Competition Became an Investigative Thriller
You’d think that a film called Tickled would offer a light, escapist, mirthful time at the theater. But while this World Documentary Competition feature is often very funny, and starts off as an uproarious investigation into an obscure and frankly amusing fetish, it quickly veers into very darker territory. Provoked by insulting and homophobic responses to requests for an interview, New Zealand directors David Farrier and Dylan Reeve press deeper into a surprisingly disturbing subculture, led by several shady organizations perhaps run by the same mysterious person.
Sundance Institute Receives Academy Grants to Support Artist Development Programs for Underrepresented Filmmakers
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute announced today that it has been awarded two grants from The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to support professional training and development for emerging feature film artists from nontraditional backgrounds. The grants, which were made through the Academy’s Grants and Nicholl Fellowships programs, support the Institute’s 2016 Native Filmmakers Lab and the Feature Film Program’s June Screenwriters Lab.A $17,500 FilmCraft grant has been given to the Institute’s Native Program for its 2016 Native Filmmakers Lab.
Sundance Institute Names Projects for its Screenwriters Lab, Documentary Edit and Story Labs and New Theatre-Makers Residency
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has selected 25 projects to participate in its Screenwriters Lab, Documentary Edit and Story Labs and new Theatre-Makers Residency, which will take place concurrently this summer in the mountains of the Sundance Resort in Utah. The confluence of these three artist development programs will provide Fellows the unprecedented opportunity to experience portions of the other Labs and will support a cross-pollination of creativity and personal expression across different storytelling forms.Under the guidance of established creative advisors, screenwriters will participate in individualized story sessions exploring their work-in-progress screenplays while documentary filmmakers in post-production embark on a rigorous exploration of story, structure, and character development.
Your Guide to a Summer of Movies that Britney Spears Would Find “Weird”
In the immortal words of pop empress Britney Spears: “Sundance is weird. The movies are weird – you actually have to think about them when you watch them.” Lest we forget, this erudite quote has been pinned to bulletin boards around Sundance offices for years.