The Latest
The Future Is Female: Keeping Up With the Women at Sundance Fellows
As 2016 rolls on, Women at Sundance fellows past and present continue to pursue new creative endeavors and make headlines.Pamela Romanowsky’s award-winning film The Adderall Diaries was released this past March by A24, the company that brought you The Witch, Room and Ex Machina.Gabrielle Nadig recently returned from producing a short documentary in Alaska for Tribeca Digital Studios and Allergan’s #ActuallySheCan campaign.
Addressing Barriers Head On: Strategic Advice & Financing Know-How
I thought this was one of the most well-structured, choreographed, and executed events of its kind I’ve attended. Very little fat, lots of practical advice, and a real earnest sense of wanting to establish mentorships.”
Our groundbreaking Women at Sundance research revealed that the most frequent barrier facing independent women filmmakers was lack of access to film financing due to male dominated networks.
Virtual Reality: The New Frontier Takes You to 18 Virtual Worlds at Northern Spark 2016 and the Walker Art Center
©2016 Jonathan Hickerson, courtesy of Sundance Institute
Virtual Reality: The New Frontier
Takes You to 18 Virtual Worlds at Northern Spark 2016 and the Walker Art Center
Presented by Northern Lights.mn, The Walker Art Center,
and Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Program
Northern Spark official start & end times: 9:00 pm until 5:26 am
Mill City neighborhood / Minneapolis, MN / Free* & Open to the Public
(*except ticketed Launch Party)
Walker Art Center
Loring Park Neighborhood/ Minneapolis, MN/ Free with gallery admission
Sunday, June 12, 2-4 pm, Art Lab
Tuesday, June 14, 3-5 pm, Art Lab
Wednesday, June 15, 2-4 pm, Art Lab
Thursday, June 16, 5-8 pm, Garden Terrace Room (Target Free Thursday Night)
MINNEAPOLIS, May 26, 2016—Beginning on June 11 at the 6th annual Northern Spark festival and continuing at the Walker Art Center until June 16, 2016 step into a new immersive medium and roam with bison in the wild, swim with whales in the deep ocean or explore a mysterious asteroid. Virtual Reality: The New Frontier, is an international selection of virtual reality works that represents some of the most compelling narrative and documentary VR storytelling being independently created today.
Former Cult Member Shares a Cautionary Tale in ‘Holy Hell’
When director Will Allen’s name was omitted from the Sundance Film Festival Competition announcement last November, plenty of conjecture surrounded his film Holy Hell and its sensitive subject matter. The riveting documentary sheds light on the inner workings of a mysterious spiritual community called Buddhafield, in which more than 100 young people lived a utopian existence under the grip of an enigmatic leader.
The non-fiction film is the first feature from director Will Allen, and while numerous other documentaries and narrative films have explored similar subject matter, Holy Hell offers a unique perspective.
Cinema as Therapy: 7 Films to Watch During Mental Health Month
It’s almost never easy or convenient to broach the issues that warrant our attention. Admittedly, sometimes our collective aversion to truly confronting our world’s pain is a problem. When we channel the courage to do so, we usually find that the commonality offers its own sense of healing.
‘Pervert Park’ Gives Sex Offenders a Voice
People, places, and stories aren’t always what you expect them to be in Pervert Park, a moving and bravely humane documentary about a self-contained community of sex offenders in St. Petersburg, Florida. As Swedish director Frida Barkfors and her Danish husband Lasse Barkfors said at the film’s premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, they were also surprised by what they found in the park.
From Lebanon to Cannes: Go on a Journey with ‘Tramontane’
Vatche Boulghourjian’s debut feature Tramontane made its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes on Tuesday. The film, about a blind man on the trail of his origins in post-war Lebanon, took four years to make. The following is a chronological account on the making of Tramontane, told from writer/director Vatche Boulghourjian’s and producer Caroline Oliveira’s points of view.
Sundance Institute Announces New ‘FilmTwo’ Initiative to Support Second-Time Feature Filmmakers
Andrew Ahn | Shaz Bennett | Bernardo Britto | Steven Caple Jr. | Jonas Carpignano | Marta Cunningham | Alistair Banks Griffin | Siân Heder | Marielle Heller | Anna Rose Holmer | Crystal Moselle | Felix Thompson | Yared ZelekeLos Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced a significant expansion of its signature artist development programs to include targeted support for second-time feature filmmakers, addressing a growing need in the field of independent storytelling, especially for women and filmmakers of color. The new FilmTwo Initiative, led by the Institute’s renowned Feature Film Program, with generous support from Founding Partner NBCUniversal, will offer selected directors specialized creative and tactical guidance in navigating the unique challenges of making their second feature films.
Indie Filmmakers: What Drives You, Matters
It can be easy to forget that everyone starts somewhere. We are often so preoccupied with our own distorted sense of inadequacy and dazzled by “sound bite” stories of overnight success, that we miss the true and abiding comfort that can be found in uncovering the far more frequent stories of failure>investigation>persistence>wisdom that culminate in hard won success.
In a conversation with, Joseph Beyer, director of digital initiatives at Sundance Institute, he asked, “So what was your take away?” If I could sum up one of the most profound benefits of attending Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices Philadelphia Workshop, it would be that no matter how green you are when you begin – If you embrace your failures with an insatiable appetite to learn and improve, and funnel your passion into inspired strategy – You can overcome all odds and make a living telling the stories that drive you.
Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Story Lab Explores the Future with Six Creative Teams and Projects
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Video Games and Installations
Take Center Stage as New Frontier Turns 10
Peter Burr | Porpentine Charity Heartscape | Shawn Peters | Barry Cole | Josephine Decker | Jess Engel | Nicole McDonald |
Rob Auten | yako (Jean-Christophe Yacono) | Ziad Touma | Nicolas Peufaillit | Mark Farid | John Ingle | Nimrod Vardi
Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Institute announced today the six projects selected for the New Frontier Story Lab, the groundbreaking cinematic new media program that empowers creatives at the forefront of innovation in entertainment and storytelling, May 19-24 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Past participants include Roger Ross Williams, Yung Jake, Chris Milk, Cory McAbee, Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari, Karim Ben Khelifa, Tracy Fullerton and Lucas Peterson.
The Sundance Institute New Frontier program, celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, supports and fosters independent artists working at the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music and technology.
Sundance Film Forward Brings Free Film Screenings and Discussions to London, June 6-9
Sundance Institute Invites Students, Artists and Film Lovers to Events at British Film Institute, Ravensbourne University, London Film School, and Regent Street Cinemas
Program Follows Sundance Film Festival: London, June 2-5 at Picturehouse Central
(L-R) Chuck Norris vs. Communism, Credit: Kevin Williams; Amy, Credit: Sundance Institute; Tig, Credit: Sundance Institute.
Los Angeles, CA — Immediately following the Sundance Film Festival: London, Sundance Institute will present Sundance Film Forward, a series of free film screenings and filmmaker discussions June 6-9.
Q&A: Kate Beckinsale Is a Pre-Tinder Temptress in ‘Love & Friendship’
Whit Stillman’s elegant, witty Love & Friendship, based on Lady Susan, an unpublished novella by Jane Austen, opens this Friday after premiering in the Premieres section of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Unsurprisingly, the pairing of Stillman, known for his sophisticated comedies of social mores, and Austen, beloved for her 19th-century romantic fiction, proved to be as well-made a match as any that might appear in the works of the English author. Before the film’s premiere, Stillman, who made his Sundance debut in 1990 with Metropolitan, even joked to the audience that his films “have often been accused of being set in Georgian times.
Watch These Films With Mom This Weekend
A mother’s love is of the most ineffable variety. In the
spirit of abiding by that rule, we won’t attempt to belabor the point here.
Instead, a range of films has expressed that truth for us.
Sundance Institute Selects Eight First-Time Filmmakers for Directors Lab, May 30-June 23
Frances Bodomo | Annie Silverstein | César Cervantes | Kibwe Tavares | Eva Vives | Sandhya Suri | Pippa Bianco | Boots Riley
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has selected eight first-time filmmakers for its signature Directors Lab, which helped launch the careers of award-winning filmmakers Cary Fukunaga, Dee Rees, Marielle Heller, Benh Zeitlin and Quentin Tarantino. Taking place May 30-June 23 in the mountains of Sundance Resort in Utah, the annual Lab supports the next wave of independent filmmakers exploring new ideas and shaping the future of storytelling.
At the Directors Lab, under the leadership of Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter, Labs Director Ilyse McKimmie and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Fellows will work with an accomplished group of creative advisors, professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from their screenplays.
5 Reasons Why Michael J. Larnell Chose to Creatively Release ‘Cronies’
Michael J. Larnell’s stark ode to St. Louis is an earnest depiction of a day in the life of three friends as they rove aimlessly through their hometown smoking “squares,” pursuing girls, and testing their luck.