The Latest
Three Premieres Broach the Gun Violence Epidemic in America
Sundance.org is dispatching its writers to daily screenings and events to capture the 10 days of festivities during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Check back each morning for roundups and insights into our experiences throughout the Festival.
‘Kate Plays Christine’ Blurs Lines in Revisiting Anchor’s On-Air Suicide
After watching a film in which the lines between documentary and fiction, behavior and performance, reportage and speculation, are deliberately blurred, it was fitting that the discussion after the world premiere of Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine at the Temple Theater last night felt like a spillover from, or even a fulfillment of, the movie. In all respects, it was questions begging other questions, with on and off-screen lives and motivations and methods remaining meaningfully elusive.
Kate Lyn Sheil and Robert Greene.
Interview: Richard Tanne Takes Viewers on a First Date with the Obamas in ‘Southside with You’
First dates can be awkward, but they often make for fascinating cinema. In the tradition of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, Southside With You follows two young people getting to know one another as audiences get a chance to learn about them.
What distinguishes writer-director Richard Tanne’s first feature from the pack is the protagonists here are 26-year-old attorney Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter), who is rather reluctantly squired around Chicago one summer afternoon with her firm’s new associate, 28-year-old Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers).
Daily Roundup: Casey Affleck Brings Devastating Authenticity to ‘Manchester by the Sea’
Sundance.org is dispatching its writers to daily screenings and events to capture the 10 days of festivities during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Check back each morning for roundups and insights into our experiences throughout the Festival.
‘Wiener-Dog,’ ‘The Bad Kids,’ and 2016’s First Young Breakout
Sundance.org is dispatching its writers to daily screenings and events to capture the 10 days of festivities during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Check back each morning for roundups and insights into our experiences throughout the Festival.
Visiting the Boundless Worlds of Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier on its 10th Anniversary
Yesterday morning between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 a.m., I traveled to Cuba, visited the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, experienced a city under air attack, endured solitary confinement, walked a narrow path over a blazing, infinite abyss before cradling a mysterious orb in some futuristic, alien land, roved around Mars, and became an exotic, endangered creature floating above a rain forest—for starters.
‘Belgica,’ ‘Sky Ladder,’ ‘Other People,’ and ‘Norman Lear’ Ring In 2016 Festival
Sudance.org is dispatching its writers to daily screenings and events to capture the 10 days of festivities during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Check back each morning for roundups and insights into our experiences throughout the Festival.
Robert Redford Kicks Off the 2016 Festival: “Diversity Comes Out of Independence”
If there was a prevailing motif to Thursday’s press conference kicking off the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, it may have come in the form of a corrective to commentary surrounding diversity in the film industry following last week’s disappointingly homogeneous Oscars news. Perhaps it’s the inevitable timing of the Festival, swelling conspicuously amidst awards season, but Redford once again found himself repeatedly foiling others’ efforts to detract from Sundance’s 10-day celebration of independent film. Just as he pointedly remarked several years ago to not “let that get in the way of why we’re here,” the longtime actor and filmmaker once again opined on the importance of remaining present, while also reframing the conversation around diversity in cinema.
Flying Lotus, Neon Indian, Dan Deacon and more to Perform at the Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival’s newest venue won’t be missing a beat when the curtains are raised on the 2016 edition of the Festival. Festival Base Camp presented by Canada Goose is a dynamic cross-programmatic harbor for music performances, panels, art, and film, and today we’re unveiling the lineup of musicians taking the stage throughout the Festival. A Celebration of Film in Music and BMI Snowball are open to credential holders as space permits; all other events at Festival Base Camp presented by Canada Goose are open to the public.
Sundance Institute Launches New Initiative to Support Inventive Artistic Practice in Nonfiction Film
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute, one of the world’s largest grantmakers to documentary film, today announced the ‘Art of Nonfiction’ initiative, which will expand the Institute’s existing support for documentaries exploring contemporary social issues to include targeted creative and financial support for documentary filmmakers exploring inventive artistic practice in story, craft and form. As part of the initiative, the Institute has selected Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine), Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths), and Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq (These Birds Walk) as the first Art of Nonfiction fellows. The initiative launches with editorial and financial support from Cinereach.
A Paradox of Change in Cuba’s Filmmaking Communities
A couple weeks ago, I returned to Havana with Sundance Institute – 16 years after I went to Havana with the Institute back in 1999. As part of this year’s program, I led a master class on creative producing during the Havana Film Festival and hosted a salon for emerging Cuban producers.
Today, Havana seems overwhelmingly different and overwhelmingly the same.
Sundance-Supported ‘Brooklyn’ Leads the Way with Three Oscar Nominations
Nominations for the 88th Academy Awards were announced this morning and John Crowley’s Brooklyn, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, led all Sundance-supported films with three nominees, including Best Picture. Saoirse Ronan garnered a Best Actress nomination for her role in the film as Eilis, a young woman forced to choose between the allure of love in New York City and her abandoned roots back home in Ireland. On the nonfiction side, Matthew Heinemen’s perilous – and increasingly pertinent – journey into the world of Mexican drug cartels received a Best Documentary nod along with fellow 2015 Sundance docs The Look of Silence and What Happened, Miss Simone?
See below for the full list of Sundance-supported projects and artists receving Oscar nods.
Greenlight Your Audience: GoWatchIt Strengthens the Nexus Between Filmmakers and Fans
In Hollywood, when a studio committee greenlights a film, there has been an economic analysis that takes into account elements such as genre, attached talent, appeal to international markets, etc. They also often slot it into some release date years out, mindful of other announced films and national holidays. It’s a game of checkers played by elephants.
Sundance Institute Announces Jury Members For 2016 Sundance Film Festival
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute has summoned 23 film, theatre, culture and science experts for jury duty to award 27 prizes at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
(L-R) Sundance Film Festival, Credit: Fred Hayes; Taika Waititi, Credit: Sundance Film Festival; Director Crystal Moselle, Credit:Jemal Countess.
Also announced today, filmmaker and Institute alum Taika Waititi will host the feature film Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 30 at 7:00 p.
6 Indigenous Filmmakers Set to Premiere Their Films at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival
Ed. note: Want to see the full list of films by Indigenous directors that made their premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival? Click here.
Sundance Institute’s commitment to supporting Native artists is woven throughout the organization’s history, as the Indigenous Program has built and sustained an Indigenous film circle throughout the 22 years of its formal existence within the Institute.