The Latest
What to Watch in April: ‘H.’ Exploits Our Subconscious Fears
Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia’s H. marks one of the most enigmatic Sundance selections in recent years and is set to make its theatrical release in April. Detailing a series of inexplicable events following a meteor strike in upstate New York, H.
Dark Family Secrets Lurk in ‘Take Me to the River’
With Take Me to the River, director Matt Sobel delivers not only an atypical take on the coming-of-age story, but one of the most original movies to have premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Sobel’s button-pushing mindfuck about adolescent sexuality and family secrets is a tenacious and taut drama that veers between comedy, drama, and thriller – sometimes within the same scene. It’s not an easily accessible film, but as described by programmer David Courier at the 2015 Sundance premiere, it’s the kind that defines what the NEXT section of the Festival is about.
‘Monsters and Men’ Filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green on How to Find Your Voice as a Screenwriter
“My hand hurts” doesn’t apply here at the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive two-day workshop in Los Angeles—specifically Joan Tewkesbury’s screenwriting workshop “Designed Obstacles, Spontaneous Response.” I came to the sad reality that I hadn’t used pen and paper in close to six months, including signing my own name, which is all done electronically now—I type or text everything. This workshop was not about technology or form; it was about detaching from all of it in search for the deepest meaning of ourselves.
Sundance Film Forward Travels to Omaha April 12 – 14
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute announced today the free Sundance Film Forward film screenings and discussions it will bring to Omaha April 12-14. Local artists, students, and film lovers are invited to attend free public events at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater and Joslyn Art Museum. Private screenings for area students are planned for a range for venues.
Writers and Creative Advisors Selected for Drishyam | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in Udaipur, India April 4-8
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Drishyam Films today announced the artists and creative advisors selected for the second Drishyam | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in Udaipur, India April 4-8. The Lab supports emerging filmmakers in India, as part of the Institute’s sustained commitment to international artists, which in the last 25 years has included programs in Brazil, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, Cuba, Israel and Central Europe.Now in its second year, the four-day Lab is a creative and strategic partnership between Drishyam Films and Sundance Institute, and gives independent screenwriters the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking.
6 Sundance-Supported Independent Films About Abortion
One of America’s most contentious and polarizing issues once again hinges on an upcoming Supreme Court decision. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, one of the most consequential and closely watched abortion cases in years, addressing the length to which states can go in regulating abortions without violating a woman’s constitutional rights.
‘Fun Home’ Records the First-Ever Broadway “Spotify Session”
Earlier this month, the Theatre Program-supported show Fun Home collaborated with Spotify to record the very first Broadway “Spotify Session.” The show did a live performance of a re-invention of six of its songs at Spotify’s NYC Headquarters and released them as an exclusive album on Friday, March 4th. More recently, Samantha Power, U.
5 Indigenous Filmmakers with Ties to Sundance Institute
Want to see a list of projects helmed by Indigenous filmmakers at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival? Click here.
Throughout the 22 years of the Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Film Program’s formal existence, we have supported more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers at various stages of their projects. The cycle of our work begins by scouting for and identifying Native American and Indigenous artists, bringing them through the Institute to get their work made and shown, and then bringing the filmmakers and their work back to native lands.
Calling All Producers: Doc Creative Producing Lab Deadline Extended
We have extended our deadline and are still accepting nominations for our Documentary Creative Producing Lab! The new deadline is Monday, March 21. If you know a talented producer not yet supported by Sundance Institute, we want to hear from you. ABOUT THE LAB AND FELLOWSHIP We will select five fellows to join us for a five-day intensive at the Sundance Resort in Utah.
Sundance Film Forward Brings Free Film Screenings and Master Classes to Atlanta and Macon, March 28-31
Los Angeles, CA — Expanding on ongoing efforts to engage the next generation of filmmakers and film lovers, Sundance Institute will host a free filmmaker roundtable, film screenings, discussions and master classes in the ATL and Macon March 28-31, in collaboration with Sticky Toe Pads. Independent filmmakers, local students and film fans are invited to attend the events, which are part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to connect cultures and people through film.
Sundance Film Forward will host free screenings of acclaimed independent films Dope and Umrika, as well as guided discussions with filmmakers Mimi Valdes (Dope) and Prashant Nair and Swati Shetty (Umrika).
Your Guide to Sundance at SXSW
One of the most agonizing aspects of wrapping up the Sundance Film Festival is the inevitable champing at the bit while waiting for films to come to theaters and digital platforms. But for folks attending SXSW, which runs March 11-20, there’s a second chance to catch some of the noisemakers that screened in Park City this January. Along with an attractive schedule of Sundance-supported films, a number of Sundance staff will be hosting Mentor Sessions and joining panels at this year’s event.
10 Films By Women That Prove We Need More Gender Parity
One would hope that on International Women’s Day in the year 2016 gender inequality, whether societal, economical, or within the arts, would have become a cultural pestilence of generations past. And while progress and parity are not entirely absent, there are still disturbing trends that indicate we (or our systems) remain fettered to a collective primeval intellect. The work of our Women at Sundance program and Female Filmmakers’ Initiative is conceived as a corrective to a dearth of opportunities presented to women in the film industry, but we are still nowhere near where we should be.
Sundance Institute Announces Eight Projects for Theatre Lab in MENA, May 2016
New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the eight new projects selected for its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, held in Morocco, May 2016. The Lab is part of the Institute’s international cultural exchange programs for independent artists, which include a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), broadening the work of its East African Theatre Exchange over the past 15 years. For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.
Malik Vitthal and Terence Nance On How to Develop and Sustain the Next Crop of Artists
For all the incessant parsing of cinema’s very real diversity problem, few voices have confronted the issues in earnest. The coverage has been pervasive, and has – if only superficially – begun to effect change. Last week on the heels of Black History Month, we gathered a pair of vibrant and urgent creative voices for a wide-ranging and pleasantly meandering conversation.
What to Watch in March: Love is Absurd in ‘The Lobster’
Yorgos Lanthimos’ relentless trademark absurdism is at its best and most pointed in The Lobster, the Colin Farrell-led drama that sees its protagonist defect from a matchmaking hotel where he has 45 days to find a partner or be transformed into an animal of his choice. The Lobster operates on any number of frequencies, from its acute sense of pacing to its dreary, nearly monochromatic visual aesthetic, Lanthimos’ writing and direction pull the viewer in varying directions while chopping at the cultural underpinnings of modern love – or worse, what it could become. The film finally makes its commercial theatrical run next Friday after premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.