The Latest
4 Reasons to See ‘(T)Error,’ the Counterterrorism Doc That Reconsiders the Threat
If fear is in fact the most powerful motivator, then (T)Error may have us all hand-wringing and galvanized come the credits. In their feature debut, co-directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe cleverly infiltrate a real life counterterrorism sting carried out by a veteran FBI informant known as Saeed Torres, or “Shariff.
Enter ‘The Forbidden Room,’ Guy Maddin’s Coiling and Hallucinatory Ode to Lost Cinema
It’s all but impossible to describe all that happens in The Forbidden Room, since it’s all but impossible to track all that’s happening in the moment.
So let’s just say it has something to do with a doomed submarine, a woodsman determined to save his beloved from humanoid wolves, a manacled gardener, a soused parachutist attorney, a poisonous skeleton unitard, posthumous drinking buddies, an inner child murderer, and baths, for starters. It’s a film in which digressions aren’t really digressions, but rather thresholds to new flights of fancy, to more and more fervent valentines to lost and imagined cinematic worlds, to beautiful imagery and bawdy jokes.
What to Watch in October: Sarah Silverman Leads a Double Life in ‘I Smile Back’
A pair of Sundance breakout films coming to theaters in October examine the disparate but mesmerizing charades carried out by their subjects. In the documentary (T)ERROR, cameras infiltrate a real life counterterrorism sting carried out by a veteran FBI informant, and in I Smile Back, Sarah Silverman secretly inhabits a world of compulsion and duplicity that belies her idyllic family life. Check out all that October has to offer below.
Please Take Your Seats: 9 Sundance Film Festival Ticketing Tips
Navigating the world of ticketing at the Sundance Film Festival can seem a daunting undertaking. Fortunately, Sundance’s own expert in the field, Linda Pfafflin, knows the ins and outs better than anyone, and for the last few years she’s made herself a resource for audiences looking for seats. Below, she shares some of the lesser-known avenues into both the films you’d never thought you had a chance at seeing—and those you’d never thought to try.
Vincent Cassel Is a Well-Intentioned Cult Leader in ‘Partisan’
Transitioning from short films to features is treading a familiar, tried and true path for filmmakers. But there’s a rare tribe of filmmakers who pass through the selection gauntlet to place a film in the Sundance Film Festival shorts program, and then prevail over another, equally daunting competition to do the same for a feature film. To achieve that, you must be doing something right.
‘Finders Keepers,’ Losers Weepers: The Battle Over a Human Limb
The story of Finders Keepers, a rollicking and sneakily emotional film that screened as part of U.S. Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is almost too good to be true.
7 Films to Add to Your Watchlist This Hispanic Heritage Month
Phrases like “language of cinema” tend to prompt exaggerated eye rolls, but even the most bromidic sayings sometimes bear repeating. Scorsese once dedicated an entire lecture to the topic, and the notion that cinema is in fact a universal dialect is verified every time we experience a foreign language film. What’s lost in translation is, invariably, found again in film.
Sundance Film Forward Travels to Miami October 20-23
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today that Sundance Film Forward will host free screenings of acclaimed independent films and moderated discussions and workshops with talented filmmakers October 20-23. The events will take place in a range of venues from the program’s host, the Bill Cosford Cinema at University of Miami, to small community centers, including branches of the Miami-Dade Public Library System.
Sundance Film Forward is a touring program of film screenings and discussions to excite and cultivate new audiences for independent film, with a special focus on 18- to 24-year-olds.
Sundance Institute Continues Support for Creators of TV and Online Series; 10 Projects Selected for 2015 Episodic Story Lab
Los Angeles,CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 10 projects selected from more than 2,500 submissions for its second Episodic Story Lab, representing some of the most promising new writers creating TV and online series. The Lab supports first-time show creators 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 leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, with Jennifer Goyne Blake, Senior Manager of the Episodic Story Lab, Fellows will work with an accomplished group of showrunners, television executives and producers on developing their spec pilot and series overview.
‘Going Clear,’ Viola Davis, and Others Cap Off a Groundbreaking 67th Emmy Awards
The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards were held last night and a number of films supported by Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program or the Sundance Film Festival made strong showings, as well as some individual awards for the likes of Viola Davis–whose Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy is the first for an African-American woman–and Uzo Aduba. One non-fiction title in particular from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival–Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief–took home a handful of hardware. Check below for an updated list of Emmy-nominated films supported by Sundance Institute.
Calling All Native Filmmakers: 5 Reasons to Apply for the Native Producing Fellowship
It seems so long ago that I was applying for the Time Warner Native Producing Fellowship, yet it’s been less than a year. I wasn’t sure what it meant to be a Fellow, but I knew I wanted to be a part of the growing community of Native American filmmakers. So, I applied with my first feature project as a producer called The Land.
Here’s Who to Look for at the Emmys this Sunday
You may be asking yourself, “What business does a film organization have meddling in a conversation about television awards shows?” Good question, loyal reader. One of the myriad benefits of living in this unofficial epoch of episodic television is that the crossover of talent between film and TV is stronger than ever. That means filmmakers like Cary Fukunaga can make a brilliant feature film debut with Sin Nombre, and a few years later helm an Emmy-winning investigative crime drama called True Detective (and yet all we can talk about are his debonair, man-braided ways).
8 Masters of Chinese Cinema
The 2015 Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong returns today (technically yesterday, if we’re subscribing to the disorienting time change) for its second year, this time at the newly minted Metroplex. For SFF: Hong Kong neophytes, the event is a cultural exchange of sorts that sees the exportation of 11 American independent films direct from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. You can check the complete festival program out at hk.
Festival Internacional de Cine en Morelia to Host Artist Services Workshop in Michoacán, Mexico
Sundance Institute and Festival Internacional de Cine en Morelia have announced an international workshop collaboration designed to give emerging independent filmmakers and producers a chance to interact and learn from industry experts in creative funding, digital distribution and marketing of their work“We’re honored and excited to be collaborating with Morelia, a magnet for creators from all parts of the world, to bring our Artist Services workshop to Mexico and we’re looking forward to exploring these new models of creative control for producers and filmmakers with their generous support,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.Highlights of the program include interviews, presentations and keynotes from SXSW Film Director Janet Pierson, two-time Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Winner Ondi Timoner, Kickstarter Head of Film Dan Schoenbrun, Vimeo Director of VOD Peter Gerard, Marco de la Cruz from Cinepolis Klic, Yissel Ibarra from FilmInLatino, FICM Outreach Director Paula Amor and the first-ever international demonstration of Quiver Digital (a distribution dashboard) by Paul O’Neill.The workshop will be held October 26, 2015 and led by Sundance Institute Director of Digital Initiatives Joseph Beyer and Artist Services Manager Missy Laney alongside FICM Host Andrea Stavenhagen.
Sundance Institute Announces New, Multi-Year Initiative to Support Theatre Artists from Middle East/North Africa
New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced a significant expansion of its international cultural exchange programs for independent artists with a new, multi-year initiative to support theatre-makers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). With the goal of creating new opportunities for cross-cultural connectedness and in-depth mutual artistic reflection and exploration, the Institute will expand its existing international Labs to include a pilot Theatre Lab in MENA, to take place in May 2016. Theatre artists in the U.