The Latest
The Spark: Introducing 3 New Feature Film Program Fellows
The word “spark” is defined as “a small fiery particle thrown off from a fire, alight in ashes, or produced by striking together two hard surfaces such as stone or metal.” It’s also a common term used to describe the earliest stage of a writer’s creative process. The big idea—urgent and unrelenting—that seduces the artist and compels her to tell a specific story.
The Film That Takes You Inside a Counterterrorism Sting Needs Your Help
A woman at a recent Q&A for our film (T)ERROR asked us, “Were you afraid?” She didn’t specify, nor did she need to. We knew who, and what, she was referring to. She was asking if we were afraid of our own government.
Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation Select Ten Fellows for 2015 Artist Support Grants
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced today the ten artists selected for the 2015 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program, which recognizes and fosters the talent of diverse independent artists. These Fellowships and accompanying grants are part of the Institute’s year-round artist programs, including 24 residency labs and more than $2.5 million in grants for independent artists each year.
Sundance Institute and The Metroplex Proudly Present 2015 Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong
Hong Kong – 11 August, 2015) With last year’s success of the Sundance Film Festival – Hong Kong Selects, which brought a series of curated American independent films to the city for the first time, Sundance Institute and The Metroplex will once again present the 2015 Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong from September 17 to 27, screening 11 films featured in the Festival at Park City, Utah, U.S.A.
Dance Parties, Mummified Legs, and Robot Love – A Weekend at Sundance NEXT FEST
Last night we wrapped up NEXT FEST with a one-of-a-kind dance party at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, as Neon Indian and Toro y Moi jointly sent LA film fans off into the sunset. The part-film, part-music, part-special guest medley was hosted at a veritable movie palace (a beautifully restored 1920s United Artists) and offered a perfect backdrop for everything from an oddball documentary about a missing mummified leg (Finders Keepers) to sweet serenades from Sharon Van Etten. Take a look at some of our highlights from a great weekend of film and music at NEXT FEST.
Q&A: Coming of Age with Sky Ferreira
At one point during our recent conversation, Sky Ferreira empathized with Lorelei Linklater, daughter of director Richard Linklater and an actress in his Oscar-winning drama Boyhood. The parallels proved uncanny to the 23-year-old singer, who heard the story of Lorelei bawling her way through her first viewing of the film. It was a reaction to reliving her coming-of-age—including, in its entirety the “awkward phase.
Sundance NEXT FEST adds Special Guests, Music Video World Premieres and Virtual Reality Flight Simulator
Los Angeles, CA — A tidal wave of new ideas washes ashore for Sundance NEXT FEST at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles this weekend, including newly added special guests, three world premiere music videos and a full-body, mind-blowing virtual reality flight simulator, Birdly. Sundance NEXT FEST, August 7-9, is a weekend celebration of the renegade spirit of independent artists, featuring what’s new and next in film and music. Tickets ($15-25) are on sale now at sundance.
‘Marwencol’ Director Jeff Malmberg Shares His Sundance Lab Experience
Arriving at the Sundance Institute Documentary Edit & Story Lab as an advisor on my first day, fellow advisor and editor Kate Amend greeted me with a hearty, “Welcome to paradise.” She said it in a way that seemed to reference more than just the beautiful surroundings. I didn’t know exactly what she was alluding to, but I had heard this kind of thing many times before.
Jason Segel Enlisted Book Club Buds to Channel David Foster Wallace in ‘The End of the Tour’
Judging from conversations and Twitter activity in the moments before the world premiere screening of The End of the Tour at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, there was as much trepidation as there was excitement about the prospect of the life of the late, great author David Foster Wallace being dramatized on film. Yet even though the film, and actor Jason Segel in particular, made great pains to evoke Wallace’s singular way of talking, thinking, and being, it turned out that The End of the Tour is far from a biopic—it documents just a few days at the end of the author’s press tour for Infinite Jest—and rather uses writer David Lipsky’s best-selling account of his time reporting an ultimately unpublished profile of Wallace for Rolling Stone as a jumping off point for a rumination on fame, American manhood, and loneliness, among many other things. It’s also, despite a bigger budget and stars like Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, and Joan Cusack, very much a deeply felt James Ponsoldt (Smashed, The Spectacular Now) film.
5 Questions With Television Editor Erica Freed Marker
Erica Freed Marker is the recipient of the 2015 Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship. The fellowship honors the memory of the beloved Sundance Institute mentor and prolific editor Sally Menke by supporting an emerging narrative editor’s understanding of craft, expanding their artistic community, and providing momentum to their editing career through participation in the Directors Lab and year-round mentorship from several accomplished editors. This year, Marker will work closely with Dylan Tichenor (co-editor, Zero Dark Thirty, The Town, There Will be Blood) and two other editing mentors.
Six Directors Selected for Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation
New York, NY — Six theatre directors will participate in the third Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France, July 31 through August 12. The Retreat is part of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community 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 supervision of Theatre Program Artistic Director Philip Himberg, Producing Director Christopher Hibma and Program Associate Anne Kauffman, the Retreat is the only theatre director-centered residency of its kind.
On “Being Real”: 5 Reasons You Can’t Miss ‘Cronies’ at NEXT FEST
There is a millennial-borne obsession with “being real” that deserves to be checked, and Cronies is the perfect film to do the checking. Michael J. Larnell’s stark ode to St.
In a Summer of Blockbusters, Don’t Forget the Indies
If you’ve been to the movies this summer, you’ve probably had a lot of fun watching dinosaurs behave badly, deadly robots travel through time or the earthquake-induced, computer-generated destruction of California. These films and other blockbusters have a place in our culture, but don’t miss checking out what is in many ways a banner season for risk-taking and refreshing independent movies.
Some of my favorite new independent films are in theaters now or opening soon.
‘The Stanford Prison Experiment’ Pushes Ezra Miller to the Brink
Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez may not be the second coming of Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the groundbreaking psychologist at the helm of the Stanford Prison Experiment, but that doesn’t preclude his new film from channeling the same chilling tenor as those controversial events.
One could speculate that every film screening is an “experiment” of sorts, as a number of audience members intimated during The Stanford Prison Experiment’s Q&A session at the film’s Sundance premiere, but Alvarez is loath to concede that his film manipulates with the same scheming tendencies as the experiment itself.
Sundance Institute Selects Projects and Panelists for Creative Film Producing Labs and Summit, July 27 – August 3
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its weeklong Creative Film Producing Initiative at the Sundance Resort in Utah, July 27 – August 3, including nine feature film and documentary projects for the Creative Producing Labs and more than 50 industry leaders for the Creative Producing Summit. The Institute’s Creative Producing Initiative encompasses a year-round series of Labs, Fellowships, granting and events focusing on nurturing the next generation of independent producers and renewing the community of veteran producers who sustain the vibrancy and vitality of independent film.
The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab (July 27 – July 31) identifies emerging producers and, under the guidance of Creative Advisors, allows them to develop their creative instincts and evolve their communicating and problem-solving skills at all stages of their feature film project.