The Latest
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.
Sundance Institute Selects Two Projects for Native Filmmakers Lab
Park City, UT — Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota) and Randi LeClair (Pawnee) have been selected for the Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, where the two writers will receive grants for production and targeted support during a residential Lab to prepare for production of their short films. The Lab takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico July 10-14. The Lab is a highlight of the Institute’s year-round work with Native American and Indigenous filmmakers and is one of the 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.
16 Social Media Tips For Indie Filmmakers
Earlier this summer, Sundance Institute and the Austin Film Society presented our second annual #ArtistServices workshop in Texas. Aimed at empowering creators navigating the changing business of distribution and marketing, the day-long event featured one session focused on the back-end management of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, and posed the question, “How do indie artists harness and navigate the shifting landscape while balancing their time and creative energy?” Here are a few of the takeaways we hope might help you.
1) Honor The Platform
“Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Sundance Institute Selects Acting Company and Creative Advisors for 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort
New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the acting company and creative advisors that are participating in its 2015 Theatre Lab, which kicked off yesterday and runs through July 26 at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Lab is the centerpiece 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.
The Theatre Lab supports both emerging and established theatre-makers developing new work for the stage, with a focus on assuring that the playwright’s deepest impulses and visions can be realized.
Vassiliki Khonsari on Musing Mysteries at the New Frontier Story Lab
Amidst the dramatic drops and amber foliage of Utah’s natural offerings, the Sundance mountain stands proud, a modern day Mount Olympus where good things happen. It is here that the muses of contemporary storytelling orchestrate a transformative experience. Advisors, staff and peers—one more brilliant, generous and different than the other—are at your humble disposal over the course of those five days, both in mind and in space.
What To Watch In July: ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment,’ ‘Cartel Land,’ and more
A perilous journey into the world of drug cartels, a simulated prison experiment that reduces Ezra Miller to a weeping boy, and a Christmas Eve spent with transgender prostitutes in Los Angeles. Yeah, July has something for everyone.
Those three Sundance favorites—Cartel Land, The Stanford Prison Experiment, and Tangerine, respectively—headline a slate that further catapults us into summer moviegoing season.
Exploring the Future of Story in Detroit at Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Lab
What is the future of story?” Kamal Sinclair, co-director of Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Story Lab, asks in her welcoming remarks. I came to the New Frontier Day Lab at the Allied Media Conference this year because I have this same question. What does my future as a filmmaker look like and how is the art of storytelling expanding and the technical craft changing?
Just like the cinematic leaps we’ve taken from black-and-white to color, to sound to film to digital and beyond, is the “communication architecture” in which we tell our stories about to take another leap that I need to prepare myself for? Artists are projecting moving images onto people’s retinas these days, and I’m still trying to figure out my 90-minute, three-act structured drama/comedy with sharpies, note cards, and double-sided tape on a big empty wall.
Sundance Institute and Kaufman Music Center Bring Carol Burnett’s Play Hollywood Arms Back Onstage After 15 Years for One Night Only, September 21
New York, NY — Sundance Institute in collaboration with Kaufman Music Center will present An Anniversary Concert Reading of Hollywood Arms at Merkin Concert Hall September 21. Carol Burnett and Philip Himberg, Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, will introduce the special concert reading of the Broadway production of Burnett’s autobiographical play, Hollywood Arms, written with her daughter Carrie Hamilton. The reading is directed by Sundance alum, Mark Brokaw, the recipient of Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards, and stars Michele Pawk (Hairspray, Cabaret, Mamma Mia!) in her Tony-winning role as well as Tyne Daly, Emily Skeggs, Sydney Lucas and others to be announced.
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Independent Filmmakers and Film Composers for July Music and Sound Design Labs
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the independent narrative and documentary directors and composers selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound. This will be the third year the Music and Sound Design Labs take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California. The Labs are part of 24 residential labs the Institute hosts annually to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.
‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’ Retraces an Illustrious Singer’s Life of Complexity
Passionate, mercurial, prodigiously talented. They’re adjectives that could personify any number of entertainers, but maybe none more than the utterly compelling, endlessly perplexing Nina Simone. In January at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, director Liz Garbus—an Oscar-nominated and first-class artist in her own right—premiered her sweeping portrait of the complicated singer and pianist whose classically trained skills were paired with an undeniable fervor for activism.
Sundance Salutes Supreme Court Ruling on Right to Marry
Our country woke up to some good news today: The Supreme Court ruled that marriage is legal for gay and lesbian couples in all 50 states. It’s an unprecedented level of support for gay and lesbian Americans (many of whom grew up in times and places that offered no support whatsoever), offering definitive proof that attitudes are changing. Today’s news was a long time coming.
Equality for All? 4 Films That Confront Race in America
You’ve likely heard—or yourself employed—the phrase “language of cinema.” It’s a nod to the power of story to foster understanding, to provoke change, or to simply assuage our pains and our sorrows. Last week, in yet another stark reminder that our headway toward “understanding” and “change” in the United States has been significant but not universal, we endured the racially motivated murder of nine Black Americans at a Charleston, South Carolina, church.