The Latest
6 Deadbeat Sundance Characters for Labor Day
I ‘ll sometimes find myself musing over the relevance of longstanding holidays and how, maybe, there ought to be qualifiers for who gets the day off. Exhibit A: Labor Day, celebrated by everyone from workers living a life of drudgery to students who may have never worked an honest day in their lives. It would seem that a career spent constructing high-rises, or diagnosing maladies, or defending indigent legal clients would probably merit a day off more than, say, a professional poker player (Dan Bilzerian, insufferable trust fund bro, I’m looking at you).
Artist Services Workshop Heads to Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca FilmFest announced today details of the Sundance Institute Artist Services Workshops highlighting the New Industry section during Oaxaca FilmFest 6. The workshops, which will feature unique conversations with industry experts from Kickstarter, Indiegogo and VHX, are designed to give filmmakers the necessary skills and tools to understand new and emerging trends in the ever-changing digital landscape.
The Workshops will be held October 12–14, 2015, and led by Sundance Institute Director of Digital Initiatives Joseph Beyer and Artist Services Manager Missy Laney.
Filmmakers, There’s Still Time to Submit Your Films to the 2016 Festival
It’s no secret that writers—and plenty of other creative disciplines—have some sort of congenital penchant for procrastination. Filing filmmakers into this same category seems apropos, which is why we at Sundance have not one, not two, but three filmmaker submission deadlines. If that makes us enablers, then so be it.
Sundance Film Forward Travels to Taiwan September 19-23
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 with directors in Taiwan September 19-23 in collaboration with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and CNEX.
Sundance Film Forward is a touring program designed for 18 to 24 year olds, students and artists that offers film screenings and discussions to excite and cultivate new audiences for independent film. It uses the power of cinema to promote broader cultural understanding, inspire curiosity and enhance awareness of shared stories and values across generations, religions, ethnicities and borders.
10 Years Later: Hurricane Katrina Through the Lens of Filmmakers
There is truth in the conviction that “time heals all wounds.” But in New Orleans, exactly 10 years after one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S.
Three’s a Crowd for Ejiofor, Pine, and Robbie in ‘Z for Zachariah’
The last time Craig Zobel premiered a film at the Sundance Film Festival, he wasn’t sure he’d make it out of the theater. After debuting his film Compliance in 2012, the film’s post-screening Q&A session was reduced to a shouting match as a combative audience member lobbed criticisms at the director’s intentions with the film. Earlier this year during Zobel’s second time around in Park City, the drama stayed on the screen.
Beck, Cat Power, and Others Go ‘Station to Station’
Is a film really a film if it’s actually more of a kinetic collage that weaves through canyons and countrysides, picking up Beck or Cat Power or the Kansas City Marching Cobras along the way? We like to think so, and Doug Aitken, the ever-inventive multimedia artist, often makes it so. Aitken’s newest project, Station to Station, can seem inscrutable at first. The Aitken-prescribed tagline, “62 one-minute films.
A Trip Down Memory Lane On Robert Redford’s Birthday
Sundance Institute’s president and founder—or, more suitably, the original creative heartbeat of this organization—turns 79 today. His wide-ranging accomplishments within the industry and beyond couldn’t possibly be embodied in a blog post, so we instead choose to celebrate with a more manageable, photo-driven trip down memory lane. Redford founded the Institute in 1981 and inaugurated what are now known as the Screenwriters and Directors Labs in the mountains of Utah, which to this day continue to expand to include even more creative disciplines.
Marielle Heller’s Sundance Hit ‘Diary of a Teenage Girl’ Explores a Sexual Coming-of-Age
While introducing The Diary of a Teenage Girl at the Sundance Film Festival, senior programmer David Courier prepared the audience to meet two striking new talents. He noted that he was honored to have Marielle Heller, an alum of the Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs, return with her debut feature, and predicted actress Bel Powley’s future is “so bright that we’re going to be seeing her work here for years to come.”
This wasn’t typical pre-screening hyperbole.
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.
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.
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.