The Latest
#TBT: ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’
Don’t look now, but it’s been 17 years since John Cameron Mitchell premiered and starred in his raucously eccentric musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch Off-Broadway. In the ensuing years, Mitchell worked to refine the film adaptation of Hedwig at the 1999 Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs before eventually premiering the film at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. There, Hedwig immediately enticed audiences and garnered instant “cult classic” designations from critics while also winning the Audience Award and the Directing Award.
In Memory of Filmmaker Richard Glatzer, 1952-2015
Sundance Institute mourns the loss of Richard Glatzer, whose feature film Quinceañera, written and directed with his long-time creative partner and husband, Wash Westmoreland, won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His comedy, Grief, also premiered in competition at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.
Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmorelandat the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
Help Find the ‘Lonely Whale’ with Adrian Grenier and Josh Zeman
Hello! Can anybody hear me? Is anybody out there—listening? Radio silence…
Albert Maysles, Renowned Documentarian and Sundance Veteran, Dies at 88
Renowned documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, a visionary in the realm of cinema verite who directed no less than five Sundance Film Festival selections, died Thursday evening. He was 88.
Albert Maysles and his brother David Maysles are best known for spearheading the American cinema verite movement with films such as Salesman, Grey Gardens, and Gimme Shelter.
4 Knight Fellows on How Community Shapes Their Creativity
Sundance Institute annually selects up to four artists from the eight Knight resident communities to attend the Sundance Film Festival. These artists reflect Sundance Institute’s commitment to developing and nurturing the next generation of creative voices. Knight Fellows were in residence for five days during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where they participated in a specially curated program.
March Now Playing: ‘It Follows,’ ‘Kumiko,’ and more
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, the Zellner Brothers’ mythical, Fargo-influenced drama leads a batch of Sundance-supported releases hitting theaters this month. Kumiko premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and screened at last summer’s Sundance NEXT FEST. David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, a brazenly creepy teen horror also comes to the screen after premiering at Cannes and screening in Sundance’s Midnight section.
Leonard Nimoy, Friend and Supporter of Sundance, Dies at 83
Leonard Nimoy, a longtime friend and supporter of Sundance Institute who is best known for his iconic role as the always pragmatic “Spock” in Star Trek, died Friday morning. He was 83.
Leonard Nimoy and his wife Susan Bay Nimoy are ardent supporters of the Institute’s Women’s Initiative, a joint effort with Women in Film/ LA and a group of allied organizations in the field of women and media aimed at fostering gender equality in American independent cinema by supporting women filmmakers.
Ignite Fellow Khidr Joseph on Facing Fears and Finding Invigoration at Sundance
Ten young people were selected for the Ignite Fellows pilot program, a curated Festival experience designed to provide meaningful opportunities for engagement, mentorship and industry exposure for emerging filmmakers 18 to 25 years of age.I have decided that the best way to describe the Sundance Film Festival is not through a bunch of meaningless adjectives but rather through the impact it has had on my life. If I were to describe Sundance I would say that it’s a unique experience, which is why I can’t truly describe it.
Awards Weekend In Review: Congrats to Sundance-Supported Winners At the Oscars and Spirit Awards
It’s a wrap on the most esteemed film awards weekend of the year, and today we’re congratulating the Sundance-supported projects and artists that took home hardware from the Spirit Awards and the Oscars. Led by Damien Chazelle’s 2014 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner Whiplash, eight films supported by the Institute and the Festival were recognized over the weekend. Additionally, last night’s “Best Director” winner Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman) is set to be honored this with the Vanguard Award this June at the Sundance Institute Los Angeles Benefit for the originality and independent spirit of his films.
Oscars Preview: ‘Ida,’ Poland’s Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Something about Ida’s protracted journey just feels “right.” Pawel Pawlikowski’s chilling Polish drama premiered all the way back in 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was honored by the Polish Film Academy that same year as the country’s Best Film. Months later, Ida screened out-of-competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in the Spotlight category, home to a small batch of Sundance programmers’ favorite films that they cull from the festival circuit and elsewhere around the globe.
Damien Chazelle and Miles Teller on Their True-to-Life Drumming Drama ‘Whiplash’
What a difference a year can make. Few would challenge that Damien Chazelle’s nascent career was on track for eventual success, but a small albeit successful feature debut (Guy and Madeline On a Park Bench) and a Sundance Short Film Jury Prize (a proof-of-concept film for Whiplash) didn’t exactly portend Oscar bliss for the 30-year-old director. Of course, now that his 2014 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner Whiplash has been nominated for four Academy Awards, we could say we saw it coming all along.
Inspired By: Sydney Freeland on C.S. Lewis, Casablanca, and ‘Drunktown’s Finest’
Director Sydney Freeland’s tenacity to make Drunktown’s Finest was born from a misguided news story. After seeing her hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, portrayed as “Drunktown, USA,” she felt compelled to offer a corrective. Enter: Drunktown’s Finest, an unwaveringly honest drama that sheds light on the southwest’s Navajo Nation through the lenses of three disparate characters—a transgender aspiring model, a man headed off to basic training, and a Christian woman.
Sundance Film Forward to Present Innovations in Social Storytelling Event in Pleasantville, NY March 8
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities will host a free public screening of We Are The Giant followed by a guided discussion with Director Greg Barker on March 8, 7:00 p.m. at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY.
David Carr, New York Times Columnist and Sundance Doc Subject, Dead at 58
David Carr, the vibrant and mercurial New York Times media columnist and a central subject of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times, died Thursday at age 58.
Carr’s compelling life story of overcoming drug addiction to eventually join The New York Times in 2002 is documented in his 2008 memoir The Night of the Gun. In director Andrew Rossi’s Page One, Carr became the de facto central figure of the film as it tracked the metamorphosis of print journalism from inside the newsroom.
5 Valentine’s Day Film Picks for the Skeptical Romantic
Despite its tender origins, Valentine’s Day can haunt lovers with a cloud of expectation. Even more menacing than the prospect of eternal solitude is the feeling that things can only go wrong on such a vaunted day. So call me a cynic, but I challenge you to recall one Valentine’s Day that was so extraordinary, so blissful in straddling the line between cloying romance and exhilarating lust that you would relive, ad infinitum, that one special day with your partner.