The Latest
5 Sundance-Supported LGBTQ+ Films (That Aren’t Actually LGBTQ+ Films)
Each June for the past few years, we’ve spent some time looking back on the LGBT characters we know and love (see here and here and the 13 million Google results for ‘Sundance gay’) in celebration of LGBT Pride Month. But what about our heterosexual allies and friends, many of whom have helped us get where we are today? In their honor and as a nod to the heterosexual characters who have entertained us on screen, here’s a list of five gay-friendly films that don’t actually have any LGBT content. Heathers (1989)High school is a complicated time for everybody (hang in there, kids – it really does get better), but for those of us who are LGBT, it can be especially difficult as we start to figure ourselves out.
Q&A: Michael Tully’s Homage to the ’80s, ‘Ping Pong Summer’
A lot of filmmakers have passion projects. They’ll have scripts that remain on the docket for years, waiting for right time and the right financing to realize an ambitious or personal vision. But there’s never been a gestation quite like the one for Ping Pong Summer.
Glenn Close and Damien Chazelle Honored at Sundance Institute New York Benefit
Throughout Glenn Close’s distinguished career—she’s received an Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award, plus six Academy Award nominations for acting—she has been a fierce advocate for independent film. As part of last night’s Sundance Institute Celebration benefit, Glenn was honored with the Vanguard Leadership Award for her ongoing commitment to the indie film community. Also recognizing the emerging guard, Sundance Institute honored filmmaker Damien Chazelle with the Vanguard Award, Presented with The Lincoln Motor Company.
Sundance Institute Presents 17th Annual Free Outdoor Summer Screening Series in Salt Lake City and P
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced six of the seven films that will be featured at the 2014 Sundance Institute Summer Series of free outdoor film screenings and invited the Utah community to vote online through August 15 for the seventh film, which will screen August 27.
Now in its 17th year, the free series kicks off July 8 at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and July 25 at City Park in Park City. All films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival or have been supported through an Institute program.
Courageous Stories: The Rocket Director Kim Mordaunt in Bosnia & Herzegovina
The Banja Luka Youth House screening was a special one for me. Firstly, a young woman, Natasa Maric, talked about the “loss” and “broken promise” from the dam corporation that relocate Ahlo and his family. Natasa and her teacher Alma told me that the older people of communities near Banja Luka had also been displaced by dams – also the victims of broken promises.
Now Playing: Obvious Child and Ping Pong Summer Round Out a Droll June
“Remember from before when we did sex to each other?” asks Jenny Slate’s character in Obvious Child, a rom-com redux that follows one crude comedian’s ungainly reaction to being “dumped up with.” After making waves in the NEXT section at this year’s Festival, Obvious Child makes its formal theatrical debut this month alongside another NEXT standout and charismatic ’80s throwback Ping Pong Summer. William Eubank’s The Signal offers a change of pace in the form of a striking sci-fi drama that delivers the tension of a classic hostage thriller, and there’s even more to discover in this month’s Now Playing blog.
Filmmaking as Therapy: 4 Questions with Native Lab Fellow Carmen Tsabetsaye
Last week the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program kicked of its annual fellowship with an intensive four-day workshop on the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico. In our second encounter with this year’s fellows, we chatted with filmmaker Carmen Tsabetsaye (Zuni/Zia Pueblo) about the therapeutic possibilities in filmmaking, how tragedy has informed her project Puebloan in Praha, and the international misconceptions about native cultures in America. Can you offer a brief description of your project and your personal connection to—or why you’re compelled to tell—this story?My project is Puebloan in Praha, and it is the story or a young pueblo girl who moves to Prague after the death of her brother.
Announcing the 2014 Sloan Commissioning Grantee, and a Call For Science-Themed Submissions
Each year, as part of our long-running partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sundance Institute searches for promising and compelling scripts that have science and/or technology themes woven into their stories. As a result, each year I get to read some of the most unique stories illuminating all different aspects of science – both historical and contemporary – that are mind boggling, inspiring, and down right fascinating.
Crowdfunding and Its Hybrids are Worth It
Camille Scioli Chambers is an independent producer, production coordinator and all around creative resources maven from Austin, Texas, who probably sat too close to the TV as a child. She has “multiple projects in various stages of development” but her favorites are as co-producer with Peter Atherton of The Iron Orchard, to be directed by Ty Roberts and working with the team of The Big Spoon, to be directed by Carlyn Hudson. She is active on the Development Committee of the Austin Film Society and is a past board member of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance and Women in Film, Dallas.
In a Land of Contradiction, 20 Feet From Stardom Shares an Inspiring Message
A week ago, after 17 hours of travel, we landed as the sun was setting over Sarajevo, where vast mountains were silhouetted against a yellow sky. Not knowing what to expect, I would quickly realize that Bosnia & Herzegovina is a land of contradiction: beautiful Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman architecture riddled with bullet holes, sweeping green landscapes littered with hidden landmines, stunning cathedrals around the corner from impressive mosques, optimistic youth in disagreement with war-weathered adults. I was excited that Film Forward had given me the chance to screen 20 Feet From Stardom in such a unique and complicated place, but I was entirely unsure what the response to a film about backup singers would be.
Q&A: Native Filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana on His Project ‘Karaoke King’
Last week, the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program kicked off its annual fellowship with a four-day workshop on the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico. On the heels of his rigorous week at the Native Lab, Native Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana opened up about his creative impulses and how he’s arrived at his current project, Karaoke Kings, a singular story oriented around the homeless community in Honolulu’s Chinatown. Can you offer a brief description of your project and your personal connection to—or why you’re compelled to tell—this story?During the past 10 years that I’ve worked in Chinatown I’ve seen the homeless population grow immensely.
Filmmaker Ruthie Doyle: 5 Things Pushing the Art and Form of Storytelling Forward
As I reflect on my tenure with Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Story Lab, I’ve been considering some ways innovation is advancing the art of storytelling into the future (the future is now, after all). The role of “new” technology in the process may surprise you; new technologies are exciting tools building on the rich foundation of storytelling and experimentation. Here are 5 things I can definitively say are pushing the hand of progress.
The Language of Film: Producer Cornelia Principe screens The World Before Her in China
The chance to screen and discuss The World Before Her with an audience in China was truly a unique and thrilling experience. Not to mention getting to visit a country so much on the world stage, yet still such an enigmatic place.
After having now gone and come back, China remains somewhat of a mystery to me — with such contradictory pulls as tradition and modernity, communism and capitalism seemingly to function side by side.
The Golden Age of Creative Distribution Is Upon Us
This weekend I attended the sixth Sundance #ArtistServices workshop in Austin, Texas, presented by the Austin Film Society. As a filmmaker who just spent this past year screening my feature documentary Before You Know It at festivals worldwide (SXSW world premiere in 2013) while also trying to navigate the ever-changing distribution landscape (my last film Trinidad was distributed in 2009) there was one panel in particular I was most anxious to attend: “Licensing and Distribution in the Modern Age” with John Sloss. Full disclosure, my film is a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program alum, and I’ve been working very closely under the guidance of #ArtistServices.
Unexpected Translations: Director Patrick Creadon Discusses If You Build It in China and Taiwan
Though I’ve never been to one, I imagine a “dream lab” would be a pretty cool place to visit.I was recently asked to take part in Film Forward in Taiwan and China. Film Forward is a program of Sundance Institute and The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and three federal agencies.