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12 Independent Films to Make Digital Debut via Sundance Institute’s Artist Services Program
The Cold Lands Makes Its Digital Premiere June 3 Following a Theatrical Run
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 12 independent films that will make their digital debut this spring through a variety of platforms and storefronts, via the Institute’s Artist Services program, which provides artists supported by the Institute with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing for their work. Titles began premiering today, and will roll out through June 3. For details visit sundance.
Sundance London Short Film Competition Winners Announced
The O2, 15 April 2014 — Sundance Institute and The O2 today announced the winners of the Short Film Competition for the third Sundance London film and music festival, 25-27 April at The O2: Russian Roulette by Ben Aston has won the Official Selection Award and Shadows of Time by Sambit Banerjee has won the Community Choice Award. Both films will screen at the festival and both filmmakers will receive prizes including a three-night stay at The Langham Hotel in London. Also announced today was a new prize: that a selection of the finalists’ films will screen on London Live.
Interview: ‘Dinosaur 13’ Recounts the Heartbreaking Story of the World’s Greatest Dinosaur Discovery
“I’ve jokingly said I wasn’t a full-blown nerd, but I was halfway there,” Todd Miller says, only mildly veiling his proclivity for dinosaurs. Lucky for everyone else, Miller’s youthful fascination blends with a display of striking filmmaking in the documentary Dinosaur 13. The film itself employs a tantalizing excavation process, beginning with the 1990 discovery of “Sue,” the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, and later spirals through a mess of legal and political battles that sees the team—led by the doc’s protagonist, Peter Larson—behind the discovery stripped of their beloved T.
David Cross Makes a Seamless Move to Director with the Dark Comedy Hits
Hits premiered last January at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and screens again at Sundance London beginning Saturday, April 26. Click here to learn more and purchase tickets. Director David Cross will also be on hand for a conversation with fellow comedic writer and filmmaker David Wain on April 26 at the Brooklyn Bowl.
An Arts Festival in Egypt Draws Creativity From Conflict
Tonight is my last night in Cairo. I’ve been here for almost one week attending the Downtown Cairo Arts Festival. This is my first visit to Egypt, and I must admit that prior to my coming here, I was a bit apprehensive about my safety, given the western media’s portrayal of the Revolution and subsequent attacks.
Sundance London Announces FREE Talks, Screenings, Events and Music Performances
The O2, 8 April 2014 — Sundance Institute and The O2 announced today the programme of FREE talks, screenings, events and music performances for the third Sundance London film and music festival, happening at The O2 from 25-27 April. Many of these events will take place in the Festival Hub at Brooklyn Bowl, The O2’s newest entertainment venue, which will be open to the public over the festival weekend.
On-stage talks (the “Brooklyn Bowl Sessions”) were programmed by Sundance Institute, which annually presents the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.
Sundance Institute Tours Package of Short Films from 2014 Sundance Film Festival to Theaters Across
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced that it will tour a package of eight short films from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival to a variety of destinations including art house theaters, museums, college theaters and general event spaces, across the country throughout.
Showcasing a wide variety of story and style, the 94-minute Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour features both fiction and documentary short films and includes three films that won awards at the 2014 Festival. Venues that wish to book the short film program and audiences interested in seeing if it will visit a location near them should go to sundance.
Dylan Mohan Grey Recalls His “Eureka Moment” at Mumbai Mantra Screenwriters Lab
Every year, in collaboration with our hard-working partners and amazing hosts Mumbai Mantra (Mahindra), we conduct a Screenwriters Lab in India that supports eight emerging independent voices in Indian cinema. The following post comes from screenwriting fellow Dylan Mohan Gray.
I thought that writing a few paragraphs about my experiences at the Sundance Institute | Mumbai Mantra Screenwriting Lab would be a piece of cake.
Listen: Sebastian Silva, Cherien Dabis, and Kat Candler Offer Tips to Shorts Filmmakers
Last month, Sundance Institute hosted a pair of ShortsLabs in Philadelphia and Miami that offered day-long workshops for shorts filmmakers. Focusing on narrative short-form storytelling, each event featured panels, discussions, and screenings with a wide-ranging mix of filmmakers and industry professionals. Below you can listen to a podcast of highlights from each event that includes tips, advice, and anecdotes from a variety of filmmakers.
Sundance Institute Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue Travels to Taipei, Taichung and Taitung
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today that Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue will host free screenings of eight films with moderated discussions, panels and artist roundtables in Taipei, Taichung and Taitung, Taiwan. For a full schedule of events, venues and partners in Taiwan visit sundance.org/filmforward.
Listen to This: A Spotify Playlist Featuring Songs by Sundance Institute Lab Advisors
On April 12 in Los Angeles, the Sundance Institute Film Music Program will host the third annual Composers Lab: LA featuring a series of informative conversations and interactive networking opportunities with renowned composers and industry professionals. The Lab offers film composers insight into the process of creating music for film. In anticipation of the event, we’ve curated a Spotify playlist showcasing some of the iconic work of our advisors.
Sundance Institute’s Artist Services Program Renews and Expands
Los Angeles, CA —Sundance Institute renewed agreements with six non-profit organizations as collaborators with the Institute’s Artist Services program – which provides filmmakers with exclusive opportunities for digital distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. The Austin Film Society has been added as a new collaborator, and together with Britdoc, The Bertha Foundation, San Francisco Film Society, IFP, Film Independent and Cinereach will consult with the Institute to continue to shape the Artist Services program and its offerings to filmmakers.
“We’re very proud of the Artist Services program we’ve built in the last three years, and to be collaborating with these top film organizations to provide access to distribution for great independent films, evolve strategies to meet the demands of a shifting distribution landscape and ensure the long-term sustainability of the field,” stated Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.
“We Are a Tribe”: Naomi Foner on the Mumbai Mantra Screenwriters Lab
Every year, in collaboration with our hard-working partners and amazing hosts Mumbai Mantra (Mahindra), we conduct a Screenwriters Lab in India that supports eight emerging independent voices in Indian cinema. March 2014 was our third installment, and as luck would have it, this year’s lab commenced on the ancient Hindu Holi festival, which signifies the start of spring and the triumph of good over evil. The following post comes from Oscar-nominated screenwriter and veteran Sundance Institute lab advisor Naomi Foner.
No Fooling Around: 5 Docs That Prove the Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
To say it in 2014 is to almost belabor the point, but here it goes: Long gone are the days of documentary film as didactic, linear storytelling. No, that’s not to say that those docs on VHS stuffed into your high school curriculum weren’t properly edifying or even at times engaging, but the documentary format today is a place that refuses to comply with categorization. On April Fools’ Day, rather than trying to dupe or deceive, we’ll let these five documentaries make the case that the well-worn maxim “the truth is stranger than fiction” is, well…true.
Seven Years of Stories of Change
What happens when the trajectories of two apparently disparate fields cross paths? What emerges from that intersection point where some of the most creative minds of our time collide like atoms brought together by two thought leaders who, like scientists in a lab, have a hunch that something powerful will happen when you combine proactive elements?
That’s what happened when Robert Redford met with Jeff Skoll. Together they imagined a collaboration that would become Stories of Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary Film. The idea was to combine the power of storytelling and the growing social entrepreneurship movement to reframe, examine, and amplify an innovative approach to solving the central issues of our time.