Documentaries come in many flavors. Some are a call to action. Some exist just to entertain.

February 23rd
No sleep. Woke up, ate. Have to have the most important meal of the day.

Hovering above Jackson on what feels like a submarine with wings. Didn’t sleep a wink on my last night here. Instead, I drifted in and out of a Netflix-induced fog.

The documentary format has long been a spotlight for the unheralded and the unsung (pun possibly intended) and that theme holds true in Morgan Neville’s soulful film 20 Feet From Stardom. Reflecting on an era when backup singers played a pivotal role in composing the body of a record, 20 Feet transports viewers to the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s when virtual unknowns such as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill played second fiddle on iconic songs and albums credited to their more famous contemporaries. Neville stuffs the film full of interviews with luminaries such as Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger and Sting, among many others, who provide one-of-a-kind commentary and intimate tales culled from their years in the industry.

One of the most thrilling aspects of my work at the Feature Film Program is discovering and working with first- and second-time narrative feature filmmakers. As part of our ongoing efforts to expand the different ways in which we support emerging artists, we are excited to announce the four newest members of our family, Feature Film Program development Fellows MK Asante, Aurora Guerrero, Nate Parker, and Stacie Passon, each of whom is the recipient of a $5,000 development grant as well as two designated screenwriter mentors. They will also be part of our year-round project support continuum that provides customized tactical and creative support from script to the screen.

The O2, London, 27 February 2014 — Sundance Institute and The O2 today announced that the 2014 edition of the Sundance London film and music festival will feature screenings of three iconic films discovered by the Sundance Film Festival in its 30-year history. Sundance London will take place from 25-27 April at The O2. Ticket packages and access to a short filmmaking workshop are now on sale at sundance-london.

When I was first told that I would be making the trip down South with Film Forward to screen Valentine Road, I felt a range of emotions ranging from excitement to anxiety. Being a Californian, I only knew the horror stories of the history of the South and the conservative views that Fox News spits out. But since making Valentine Road, I know  now that these hate crimes can happen anywhere at anytime.

“It was a war in the Square. It was not a revolution,” says one of the young revolutionary subjects in Jehane Noujaim’s disruptive documentary The Square. Set almost exclusively in the volatile epicenter of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the film viscerally acquaints audiences with Egyptian dissenters’ struggle for democracy.

What is the business model? Who are the stakeholders? Who is the audience? Where is the infrastructure? What are the revenue thresholds? Who are the players?
The Sundance Institute New Frontier program supports artists and projects experimenting with story designs that are between two and ten years ahead of their audience and industry, so we get these questions all the time. In most cases the answers are not immediately clear, because they are being discovered through experimentation, failure, refinement, audience/customer development, etc. These unanswered questions arise in most innovation related spaces, because the marketplace is not yet understood or defined.

I’m about half way through my first trip with Film Forward in Jackson, Mississippi. I have always wanted to come here. The South has held a particular fascination in my mind because of its history.

The O2, London, 24 February 2014 — Sundance Institute and The O2 today announced the first music act for the 2014 edition of the Sundance London film and music festival: Archive will perform live and DJ at The O2’s newest venue, Brooklyn Bowl, on the opening night of Sundance London. The band will also present the world premiere of their film, Axiom, as well as participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Sundance London will take place from 25-27 April at The O2.

It’s impossible to discuss Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight without invoking its two predecessors, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. The Before series represents a departure from Linklater’s other highly regarded work (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly) and displays the director’s tenacity and flair for character development. Additionally, it’s arguably the most ambitious love story portrayed in cinema in decades, chronicling Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse’s (Ethan Hawke) nearly 20-year on-and-off relationship.

On April 8, three documentary filmmakers and I traveled to Oxford, England to serve as media advisors for the Sundance Institute Stories of Change initiative at the Skoll World Forum. The SWF, which is the biggest and most important gathering of social entrepreneurs in the world, was celebrating its tenth anniversary, and the entire weeklong convening was magical. Think breakfast with Kofi Anan.