The Latest

Joseph Krings Named Recipient of the Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship

In 2010, the Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship was created at Sundance Institute by the late film editor’s husband, Dean Parisot, and their children. Menke was an award-winning film editor (Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction) and served as a long-time Creative Advisor at the Institute’s Directors Labs. Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, noted that this fellowship was “the perfect way for Sundance Institute to honor the memory of Sally Menke and provide a meaningful, in-depth learning experience for a next generation of visionary film editors.

ArtistServices Workshop Hits New York City Sept 18

Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices project has helped both newcomers and pros navigate an ever-changing independent film landscape. Producers and Directors now conceive, strategize and deploy creative control of their work in the modern micro-cinema age. Raising over $5 million-dollars on Kickstarter and empowering the self-release of 80 independent films since launching in 2010, Sundance Institute staffers Chris Horton and Joseph Beyer will host this first-ever NYC workshop in collaboration with IFP’s Independent Film Week and enforce a Truth-Only Chautauqua of where this movement is going.

How to Fundraise for the Cause Behind Your Film

Some of the best documentary and feature films often focus on a marginalized, isolated, or troubled community. Throughout the process you get to know the central characters in your story, and learn about the forces affecting their real, or fictional, lives. These people’s circumstances have moved you, mystified you, or pissed you off so profoundly that you feel compelled to explain them to a wider audience and do what you can to help along the way.

Tips for Navigating Digital Distribution

1.  CARVE OUT DIY DIGITAL:
Distributors and Foreign Sales companies alike often want ALL RIGHTS and including ALL DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS.
No matter what, at least CARVE OUT the ability to do DIY Digital Distribution yourself with services such as: EggUp, Distrify, Dynamo Player, and/or TopSpin, off your own site, off your Facebook page, and also directly to platforms.

September Now Playing: Don Jon, C.O.G., and more

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres, coming to DVD, or showing through #ArtistServices and the YouTube Screening Room this month.
Friday, September 6
Adore, directed by Anne Fontaine

A Teacher, directed by Hannah Fidell
Fire In The Blood, directed by Dylan Mohan Gray
99%–The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, directed by Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Lucian Read, Nina Krstic
Touchy Feely, directed by Lynn Shelton
Hell Baby, directed by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon
American Milkshake, directed by David Andalman and Mariko Munro
Friday, September 13
Mother of George, directed by Andrew Dosunmu

Blue Caprice, directed by Alexandre Moors
Wednesday, September 18
Newlyweeds, directed by Shaka King
Friday, September 20
C.O.

FILM FORWARD Travels to Maine Sept. 30 – Oct. 4

Sundance Institute and U.S. Federal Cultural Agencies Collaborate with the Maine Office of Tourism, Town of Monson, Mount Desert Island High School and Bangor High School To Host Free Screenings, Discussions and Workshops
Maine is The Last Stop for Third Year of FILM FORWARD
 
Los Angeles, CA — 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, moderated discussions and panel discussions for the first time in Maine, September 30 through October 4.

Sundance Institute Announces Dave Ginsberg as Chief Technology Officer

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the appointment of Dave Ginsberg as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the Institute’s technology-related resources, workflow and staff in areas including production, exhibition, and IT services. Ginsberg will be based in the Institute’s Los Angeles office and begins tomorrow.
In recent years, the Institute has expanded its focus on technology to better support its community of artists and audiences worldwide, and to protect and share its digital assets and archive materials spanning the Institute’s more than 30-year history.

Jill Soloway: Inspired By ‘Fish Tank’ and ‘Dreamboat Annie’

If it weren’t for her categorical agility as a writer, Jill Soloway might appear capricious. The comedian’s career has seen her journey from writing/producing on the hugely successful television series Six Feet Under to publishing a novel to, most recently, writing and directing a feature film. That film, Afternoon Delight, played in the U.

18 Days In Egypt: Collective Storytelling Counters Collective Amnesia

I recently Skyped with the creative team of the New Frontier Story Lab’s alumni project 18 Days In Egypt as part of our periodic alumni check-in sessions. Co-creator Jigar Mehta called in from the Bay Area, where he is a principal at Matter. and working to accelerate projects like 18 Days In Egypt that use story enabling technology to tell or co-create stories that change the world.

A Look Back at Destin Daniel Cretton’s Original Short Term 12

Back in 2009, when Destin Daniel Cretton was still an unheralded talent in independent film, he brought his 22-minute film, Short Term 12, to the Sundance Film Festival. At that time, about the most one could discover about the film was its terse logline: “A film about kids and the grown-ups who hit them.” It still serves as an ironically brief, but profound description of that film, which would go on to win the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking.

Q&A: Director David Lowery on His Sundance Drama ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’

“The before and after are almost always more interesting to me than any actual event,” notes David Lowery, the boundlessly pensive director behind the 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. “The empty space after a person has left a room is something that always speaks to me.” That personal notion of Lowery’s presents itself early in his directorial debut, as his two leads—played by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara—are apprehended by officers after a shootout in Texas.

Sundance Announces FILM FORWARD Travels to Washington State

Los Angeles, CA — 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 for the first time ever in Washington State. Filmmakers traveling with the program are Julia Meltzer (The Light In Her Eyes) and Jerry Rothwell (Town Of Runners). For a full schedule of events in Washington, visit sundance.