The Latest

NEXT SUNDAY Screenings Expand to Venues Across Los Angeles
As part of the four-day lineup of screenings and events scheduled for NEXT WEEKEND, set to take place August 8-11 in Los Angeles, the festival will expand to the venues of four of the city’s leading film and cultural organizations on the evening of Sunday, August 11. NEXT SUNDAY will feature individual screenings co-hosted by the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, Cinefamily on Fairfax, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television at the Hammer Museum.
Thanks to all of our cultural collaborators for helping make the first-ever NEXT WEEKEND film festival an event accessible to audiences across Los Angeles.

Q&A: Gabriela Cowperthwaite on Her Killer-Whale Doc ‘Blackfish’
Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite knows firsthand how appallingly easy it can be to put on moral blinders when it comes to entertainment. She concedes that she was one of millions of annual SeaWorld visitors who opted, perhaps subconsciously, for obliviousness in the face of alarming animal cruelty. That all changed with the undertaking of her new documentary Blackfish, an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which depicts the sobering reality that exists for killer whales held in captivity and exposes the well-concealed truth about the dangers that their trainers face.

Sundance Institute to Present a Week of Creative Film Producing Initiatives
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, both held the week of July 29 at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. These activities are part of the Institute’s year-round Creative Producing Initiative, which encompasses a series of Labs, Fellowships and other events that support independent producers.
Eleven projects will participate in the Labs (July 29 – August 2), where they will work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors to advance their creative, communication and problem-solving skills in all stages of a film’s journey from script development to distribution.

Sundance Institute Announces Program of Films, Panels and Workshops for First-Ever NEXT WEEKEND
LOS ANGELES, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the program of 10 feature films, 10 short films and related programming for the first-ever NEXT WEEKEND film festival, Aug. 8-11, 2013 at Sundance Sunset Cinema and additional venues throughout Los Angeles. Tickets ($12–15) are on sale now for Sundance Institute members and will be available to the public Thursday at www.

NEXT WEEKEND Films and Panels Announced: Blue Caprice, This Is Martin Bonner, and more
In recent years, one has needed to look no further than the NEXT <=> section of the Sundance Film Festival to witness the vitality of independent film. That’s where, in NEXT’s four-year existence, films with a penchant for innovative storytelling and a blatant disregard for boundaries have premiered at the Festival. Now that renegade filmmaking spirit is coming to Los Angeles.

Sundance Institute Announces $550,000 in Grants for 29 Documentaries
Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 29 feature-length documentary films that will receive more than $550,000 in grants from its Documentary Film Program and Fund (DFP).
Grantees were selected from 772 submissions from 88 countries and include filmmakers working in Chile, Libya, Cuba, Cambodia and Pakistan as well as a broad range of experience, from first-time feature documentary filmmakers to Academy Award nominee Arthur Dong and veteran filmmaker Ed Pincus working with Lucia Small. Submissions were reviewed by a jury of creative film professionals and human rights experts, based on their approach to storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, subject relevance and potential for social engagement.

Screenwriter Walter Bernstein Recalls How He Ended Up On the Hollywood Blacklist
At the conclusion of last month’s Sundance Institute June Screenwriters Lab, participants attended a screening of “The Front,” written by Walter Bernstein, which offers a comedic look at the Hollywood Blacklist in the ‘50s starring Woody Allen as a “front” for blacklisted writers. Bernstein, himself a victim of the blacklist, was present for the screening and was joined by fellow screenwriter Dough McGrath for a Q&A following the film. Below is an excerpted portion of the discussion.

Retracing Ryan Coogler’s Sundance Institute Journey
Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter recalls Sundance Institute’s journey with and support of Ryan Coogler and his feature directorial debut Fruitvale Station.I met Ryan Coogler in the fall of 2011 when he came in to have a conversation about his script, Fruitvale Station. As I listened to Ryan speak about why he needed to tell this story, his deep, personal commitment to the project became evident.

Sundance Institute Announces NEXT WEEKEND Kick-Off Event Double-Bill: American Movie and Coven, with
Tickets on Sale Now at Ticketfly
New Four-Day Summer Film Festival in Los Angeles, Aug. 8-11
LOS ANGELES, CA — Sundance Institute today announced that the first-ever NEXT WEEKEND film festival, Aug. 8-11, 2013 at venues throughout Los Angeles, will kick off with an outdoor screening of Chris Smith’s iconic cult documentary American Movie and Mark Borchardt’s horror film Coven Aug.

Sundance Institute Selects Acting Company, Artists-in-Residence and Creative Advisors for 2013 The
New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the acting company, artists-in-residence and creative advisors for the seven projects being developed at its 2013 Theatre Lab, July 8-28 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Lab is the centerpiece of the Theatre Program’s year-round work and is designed to support both emerging and established artists and to create a place where their original work can be effectively mentored and challenged free from commercial pressure.
Himberg said, “The 2013 Theatre Lab Fellows have stories to tell, stories about African immigrants, and gay heroes, and Yiddish authors and Palestinian teachers: stories which throw new lenses on our diverse and complicated world.

Q&A: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash on Their Sundance Comedy ‘The Way, Way Back’
There is a theme that dominates the longstanding trend of actors opting for a stint behind the camera. More often than not, these are stories fueled by personal experience that no other filmmaker could, or even should attempt to tell. Most recently, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, the co-directing team behind this year’s nostalgic summer comedy The Way, Way Back, reiterate that refrain.

5 of the Lowest-Budget Sundance Films Ever Made
It’s easy to get lost in the grand, occasionally ostentatious, festivities that accompany the Fourth of July. But at the heart of the nation’s revelry is a collective nod to the freedom we enjoy as American citizens. On the eve of Independence Day, we take a look at five Sundance-supported films that embody the true ethos of independent filmmaking.

10 FAQs: Applying for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund
The Fall 2013 granting round for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is in full swing. Applications are trickling in to our LA office, and we are eager to begin learning about the projects and stories that documentary filmmakers around the globe are working on. As projects arrive, so do the questions.

Kickstart The Royal Road
Writer-director-producer Jenni Olson has been programming, researching, collecting, creating, and writing about lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) film since 1986 and is one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT cinema history. Her debut feature film, ‘The Joy of Life,’ premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and went on to play a pivotal role in renewing debate about the need for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. She is seeking funding through Kickstarter to complete her latest project, ‘The Royal Road.

Reflections of Past and Present: Puerto Rico Film Society’s Guillermo Vazquez
Puerto Rico has fallen in love with Film Forward. On its first visit to Puerto Rico, in 2011, the program reached a wide audience, with a touch of fanfare and glitz. The first event alone attracted more than 700 people and featured a jazz player and a “red carpet”! That year, both in San Juan and Ponce, the public responded with great enthusiasm to the opportunity of viewing independent films and discussing them with each other and with our wonderful Sundance Institute guests.