Hispanic Heritage Month officially kicked off September 15, marking the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. To boot, Mexico declared its independence on September 16 and Chile on September 18, making the month the de facto host for celebration among Hispanic cultures.
Independent film, for all its diversity of voices, still has the capacity to grow leaps and bounds in the context of Hispanic filmmakers.

2014 Marks the Festival’s 30th Anniversary
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute will once again offer exclusive events and priority pass and ticket availability for the approximately 15,000 Utahns who attend the Sundance Film Festival® each year. The Sundance Film Festival will be January 16 through 26, 2014.
Locals-only Festival pass and ticket package registration begins today (September 17) and will end October 9.

An hour before our screening in Tacoma’s Grand Cinema, runners have already begun to gather.  Screening Town Of Runners around the world, I’ve come to appreciate the strength and depth of the global running community. In almost any town, people organize themselves around their passion for running, forming groups that cut across boundaries of race, class, culture and wealth, which become a powerful force for connecting people in their community.

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, panels and artist roundtables in Bosnia and Herzegovina. FILM FORWARD will collaborate with the U.S.

It’s been nearly a full week since leaving Los Angeles on my second trip as a field producer with #FILMFORWARD. Still, in some ways, it seems I’ve not yet left the classroom at Roosevelt High School in Seattle where the post-screening conversation led to a surprisingly well-informed discussion around the current situation in Syria. With an endless stream of tweets, breaking news headlines and even a Presidential address, suddenly it’s near impossible to ignore a place I’ve never been, thought much about, or connected with.

September 5, 2013The morning of September 5th is grey and rainy in the Pacific Northwest. I scroll through my twitter feed first thing, taking in the update on the Syria crisis. The photo that seems to be spreading all around the social media networks this morning is of a line of Syrian rebel fighters standing above a crouching row of Syrian soldiers who are shirtless and have guns pointed at their heads.

The Town Of Runners gives a unique insight into the ambitions of young Ethiopians living between tradition and the modern world, as they try to run their way to a different life. 
Here the film’s director, Jerry Rothwell, talks connecting with FILM FORWARD audiences and participating in dialogues around dreams—and how the support, or lack of, from a community can effect a person’s ability to achieve them.
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September 4, 2013I’m on the plane to Seattle and feeling ready for four days of screenings with the FILM FORWARD program. Looking out the window over California, the skies are clear. It has been hot, hot, hot in LA, but the captain tells us that in Seattle it’s raining.

Shot right before the uprising in Syria erupted, The Light in Her Eyes offers an extraordinary portrait of a leader who challenges the women of her community to live according to Islam, without giving up their dreams. 
As part of FILM FORWARD: Washington, co-director Julia Meltzer discusses how film can change perceptions, the relevance of her film given the recent news around Syria, and how as filmmakers, connecting with audiences in a deeper way is essential to their role as storytellers.
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The fall and winter seasons at Sundance Institute also happen to herald submission deadline season for filmmakers. From an array of fellowship and grant opportunities to a pair of late film submission deadlines for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, we’ve compiled a list of key dates for filmmakers across the next month.    
November 4, 2013 – Creative Producing Fellowship and Lab Submissions Open
A year-long program designed to nurture emerging producers with project-specific support through Labs, grants, and long-term advisor relationships.

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.

The views expressed here are entirely my own. If you are already down with PanelPicker and smartly deduced that we want your vote, just click here. If you’re unfamiliar with PanelPicker, read on below.

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.

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.