Celebrate the start of LGBT pride month this June with the powerful short film 575 Castro St. Set to the original audio cassette recorded by legendary activist Harvey Milk in November 1977 meant to be played in the event of his assassination, the specter of history is turned in on itself as the footage we see appears to be fragments of Harvey Milk’s office, but in fact the shots are of the faithful set recreation of his office for Gus Van Sant’s Oscar-nominated fictional film Milk starring Sean Penn. Blending matters further, the set was designed in 575 Castro St.

1. China on my mind.
One of the first things I notice on my arrival in China is the tiny fragments of white cotton swirling through the air of Beijing’s airport terminal.

Sundance Institute is honored to congratulate the five Feature Film Program alumni who received awards at the Cannes International Film Festival last weekend. In addition to earning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station took home the Avenir Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes. Coogler attended the 2012 January Screenwriters Lab along with director Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, who received the First Prize in the Cinefondation category for her film Needle.

Filmmakers Musa Syeed (Valley of Saints) and Josh Penn (Beasts of the Southern Wild)to participate
 First Short Film Lab to be held in Puerto Rico with Sundance Film Festival Shorts Programmer Ernesto Foronda June 14
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 third year in Puerto Rico June 10-15. New to the program this year is a free Short Film Lab on June 14 led by Sundance Film Festival short film programmer Ernesto Foronda.

This week, four filmmaking Fellows take their short film projects to the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico to participate in an intensive four-day workshop at the 2013 NativeLab.Ty Coughenour is a writer and director belonging to the Lummi Nation, a Native American tribe in western Washington state. Below he discusses developing a precocious passion for film as a child, how the Native tradition of storytelling informs his writing, and the genesis of his short film project A Good Day.

This week, four filmmaking fellows take their short film projects to the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico to participate in an intensive four-day workshop at the 2013 Native Lab. ʻĀina Paikai, a Native Hawaiian filmmaker from Oahu, is attending with his documentary short film project Da Frog. Paikai took a moment to share insights on his homeland’s burgeoning film culture, the value heritage plays in storytelling, and the catalysts that compel him to create.

Filmmakers Jeff Orlowski, Chasing Ice Patricia Riggen, Under The Same Moon (La Misma Luna) to participate
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 seven films, panel discussions and artist roundtables in Taiwan for the first time, May 22-26. Filmmakers Jeff Orlowski and Patricia Riggen will participate in the program. Sundance Channel Global is a supporter of the FILM FORWARD program in Taiwan which is hosted by the American Institute in Taiwan and CNEX Foundation.

Last month, Jason van Genderen’s ‘Red Earth Hip Hop’ was announced as the winner of the Nokia Music Short Film Competition and premiered at the Sundance London Film and Music Festival. This story was originally featured on Nokia.com.

Before becoming a writer-producer (and voice) on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, John Viener wrote and directed some comedy shorts about messed-up white men. In Lighten Up, Viener also acts a man who must get a ride to the doctor for an unusual personal problem. And only his angry-white-guy buddy is available.

Paula Vogel, Taylor Mac and Jackie Sibblies Drury to Work on Their Latest Scripts
Seven East African Theatre Fellows to Join the Lab
New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the seven projects selected to participate in the 2013 Theatre Lab, July 8-28 at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director, and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Theatre Lab is the centerpiece of the Sundance Institute’s Theatre Program’s year-round work and is designed to support emerging and established artists and to create a place where their original work can be effectively mentored and challenged.
The seven playwrights selected for the 2013 Theatre Lab in Sundance, Utah are: Adam Bock (The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Jackie Sibblies Drury (Really Really Really Really Really), Taylor Mac (The Fre), Mona Mansour (The Vagrant), Qui Nguyen (War is F**king Awesome).

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the four fellows and short film projects selected for the 2013 NativeLab Fellowship, a two-stage development program that provides continuous and direct support to Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists. For the first stage, filmmakers participate in an intensive four-day workshop (May 20-24) on the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico. The second stage brings Fellows to the Native Forum during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January and provides opportunities for them to meet and hear from film industry professionals.

On May 18 in Los Angeles, the Sundance Institute Film Music Program will host the third annual ComposersLab: L.A. featuring a series of informative conversations and interactive networking opportunities with renowned composers and industry professionals.

As part of Hilton Worldwide’s support of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP), the winners of this year’s Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Fund & Award participated in interviews to talk about their documentary film projects. LightStay is Hilton Worldwide’s proprietary system for sustainability performance and a core foundation of the company’s global sustainability strategy. The fund and award will go towards supporting the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, as well as annually recognizing and awarding grants to up to five documentary film projects focusing on sustainability issues.