On June 6 in Los Angeles, the Sundance community came out in force to celebrate two of its own at the third annual ‘Celebrate Sundance Institute’ benefit. Ryan Coogler, the first-time writer/director of the Sundance and Cannes Award-winning film Fruitvale Station, and Roger Ebert, the legendary advocate for authentic storytelling in film who passed away in April of this year, were honored with this year’s Vanguard Awards. Additionally, Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam announced the creation of the Roger Ebert Scholarship for Film Criticism, in memory of the revered journalist.

For the past two years, Film Forward has travelled to China as one of four international locations. This year unique in that the close of our time in China, we also travelled to Taiwan. Taiwan and China are currently facing significant growth and development, but they are handling these challenges in very different ways.

Los Angeles, CA — Last night, Wednesday, June 5, the third annual ‘Celebrate Sundance Institute’ benefit in Los Angeles honored the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam. The event also honored filmmaker Ryan Coogler – whose debut feature film, Fruitvale Station, was selected for Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab and went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival – with the Vanguard Award, Presented by Tiffany & Co.
At the event, Sundance Institute also announced the establishment of the Roger Ebert Scholarship for Film Criticism, in memory of Roger Ebert.

This week we turn the spotlight onto the diverse and talented short work of Talmage Cooley. His two short film played back-to-back editions of the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and 2005. Though both are quality works, they two could not be more dissimilar.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the four independent films that will make their digital debut on June 18 through a variety of platforms and storefronts, via the Institute’s Artist Services program. In addition, three previously announced titles will expand to additional portals. For details visit sundance.

Directors Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier are using Kickstarter to bring their 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection The Moo Man to UK theaters. Click here to help them reach their goal.
As we write this, we have only seven days left on our Kickstarter campaign and still need to find more than £10,000 (appx.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced four of the five films that will be featured at eight free outdoor film screenings for the 2013 Sundance Institute Summer Series.  The Utah community is invited to vote online from July 1 to August 15 for the fifth film, which will be announced and screened in late August.
Now in its 16th year, the series kicks off on July 31 at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and August 2 on Main Street and at Canyons Resort  in Park City.

Growing up with a Taiwanese mother, I’ve visited Taiwan many times. I even lived there for about 9 months while in college. But it has been a while since I have been there, and because of Film Forward, this would be the first time I was there with a film.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced that the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound will take place at Skywalker Ranch in 2013 and 2014 and also announced the artists that will participate in the 2013 Labs. This is the first time the two organizations will collaborate to support independent filmmakers and film composers and marks a significant expansion of the Institute’s existing Composers Labs to include sound design.
The Institute has hosted its Composers Labs at Sundance Resort for fiction feature films since 1999 and documentaries since 2005, allowing composers and independent filmmakers to collaboratively explore the process of writing music for film.

I imagined that Taipei would look much like mainland China. It doesn’t. It’s more colorful and crowded, with hundreds of motorbikes and signs in Chinese lining every lively street.

The American Embassy in China established a pollution index that measures particular matter in the air under 2.5 microns.  At that size, particles have the capacity to pass from the lungs directly into the blood stream and from there, they can apparently pass straight into the brain.

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.