The Latest

Sundance Institute: First 2012 Stop For Film Forward Advancing Cultural Dialogue in Arizona
Tucson, Arizona – FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, an initiative of Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, takes place in Arizona from February 27 through March 1, 2012. In collaboration with The Loft Cinema, FILM FORWARD presents screenings of six films as well as personal appearances and workshops with filmmakers from three of the titles at a variety of community locations in Tucson and Sells, Arizona.
“Film has the power to not only entertain but engage us in stories that transcend cultural differences and geographic boundaries,” said Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam.

Sundance Love: Our Valentine’s Day Collection
For many, Valentine’s Day conjures images of couples sprawled across love seats, seductively dropping chocolate truffles into one another’s mouths, all the while gorging on the cinematic bonbons also known as sentimental romantic comedies. Or maybe that’s just me. And while we can’t rectify all of these Valentine’s Day calamities, we can offer a corrective to the crappy films via this curated collection of love stories from the Sundance Film Festival archives.

An Industry Insider’s Top Tips on Cutting a Trailer
Ross Evison has been editing in the film advertising/marketing arena for 12+ years. Creating trailers, promos and TV commercials for major blockbusters to independent features all around the globe. In 2008 he created Dark Soup Films as a back bone for his directing work.

Kickstarter & Double Fine: A Seismic Shift?
Simon Pulman works for Starlight Runner Entertainment in New York City, specializing in digital strategy and business development. He explores the emerging world of transmedia storytelling and digital business models on his blog at Transmythology.com, and can be followed on twitter at @simonpulman.

Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban Explored in ‘8: The Mormon Proposition’
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California is unconstitutional. In light of today’s decision, we revisit a documentary most pertinent to the issue of equal marriage rights, particularly the passing of Prop 8 in California. Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet’s “8: The Mormon Proposition” premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Kickstart 18 Days in Egypt
Jigar Mehta is a digital entrepreneur and video journalist. He is the co-founder of the collaborative storytelling platform GroupStream which powers his documentary project 18 Days in Egypt. Visit the 18 Days in Egypt Kickstarter page to help fund the hiring of young Egyptian journalists and students to travel throughout Egypt to collect stories from the last year.

The Sundance Film Festival Through the Lens of Terence Nance
Filmmaker and musician Terence Nance premiered his debut feature, An Oversimplification of Beauty, in the New Frontier section of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and performed as Terence Etc. at Day 1 of Sundance ASCAP Music Café. The Dallas born, Brooklyn-based artist chronicled his journey with actresses Namik Minter and Chanelle Pearson from the editing room in New York to the snowy hills of Park City:
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Adobe’s John E. Warnock on Reducing the Economic Barriers Between the Artist and the Audience
John E. Warnock is co-chairman of the board of directors of Adobe Systems, a company he co-founded in 1982 with Charles Geschke. Dr.

Q&A: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, and Dennis Quaid on Their Sundance Film ‘The Words’
Those who wanted to see Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal’s directorial debut, The Words, had to wait until closing night of the Sundance Film Festival for its world premiere. That seemed only fitting, however, as both directors openly admitted at Friday’s screening that the film took nearly 12 years to make and waiting anxiously a few extra days “felt like par for the course.”Led by a strong cast that included Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, and Zoe Saldana, The Words tells the story of Rory Jansen (Cooper), a budding novelist who struggles with his sudden propulsion to literary stardom, brought about by a yellowed manuscript he finds in a beat-up satchel in a Parisian antique shop.

‘Drive’ Composer Cliff Martinez Reminisces About His Sundance Experiences
The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival was in 1989, when I was the composer for sex, lies and videotape. Sundance was the ground floor from which the film went on to garner worldwide acclaim; and for all of us involved it was like driving a rocket ship. Even back then, Sundance was a feeding frenzy for independent film enthusiasts; and getting into popular screenings, parties and events took some serious determination.

2012 Sundance Film Festival Announces Awards
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience, NEXT <=> and other special awards of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by Parker Posey in Park City, Utah. An archived video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.sundance.

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prizes Awarded to Robot & Frank and Valley of Saints at 2012 Sundance
Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant and Lab Fellowship, both presented through the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.

#Sundance on Instagram: Day Eight
Day Eight of #Sundance on Instagram takes you across the country for Sundance Film Festival U.S.A and back to Park City for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “hitRECord at the Movies”.

Wide-Angle Thinker: Evolutionary Psychologist Helen Fisher Discusses Film’s Role
In addition to the 181 of films being presented at this year’s Festival, there’s also an ambitious slate of panels, populated by an eclectic mix of artists, film industry professionals and an array of leading edge thinkers, politicians and academics. What they all have in common is a shared interest and investment in how film impacts and intersects with the culture at large. To that end, we’re conducting a series of conversations with some of the more notable participants whose expertise lies in disciplines, which on the surface might seem to have little to do with the filmmaking process.

LIVE: Updates from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony
Hi everyone, and welcome to the live blog for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony. We’re Eric Hynes and Claiborne Smith, and we’ll be your tag-team virtual hosts for tonight’s festivities. For the second year in a row, the Awards Ceremony takes place few miles north of Park City at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse at Kimball Junction.