The Latest
Beyond Theatre Walls: 2012 Off Screen
What is film without discussion and debate? Or more to the point: What is the purpose of a film festival if the narrative ends when the reel runs out? Off Screen was created to keep the story alive, to ignite conversation, and to extend film beyond the movie theatre. This robust and engaging array of events and panels was expressly designed to complement the 181 films selected for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.“The whole point is to try and give some visibility to the films and the filmmakers,” says Sundance Institute Senior Programmer John Nein, who curates the Off Screen lineup.
Sundance Institute Screenplay Reading Series Showcases New Voices
The Feature Film Program ended last year on a high note, producing installments of our Screenplay Reading Series of Works in Progress on both coasts. In November in Los Angeles, we featured Carson Mell’s Ajax, an existential comedy set in outer space, with a cast including Mark Duplass, Gil Bellows, Vinessa Shaw, and Brandon Maggart. In December in New York, it was Keith Davis’s The American People, with a cast including Tonya Pinkins, Curtis McClarin, Charles Turner, Venida Evans, Dante Clark, JaQwan Kelly, Brandon Gill, Yvette Ganier, Adepero Oduye, Marisol Sacramento, and Bruce Faulk.
Sundance and Social Media: What’s a Filmmaker To Do?
Devon Smith is director of social media for Threespot, a digital engagement agency in DC primarily serving nonprofit and governmental organizations. She holds an MBA from Yale School of Management, an MFA in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama, a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington. She’s worked for nonprofit organizations across the country, primarily in the arts & culture sector, often having to do with digital strategy.
We the People: Documentary Filmmakers Capture the Power of Protest
Editor’s note: This story was originally published after the 2012 Festival in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Arab Spring. We’re republishing it this week as we witness the power of protests and activism to combat the systemic racism that has long plagued our country and its criminal justice system. There is still much work to be done.
In a Snap: Capturing the #Sundance Experience with Instagram
With every installment of the Sundance Film Festival comes the same challenge of capturing the scope of such a huge event. There’s so many things happening at any one time, and being able to document it as well share all these unique experiences is a tall order. Thankfully, this year it’s gotten a lot easier with the help of four things: a hashtag, an iPhone, an app, and you.
Parker Posey to Host 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony
Park City, UT – Sundance Institute announced today the 23 members of the six juries awarding prizes at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the host of the Awards Ceremony on January 28. The Festival takes place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
Actress and writer Parker Posey will serve as the host of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony, set to take place January 28 at 7:00 p.
Sundance USA: Meet the Venues
On January 26, Sundance Film Festival USA dispatches nine filmmakers from Park City to nine cities across the country to screen and discuss their direct-from-Festival films with audiences. In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to this year’s hosts by featuring them in our venue profile series.
Music Box Theatre Chicago, IL
Patrons of the Music Box Theatre in Chicago frequently used to ask me about my Festival experience each year: What was it like? Did I meet any interesting filmmakers? What will be the next Sundance film to make it big? Was there a little gem that might get overlooked by the industry and never be seen again? During these conversations, it was very apparent that they would have loved nothing more than to experience firsthand the Festival they had heard so much about.
HP Feature Film Fellowship
As a longtime Presenting Sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance London, HP was striving for the opportunity to have deeper connection with a filmmaker team as a vehicle to strengthen their support of independent storytelling.
HP recently initiated a Fellowship to further support emerging talent who have exhibited strength and innovation relating to technology. The 2014 Fellows are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, working on their film Swiss Army Man.
The Weirdest Dads to Hit the Screens at Sundance
Of all the hackneyed representations of “dads” in film, none rings more true than the “weird dad.” Perhaps the notion arrived in tow with our other absurd father fascinations of late—#DadJokes and #DadBods, anyone? This Father’s Day, we take a look at some of the strangest dads to come through Sundance.The Squid and the WhaleDirector Noah Baumbach’s 2005 film is a keen portrait of a family at odds in the wake of a failed marriage, and a demonstration on the ‘don’ts’ of fatherhood.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Deliverables (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Few people go into the business of making films because of a passion for file conversions or frame rate quandaries. But the truth is that every filmmaker who wants his or her film to be seen, screened, distributed, or streamed needs to contend with these and other issues pertaining to the swiftly changing world of digital deliverables. Gone are the days when reels of 35mm film were all you needed to show your film; now you need to juggle between ProRes files, HDCAMs, and DCPs—and that’s just for starters.
FreeFail: Indie Film Game-Changer Outs Herself as a Failure (Despite Evidence to the Contrary
On Monday, January 20, with #FreeFail, the Sundance Film Festival will dedicate a day to exploring a vital aspect of the creative process: Failure. To kick off the festivities, filmmaker Jennie Livingston (Paris is Burning) reflects on the challenges she has faced as the self-proclaimed World’s Slowest Filmmaker.
While investigating links for a website for the film I’m making, Earth Camp One, I came across a blog that described me as someone who’d made an important film and then failed to follow it up with a career.
Andrew Rossi Investigates the Alarming Cost of Education in Ivory Tower
Documentary filmmaker Andrew Rossi is drawn to worlds that at first seem impenetrable. In his previous film, the riveting Page One: Inside the New York Times (which premiered at Sundance in 2011), Rossi obtained a “fly-on the-wall” look at the newspaper industry in a state of transition and turmoil. Now, with his latest documentary Ivory Tower, Rossi departs The Grey Lady’s sanctified headquarters for the hallowed halls of Harvard to find an explanation for the staggering cost faced by Americans in pursuit of higher education.
12 Women-Directed Films to Watch For Women’s History Month
A recent proliferation of “official” and “unofficial” holidays has provoked some gratuitous celebrations—shout out to National Doughnut Day. On the other hand, some less facetious days of recognition warrant a more substantial nod. Cue Women’s History Month, which dates back to 1981 and corresponds with International Women’s Day on March 8.
A Former U.S. Soldier Hones Her Script at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab
Nicole Riegel is a 2014 January Screenwriters Lab Fellow whose project Lynch tells the story of an American P.O.W.