LOS ANGELES, CA — – In celebration and support of diversity and innovation in independent filmmaking, the Sundance Institute and Honda have formed The Honda Power of Dreams Lab Fellowship to recognize an outstanding filmmaker participating in the Institute’s renowned Feature Film Program Directors Lab. Selected by Institute staff and Honda executives, The Honda Power of Dreams Lab Fellow will receive a stipend from Honda in addition to the Lab experience and year-round guidance and mentorship provided by the non-profit Institute.
Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Sundance Institute Directors Lab provides an opportunity for directors to rehearse, shoot, and edit selected scenes from their screenplays in a workshop environment free from the commercial pressures of mainstream filmmaking and under the guidance of world-renowned Creative Advisors.

Sundance Institute’s Documentary Program has been working with filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham for over a year. We’ve heard the stories and witnessed this group in action in the short film based on the feature documentary The Revolutionary Optimists, a film we produced in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that premiered at TEDx in September 2010. I recently travelled to Calcutta to meet with some of the subjects of the film.

I had no idea what to expect from my first experience at the Sundance Film Festival, aside from seeing some great films and reconnecting with the Sundance family I had grown so close to during the Native Lab eight months prior. I have since learned that the unexpected should be expected in Park City. Unpredictable weather, borderline terrifying celebrity encounters, and a nasty case of sinusitis brought on by the high altitude are just a few experiences I wasn’t quite prepared for.

Glenn Baker, the director of Easy Like Water, describes below the extreme conditions during the production of his film, which is part of Stories of Change, an initiative in partnership with the Skoll Foundation that explores the potential of combining the art of nonfiction storytelling with the impact of social entrepreneurship.Producer/Cameraman Steve Sapienza and I returned to Bangladesh for a month in July and August 2010 to film in the riverside communities served by the floating schools during monsoon season. We explored the many ways climate change is already hitting Bangladesh.

The O2, London, 15th March 2011 – Robert Redford, the non-profit  Sundance Institute and AEG Europe today announced Sundance London, a four-day multi-disciplinary arts festival that will include film screenings, live music performances, discussions, panels and other public cultural programming to be held 26th – 29th April, 2012 at the world’s most popular music and entertainment venue, The O2. AEG Europe, owner and operator of The O2, Robert Redford, and his non-profit Sundance Institute will join together to present films from American filmmakers as well as current  American music. Sundance Institute, which annually presents the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.

Eskişehir 
We are on the train again now after a couple of days in Eskişehir. We were hosted by the University Anadolu and specifically the Communication Deptartment. To summarize the headline reactions in a sentence: Impressed… Energy… Excellence… Imagination… Exciting… Solidarity… Intelligence… Diligence… Great Questions!
To explain a little further… I have been to many universities now but rarely have I been so impressed by the atmosphere and energy of the students as I was in Eskişehir.

Yolanda Cruz was a 2010 Sundance Institute Native Program Fellow and participated in the 2010 Native Lab and Creative Producing Summit. She recently participated in the 2011 January Screenwriters Lab with her project “La Raya” about 11-year-old Papio, who has his eyes set on emigrating to the U.S.

Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Institute will present a free Work-In-Progress Screeningof Semper Fi: Always Faithful on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The documentary film by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon about a devoted Marine and father who discovers a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S.

Los Angeles, CA –After  last year’s successful inaugural ShortsLab in Los Angeles, Sundance Institute announced today it is bringing short filmmaking workshops to Chicago and New York, and returning to Los Angeles. Recognizing the place shorts have and will continue to have in cinema, storytelling, and culture, ShortsLabs offer filmmakers first-hand insight and access into the world of short filmmaking. While all three ShortsLabs will have panels and sessions on story development, production, and exhibition of shorts, ShortsLab: L.

Part 1 – ISTANBUL
Aside from its remarkable history and the fact that it’s the only city in the world to sit on two continents, Istanbul is one of the most vibrant places I’ve ever visited. The chilly day I arrived – apparently the coldest of the year with blustery winds and a continuous drizzle – couldn’t even keep revelers at home. They were out in droves, strolling down festive Istiklal or Independence Avenue (Istanbul’s famous, pedestrian boulevard) and crowding around heaters at outdoor cafes.

I have always wanted to go to Turkey, and Istanbul in particular. I have read various Orhun Pamuk books that describe both the melancholic beauty and deep history of the city. I have heard that Istanbul is the “most romantic city in the world,” that it is the bridge between east and west, that it straddles old and new, and that it manages to balance the secular and religious with ease, style and grace.

All of us at the Sundance Institute are deeply saddened by the loss of our great friend and filmmaker Gary Winick.
Over many years, Gary was the first to sign up as a Creative Advisor for our Directors Lab. His beautiful spirit and passion for the creative process made the Lab that much richer and a lot more fun.

With the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday and the Academy Awards on Sunday, a number of Sundance alumni were honored last weekend.
The 2011 Independent Spirit Awards returned to their traditional location on the beach in Santa Monica for Saturday’s ceremony, hosted by Joel McHale. No fewer than six films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival received a total of seven Spirit Awards.