Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival is a significant enough achievement, but for six directors with films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition this year, it’s also a coming home.

PARK CITY, UT – Sundance Institute announced today details for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival’s presentation of films by Native filmmakers and the annual Native Forum. A gathering of Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, the Native Forum provides a platform for artists to share their expertise and knowledge through an Indigenous ShortsLab, panels, networking events and special screenings. This year’s Festival will provide a world stage for Native filmmakers whose works include seven short films and four feature films from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Institute and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) today announced a major three-year partnership designed to nurture new works and new voices in feature film, documentary, Native and Indigenous filmmaking, film music and theater. An extension of Time Warner’s existing support for the nonprofit Sundance Institute, The Time Warner | Sundance Institute Power of Story Partnership includes artist support and fellowships as well as public programming at the Sundance Film Festival.

Park City, UT-Sundance Institute today announced the line up of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Celebration of Music in Film, an annual concert honoring the art and imagination of film music. This year’s headlining performance features Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lou Reed who gained notoriety as a founding member and principle songwriter for influential rock band The Velvet Underground, before pursuing a successful solo career. The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20-30, in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Sundance Institute is proud to announce our first-ever Alumni Advisory Board. Our community begins with our artists, and we are excited to be bringing the voices of our artist alumni direct to you starting this month. For this year’s Board, we’ve assembled twelve Sundance Institute artist alumni who have generously agreed to share their stories-and experiences-to advise us on Institute programs, and to offer their unique perspectives on what Sundance Institute is all about.

Park City, UT-Sundance Institute today announced the line-up of music-themed films and events at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s program features a diverse array of musical storytelling, past, present and future through soundtracks and scores, compelling documentaries, an eclectic live-music line-up and more. The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20-30, in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Park City, UT – Sundance Institute announced today a collaboration with YouTube to make available, in the YouTube Screening Room, 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival as well as eight classic short films from Institute alumni and earlier Festivals. Each YouTube Screening Room series is scheduled to run for a span of six weeks. The first launch date is January 6, 2011 and will continue to release through February 3, 2011.

While the Sundance Film Festival is all for self-exploration, pushing boundaries, and taking the untrodden path, sometimes a little guidance can go a long way. From last minute ticket advice to must-see panels and musical performances, this Festival 101 crash course will guarantee you don’t miss a thing.When you’ve made it to Park City, you’re ready to zip up your fleece, watch some films, sample some restaurants, and get the whole show going.

All film festivals are hubs of industry hustle, but it’s crucial to not let the biz compromise the spirit of your experience when you are an excited filmmaker gearing up to bring your first film to the Sundance Film Festival. At the 2010 Festival, Javier Fuentes-Leon’s Contracorriente (Undertow) took home the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and subsequently exploded on the global festival scene. A seasoned Festivalgoer, Fuentes-Leon discusses tips for 2011 Festival filmmakers, the general camaraderie and magic in Park City, and the international journey of his film since last year.

Over the next few months we’ll be chronicling memorable moments in Festival history as we reveal the mystery behind the 2011 snowflake icon. This week we examine the “thumbs up” icon, the definitive sign of approval in the world of film.
Roger Ebert and Micheal Moore
Founder of the universal thumbs up/thumbs down film rating system, Roger Ebert spent the last four decades sifting through films and discerning potential Oscar-winners from certain box office busts.

PARK CITY, UTAH — Sundance Institute announced today that filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau (Open Water) will return to the Sundance Film Festival with their latest feature, Silent House, which will have its world premiere in the out-of-competition Park City at Midnight section.
The Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30, 2011, in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at sundance.

When Lynn Hershman Leeson first recorded footage for her latest film, she wasn’t a filmmaker, didn’t own a camera, and had no overarching plan. She just knew that something important was happening, and that somebody needed to document it. Beginning in the late 1960s with raw recordings made on a borrowed camera and continuing throughout the next several decades, pioneering multimedia artist (and eventual filmmaker) Hershman Leeson interviewed fellow feminist artists who were changing the face and direction of art in America.

“Cultural diplomacy.“ Two words, each full of meaning. Taken together they encompass a universe of opportunity.

PARK CITY, UT – Sundance Institute announced today that three additional feature films will world premiere in the out-of-competition Premieres and new Documentary Premieres sections of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival: The Future (Director and screenwriter: Miranda July); Flypaper (Director: Rob Minkoff), and Magic Trip (Directors: Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibney). In addition, The Future will go on to screen at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in February.
The Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Los Angeles, CA-Sundance Institute has selected twelve projects for the annual January Screenwriters Lab, to be held January 14-19, 2011 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. This year’s group includes filmmakers from regions throughout the world, including the United States, Mexico, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. A hallmark of this year’s Lab is its diversity, with filmmakers from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, an almost even split of men and women, and a wide spectrum of genres that includes comedy, period, horror-tinged thriller, and classic indie drama.