Category: From the Labs

When I applied to the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab, I knew there was something wrong with my script. When I interviewed for the lab, I once again shared that feeling. And then when I got the call from Michelle Satter and Ilyse McKimmie welcoming me and my story (Selah and the Spades) into the fold, I felt a quiet relief—like finally getting an appointment to see a doctor after months of a very sore throat.

Edson Oda is a Los Angeles–based, Brazilian writer/director of Japanese descent and a recipient of the Asian American Feature Film Program Fellowship, supported by the A3 Foundation. Oda’s fellowship included participation at the January Screenwriters Lab with his project “Nine Days,” which he writes about below.
Since I moved to the U.

It’s been a year since I applied to Sundance Institute Full Circle Fellowship, which aims to support the next generation of Native American storytellers with attendance at the Sundance Film Festival, a set internship at the Native Filmmakers Lab, meetings with industry mentors, and other opportunities.
I was going through the application process and was stuck in a rut. Having recently graduated from college with a Film and Digital Media degree, I was feeling a lot of pressure to find a job and begin my career.

“The film that blew your mind isn’t necessarily the best film,” Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper said slyly at the closing night of the Creative Producing Summit. Apparently that declaration was intended to curtail the evening’s presenters—a who’s-who of the film-producing world—from shying away from candor. In fairness, how many of us are wont to divulge our earliest, innocent artistic predilections? Not I, says this sheepish fan of Waterworld.

I came to the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Edit and Story Lab with a mix of emotions. I’d proudly accepted a creative advisor role, joining an esteemed group that included Laura Poitras, Jonathan Oppenheim, Joelle Alexis, Nels Bangerter, and Lillian Benson, but I remained skeptical of what I thought might be a “too many cooks in the kitchen” approach to editing documentaries. Maybe I was intimidated or wondering what I could offer, or maybe I was afraid of how the lab process might affect my semi-solitary preferences for editing my own films.

Last summer I started work on my first feature film, Checkout. It told the story of a man stuck in an old hotel on the outskirts of Istanbul, without the possibility of leaving. One year later I found myself stuck in an old hotel on the outskirts of Istanbul, without the possibility of leaving.

Vatche Boulghourjian’s debut feature Tramontane made its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes on Tuesday. The film, about a blind man on the trail of his origins in post-war Lebanon, took four years to make. The following is a chronological account on the making of Tramontane, told from writer/director Vatche Boulghourjian’s and producer Caroline Oliveira’s points of view.

For some reason, staring at the lamp on my desk doesn’t always get me jazzed for a long night of writing. Despite the pleasing geometry of its triangular IKEA frame, it’s always been a rather underwhelming view. It’s a sad reality here in Brooklyn that home offices are crammed with a clutter of things that didn’t make the grade for the rest of your apartment: futons, art that wasn’t quite nice enough to put up in your living room, a corner full of guitars, and a bookshelf that you just gave up on and started stuffing books into horizontally.

Sundance Institute is seeking applicants for the YouTube New Voices Lab set to take place November 10-12, 2016, at YouTube Space Los Angeles. The Lab is designed to support a group of 10 creators, developing scripted short-form episodic content for digital platforms (up to 25 minutes in length per episode). Click here to apply.

An unseasonably windy morning blows in Charlotte as an eclectic group of filmmakers enter the Bechtler Modern Art Museum. With a registration list cut off at 375, the Wells Fargo Auditorium inside the Bechtler fills up, and there are folks who have come hoping to fill a vacant seat. Filmmakers are networking prior to the start of the program, greeting each other with hugs and handshakes.

“My hand hurts” doesn’t apply here at the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive two-day workshop in Los Angeles—specifically Joan Tewkesbury’s screenwriting workshop “Designed Obstacles, Spontaneous Response.” I came to the sad reality that I hadn’t used pen and paper in close to six months, including signing my own name, which is all done electronically now—I type or text everything. This workshop was not about technology or form; it was about detaching from all of it in search for the deepest meaning of ourselves.

We have extended our deadline and are still accepting nominations for our Documentary Creative Producing Lab! The new deadline is Monday, March 21. If you know a talented producer not yet supported by Sundance Institute, we want to hear from you. ABOUT THE LAB AND FELLOWSHIP We will select five fellows to join us for a five-day intensive at the Sundance Resort in Utah.