Category: News

Sundance Institute and Science Sandbox Celebrate
Innovative Nonfiction Storytelling With Expanded Tailored, Multifaceted Support

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute, in collaboration with Science Sandbox, an initiative of Simons Foundation, announced the expansion of the Science Sandbox Nonfiction Initiative, alongside the initial nine science-focused independent projects selected for support this year. The initiative, first introduced in 2018, aims to elevate the voices of independent artists working at the intersection of science and nonfiction storytelling, as well as to encourage critical thinking, promote educated discourse and highlight the overlap of science and art.
Following the initiative’s successful inaugural year, nine projects have been thus far selected for support in 2019, a cohort co-curated by the Institute and Science Sandbox.

Los Angeles — Sundance Institute today announced Fellows and Advisors for the five-day 2019 Creative Producing Labs, as well as the three-day Creative Producing Summit which immediately follows; both take place at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort. The Labs begins July 29, and the Summit August 2. These are the flagship convenings for the Institute’s Creative Producing Program, which champions and develops current and rising generations of producers across fiction and nonfiction film.

Jesse Alick, Rachel Hauck, Lisa Kron, Amauta Marston-Firmino & Others Join Creative Team
Acting Company to Include Cherise Boothe, Elise Kibler, Tony Plana, Ari’el Stachel & Others
New York — Sundance Institute’s 2019 Theatre Lab convenes Monday, July 8; the Institute announced
this year’s participating acting company and creative advisors today. The Lab, which runs through July 28 at Utah’s
Sundance Resort, will be led by the program’s Director,
Christopher Hibma in collaboration with
Manager
Ana Verde; the
eight projects were selected by Hibma and former Theatre Program Artistic Director
Philip Himberg,
with support of a
six-member Advisory Committee. At the 2019 Lab, Hibma will collaborate with director and Theatre Lab alumna
Lisa
Peterson
, who will serve as Guest Artistic Director and Jumana Al-Yasiri will join in her
capacity as Manager for the
Program’s Middle East / North Africa year-round initiatives.

Storytellers came together at the 2019 Skoll World Forum to discuss how their work can have a tangible impact on the greater culture.
Artists hope that their work causes meaningful change in individuals and societies—but can art truly catalyze positive social change, or is it simply a reflection of the culture? This question was posed to artists and attendees at a town hall event sponsored in part by Sundance Institute at this year’s Skoll World Forum, which brings together social entrepreneurs and thought leaders to work towards solving global challenges.
The town hall was put on in partnership with For Freedoms, an organization that aims to use art to drive creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action.

The Theatre at Ace Hotel was buzzing last night as the independent film community came together to celebrate breakout writer/director Lulu Wang at Sundance Institute’s LA premiere screening of The Farewell hosted by Acura.

Sundance Film Festival Programming Director Kim Yutani; writer/director Lulu Wang; and actors Diana Lin, Aoi Mizuhara, and Tzi Ma at The Theatre at Ace Hotel. © 2019 Aaron Farley for Sundance Institute
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Wang was honored with the Sundance Institute Vanguard Award presented by Acura, which showcases artists whose work and vision represent the highest level of breakthrough innovation, originality, and independent spirit.

Will Assume Newly-Created Emeritus Director Role Following 2020 Festival,
After 30 Years on Staff, 11 as Director

Legacies Include Short Film Category & Competition, New Frontier, Festivals in London & Hong Kong
Los Angeles — Sundance Institute announced today that John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, will move into a newly-created Emeritus Director role following the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. 2020 will mark his 30th Sundance Film Festival, and his 11th year as Festival Director.
The new role will focus on special projects and overseeing the 40th anniversary of the Sundance Institute to be celebrated in 2021.

Los Angeles and Marin, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Film Music and Sound Design Lab, which returns to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the seventh year.
At the Lab, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for fiction and nonfiction film projects. Workshops and creative exercises, guided by leading film composers and sound designers acting as Creative Advisors, will mentor Fellows to explore sound and music’s crucial role in storytelling.

Nonfiction Projects, All Women-Directed, Range
From Intimate Familial Explorations to Experiments in ‘Speculative Nonfiction’

Los Angeles, CA — On June 21, five boundary-pushing nonfiction film project teams will convene at the Sundance Resort in Utah for the 2019 Documentary Edit and Story Lab, Sundance Institute announced today.
Designed to provide time and space to go deep into the language, form, and meaning of these five independent nonfiction films, the Lab combines director and editor teams in the later stages of post-production, with renowned documentary filmmakers, for the process of reimagining or reconceiving dramatic structures, exploring character and story development, and refocusing around the director’s original animating vision for their work.
Documentary Film Program Director Tabitha Jackson, who oversees the process alongside Labs Director Kristin Feeley, said “By gathering these filmmakers together with some of the field’s most compelling creators, we hope to not only advance their projects through the revelatory process of editing, but also to build community and meaningfully expand the realm of imaginative possibility for the film teams themselves.

Expanded Summer Film Series Showcases Recent Festival Favorites, Including Get Out, RBG, Hearts Beat Loud and Eighth Grade

Offscreen: Visiting Filmmakers, Games, Contests and a Vote for Final Series Screening at sundance.org/utah

Park City, UT — Summer has finally arrived, which means it’s time for the return of Utah’s outdoor movie tradition, now in its 22nd year! The nonprofit Sundance Institute will once again celebrate the season and Utah’s natural beauty with free screenings of eleven Sundance Film Festival favorites, taking place in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden, St. George and, new this year, Coalville.

Kenneth Paul Rosenberg is an addiction psychiatrist affiliated with Weil Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He is the director of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival film Bedlam, an exploration of America’s mental health crisis that is set to premiere on Independent Lens in 2020, and he is also the author of a forthcoming book of the same name.
My life course was set when I was 14 years old and my wonderful 20-year-old sister Merle developed a horrific illness, schizophrenia.

Benefits Highlighted by 122,000 Attendees, $18 Million in State and Local Tax Revenue, 3,052 Jobs Supported
Park City, Utah — The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today that its 2019 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah from January 24 through February 3, generated a total economic impact of $182.5 million for the state of Utah. These numbers come from an economic impact study conducted by Y² Analytics, an independent market research and data analytics group now in their third year analyzing the full impact of the Festival, giving a full and consistent picture of the Festival’s year-over-year economic benefits to the state’s economy.

25 Projects, 84% Directed or Produced by Women, Receive Over $750,000 in Grants
Los Angeles, CA — 25 nonfiction films from 12 countries are the latest Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and Stories of Change Grantees, announced today. This support includes unrestricted grants to films in the development, production, post-production and audience engagement stages, and is made possible by founding support from Open Society Foundations.
Today’s slate of grantees includes custom grants from The Kendeda Fund, providing specific support for projects addressing environmental themes and the challenges of gun violence and the Stories of Change Fund, a creative partnership with the Skoll Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs and independent storytellers.