Category: News

It should come as no surprise that transparency and accountability surfaced as vital themes on day one at the Sundance Film Festival. From Oscar snubs and questions surrounding diversity—ahem, or the lack thereof—to attacks on freedom of expression, the Festival’s Day One Press Conference has functioned in recent years as a moment to survey the state of affairs in independent film, and more importantly, our world at large. This year, as a seemingly endless stream of appalling sexual misconduct cases are brought to light alongside the #MeToo movement, Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford did not mince words when addressing the widespread problem.

Whether you’re on the ground in Park City or hunkered down in the far corners of the globe, Sundance.org is hosting an array of live video and editorial coverage of film premieres, panels, and music, as well as providing around-the-clock updates on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media. If you can’t be in Park City for the festivities this year, or your must-see event just isn’t in the cards, we’ve got your back.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute adds five feature films and a Special Event to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival’s robust slate of independent work today, alongside announcing the winner of the 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, seven Day One films and the Closing Night Film. The Festival will take place in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 24-February 4, 2019.

The power of storytelling rests in the layered relationship between storyteller and audience. When a storyteller exudes a distinctively formed vision, the audience is emboldened to engage with that vision through the prism of their life experiences. The result is, on one hand, a shared experience among disparate perspectives.

In the wake of numerous sexual harassment scandals disrupting Hollywood and beyond, several movements among women in film and television have emerged to tackle the broad culture of abuse and power disparity. This constellation of organizations and leaders is coordinating efforts to create a collaborative and strategic plan for fostering a culture of dignity, respect and institutional accountability in Hollywood.
At the center of these conversations is ReFrame, founded by Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles, which adopts a peer-to-peer approach to forge gender parity at every level in film, TV, and media.

At a time when women make up 50.8% of the U.S.

RuPaul to Host “Drag Race” Retrospective, Serve As Inaugural NEXT Innovator Award Juror Hearts Beat Loud Confirmed As Closing Night Film Selection

Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock, Credit: Cody Lucich.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute completes the slate of bold independent work set for the
2018 Sundance Film Festival, with eight feature films, a VR experience, the NEXT Innovator’s Award juror and hosted
retrospectives joining the lineup today. Screenings will take place in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain
Resort January 18-28.

Bold Innovation and Risk-Taking Encouraged at Immersive Lab, Part of Ongoing Creative Support; Twelve Alumni Projects to
Premiere at 2018 Sundance Film Festival

Los Angeles, CA – Sixteen emerging screenwriters will come together at Sundance Institute’s 2018 Screenwriters
Lab, an immersive five-day writers’ workshop announced today and taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah, January 12-17,
2018. The Lab brings independent screenwriters together with accomplished writers, in an environment that encourages the
art and craft of writing and creative risk-taking. Through one-on-one story sessions with Creative Advisors, Fellows work
intensively on their feature film scripts and engage in an artistically rigorous process that offers them indispensable
lessons in craft.

Innovative Independent and Experimental Work to Premiere, Including Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality
Storytelling, Site-Specific Installations, Films and Live Performances

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Tashka Yawawnawa/Lance Troxel.

Park City, UT — As the intersection of art and technology grows more crowded, Sundance Institute showcases a curated
collection of cutting-edge independent experimental media works by creators who are pushing the artistic development of
the new mediums of VR, AR, mixed reality (MR) and AI. The 2018 edition of New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival offers
some of the most innovative independent production and experimentation at the crossroads of film, art and technology that
is being created today.

War Paint, Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Park City, UT — Works selected across the new Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections of the 2018 Sundance
Film Festival were announced today, underlining Sundance Institute’s commitment to showcasing bold independent storytelling,
regardless of form, format or length.
New this year is the Indie Episodic section, designed as a dedicated showcase for emerging independent voices and their work. In recent
years, the Festival has screened episodic content in the
Special Events section, which includes new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience.

Plays by David Adjmi, Youness Atbane, David Cale and Kamilah Forbes Reflect the Impact of Art and Its Possibilities

Los Angeles, CA — Four projects representing diverse world voices, each with bold and independent visions of how
art can elevate the human experience, comprise this year’s selected projects for the two-week Sundance Institute Theatre
Lab at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), convening December 3-17, 2017, with a public performance
of another project slated for December 9. The Theatre Labs process is rigorous and generative. Dedicated to the creation
and development of forward-thinking theater; projects are cast individually, rehearsed daily and benefit from concentrated,
uninterrupted time and resources.

Following what’s felt like an unusually protracted Sundance Film Festival offseason, and one marked by what Festival Director John Cooper calls a “rejuvenated idea” of the 24-hour news cycle, the 2018 program announcement arrives at a pivotal time for audiences and artists. If we approach 2018 still processing the tumult and instability of the past year, this year’s program of films are primed to serve as a careful distillation of the times – and a representation of what that looks like across a broad spectrum of voices.
Below, John Cooper and Director of Programming Trevor Groth walk us through another year of intense decision-making and shed light on the tapestry of voices that will come to define the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.