Category: News

Athens, Greece: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos’ Faliro House Productions (The Founder, The Lobster), in collaboration with Sundance Institute, will host the second edition of the Faliro House | Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop in Costa Navarino, Greece July 3-9. The workshop is designed to support emerging filmmakers from Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and this year will include filmmakers from Cyprus.

You know how we indie filmmakers are, right? We’re pessimistic, worst-case thinkers. When I saw the schedule for the 2017 Financing & Strategy Intensive, my eyes fixated on those dreaded words: “Pitching Workshop.” I thought, OK, I’m staying home with my cat.

“Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”—John DeweyIn the wake of two corporations pulling their funding from the Public Theater’s free production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, like many of my artist colleagues I have been pondering the grave resonances.Let me be clear.

15 June 2017The BBC World Service and Sundance Institute have announced a new collaboration to produce a series of radio documentaries and podcasts for launch in 2018. The partnership will allow for up to six new projects exploring the theme of ‘Neighbour’, with the resulting radio programmes airing on the BBC World Service, also available as podcasts, and accompanied by visual storytelling online.
Mary Hockaday, Controller of BBC World Service English said: “We’re very excited about collaborating with Sundance Institute who share our passion for the very best storytelling.

Park City, Utah — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced that its 2017 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah in January, generated a total economic impact of $151.5 million. These numbers come from an independent economic and demographic study conducted by Y² Analytics,which used updated methodology and technology to give a more complete picture of the Festival’s impact on the state of Utah’s economy.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the eight projects selected for its annual Documentary Edit and Story Labs, taking place in two sessions at the Sundance Resort in Utah from June 23-July 1 and July 7-15. An anchor point of the nonprofit Institute’s year-round work with filmmakers, the Documentary Edit and Story Lab creates an incubation space for nonfiction storytellers to creatively interrogate their projects during the later stages of post-production. Among the breathtaking scenery of the Sundance Mountain Resort, filmmakers take advantage of the Lab’s creative environment to intensively explore story, dramatic structure and character development, centering their work around their own original motivation and intention.

Photographer Credit: Jonathan Hickerson
Park City, UT — It’s a Utah summer tradition 20 years in the making: Sundance Institute will celebrate summer with free outdoor screenings of Sundance Film Festival favorites in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden and Kamas. These screenings will also feature food, special guests, fun activities and a few 20th anniversary surprises.
Betsy Wallace, CFO and Managing Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Enjoying these great films with friends, neighbors and colleagues, surrounded by Utah’s natural beauty, is a highlight of our year-round programming — and, now that we’re in our 20th year, it’s safe to say it’s a local tradition as well.

DinaCredit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Quentin Tarantino and Steve Buscemi at 1991 Directors LabCredit: Sandria Miller

Sleigh BellsCredit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance NEXT FEST takes it to the NEXT level with the announcement of seven films direct from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, paired with three energizing musical performances. The fest lights up Los Angeles August 10-13 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, and this year will include presentation of the Institute’s Vanguard Awards to Quentin Tarantino and Dee Rees. This marks the fifth annual Sundance NEXT FEST and fourth consecutive year that The Theatre at Ace Hotel has hosted the festival.

Shamir, Credit: Frazer Harrison/WireImage

The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles Marquee, Credit: Ryan Kobane

Elizabeth Wood, Credit: Ryan Kobane

Los Angeles, CA — The Sundance Film Festival travels from the snow-capped peaks of Park City, Utah to the summer sun of Los Angeles for the fifth Sundance NEXT FEST, August 10-13. The movie and music festival celebrates the renegade spirit of independent artists in one of the most remarkable and historic gems in the city — The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, a bold and loving reanimation of a 1920s movie palace. Each movie will be paired with exclusive, dynamic live elements, including musical performances and provocative conversations with filmmakers and cinema-world favorites.

Radha Blank

Aleem Khan

Francisca Alegria

Reinaldo Marcus Green

Tayarisha Poe

Brett Weiner

Emma Fletcher

Hannah Pearl Utt

Jen Tullock

Grainger David

Cory Miller

Colman Domingo

Amirah Tajdin

Clea DuVall

Marcos Díaz Sosa

Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.

Los Angeles, CA — Thirteen new independent feature projects from Cuba, Chile, Kenya, the UK and the U.S.

Rosie Haber

Silas Howard

Charlotte Stoudt

Laura Wexler

Heather Dewey-Hagborg

Toshiaki Ozawa

Griffin Frazen

Sutu

Charles Henden

Callum Cooper

Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute announced today the six projects selected for the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which supports independent artists working at the cutting-edge convergence of film, art, media, live performance and technology.
The New Frontier Story Lab is a week-long intensive that empowers creatives with individualized story sessions, conversations about key artistic, design and technology issues and case study presentations from experts in diverse related disciplines. Past participants include Roger Ross Williams, Yung Jake, Chris Milk, Hasan Minhaj, Tommy Pallotta, Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari, Karim Ben Khelifa, Tracy Fullerton and Yasmin Elayat.

Los Angeles, CA — Two emerging Native storytellers, Erin Lau (Native Hawaiian) and Shaandiin Tome (Diné) will participate in the 2017 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, continuing the Institute’s year-round work in the discovery and development of artists from diverse backgrounds.

The Lab takes place May 14-19 in Santa Fe, NM. During the Lab, Fellows work with a cast, crew, and supervising producer to shoot workshop versions of scenes from their short films under the expert creative mentorship of Program alumni and other established industry professionals and Program staff.