Category: News

Killing Ground
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

The Polka King
Credit: Andrei Bowden Schwartz

My Life as a Zucchini
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Park City, UT — The final pieces of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival feature film program fall into place today, as Sundance Institute announces the lineup for Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, Kids and Special Events. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19-29. Three projects announced today are part of The New Climate, the Festival’s new environmental program: Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman (Documentary Premieres), Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry (Spotlight) and RISE (Special Events).

ASTEROIDS!
Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Heroes
Credit: Jamie Caliri

Journey to the Center of the Natural Machine
Credit: Meta.

Park City, UT — Now in its second decade of breaking new ground at the forefront of art and technology, Sundance Institute has curated an in-depth vision of storytelling’s future for the 2017 edition of New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival, January 19-29 in Park City. The full slate — including storyworlds in Augmented Reality headsets, projection-mapped acrobatics, a VR beauty salon producing neuroscience data via the internet of things and a host of socialized, interactive and immersively haptic VR story experiences — stands as a testament to New Frontier’s expertise in identifying, developing and amplifying the most relevant and high-impact modes of tech-enabled narrative.

In times that are anything but ordinary, the filmmakers who infuse our world with perspective through storytelling continue to elevate their craft. That notion is as clear as ever in the slate of films announced in Competition and NEXT for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. If we are a nation – or a world – weighed down by an undulating fear of isolation, these are the stories that encourage us to understand how we got that way and how to come together again.

Casting JonBenet
Credit: Michael Latham

The Workers Cup
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Patti Cake$
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute convenes a full slate of provocative and agenda-setting independent films at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, beginning with today’s announcement of the 66 films selected for U.S. Competition, World Competition and NEXT, as well as a slate of environmentally focused programming under the Festival’s The New Climate program.

Los Angeles, CA — Four stories of family, gender, female empowerment and migration comprise the projects supported by Sundance Institute’s Theatre Program at its two-week Lab at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), taking place December 4-18. Dedicated to the creation and development of new musical theatre work, the Lab’s projects are cast individually, rehearsed daily and benefit from concentrated, uninterrupted time and resources.Theater makers representing a range of cultures come together to nurture and develop their projects, which draw inspiration from culturally specific storytelling techniques (Club Diamond) and modern geopolitics (36 Abbas Street, Haifa) as well as from films (Teeth, based on the 2007 independent horror film; Ma Vie En Rose, from the creators of Spring Awakening and based on the 1997 film).

“What’s Next?” That’s the question posed to filmmakers ages 18-24 by the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Project 1324 Short Film Challenge. 376 emerging filmmakers answered this question with 1-8 minute narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated short films. The films covered topics as wide ranging as dystopian futures, recovering from trauma, puberty, the afterlife, and the power of art — just to name a few.

Central London, 22 November 2016… Sundance Institute and Picturehouse are delighted to announce that the Sundance Film Festival: London will return to Picturehouse Central from 1-4 June 2017. The festival will feature the international and UK premieres of films from the 2017 edition of the renowned Sundance Film Festival which takes place 19-29 January in Park City, Utah, U.S.

Sundance Institute is thrilled to announce its fifth annual class of Women at Sundance fellows, a diverse group of filmmakers working as producers and directors in the documentary and narrative fields.This fellowship supports emerging and mid-career filmmakers as they strive to create sustainable careers in a highly competitive environment. Beginning with a daylong group orientation, Sundance Institute program staff work with fellows to help them define clear and realistic goals for the fellowship year.

Going into Sundance Institute’s Charlotte Screenwriters Intensive, I expected to receive general responsibilities and considerations of storytelling. Little did I know that advisor Joan Tewkesbury would take us on a journey through the center of the earth.The Fellows first shared names and loglines like a pack of speed daters milling about the earth’s surface.

Regardless of our political views, the results of this election rocked many of us, taking us by surprise. Win or lose, the rhetoric of divisiveness during the campaign was made manifest by a vote that tore our country in half, with each side barely recognizing the other.Let’s bravely stride into this breach to understand the anxiety and fear that have motivated both parts of our electorate this year — never to excuse hatred and bigotry, and always as allies with those whose voices are overlooked.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has selected 18 creators of short form digital series for its inaugural Sundance Institute | YouTube New Voices Lab, November 10-12 at YouTube Space Los Angeles. Through hands-on workshops and story meetings with showrunners and industry leaders, the New Voices Lab will cultivate a growing group of emerging creatives who are shaping the form and content of episodic storytelling. The New Voices Lab is part of Sundance Institute and YouTube’s ongoing commitment to supporting independent creators working in narrative forms.

People’s Republic of Desire
Credit: Jinyang Cheng

Mudflow
Credit: Michael Crook

United Skates
Credit: Chris Vanderwall

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute has awarded over $1 million to documentary projects and artists at the forefront of global nonfiction storytelling, whose subjects and forms reflect the inclusive range of the Institute’s mission.

Subject matter ranges from police violence, natural disasters and income inequality to family legacy, trans rights and education in the developing world. Works originate in 10 countries on six continents, and teams include Academy Award® winners and nominees (Frederick Wiseman, Cynthia Wade, Rebecca Cammisa, David France, Matthew Heineman), a Guggenheim Fellow (Julia Bacha) and a MacArthur Fellow (James Longley) alongside first-time filmmakers and creators (including Tim Hawkins, Dyana Winkler, Yu Gu, Mike Milano,Sandra Salas, Hope Litoff, Damon Davis and Sabaah Jordan).