Category: News

I came into the Sundance Institute | Skoll Foundation Stories of Change family through its support in 2010 for The Revolutionary Optimists, a film I co-directed with Maren Grainger-Monsen. The film profiles Amlan Ganguly, an extraordinary social entrepreneur, as he organizes and empowers youth living in some of Kolkata’s worst slums to transform their communities.

At the time, the partnership made sense to me; our film was about a social entrepreneur.

It’s June, y’all, which means the LGBTQ+ and their friends, families, and allies are putting on their tank tops, taking to the streets, and waving their rainbow flags. And though the “Do we still need Pride?” debate rages on, it’s hard for a young-ish person like me to believe that not so long ago—and still in some parts of our country and the world—it’s not okay to be who you are, 365 days a year.
We’ve made huge advancements in being recognized as an important part of our communities, and we have a lot of people to thank for that: Those who fought (sometimes literally) for our rights when we had none, those who proudly lived their lives in full view when most people didn’t want to see us, and the artists who told personal gay stories on stage and screen, without regard for their careers.

Park City, UT — Grab a blanket, pack a picnic and bring your friends to enjoy free screenings of Sundance Film Festival favorites under the stars in Salt Lake City and Park City this summer. Sundance Institute today announced six of the seven films that will be featured at the 2015 Sundance Institute Summer Film Series. In a cult classic comedy faceoff, the Utah community can vote online at sundance.

I ‘ve been everywhere, man,” Hank Snow sang in his sprawling ditty calling out destinations across America. Sundance Institute embarks on its own rendition of a national tour in the coming months with screenings, labs, and workshops in cities across the U.S.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute, host of the renowned Sundance Film Festival, announced today that it will host a series of free, public film screenings and artist programs in Michigan June 16-19. The Sundance Film Forward program will host the screenings of acclaimed independent films and discussions with the directors in Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Detroit June 16-19. In addition, targeted Sundance Institute programs for New Frontier and Native artists will be presented at the Allied Media Conference at Wayne State University in Detroit, June 18-19.

In honor of Memorial Day we have two films that explore the fighting spirit and its impact on the lives of brave men in combat. Both tap into the heart of what makes us human by showing wartime scenarios layered with complexities.
For aviation fans, get ready for a ton of wonderful archival footage coming your way in William Lorton’s Spitfire 944.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will present its Vanguard Awards to Academy Award winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu and filmmaker Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) at the fifth Sundance Institute Celebration benefit hosted by Acura in Los Angeles, bringing the creative community together to highlight a great visionary in independent film and an emerging artist with unique talent and creative independence. Iñárritu will be presented with the Vanguard Leadership Award for the originality and independent spirit of his films.

Park City, Utah — Sundance Institute today announced that its 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah in January, generated an overall economic impact of $83.4 million for the State of Utah, according to the independent annual economic and demographic study conducted by the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the David Eccles School of Business (BEBR).
The Economic Report, posted in full on the Institute’s website, also found that the 2015 Festival generated $7 million in state and local tax revenue; supported 1,350 jobs; and was attended by more than 46,000 people.

There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that avows, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” One can doubt the veracity of the citation (it wasn’t found on Instagram, so that’s a start), but the notion itself is hardly disputable. As with all relationships, great cinema has a way of capturing the nuances that define a mother-child connection–from the joys of infancy to the precarious years of adolescence (during which I, for one, was goodness incarnate).

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah from May 25 through June 25. The Labs are the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with narrative feature filmmakers and are part of 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.
Projects and participants selected for the 2015 June Directors and Screenwriters Labs are from the United States, Brazil, China, France, Georgia and the United Kingdom, and the Fellows bring experience from an unprecedented diversity of creative backgrounds, including documentary, theatre, music, new media, visual art and animation.

It was a prolific morning for Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s Fun Home, which garnered 12 Tony Award nominations today, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. Kron and Tesori’s adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name was developed in part at the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. After a critically acclaimed run Off-Broadway in 2013-2014, Fun Home made its Broadway premiere on April 19 at Circle In the Square Theatre.

New York, NY —  Sundance Institute today announced the nine projects selected from 827 submissions for its 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, July 6-26. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute’s year-round work with the theatre community and is one of 24 residency Labs the Institute hosts each year for independent artists in theatre, film, new media and episodic content.
The Theatre Lab supports both emerging and established theatre-makers developing new work for the stage, with a focus on assuring that the playwright’s deepest impulses and visions can be realized.