Category: News

On April 8, three documentary filmmakers and I traveled to Oxford, England to serve as media advisors for the Sundance Institute Stories of Change initiative at the Skoll World Forum. The SWF, which is the biggest and most important gathering of social entrepreneurs in the world, was celebrating its tenth anniversary, and the entire weeklong convening was magical. Think breakfast with Kofi Anan.

Richard Rowley’s Dirty Wars would be a fascinating work of fiction. Something like,  “A cunning, well-intentioned protagonist lifts the curtain on a government’s unchecked and morally ambiguous behavior in the War on Terror.” Problem is, Dirty Wars is the reality, and one where whistleblower and journalist Jeremy Scahill exposes the covert operations of JSOC, an elite and secretive American fighting force that carries out global missions against “terror.

During the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Institute’s Native American & Indigenous Program kicked off its 20th Anniversary year with a special reading event featuring seven distinguished Indigenous Alumni from the NativeLab, the Feature Film Program’s Labs, and the Sundance Film Festival. The Alumni gave individual readings of material that inspired them to pursue filmmaking and a life in the arts. In sharing his work, one NativeLab alumni was surprised at how his reading conjured up an emotional reaction.

“You throw yourself away to be an artist,” says Ushio Shinohara in Cutie and the Boxer, the forceful documentary that follows the famous Japanese artist and his wife Noriko Shinohara over their 40-year relationship. The verity of that statement is reinforced throughout Zachary Heinzerling’s directorial debut, as Ushio risks abandonment, financial hardship, and other pitfalls in order to dedicate his life to his art—he specializes in an unconventional action painting technique called “boxing painting.”Cutie observes the line between personal and professional relationships while presenting a charming—if not occasionally heartbreaking—portrait of complex lovers on an intricate life journey.

Amongst Sundance Institute staff we often say there is no such thing as a typical “Sundance” movie. Sundance is about discovery, defying expectations, and diversity of voices. Surveying the range of documentaries screening at this year’s Sundance Film Festival made this maxim feel like an undeniable truth.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today that Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue will host free screenings of eight films with moderated discussions, panels and artist roundtables in San Diego, California. For a full schedule of events in California visit sundance.org/filmforward and to view content from past trips visit sundance.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today that Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue will host free screenings of eight films with moderated discussions, panels and artist roundtables in Jackson and Cleveland, Mississippi.
For a full schedule of events in Mississippi visit sundance.org/filmforward and to view content from past trips visit sundance.

As part of the Sundance Film Festival’s national student outreach, full-time undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at a college or university are granted special access to films, panels, and events as part of the Film School Pass. Below, discover experiences documented by three students at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. 
Through the Student LensBy Crystal Ortbahn 
On my first full day at the Festival, I met a volunteer who led me to the Filmmaker Lodge, knowing there would be food and coffee – always a plus for the weary traveler.

Sundance Institute, in collaboration with the Miami Filmmaker’s Collective, is launching the inaugural New Frontier Flash Lab in Miami (FL) next month.
Through our deep investment in projects that are evolving the field of storytelling, New Frontier has gained valuable knowledge about story innovation. Just like the innovators at the dawn of the film age, New Frontier artists, creative technologists, advisors, and audiences are creating language, forms, and methodologies that will become the standard for future storytellers.

Hi everyone, and welcome to the live blog for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony. We’re Eric Hynes, Jeremy Kinser, and Nate von Zumwalt, and we’ll be your eyes and ears for tonight’s festivities.
As it has for the past several years, the Awards Ceremony takes place a few miles north of Park City at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse at Kimball Junction.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience and other special awards of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the feature film Awards Ceremony, hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, in Park City, Utah.
The U.S.

The Sleepwalker and We Come as FriendsBy Eric Hynes 
 You may have heard otherwise, but the Festival was still going strong on Friday, the unseasonably mild 9th day of the Festival. Yes, there were fewer pedestrians on Main Street. And yes, Twitter chatter was down among members of the press, many of whom left town on Wednesday and Thursday along with the bulk of their Industry brethren.