Category: News

I had the absolute pleasure to travel to Maine with the Film Forward program last week. The mission of Film Forward is to promote cultural dialogue, and I can definitely say that myself, Laura Nix, and our friends from the Sundance Institute (Kristin Feeley, Eva Rinaldi, and Jackie Carlson) had a boisterous dialogue with the people of Maine about our films, their stories, the issues they raise, and so much more. It was less like a dialogue and more like a constant conversation.

Stu Zicherman recalls his parents’ divorce with a nostalgia that belies all that we’re conditioned to believe about failed marriages. And even though he wavers when using terms like “levity” and “hilarious” to define his childhood experience, his candor tends to prevail. Perhaps that’s why Zicherman, who penned and directed A.

Ross Chaney is a 2013 Time Warner Native Producer Fellow. Click here to apply for the 2014 Fellowship.
Being a part of the Native Program at Sundance Institute has been an opportunity of a lifetime because it creates a diverse community of support for producing fresh independent films with Native storytellers.

On behalf of Sundance Institute and the Theatre Program, I am saddened to share the news that a beloved alum of our Theatre Lab, Ruth Maleczech, passed away Monday, September 30. Ruth was more than just another ‘theatre artist’; she was perhaps the mother of us all.
A co-founder of the visionary Mabou Mines Company in the early ‘70s (along with Lee Breuer, Fred Neumann, and Joanne Akalitis), she and her colleagues re-tooled theatre in America.

Sundance Institute and Knight Foundation are heading to Philadelphia and Miami this fall to present a series of workshops for emerging screenwriters, directors, and multidisciplinary artists. The first workshop in the series is the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive in Philadelphia on October 26, co-hosted with the Scribe Video Center. If you are a writer living in Philadelphia working on a feature-length narrative screenplay, apply here by October 4 for a chance at becoming one of a possible twelve participants selected.

Stacy Peralta, the director of Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, shares about his experience with FILM FORWARD in Bosnia and Herzegovina where he screened his film and engaged in dialogue with local audiences.
There is no way to be in Bosnia and Herzegovina without feeling the aftermath of the war.  It is not an oppressive feeling nor is it depressing to hear the local people talk about it even though the experience was clearly a tragedy.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will bring a series of workshops for emerging screenwriters, directors and multidisciplinary artists to Miami and Philadelphia over the coming year, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Musa Syeed, the director of Valley of Saints, documents his experience with FILM FORWARD in Bosnia and Herzegovina where he screened his film and engaged in dialogue with local audiences.
It’s hard being an independent filmmaker today. To navigate the harrowing journey from fundraising to seeing the final product on a screen (hopefully with an audience) takes a certain intestinal fortitude.

Ana Kraljević attended FILM FORWARD screenings and discussions in Široki Brijeg and shares her thoughts on the experience.Most of you reading do not even know where Široki Brijeg is. It is a small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina centered next to the historical city of Mostar.

It is one thing to be a transmedia or interactive storyteller when you literally grew up on the Internet and are indigenous to creative coding, network logic and social media.  But, it takes a different level of courage to use these new forms when you have a vetted filmmaking career that started well before Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Smart Phones, Kickstarter, or even email and the World Wide Web.
“The big gap in the field is helping traditional storytellers gain access to technology and raising their comfort level with it.

Stacy Peralta, the director of Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, shares about his experience with FILM FORWARD in Bosnia and Herzegovina where he screened his film and engaged in dialogue with local audiences.
When I was 17 years old skating pools and being chased out of backyards and down alleyways by cops, I never imagined 40 years later I’d be welcomed to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the US Government’s American Embassy.  It just didn’t seem likely or in anyway possible that the US Government would ever host me for anything other than for the apparent trouble my friends and I were causing angry homeowners and general civilians during the skateboard revolution of the 70s and 80s.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced four new members of the Institute’s Board of Trustees: Nadine Schiff, Ava DuVernay, Rob Epstein and Liesl Tommy.
Under the guidance of President & Founder Robert Redford and in close collaboration with Executive Director Keri Putnam, the 22-person Board is responsible for the governance of Sundance Institute. Wally Weisman continues as Chairman of the Board.