Category: News

A world without borders.Ryan Roberts, the Cultural Affairs Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan explains to me early on in our first orientation meeting, that Taiwan has a heavy influx of immigrants from the Philippines. They’re mainly domestics and factory workers, but there’s also a number of imported “domestic partners.

For the past two years, Film Forward has travelled to China as one of four international locations. This year unique in that the close of our time in China, we also travelled to Taiwan. Taiwan and China are currently facing significant growth and development, but they are handling these challenges in very different ways.

On June 6 in Los Angeles, the Sundance community came out in force to celebrate two of its own at the third annual ‘Celebrate Sundance Institute’ benefit. Ryan Coogler, the first-time writer/director of the Sundance and Cannes Award-winning film Fruitvale Station, and Roger Ebert, the legendary advocate for authentic storytelling in film who passed away in April of this year, were honored with this year’s Vanguard Awards. Additionally, Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam announced the creation of the Roger Ebert Scholarship for Film Criticism, in memory of the revered journalist.

Los Angeles, CA — Last night, Wednesday, June 5, the third annual ‘Celebrate Sundance Institute’ benefit in Los Angeles honored the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam. The event also honored filmmaker Ryan Coogler – whose debut feature film, Fruitvale Station, was selected for Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab and went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival – with the Vanguard Award, Presented by Tiffany & Co.
At the event, Sundance Institute also announced the establishment of the Roger Ebert Scholarship for Film Criticism, in memory of Roger Ebert.

This week we turn the spotlight onto the diverse and talented short work of Talmage Cooley. His two short film played back-to-back editions of the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and 2005. Though both are quality works, they two could not be more dissimilar.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the four independent films that will make their digital debut on June 18 through a variety of platforms and storefronts, via the Institute’s Artist Services program. In addition, three previously announced titles will expand to additional portals. For details visit sundance.

Growing up with a Taiwanese mother, I’ve visited Taiwan many times. I even lived there for about 9 months while in college. But it has been a while since I have been there, and because of Film Forward, this would be the first time I was there with a film.

Directors Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier are using Kickstarter to bring their 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection The Moo Man to UK theaters. Click here to help them reach their goal.
As we write this, we have only seven days left on our Kickstarter campaign and still need to find more than £10,000 (appx.

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced four of the five films that will be featured at eight free outdoor film screenings for the 2013 Sundance Institute Summer Series.  The Utah community is invited to vote online from July 1 to August 15 for the fifth film, which will be announced and screened in late August.
Now in its 16th year, the series kicks off on July 31 at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and August 2 on Main Street and at Canyons Resort  in Park City.

I imagined that Taipei would look much like mainland China. It doesn’t. It’s more colorful and crowded, with hundreds of motorbikes and signs in Chinese lining every lively street.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced that the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound will take place at Skywalker Ranch in 2013 and 2014 and also announced the artists that will participate in the 2013 Labs. This is the first time the two organizations will collaborate to support independent filmmakers and film composers and marks a significant expansion of the Institute’s existing Composers Labs to include sound design.
The Institute has hosted its Composers Labs at Sundance Resort for fiction feature films since 1999 and documentaries since 2005, allowing composers and independent filmmakers to collaboratively explore the process of writing music for film.

The American Embassy in China established a pollution index that measures particular matter in the air under 2.5 microns.  At that size, particles have the capacity to pass from the lungs directly into the blood stream and from there, they can apparently pass straight into the brain.