Category: News

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, both held the week of July 29 at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. These activities are part of the Institute’s year-round Creative Producing Initiative, which encompasses a series of Labs, Fellowships and other events that support independent producers.
Eleven projects will participate in the Labs (July 29 – August 2), where they will work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors to advance their creative, communication and problem-solving skills in all stages of a film’s journey from script development to distribution.

In recent years, one has needed to look no further than the NEXT <=> section of the Sundance Film Festival to witness the vitality of independent film. That’s where, in NEXT’s four-year existence, films with a penchant for innovative storytelling and a blatant disregard for boundaries have premiered at the Festival. Now that renegade filmmaking spirit is coming to Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the program of 10 feature films, 10 short films and related programming for the first-ever NEXT WEEKEND film festival, Aug. 8-11, 2013 at Sundance Sunset Cinema and additional venues throughout Los Angeles. Tickets ($12–15) are on sale now for Sundance Institute members and will be available to the public Thursday at www.

At the conclusion of last month’s Sundance Institute June Screenwriters Lab, participants attended a screening of “The Front,” written by Walter Bernstein, which offers a comedic look at the Hollywood Blacklist in the ‘50s starring Woody Allen as a “front” for blacklisted writers. Bernstein, himself a victim of the blacklist, was present for the screening and was joined by fellow screenwriter Dough McGrath for a Q&A following the film. Below is an excerpted portion of the discussion.

New York, NY — Sundance Institute today announced the acting company, artists-in-residence and creative advisors for the seven projects being developed at its 2013 Theatre Lab, July 8-28 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Lab is the centerpiece of the Theatre Program’s year-round work and is designed to support both emerging and established artists and to create a place where their original work can be effectively mentored and challenged free from commercial pressure.
Himberg said, “The 2013 Theatre Lab Fellows have stories to tell, stories about African immigrants, and gay heroes, and Yiddish authors and Palestinian teachers: stories which throw new lenses on our diverse and complicated world.

Tickets on Sale Now at Ticketfly
New Four-Day Summer Film Festival in Los Angeles, Aug. 8-11
LOS ANGELES, CA — Sundance Institute today announced that the first-ever NEXT WEEKEND film festival, Aug. 8-11, 2013 at venues throughout Los Angeles, will kick off with an outdoor screening of Chris Smith’s iconic cult documentary American Movie and Mark Borchardt’s horror film Coven Aug.

It’s easy to get lost in the grand, occasionally ostentatious, festivities that accompany the Fourth of July. But at the heart of the nation’s revelry is a collective nod to the freedom we enjoy as American citizens. On the eve of Independence Day, we take a look at five Sundance-supported films that embody the true ethos of independent filmmaking.

Puerto Rico has fallen in love with Film Forward. On its first visit to Puerto Rico, in 2011, the program reached a wide audience, with a touch of fanfare and glitz. The first event alone attracted more than 700 people and featured a jazz player and a “red carpet”! That year, both in San Juan and Ponce, the public responded with great enthusiasm to the opportunity of viewing independent films and discussing them with each other and with our wonderful Sundance Institute guests.

Writer-director-producer Jenni Olson has been programming, researching, collecting, creating, and writing about lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) film since 1986 and is one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT cinema history. Her debut feature film, ‘The Joy of Life,’ premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and went on to play a pivotal role in renewing debate about the need for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. She is seeking funding through Kickstarter to complete her latest project, ‘The Royal Road.

The Fall 2013 granting round for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is in full swing. Applications are trickling in to our LA office, and we are eager to begin learning about the projects and stories that documentary filmmakers around the globe are working on. As projects arrive, so do the questions.

New York, NY — Sundance Institute and the LUMA Foundation today announced that the two organizations will collaborate to host the Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat at Domaine de l’Armellière, July 29 – August 9, in Arles, France. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, Producing Director Christopher Hibma and Program Associate Anne Kauffman, the Retreat will be the first theatre director-centered residency at the Institute.
The Retreat will complement other initiatives of the Theatre Program by providing specific resources to directors in the field, including meeting the identified needs for more opportunities to exchange ideas and practices with other mid-career, freelance directors.