Category: News

 On the heels of an incredible Imperial Valley program currently under way, FILM FORWARD journeys to the Kingdom of Morocco for the second year with our strong repeat Program Collaborator, the U.S. Embassy in Morocco.

It’s officially over. I’m back in our LA office finally able to process what happened over my five hectic days in London.  Things can get pretty intense when you’re in “festival mode” so it always takes a little time before you can look back and understand what really just happened.

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced five films supported by the Institute that are now available to rent and download in the UK, on iTunes and SundanceNOW. The films include Independent Spirit Award Winner Obselidia and New York Times Critic’s Pick Lord Byron. These projects are among the first to participate in the Institute’s Artist Services program, which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work.

Rabat, Morocco— Sundance Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Morocco will present FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue in cities throughout the Kingdom of Morocco from May 7 to 12, 2012.

London, 30 April 2012 — The first-ever Sundance London film and music festival came to a close last night, capping off four days of film screenings and music performances hosted by Robert Redford, Sundance Enterprises, Sundance Institute and AEG Europe, with the support of Presenting Partner Sony Entertainment Network. The festival closed with an intimate performance by Rufus and Martha Wainwright following the World Premiere of Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You ~ A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, Lian Lunson’s film about the music of their mother, folk singer Kate McGarrigle.
Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute, said: “Sundance London marked our first time hosting an event in the UK, and we are grateful to all our supporters and collaborators for the reception we received.

We’re launching our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival’s journey across the pond at the Sundance Film Festival: London with a series of on-the-ground interviews with filmmakers and musicians participating in the celebration of film and music. Filly Brown premiered at Day 2 of Sundance: London.Gina Rodriguez, who dazzles as the strong-willed hip-hop artist in Filly Brown, couldn’t help but manage her expectations for the film’s Sundance: London premiere on Friday.

Going into Sundance London, the programming staff headspace echoed the overarching theme of Terrence Nance’s “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty” (playing here at SDL): Complications can arise when expectations meet reality.  We’ve had decades to build a sense of trust with our Park City audience.  We know their taste and they know ours.

We’re launching our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival’s journey across the pond at Sundance London with a series of on-the-ground interviews with filmmakers and musicians participating in the celebration of film and music.
English actor and Sundance alum Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, Oz, G.I.

There are few pinch-yourself moments in a filmmaker’s career as potent (and head-spinningly daunting) as being anointed by the future King of England to capture his legacy on film. But when filmmakers Julie Bergman Sender and Stuart Sender managed to keep their wits about them when His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales asked them to collaborate with him on a feature documentary capturing his pioneering work to protect and presere the environment. Three years and several royal tea services later, the Senders have come to Sundance London bearing the fruit of that collaboration in the form of Harmony: A New Way of Looking at the World, which follows Prince Charles around the globe as he collaborates with ground-breaking artists, architects, and business leaders to heal the world.

Time travel, cults, and a beguiling Brit Marling. What more can you ask of a film?Zal Batmanglij’s debut feature, Sound of My Voice, premiered in the NEXT category at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival — aka Brit Marling’s coming-out party — and opens in the theaters on Friday, April 27. We’d call it a psychological thriller, but Batmanglij’s (yes, we envy his name, too) mind-bender transcends the usual limitations of genre.

The Film Collaborative works with Wendy Bernfeld who is both its Advisory Board Member and its EU Digital Distribution partner.
In the past, many new media and VOD platforms – whether based on pay-per-transaction (TVOD), subscription (SVOD), free to user/ad supported (ADVOD) or download to own (DTO) — came and went, to the disillusionment of those brave souls trying to explore and develop the new sector and audiences.
Some filmmakers, sales agents, distributors who dared to license were wonderfully pleased with surprisingly good results for particular films (and not always the same ones that were mainstream successes in traditional media), but on balance, let’s face it, most were underwhelmed with the lackluster performance or transience of the various sites, and eventually became jaded about the whole sector.

London, 24 April 2012— Sundance Institute and The O2 announced today that HRH The Prince of Wales will introduce the Worldwide Theatrical Premiere screening of the film HARMONY: A New Way of Looking at Our World at the first-ever Sundance London film and music festival on 28 April at The O2. HRH will be joined by Sundance Institute President & Founder Robert Redford.
HARMONY, by filmmakers Stuart Sender and Julie Bergman Sender, tells the story of how for more than three decades HRH The Prince of Wales has worked side by side with a surprising and dynamic array of environmental activists, government and business leaders, artists, architects and visionaries to address the global environmental and economic crisis and find solutions towards a more sustainable, spiritual and harmonious relationship with the planet.