Category: News

Eskişehir 
We are on the train again now after a couple of days in Eskişehir. We were hosted by the University Anadolu and specifically the Communication Deptartment. To summarize the headline reactions in a sentence: Impressed… Energy… Excellence… Imagination… Exciting… Solidarity… Intelligence… Diligence… Great Questions!
To explain a little further… I have been to many universities now but rarely have I been so impressed by the atmosphere and energy of the students as I was in Eskişehir.

Yolanda Cruz was a 2010 Sundance Institute Native Program Fellow and participated in the 2010 Native Lab and Creative Producing Summit. She recently participated in the 2011 January Screenwriters Lab with her project “La Raya” about 11-year-old Papio, who has his eyes set on emigrating to the U.S.

Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Institute will present a free Work-In-Progress Screeningof Semper Fi: Always Faithful on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The documentary film by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon about a devoted Marine and father who discovers a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S.

Part 1 – ISTANBUL
Aside from its remarkable history and the fact that it’s the only city in the world to sit on two continents, Istanbul is one of the most vibrant places I’ve ever visited. The chilly day I arrived – apparently the coldest of the year with blustery winds and a continuous drizzle – couldn’t even keep revelers at home. They were out in droves, strolling down festive Istiklal or Independence Avenue (Istanbul’s famous, pedestrian boulevard) and crowding around heaters at outdoor cafes.

Los Angeles, CA –After  last year’s successful inaugural ShortsLab in Los Angeles, Sundance Institute announced today it is bringing short filmmaking workshops to Chicago and New York, and returning to Los Angeles. Recognizing the place shorts have and will continue to have in cinema, storytelling, and culture, ShortsLabs offer filmmakers first-hand insight and access into the world of short filmmaking. While all three ShortsLabs will have panels and sessions on story development, production, and exhibition of shorts, ShortsLab: L.

I have always wanted to go to Turkey, and Istanbul in particular. I have read various Orhun Pamuk books that describe both the melancholic beauty and deep history of the city. I have heard that Istanbul is the “most romantic city in the world,” that it is the bridge between east and west, that it straddles old and new, and that it manages to balance the secular and religious with ease, style and grace.

All of us at the Sundance Institute are deeply saddened by the loss of our great friend and filmmaker Gary Winick.
Over many years, Gary was the first to sign up as a Creative Advisor for our Directors Lab. His beautiful spirit and passion for the creative process made the Lab that much richer and a lot more fun.

With the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday and the Academy Awards on Sunday, a number of Sundance alumni were honored last weekend.
The 2011 Independent Spirit Awards returned to their traditional location on the beach in Santa Monica for Saturday’s ceremony, hosted by Joel McHale. No fewer than six films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival received a total of seven Spirit Awards.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY — Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, a Sundance Institute initiative created in partnership with U.S. federal cultural agencies, will be presented in The Republic of Turkey in conjunction with the !F Istanbul International Independent Film Festival and the Embassy of the United States, Ankara, Turkey, it was announced today by Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.

İSTANBUL, TÜRKİYE — Sundance Enstitüsü Yönetici Direktörü Keri Putnam’ın bugün yaptığı açıklamaya göre, Sundance Enstitüsü ve Amerikan’ın çeşitli federal kültürel kurumlarının ortaklığıyla başlatılan “Film Forward: Kültürel Diyaloğun Geliştirilmesi” girişimi, !F İstanbul Uluslararası Bağımsız Film Festivali ve ABD’nin Ankara Büyükelçiliği ile yapılan işbirliği neticesinde Türkiye’ye geliyor.
Sundance Enstitüsü, ABD Başkanının Sanat ve Beşeri Bilimler Komitesi (PCAH), Amerikan federal kültürel kurumları, Ulusal Sanat Fonu (NEA) , Ulusal Beşeri Bilimler Fonu (NEH) ve Müze ve Kütüphane Hizmetleri Enstitüsü’nün (IMLS) ortak bir girişimi olan Film Forward programının amacı, filmleri bir araç olarak kullanarak kültürel diyaloğa yeni seyirciler kazandırmaktır.
Film Forward dünya turu kapsamında gidilecek 14 yer arasında Türkiye de bulunuyor.

Walking around Park City every January, I can’t shake how strange and random it all seems. Everywhere I go I see a friend who I may or may not have seen for a year, but who I will likely see three times a day for the next week or so. Everyone I meet – and at a film festival, meeting lots of great people is unavoidable – undoubtedly shares multiple friends and acquaintances.

The 2011 Festival may have come and gone, but you’ve still yet to meet all eight of the Sundance Film Festival shorts programmers. Todd Luoto has worked as the Los Angeles in-house programmer since 2006. If you’ve called asking a random shorts question, you probably talked to him.