Category: News

Greatness is rarely birthed in places of comfort. As the saying goes, “No risk, no reward.”
Whereas comfort is often born, bred, and laid to rest in one place, risk is an expedition into infinity.

This article was originally published following the world premiere of “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film comes to theaters in New York and Los Angeles on September 14th and September 21st, respectively. Find a screening here.

I first met Tom Rickman in 1981 at the inaugural Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. We were all figuring out how to create a safe, creative space for writers, and Tom, along with Frank Daniel, Frank Pierson, and Waldo Salt, were instrumental in our early days as our founding Creative Advisor group.
Over three decades, Tom continued to be an inspiration to hundreds of emerging writers, transformed by the time and care he put into each meeting, each interaction.

Documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter (Gideon’s Army; Trapped) opened a conversation last month by leveling with everyone about the cringeworthy nature of the pitching process. “Very few people enjoy pitching. People should realize they are not alone in their loathing of pitching.

(Hong Kong – August 16, 2018) Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong returns for the fifth edition this September with a selection of 12 independent films, direct from this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.

Introduced by Robert Redford, “Neighbourhood” is a collaboration between the BBC World Service and Sundance Institute that supports new projects exploring the theme of “Neighbourhood,” with the resulting radio programs airing on the BBC World Service, also available as podcasts, and accompanied by visual storytelling online. The series reflects the stories of people across different locations, cultures and demographics to give insight into how communities are built from a patchwork of people and ideas, interacting with each other.
We recently caught up with the documentary makers behind these five new projects and asked them to share the insights and learnings gleaned from their experiences.

On Saturday, May 12, in Los Angeles, Sundance Institute and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship partnered for the fourth year in a row to bring together documentary filmmakers to discuss the art and craft of nonfiction editing.
I return time and again to Jonathan Oppenheim’s brilliant keynote, delivered at the first event four years ago, which Sundance Institute’s Kristin Feeley referenced this year in her opening remarks. She highlighted Oppenheim’s distinction between two models for the role of the editor: the “artistic model” and the “industrial model.

Independent Fiction and Nonfiction Producers Collaborate With Industry Advisors
Los Angeles — Sundance Institute today announced the Fellows and Advisors slated for the annual weeklong Creative Producing Labs, which commence July 30 at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, as well as the industry leaders and other independent filmmakers who will gather for the three-day Creative Producing Summit immediately following.
Created to champion and develop the current and rising generations of producers, the Institute’s Creative Producing Program nurtures creative vision and holistic best practices at every stage of a film’s progress from development to audience engagement. The program, which recognizes the need for a flexible, robust support system and community in an evolving industry, includes the annual Labs and Summit as well as year-round mentorship, granting, education and opportunities for financing and distribution.

Expanded Technology Highlights at Least 124,900 Attendees, $19 Million in State and Local Tax Revenue, 3,323 Jobs Supported

Park City, Utah — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced that its 2018 Sundance Film Festival, which
took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah in January, generated a total economic impact of $191.6 million.
These numbers come from an independent
economic impact study conducted by
Y² Analytics, which utilized the methodology and expanded upon the technology introduced last year to give a more holistic
picture of the Festival’s impact on the state of Utah’s economy than has previously been available.

International Stage Directors Convene for Creative Exchange

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the five directors who will gather at the annual Sundance
Institute | Luma Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France, from July 12-23, 2018. The Retreat was developed
in 2013 as an opportunity for mid-career directors to meet, work on upcoming projects and to share ideas and practices
across borders. “This unique collaboration between the Institute and the Luma Foundation reflects our shared values around artist support,”
said
Philip Himberg, the Theatre Program’s Artistic Director, “Specifically, we create a space for attendees
to reconnect with their creative impulses, and for the Fellows to connect with one another across cultural borders as colleagues
and world artist citizens.

Los Angeles, CA — Five projects will convene at the Sundance Resort in Utah for the flagship Documentary Edit
and Story Lab on July 6, Sundance Institute announced today.
The Lab creates a space to develop, interrogate and collaborate on independent nonfiction films that are in the later stages
of post-production. Through a rigorous process, director and editor teams come together with renowned documentary filmmakers,
who advise on the process of recentering their work around original motivations, tweaking or reconceiving dramatic structures,
and exploring story and character development.

In 1978, Hala Kaddoura’s father immigrated as a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon to the United States, where Hala was born. She then lived in Lebanon for most of her life until moving to San Francisco, and now resides in Los Angeles where she works as the social media manager for Sundance Institute.
This Independence Day, I’ve been reflecting on what America means to the world—and to me.