Category: Program Spotlight

By Moi Santos This time last year, filmmakers Sam Feder and Yance Ford discussed with me how they bring visibility to the multitude of Trans

Last month, the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program published a new series, Perspectives, featuring Indigenous artists who have been supported by the Institute’s Indigenous Program whose work continues to broaden and champion all Indigenous experiences. We kicked off the series talking to filmmakers Miciana Alise (Tlingit) and Daniel Hyde (Navajo) on creating Black and Indigenous narratives; this month, in celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re back speaking with writer-directors Shaandiin Tome (Diné Nation) and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy, and Sámi from Uŋárga).
While Women’s History Month in the United States began as Women’s History Week in 1981, Indigenous communities have always maintained and honored women as leaders.

Since its founding, the Sundance Institute has supported and advocated Indigenous artists and voices. Today, nearly 40 years later, in a continuation of our commitment to Indigenous artists, we are proud to publish a new series, Perspectives, from the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, featuring Indigenous artists who have been supported by the Institute’s Indigenous Program and whose work continues to broaden and champion all Indigenous experiences. As we prepare to close out Black History Month, we present the first in the series, in which we talk with artists Miciana Alise (Tlingit) and Daniel Hyde (Navajo).

Today is the fifth annual National Day of Racial Healing. Launched in 2017 by the W.K.

For more than 20 years now, the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund has supported the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe. Previous recipients have included projects like Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s Crip Camp, Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, and Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons. This year, as we open our latest call for applicants, the fund’s director, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, is writing to explain some recent changes to the process.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and to celebrate, the Sundance Institute is running a weekly series, Vision & Voice: Indigenous Cinema Now, profiling artists who have been supported by the Institute’s Indigenous Program throughout its history. Over the course of the month, Indigenous Program associate director Adam Piron has talked to Navajo filmmaker Blackhorse Lowe, Native Hawaiian writer/director Ciara Lacy, and Seneca-Cayuga filmmaker Erica Tremblay.
Today, to close out the month, Piron is talking to Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga), whose feature maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore premiered at the 2020 Festival.