Growing up in rural Oklahoma and raised as an elders’ child by my grandparents, I always went eagerly to see any movie that seemed to have something to do with Native people. And as I left the theater, my Comanche grandfather always said, disappointedly, the same remark: “Maybe someday they will get it right.” As a little Indian girl, I wondered if and how Hollywood would ever get the message.
We are thrilled to announce our sixth annual class of Women at Sundance Fellows, a diverse group of women poised to take big leaps in their burgeoning careers during the coming fellowship year.
Women at Sundance offers a robust year-long fellowship that includes mentorship; professional coaching made possible by The Harnisch Foundation in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co; travel grants to the Sundance Film Festival to participate in curated activities; entree into branded and episodic content; and bespoke year-round support. Women at Sundance Fellows are a cohort of six emerging and mid-career narrative and documentary directors and producers, selected from a pool of recent Sundance Institute alumnae.
Each year, Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program aims to support the next generation of Native American storytellers through the Full Circle Fellowship. The fellowship provides opportunities to explore a career as a filmmaker, attendance at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, a set internship at the Native Filmmakers Lab to gain hands-on film production experience, and a trip to Los Angeles with a schedule of production facilities tours, meetings with industry mentors, and film screenings.
This fellowship selects four New Mexico- and Michigan-based applicants, ages 18 to 24.
As 2017 rolls on, Women at Sundance fellows past and present continue to pursue new creative endeavors and make headlines.
CURRENT FELLOWSRebecca Green completed production of two films this year: And Then I Go, a feature film based on the acclaimed novel Project X by Jim Shepard, which premiered at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival, and 44 Pages, a portrait of Highlights magazine following the creation of the cultural phenomenon’s 70th anniversary issue, which premiered at the 2017 SXSWedu Film Program. Cecilia Aldarondo debuted her new documentary short, Picket Line, commissioned by Laura Poitras’ Field of Vision and Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Media for their series “Our 100 Days.
Hyphen-Labs Director of Research Ashley Baccus-Clark will be presenting with other queer New Frontier alumnae at a virtual reality (VR) storytelling event during Outfest in Los Angeles on July 8th. Join us for a VR viewing at 2:30pm, and a workshop and discussion at 3pm, at the Director’s Guild of America. Click here for tickets.
This May in New York City, Sundance Institute and The Harnisch Foundation launched Catalyst Women, a new program connecting film financiers dedicated to women artists with highly anticipated Sundance Institute–supported feature and documentary projects. The day-and-a-half program, which took us from HBO headquarters in Bryant Park to Bloomberg Philanthropies on the upper east side, exposed creative investors to the world of independent storytelling through film presentations, case studies, panels, deep-dive roundtables, and artist spotlights.
We began the day by delving into the moral and economic incentives that drive financiers to invest in diverse and female filmmakers, inspiring us to do the same.
This blog was first published on POV’s Documentary blog at PBS.org.
The task of the documentary editor can sound like folklore, even to someone who takes it on.
The just completed 70th Cannes International Film Festival also marked the premiere of five Feature Film Program-supported films. Paul Federbush, our International Director and Anne Lai, our Director of Creative Producing and Artist Support were both there to attend the premieres, host an Alumni Reception and experience this annual celebration of film through screenings and industry meetings. Although I didn’t attend, I read all the reviews of our films while taking great pride in the filmmakers and the visions that they brought to life and shared for the first time with worldwide audiences.
Over the past five years, Sundance Institute’s sustained focus on Indian cinema has provided support for some of the most notable independent films from India in recent years, including Prashant Nair’s Umrika, which won the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival; Shonali Bose’s Margarita With A Straw, winner of the NETPAC Award at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival; and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan, which made its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Avenir Prize. After five editions of its Screenwriters Labs in India supporting nearly 40 fellows and their projects, Sundance Institute will spend the coming year evaluating its program to make sure it continues to respond to the challenges facing the country’s independent filmmakers.
The Institute was first inspired to create a dedicated Screenwriters Lab in India after selecting Ritesh Batra for the 2009 Screenwriters and Directors Labs.
Bending the Arc, a Stories of Change supported film that revisits a group of health advocates’ unprecedented mission to make quality healthcare available to everyone, screened in Oxford to an audience of 500 as part of the Skoll World Forum. Tabitha Jackson led a post-film discussion with subjects Jim Yong Kim, Dr. Paul Farmer, Professor Agnes Binagwaho, Cori Shepherd Stern and Melquiades Huauya Oré.
Razelle Benally is of Oglala Lakota and Navajo blood and an alumna of the 2012 and 2015 Native Filmmaker Labs with her short film project “I Am Thy Weapon.” Click here for more information on how to apply to the Native Filmmaker Lab available to Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists working in the U.S.
Want to see the list of films by Indigenous directors that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival? Check this blog post.Rooted in the recognition of the rich storytelling cultures and inherent sovereignty of Native American nations, Sundance Institute has held a commitment to Native artists since its founding. Mandated by our Founder Robert Redford, the Institute has nurtured and supported Native filmmakers going back to a time when almost none existed.