Shorts Break: Let’s Get Funny

Lighten Up

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer

Before becoming a writer-producer (and voice) on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, John Viener wrote and directed some comedy shorts about messed-up white men. In Lighten Up, Viener also acts a man who must get a ride to the doctor for an unusual personal problem. And only his angry-white-guy buddy is available. Hilarity ensues, which is not easy in a short. Veiner shows that it takes more than a weird idea to make a comedy–you’ve got to have some really funny writing and acting to pull it all off.

Sundance often shows dark dramas, but we also have a long history of comedy. Whether it’s animated or full of comedians, dry and dark or just goofy, existential questions about what it all means, or as stupid as humanly possible to make you smile–we like to make people laugh. Here is a playlist of comedy shorts from our 30 years of showing films.

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From the Archives: Sundance Founder Robert Redford on Why He’s Always Believed in the Power of Documentary Filmmaking

The Sundance Film Festival’s longstanding commitment to documentary has been driven by the personal connection founder and president Robert Redford feels for the form. Leading up to the premiere of Chicago 10, the second doc to ever open the Festival, we talked to Redford about the past, present, and possible future of documentaries.You made an early commitment to documentary.

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