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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Retracing Ryan Coogler’s Sundance Institute Journey

Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter recalls Sundance Institute’s journey with and support of Ryan Coogler and his feature directorial debut Fruitvale Station.I met Ryan Coogler in the fall of 2011 when he came in to have a conversation about his script, Fruitvale Station. As I listened to Ryan speak about why he needed to tell this story, his deep, personal commitment to the project became evident.

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