Sundance Institute
-
Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Announces Grants for 18 Projects
The Sundance Institute today announced the latest cohort of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees. A total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support has been provided to 18 projects in various stages including five in development, eight in production, and five in post-production. From the press release: This granting cycle’s supported projects are from 20 countries and territories across five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America), with over half the projects having international roots. Granting focused on projects by artists from historically underrepresented communities, ensuring that these stories are being told from within the communities. This year all […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 8, 2021 -
Sundance Institute Announces the 20 Fellows Selected for the 2021 Native, Directors and Screenwriters Labs
The Sundance Institute announced today the first 20 fellows participating in Sundance’s summer Labs. Beginning with the Native Lab (May 10 – 21) and running through the Directors Lab (June 1 – July 2) and Screenwriters Lab (July 6 – 9), the programs will offer selected filmmakers a variety of development and learning opportunities and will connect them with advisors and the larger creative community. Sundance’s online learning platform, Sundance Collab, will host some parts of the labs. From the press release: These Labs are organized under the aegis of Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter, FFP Deputy Director […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 10, 2021 -
Sundance Institute Announces Its 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive Fellows
The Sundance Institute announced today the 11 screenwriters who will participate in the Institute’s ninth annual Screenwriters Intensive, which will take place digitally this year on March 4-5, 2021. Writes Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director, Sundance Institute Feature Film Program in a press release, “the Intensive is a two-day workshop for emerging independent writers and writer/directors developing their first fiction features. This cohort of artists from traditionally underrepresented communities will have the opportunity to interrogate their stories and refine their artistic practice, all under the guidance of established writers and the Institute’s Feature Film Program, led by me and the program’s Founding […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 4, 2021 -
Sundance Film Festival Announces its Full 2021 Program
The Sundance Institute announced today the full program — all categories! — for its 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Unspooling January 28 – February 3, the festival will occur both online, via a “feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform,” as well as, public health and safety requirements permitting, in person at Satellite Screens at venues across the country. Selected are 72 feature films from 29 countries, with 38 first-time feature filmmakers in the mix. Fourteen of the films and projects were supported in some way by Sundance Institute, and 66 features are world premieres. These films were chosen from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 15, 2020 -
Carrie Lozano Announced as Sundance’s New Director, Documentary Film Program
Carrie Lozano — award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, lecturer and co-founder of the International Documentary Association’s Enterprise Documentary Fund — was announced today as the new Director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. She succeeds interim director Kristin Feeley and prior director Tabitha Jackson, who became the head of the Sundance Film Festival this past January. From the press release: As Documentary Film Program Director, Lozano will elevate and support nonfiction filmmakers worldwide at all stages of creating and distributing new cinematic work. She will also work to advance and elevate the health of the independent nonfiction field, ensuring that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 9, 2020 -
Sundance Announces 39 International Arts Organizations Receiving Pandemic Relief Funds
Sundance Institute announced today the 39 international media and arts organizations that will receive a total of $405,500 from its Respond and Reimagine Plan. Launched in April, the $1 million fund redistributes funds, according to a press release, to “directly support the urgent needs of artists, as well as organizations from around the world leading the field in support of artists from historically marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.” The grants are non-recoupable and are flexible in intent; they may be used to support individual artists or to “strengthen the organizations themselves in their ongoing work.” Earlier this summer […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 13, 2020 -
Hot Docs 2020: Decision Makers Discuss the Newly Virtual Edition of the Forum, Deal Maker and Distribution Rendezvous
Hot Docs was one of the first of the Spring, 2020 film festivals to forge ahead through the pandemic chaos and reemerge on the online side as a more streamlined event. North America’s largest doc fest took the hybrid approach of postponing public screenings while providing a Hot Docs at Home streaming option to those social distancing in Canada. It also transferred its conference and market to the digital realm. Hot Docs also expanded its industry running dates to a whopping full month (April 30-May 31) of online accessibility, uploading everything from the “Why Art Matters in a Time of […]
by Lauren Wissot on May 28, 2020 -
Sundance Institute Announces 22 Documentary Fund Grantees
The Sundance Institute announced today the 22 projects from filmmakers all over the world that will receive funding from its Documentary Fund. Filmmakers from 19 countries with projects in all stages of production will receive unrestricted grant support totaling $525,000. “At Sundance Institute, we know that these unprecedented times demand creative and nimble support,” said Documentary Film Program interim Director, Kristin Feeley, and Documentary Film Fund Director, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs in a press release. “We’re fortunate to have a collaborative and strong network of partners that allow us to ensure material support for these filmmakers as they develop bold new work, […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 20, 2020 -
Sundance Institute Announces Tabitha Jackson as New Festival Director
During the festival’s 2020 awards ceremony tonight, the Sundance Institute announced Tabitha Jackson, the Director since 2013 of the Institute’s Documentary Film Program, to be the new Director of the Sundance Film Festival. Jackson will succeed John Cooper, who, after 11 years as Director of the Festival, will move into a newly created Emeritus Director role. Said the Sundance Institute’s Executive Director, Keri Putnam, in a press release, “Tabitha is fiercely devoted to independent artists, has been a visionary member of the Sundance Institute’s leadership team for the last six years. Her authenticity, experience and perspective will serve her well […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2020 -
“…It’s the Place Where Every Filmmaker Embraces Their Vulnerabilities”: Aristotle Torres at the Sundance Directors Lab
Aristotle Torres is at the 2019 Sundance Directors Lab with his feature Story Ave, a coming of age tale about “a young graffiti artist who runs away from his rough home life and holds up an unsuspecting old man in a robbery gone right that will change both of their lives forever.” Here, in a guest post for Filmmaker, he relays his experience there. When I returned from the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Lab, friends, family, and aspiring filmmakers hit me with variations of the same question: “So, what were the Sundance labs like?” I get it. These are highly […]
by Artistotle Torres on Jul 24, 2019
