Sundance Film Festival | News

Shorts Break: Honor Memorial Day with Two Stories of Compassion Amid War

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-05-22T21:20:08+00:00

In honor of Memorial Day we have two films that explore the fighting spirit and its impact on the lives of brave men in combat. Both tap into the heart of what makes us human by showing wartime scenarios layered with complexities.

For aviation fans, get ready for a ton of wonderful archival footage coming your way in William Lorton's Spitfire 944. A true-life story, Lorton has discovered rare 16mm footage of a 1944 spitfire crash and tracks down the pilot, now an 83-year-old World War II veteran to show him the footage. The early parts of this film consists of wartime remembrances and nostalgia for days gone by. The elderly pilot recalls his time spent with his comrades and explains the basic information involved with his aircraft. What he doesn't know is that he is about to see, for the first time in his life, footage of his own crash. When the camera captures the man's honest reaction to what he's viewing, the greater theme at work is suddenly revealed in a flash. The result is an affirming, honest portrait of a man confronted with his past.

Lest we forget the old adage "War is Hell," successful commercial director Paola Ameli brings us rushing directly into the maelstrom with highly stylized production value and bracing emotional intensity. Rosso Fango (translated to "Red Mud") begins deep inside a mud hole in no man's land during World War I. A British soldier is trapped inside with imminent danger around him. Scared and alone, he is running out of options. Suddenly, an enemy comes hurtling down upon him. Our man acts quickly and connects with his bayonet. But as the soldier begins to sputter and expire, our hero is faced with startlingly moral choice. Based on a frightening true story that you won't believe until you see, Rosso Fango details the ways in which a simple act of compassion can alter the entire course of human history.

Shorts Break: Let’s Get Funny

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-05-14T21:39:19+00:00

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.

Maternal Love: 5 Films For Mother’s Day

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-05-09T18:19:16+00:00

There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that reads, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” One can doubt the veracity of the citation, but the notion itself is hardly disputable. As with all relationships, great cinema has a way of capturing the nuances that define a mother's experience with her son or daughter--from the joys of infancy to the precarious years of adolescence. Whether you're a son, daughter, husband, or mother, enjoy these five Sundance-supported films this Mom's Day.

Cyrus

Cyrus showcases the Duplass Brothers at the top of their directing game, thrusting eccentric characters into intimate circumstances and letting the result play out on screen. In this case, recently divorced and still despondent John (John C. Reilly) finds his new relationship with a sweet single mother named Molly progressing quickly (Marisa Tomei). That is, until her emotionally stunted 21-year-old son Cyrus gets involved. In her role, Tomei embodies the classic patience that only a mother can exhibit, even when that tolerance sometimes means nurturing a pest of a child.

Precious

Gabourey Sidibe plays the title character in writer-director Lee Daniels' searing portrait of a relentlessly abusive family. The daughter of a ruthless and domineering mother, Precious is bent on carving a different path for herself and her own child in this riveting drama set in Harlem. Sidibe received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her stunning performance; and Precious snagged the Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and Special Jury Prize in one fell swoop at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Maria Full of Grace

In line with the enduring tests that motherhood can sometimes present, Maria Full of Grace mines territory that no mother should ever encounter. Maria Alvarez is a pregnant teenager living in Bogota, Colombia, and struggling to support her family by working a menial job stripping roses of their thorns. When she meets the charming young Franklin, Maria is presented with an opportunity to work as a drug mule and provide a potentially better future for her unborn child, but not without risking her health, safety, and freedom in the process.

Mother of George

Andrew Dosunmu’s follow-up to his 2011 SFF selection Restless City provides another fascinating window into African culture (Dosunmu is originally from Nigeria), this time examining the customs and rituals that define maternity. Mother of George follows Brooklyn-based African immigrants Ayodele and Adenike as they attempt to conceive their first child, to be named George. As Adenike struggles with infertility issues, Ayodele's own mother approaches her with an unimaginable ultimatum: give birth to Ayodele’s child, or give her husband consent to take another woman.

Mother & Child

Rodrigo Garcia’s 2010 Festival selection boasted a talented cast, including Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, and Naomi Watts, among others. Here’s Festival Directors John Cooper’s take on the film:

“Destiny plays a part in the lives of three women—a 50-year-old physical therapist, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years earlier, and a woman looking to adopt her first child. In this exploration of one of nature's most basic instincts, their pasts intertwine, inform, and evolve to reveal their innermost desires.”

Also, don't miss these Mother's Day-themed #ArtistServices titles available now on a variety of streaming platforms.

Birth Story

Birth Story tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each otherʼs babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land.

A Doula Story

A Doula Story is a verite documentary that tells the remarkable story of one woman’s fierce commitment to empower young women — pregnant, frightened and alone — to become nurturing and confident mothers.

Baby It's You

Director Anne Makepeace takes us on an intimate journey through the Kafkaesque world of fertility clinics, into the home of lesbian parents, to Christmas among Utah polygamists and New England Puritans, to her brother's Appalachian farm, and on a time trip back to the dark age of illegal abortion.

Shorts Break: Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-05-08T15:34:45+00:00

Eliza Hittman's Forever's Gonna Start Tonight bristles with the kind of authenticity and longing that most feature films struggle to communicate. With a clarity of vision, the short details a Russian teen in Brooklyn who makes an unimaginable choice in order to protect her aging father. Hittman's natural gifts for honing in on inner teenage struggles blossomed with her debut feature It Felt Like Love, a similarly toned character study that brings out rarely-represented NYC environments. The feature premiered this past January at the 2013 festival in our NEXT section. See the short that sparked her feature below.

On the other end of the spectrum is the ghostly, beautiful MuM, made by Nick Peterson. Using an old school handmade style, MuM harkens back to the pre-computer stop-motion world of animation where atmosphere and textures are as vital to the film as the characters and story. His nuanced timing gives you a nice, moody cinematic trip in the classic Ray Harryhausen realm. Fun side note, MuM was made at the same time as Mark Osborne’s MORE, shot in the same stage with the same stop-motion camera system within the Experimental Animation program at CalArts, shot on 35mm film when they were students. Also, check out the new short film project Peterson just announced with another Sundance Alum, Jon Heder.

Kick It: Please Help Me Create “A Total Disruption”

2013-05-06T18:05:06+00:00

Dear fellow Sundancers, as you may know, I am a two-time Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary filmmaker (best known for DIG! and We Live In Public), and my main focus for the past two years has been A Total Disruption, a portal which seeks to tell emotionally-engaging stories about top entrepreneurs and innovators who are using technology to re-design the world we live in. The mission is to humanize technology and make it more accessible so that everyone can apply its wisdom to do what they envision - better, faster, and more efficiently. I realized that there are too many incredible wizards rethinking and inventing the way we live to wait to hone it down to a 90-minute film (where many of them will end up on the cutting room floor) so I decided to use the very thing that I am obsessively following, the Internet, to pull back the veil on the filmmaking process and directly share the inspiring portraits of driving innovators as I find them. This was the inspiration for creating A Total Disruption.

We have filmed the founders of Instagram, Linked In, Twitter, Zappos, Reddit, Waze, JustinTV and so many more; game-changing VCs; inside incubators like Y Combinator, 500 Startups and Launchpad; and inside the labs of some of the greatest inventors working with tech to solve climate change, power and healthcare issues. We have seven original series that take you into the hives of these great creators, and a few more yet to debut. We have over 50 episodes online now in our interactive innovation portal at atotaldisruption.com, and 100 more that have yet to be edited. We have specials that allow our community to go inside exclusive events like Lean Startup Conference at SXSW and the Whitewater Panel on the State of Independent Film.

We have one week left in our first-ever crowd-funding campaign, and though it has been (more than) a full-time job – as I was warned - and though I did feel uncomfortable at times - as I thought I might -- I am really glad that we decided to take this leap with A Total Disruption. It is the first time in history that we could consider raising money and building a community to celebrate and understand technology, thanks to technology. That irony is not lost on us. We have made strong alliances through the work we have done documenting innovators and entrepreneurs over the last two years for this project. We are receiving support from countless tech wizards including the likes of Alexis Ohanian - the founder of Reddit, who made us an extraordinary video endorsement, and invaluable support from artists like Shepard Fairey, who offered to make a unique, limited edition ATD print; Amanda Palmer, who is offering a number of rewards; Pirate Bay filmmaker Simon Klose; venture-capitalist Christine Herron; and even the CFC Media Lab in Canada, who have now offered to co-produce a course that I will make and offer through ATD with best-selling author of The Lean Startup, Eric Ries, utilizing my footage to take content creators through the methodology of tech and introduce them to some of the best emerging platforms. Many of the entrepreneurs and VCs are contributing time on the phone in consultation sessions in exchange for pledges to ATD. This support has been invaluable to our success. I am happy to report that today we are over 100% funded, having surpassed our $96,000 goal with a week to go.

I will most likely release several features out of this material, as a few storylines emerge that are worthy of long-form, but building a community around the content—and building the brand of A Total Disruption—by releasing weekly webisodes stokes the ecosystem and helps everyone as I follow these stories and characters in making my films. We are also creating an unprecedented database that will allow the user to search any word and find the answers through the hundreds of hours of raw material that I have recorded to date. I could never have done any of this as I made We Live In Public over those ten years, because the mighty Internet and technology wasn't quite there yet. So, I am grateful for the opportunity we have now as content creators to share as we go.

With 7 days left, we are pulling out all the stops. We have an initial stretch goal of reaching $126,000 to complete the production budget for the online course, and make it the most entertaining and comprehensive experience that online education has ever seen. Anything we can raise above that will help us create new, riveting episodes of A Total Disruption to share with you, and even take the odyssey international! I can’t thank our backers enough. These are my people -- forever -- and I will not let them down. They understand and support my vision with their hard-earned cash, and I plan on bringing them a cornucopia of enlightening and inspiring content through A Total Disruption for years to come. This is an exchange. They have contributed towards making my vision real, and I will help them to make theirs happen too. Viva la Disrupción! -- Ondi

Kickstart LEE, a Modern Tale of Native American Teen Life

2013-05-03T17:58:25+00:00

Chloé Zhao is a New York-based independent filmmaker from Beijing, China, and an alum of the 2012 Screenwriters and Directors Labs. Click here to help her reach her Kickstarter goal for her film “LEE.”

I was very fortunate to participate at the Sundance Institute January Screenwriters Lab in 2012 with my screenplay LEE, a modern story about three Lakota teens who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Their story is in the here and now and captures not only the challenges in their lives but also the unique humor, tremendous beauty, and the great sense of family that runs strong throughout the Lakota community.

My experience at the Lab was a very emotional process for me. My advisors encouraged me to delve into the depths of my psyche to fully explore what this story meant to me at the most personal level. Their advice gave me the strength and insight to craft the story I am so proud to share with the world today. When it was time to prepare for the Sundance Institute Directors Lab later that year, I went back to Pine Ridge to search for my protagonist, “Lee,” in hopes of finding the star of my film from within the community. The search for him was an endless journey that included countless visits to schools and community centers, scouring across Pine Ridge to find the needle in the haystack. Until one day, while perusing the Little Wound High School yearbook, I saw a photo of John Reddy.

John was 17, one of 25 children of an ex-rodeo star. He had certainly never thought about acting before and like many teenage boys his age, it took me a while to gain his trust before he agreed to join me at the Directors Lab. Two weeks before he left the reservation for the first time ever, John’s best friend committed suicide. It was a very difficult time for John, but he showed tremendous strength and courage during the Directors Lab. During one of the scenes we workshopped, he allowed himself to go to a dark and personal place and become vulnerable in front of all of us. The result was an extraordinarily powerful and beautifully moving scene. Although John still was unsure he was ready to become an actor, he felt his late best friend would have wanted him to continue on this journey and make everyone proud by representing the best of Pine Ridge.

Our film would not be where it is at today without all the tremendous support we have received these past three years. Yet despite this support, financing an independent film about modern day Native Americans with no major stars and a first time writer/director has proved challenging. We are trying to tell a story that the mainstream media in this country has chosen largely to overlook, but we are extremely confident in our choice to shoot the film on Pine Ridge with non-professional actors who are born and raised here. Authenticity is pivotal and these choices allow us to share with the world a point of view rarely seen in media today. Our vision and passion have attracted many talented and creative people to join us on this adventure, including the acclaimed cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights) and the very esteemed Native American actor Irene Bedard (Lakota Woman, Tree of Life, Pocahontas).

We decided to launch our Kickstarter campaign to not only help fundraise for our production budget, but also to give the world a taste of the beauty, history and humanity that flows from Pine Ridge. We are excited to share just a few of the people of Pine Ridge that have so passionately inspired me to make this film. With every click of our video, we are one step closer to achieving our goal of bringing a greater awareness to this proud community.

For me, LEE has evolved to be much more than just making a film. Just as much as the Pine Ridge community has graciously opened their arms to me entrusted me with their stories, it is also vitally important to me to help build lasting opportunities to help the young men and women in the community. We are establishing a formal internship program for select teens to participate during the production of the film and we plan to establish a summer film workshop in conjunction with the local schools to help nurture the next generation of storytellers.

But our work will not be possible without a successful Kickstarter campaign, and I hope by sharing part of my journey with you, I have inspired you to find out more about Pine Ridge and our film LEE.

Watch our Kickstarter video to find out more.

Shorts Break: Two Films About People Stuck In Unfamiliar Worlds

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-05-01T18:37:44+00:00

Topaz Adizes is a man on a mission. An internationally award-winning filmmaker whose many shorts have screened all the over the world, he puts substance into his works. Typically, his films are shot with very basic elements and a free-form style, almost resembling low-budget documentaries. His actors are non-actors, cast specifically for the relation to the story and verisimilitude. He works to capture the crystallization of a cultural conflict within a single conversation. He will pit characters whose ethics and world views are naturally at odds with each other and create a situation in which the audience, as voyeurs, watch an uncomfortable, intimate debate play out realistically. In Trece Años, a Cuban émigré to the U.S. who earned his citizenship by coincidence returns home to visit his poverty-stricken family and a resentful brother.

If it's existentialism with a sci-fi twist that you're after, look no further than Chema Garcia Ibarra's Protoparticles. A playful filmmaker concerned with investigating truthful situations within the realm of classic genre fiction, Ibarra's clever but heartfelt meditations on individuals stuck in the middle of high concept plots has made him a two-time Sundance alum and a standout storytelling voice. If Protoparticles is to be believed then we can rest in the knowledge that the experiment was a success: protomatter exists! Unfortunately for one man, that has left him trapped in the past (our present) to live out his days, stuck in a spacesuit in need of parts that are years away from being invented, and far from the world he knows...

Barbara Kopple Shines Light on Mental Illness in Running From Crazy

Jeremy Kinser — 2013-04-26T15:58:12+00:00

'Running From Crazy' makes its UK premiere at the Sundance London film and music festival this week at the O2. Click here for screening times and to purchase tickets.

Fighting in Italy on the front lines of World War II, dueling with a charging bull in Pamplona, wrangling with a marlin off the deep-sea coast of Cuba—these are larger-than-life images frequently conjured up by the mention of the name Hemingway. Running From Crazy, Barbara Kopple’s compelling new documentary, may change that perception. The two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker (for 1976’s Harlan County USA and 1990’s American Dream, which also swept Sundance’s three documentary categories) offers a much more intimate, yet audacious portrait of the legacy of the legendary writer. Filled with shocking revelations and incorporating captivating archival footage, Kopple weaves an intricate portrait of Ernest’s three granddaughters Muffet, an artist; Margaux, the late fashion model; and Mariel, the actress. All have wrestled in different ways with the family’s turbulent history of depression, mental illness, and an alarming number of suicides.

So much has already been written and filmed about the colorful and sometimes tragic lives of the Hemingways. What interested you in making a new documentary about them?

BK: I knew about Mariel and Margaux and Ernest and I knew some of the books and the films and a smattering of the family tragedies they’d gone through, but I didn’t know much more than newspaper headlines and magazine covers. What I do with a film is struggle to get under the surface to see the story behind the story and see what makes people tick and why they make the decisions they make. As I got to know Mariel a bit I realized that that’s what she’s doing in her life. She’s struggling to dig beneath the surface of her own family history. I was thrilled to be on this journey with her.

At one point in the film Mariel tells her daughter Langley that she didn’t want her to become burdened by the family’s history of mental illness and suicide. Is that why she decided to reveal her story?

She wanted to bring issues of mental illness into the light because it’s one of the last taboos in our society. We need to talk about it and shake off the fear and judgment that’s often associated with mental illness and start the healing. Most of the Hemingway grandchildren don’t know anything about Ernest. It’s almost as if it’s too painful to talk about or too much hurt to pass on from generation to generation. Mariel didn’t want to talk to her daughters about it because she didn’t want to put this big burden on them of depression and mental illness and suicide. She wants to transform these relationships with her daughters and now she’s talking about it. She wants them to understand it.

The archival footage from the documentary Margaux was making must have been a godsend. Did you know about this before you began making your film?

BK: No. Mariel had no idea this footage existed. Whenever you’re looking for archival footage there’s a treasure hunt. Most of the time you have leads that go nowhere. But once in a while you find gold. We had so much wonderful material of Margaux, who, in a sense, had a love affair with the camera. You see her beauty and honesty in this footage. It added so much depth and context to the story of these three sisters. It just brought us into that world and allowed us to see how they lived in such a powerful way. It was a treasure, a total treasure.

Documentary filmmaking has evolved since you began your career. What effect has reality television had on the industry?

BK: For me I feel the result of reality television is fine. If we can see more and more how people think and relate to each other —even if it’s somewhat manipulated and whether we personally find it repugnant — is fascinating. It’s really putting documentaries out there. People love to see documentaries on a screen and to see and feel something that’s real is so key and so important.

What do you want audiences to take away from Running From Crazy?

BK: I want people to really get to know Mariel and see a positive and uplifting story. It reveals family secrets and very difficult stuff but also has so many intimate moments and genuine emotions and real interactions and you can see the wonderful relationship she has with her daughters. It also takes the issue of mental illness into the light so people can reflect on it and talk about it.

May Sundance Now Playing

Sundance Institute — 2013-04-26T15:30:07+00:00

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres, coming to DVD, or showing through #ArtistServices and the YouTube Screening Room this month.

Theatrical Releases

Friday, May 10

Stories We Tell, directed by Sarah Polley

Sightseers, directed by Ben Wheatley

Friday, May 17

Black Rock, directed by Katie Aselton

Friday, May 24

Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater

Fill the Void, directed by Rama Burshtein

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, directed by Alex Gibney

Friday, May 31

Kings of Summer, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

The East, directed by Zal Batmanglij

Watch On TV

Wednesday, May 1

Manhunt, 8 p.m. on HBO

Monday, May 13

The Invisible War, 10 p.m. on PBS

Monday, May 27

DETROPIA, 9 p.m., PBS

YouTube Screening Room

Discover remarkable films all year long in The Screening Room, a new YouTube Channel curated by Sundance Institute. Two new films from Sundance history will be placed on our page every Friday, and we will be regularly linking to shorts from the Festival already on YouTube, so check back often for lots of surprises.

Steel Homes, directed by Eva Weber

Reindeer, directed by Eva Weber

Roger Ross Williams Exposes the Effect of American Fundamentalism in Africa in God Loves Uganda

Jeremy Kinser — 2013-04-25T15:04:40+00:00

'God Loves Uganda' makes its UK premiere at the Sundance London film and music festival this week at the O2. Click here for screening times and to purchase tickets.

While Roger Ross Williams was in Zimbabwe filming the 2010 documentary short Music by Prudence, which would make him the first African-American to win an Academy Award for directing and producing a film, he was already wondering about his follow-up project.

“I noticed how intensely religious and conservative Africa is,” he recalls. “There’s an Evangelical religious hold on sub-Saharan Africa and that was in the back of my mind when I was thinking of what to do next.”

Then Williams read about Uganda’s contentious antigay bill, which originally proposed a death penalty to gay people. The 39-year-old documentarian decided to travel to the violence-plagued, poverty-stricken nation with a film crew to explore the connection between American Evangelicals and the bill. The result of that exploration is God Loves Uganda, a provocative, often shocking exposé of the Evangelical missionary movement in the ravaged country.

How transparent were you with the subjects you interviewed--particularly the Evangelical Christians--regarding your intention with this film?

RRW: The film is really about religion and a certain type of Evangelical thinking, which is a very strict interpretation of the Biblical Old Testament law. I told them that I wanted to explore this. I also told them that I wanted to talk about the antigay bill because it came out of religious argument. There’s a group of religious leaders who are the driving force behind the bill. It was rough going at first. But as we got to know each other, we actually grew to like each other and enjoy each other’s company, even though philosophically their idea is that I don’t have a right to exist as a gay man.

Did you tell them you’re gay?

We didn’t talk about me being gay, but there was one hairy moment when the Ugandans found out. I was outed, so to speak, in Uganda when I was invited to dinner at the home of an antigay pastor. I was terrified.

What happened?

Someone who wanted to expose me sent them an email that said I’m gay. They’d pulled an interview I’d done from the Internet. The Ugandans said, “We love you and we want to pray for you and cure you.”

How do you respond to something like that?

You don’t. I was in the home of one of the biggest anti-gay pastors in Uganda and I was surrounded by people who had told me in interviews that they’d never even met a gay person. I just kept my cool and stayed calm and rational. I wasn’t about to get into an argument with them because I would have put myself and my crew in danger. We had developed a relationship and they just knew me as Roger. But suddenly this monster of homosexuality that they had built up had a face. Some of them refused to believe it.

How did this evening play out?

We finished dinner and I left. We actually continued to film with some of them. They intensified their prayers. I think a lot of the Evangelical Americans and Ugandans believe if they pray hard enough they can pray the gay away.

Did you have to sit there while they tried to pray your gay away?

Yes. [Laughs.] That happened many times. I grew up in the church so it wasn’t so unusual. Also it wasn’t exactly like they were “praying the gay away,” they were praying that God would direct the film, basically.

Why didn’t you include this in the documentary?

The film is about something much bigger than me and my personal experiences. It’s about the bigger Evangelical movement. It’s OK to believe that homosexuality is not God’s way, but it’s not OK to condone or support or even look the other way when there’s violence against LGBT people. Many of the Evangelicals who are missionaries in Uganda, even though they’re not directly participating in violence, will look the other way and pretend it’s not happening. If you’re a Christian you don’t condone violence against anyone, but they’re not standing up. American Evangelicals have a huge amount of influence in Uganda.

Why do you think Ugandans are so susceptible to the theology of Evangelicals, who are predominantly white?

They’re susceptible to that message for a number of reasons. Idi Amin [President of Uganda from 1971-79] had outlawed Evangelical Christianity so after the country was devastated by civil war and HIV/AIDS it was a disaster. The Evangelicals moved in and helped rebuild the country and built schools so America represents wealth, health and the future and success so they’re welcome there. Also, the median age in Uganda is 15, so an entire country of kids has been raised on the Evangelical message. They created a sort of Utopia.

How did you convince these people to speak so openly about their radical views?

It happened over time. When you go into a project like this you’re the mainstream media and there’s a lack of trust. Over time you get to know each other and have meals together and those walls start to fall down and people begin to speak openly. It takes time— a year or two years—to develop those relationships.

What do you ultimately hope to accomplish with this film?

I hope it forces certain groups of Evangelicals to speak out against this violence and this type of rhetoric and get a better understanding of what it means to go into a different culture and take responsibility for what they’re depositing in Africa and what the repercussions are. I want American Evangelicals to understand the language they use may not translate the way they think it will to a different culture. I hope we can screen the film in churches across America and people will say that’s not what we want. I want Christian audiences to hold their church and pastor accountable and when they put money in the collection plate that’s going to help an orphan in Africa, that it’s really going to help an orphan in Africa, not fuel hatred.

Shorts Break: A Pair of Poetic Short Docs From Eva Weber

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-04-24T17:30:45+00:00

British documentarian Eva Weber has made short poetic docs something of a specialty. With a wide range of topics, her astute, ethereal gaze brings prominence and grace to otherwise invisible objects. Her work evokes comparisons to bite-sized symphonies and visual tapestries. With Steel Homes Weber explores the fragmented nature of memories, set in the starkly beautiful aesthetic of our modern industrial world through self-storage units, which she believes are windows into human histories. Their discarded objects and dust-covered furniture are inscribed with past dreams, secret hopes and lives we cannot let go of.

Also, enjoy Weber's new short Reindeer. Weber travelled 400 kilometers above the polar circle to Karigasniemi village in Utsjoki, Finland, to get a glimpse of reindeer herding, the livelihood of the Arctic’s indigenous Sámi people for countless generations. The short played the 2013 Sundance FIlm Festival and will be playing at Sundance London this week…

Don't forget to check out all fo the shorts available in our YouTube Screening Room.

Francesca Gregorini Dispels Demons in Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-04-23T15:05:47+00:00

Last January, as audience members inquired about arguably the most artistically liberated film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Francesca Gregorini explained, “It’s pretty dark up here. I figure I’d try to get it out, make it a little lighter, give some of my darkness to you.” A few short months later, with the UK premiere of Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes at Sundance London only days away, that sentiment holds true for Gregorini.

“To a large degree, the impetus [for this film] was to exorcise my demons so that I can stay relatively sane,” she says with a slight chuckle. In that endeavor, she’s done audiences a tremendous favor, crafting a plucky drama that offers much more than its murky tone.

The film centers on Emanuel (Kaya Scodelario), an emotionally insular teenage girl who strikes a relationship with her new neighbor, a young mother named Linda, played by a mesmerizing Jessica Biel. Initially intrigued by Linda’s uncanny resemblance to her own late mother, Emanuel begins a chilling descent into a surreal world rife with unexpected discoveries about her new neighbor and her newborn. As Emanuel becomes more cognizant of her complicit role in Linda’s out-of-touch world, she resolves to take a plunge to rescue her from the confines of her mind.

Gregorini took a moment recently to offer insights on the personal plight that informed her script, express her optimism regarding Emanuel’s Sundance London premiere, and discuss the tinges of humor found in her otherwise gloomy film. Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes is screening April 26-April 28 at Sundance London. Learn more and purchase tickets here.

I think a good place to start is with your experience at the Sundance Film Festival in January, your thoughts on the film’s reception, and your feelings going into Sundance London?

I thought the reception was really awesome. It was truly the first time I had watched the film with an audience, so that was really exciting. It was great to hear the laughter, to be honest. Even though the movie tackles some pretty heavy, dark, twisted issues, there is some absurdity and humor in there. That was one of the surprises—that the audience really got that, which was a relief. Because I knew I had put it in there, and I was like, “Well, maybe I’m just not funny.”

Do you have any hunch as to how a UK audience might receive Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes as opposed to the reception in Park City?

I anticipate that it’s going to be great! Even though my work tends to be on the darker side, I’m ridiculously optimistic, almost to a fault. I grew up in Europe, between Italy and the UK, so I feel like my particular sensibility is definitely influenced by the Brits. I feel like I have some of that in me, and I think that does translate into my work. Also, my editor, my cinematographer, and Aflred Molina and Kaya are all British, so I feel like the production as a whole was very international in flavor. At one point I was in England because I was going to shoot the movie there, so it has a long British history.

In my mind [the screenings] have already happened and it’s gone brilliantly.

The story itself is inherently peculiar and in some ways disorienting. Can you shed light on the genesis of the narrative?

To a large degree, the impetus was to exorcise my demons so that I can stay relatively sane. That’s sort of the driving force. But I wrote this script for Rooney Mara, because we met on Tanner Hall and became close friends and after that we were both out of job, and I was like, “I’ll just write you your next job so that I can have a job too.”

The movie took three years to find financing for, and Rooney became too old to play a 17-year-old, and so enter Kaya. What ended up happening in the writing of the story...well, I had struggled with infertility for a number of years, and it was not a happy story, and the character of Linda (Biel) is that taken 10 steps further. I suffered a loss in not getting to have a baby; I think all humans just assume you get to do that. But I figured what would be far worse than that would to be having achieved that dream and then lose it, so that was kind of the character of Linda, her grappling with that loss.

And then Kaya’s character, Emanuel. I grew up in an alcoholic home, and I think those tend to be homes where the children are carriers of secrets. Emanuel’s ability to sort of carry this astronomical secret that Linda has, while also trying to protect her, and then getting pulled into this alternate reality. That’s sort of where this came from.

What are you looking forward to checking out at Sundance London that you didn't get to catch at the Festival in Park City?

I’m super excited to check out Peaches. I know my uncle worked on the Eagles documentary, History of the Eagles Part 1, which I will definitely be attending. And then some of the shorts, because I am one of the jurors on the Shorts Program, which has been exciting. It’s educational really, and you feel so responsible because you know what it’s like to be on the other side.

Sundance Earth Day Selections: 2013 Edition

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-04-19T18:00:44+00:00

In this eco-conscious age of hybrid vehicles, carbon-cutting cleaning products, and urban composting, Earth Day appears to have ascended the holiday hierarchy—to heights that perhaps even the crunchiest of its 1970’s creators couldn’t have envisioned. This Monday, April 22, marks the 43rd Earth Day, and Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices program is currently offering some special documentaries for home viewing that confront vastly different (but equally alarming) stories addressing urgent threats to the environment. To observe Earth Day this year, we’re offering hand-picked selection of sustainability-themed Sundance favorites for you to enjoy.

Don’t have time to watch them all now? No problem. You can queue them up for later using GoWatchIt and you’ll never miss a beat.

Atomic States of America
Currently available through #ArtistServices. Watch Now

In 2010, the United States approved the first new nuclear power plant in 32 years, heralding a “Nuclear Renaissance”. But that was before the Fukushima accident in Japan renewed a fierce public debate over the safety and viability of nuclear power.

The Atomic States of America journeys to nuclear reactor communities around the country to provide a comprehensive exploration of the history and impact to date of nuclear power, and to investigate the truths and myths about nuclear energy.

Ecological Design
Currently available through #ArtistServices. Watch Now

Ecological Design: Inventing the Future is a educational documentary film which illuminates the emergence of ecological design in the 20th Century. The film features the ideas and prototypes of pioneering designers who have trail-blazed the development of sustainable architecture, cities, energy systems, transport, and industry. Beginning in the 1920's with the work of R. Buckminster Fuller, moving through the 1960's and the Counter-Culture and ending on the doorstep of the 21st Century: the film follows the evolution of Ecological Design from the Visions of a few independent thinkers to the powerful movement it is becoming.

An Inconvenient Truth
Arguably the most influential environmental documentary of our time, Davis Guggenheim’s 2006 Sundance Film Festival selection and Academy Award winner is credited with educating the public about climate change and spawning the larger global warming movement.

Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon
Director Peter Richardson has crafted a seamless portrait of a clash of differing values. The film explores the story of the Clemens, a logging family in Oregon, while serving as a microcosm for the vast ideological divisions within our country.

Chasing Ice
Director Jeff Orlowski tracks photographer James Balog's efforts to gather visual evidence of the Earth's melting glaciers with time-lapse photography in this breathtaking documentary.

Crude
The story behind the world's largest oil-related environmental lawsuit comes to the screen as award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger investigates the facts in the case of the so-called "Amazon Chernobyl," a disaster that occurred deep in the rain forests of Ecuador.

If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Filmmaker Marshall Curry explores the inner workings of the Earth Liberation Front, a revolutionary movement devoted to crippling facilities involved in deforestation, while simultaneously offering a profile of Oregon ELF member Daniel McGowan, who was brought up on terrorism charges for his involvement with the radical group.

Semper Fi: Always Faithful
In this Academy Award nominated documentary from Rachel Libert shows the two retired Marines that lead the fight for justice for U.S. soldiers exposed to dangerous toxic chemicals while stationed at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina.

The Cove
Louie Psihoyos’ 2010 Academy Award winning documentary analyzes and questions Japan's dolphin hunting culture. The final result is a heart-wrenching, but inspirational story that shows the true power of film in the hands of people who aren't afraid to risk everything for a vital cause.

The Island President
Documentary filmmaker Jon Shenk follows President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives during his first year in office, as he wages a valiant campaign to raise awareness of global climate change in order to save his beloved island country, which is slowly being swallowed up by the ocean due to rising sea levels.

Trouble the Water
Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary expertly weaves home video, news broadcasts, and original footage to rewrite the coverage of Hurricane Katrina through the experiences of a New Orleans couple.

Shorts Break: An Elfin Equine & A Fuel Famine

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-04-17T15:00:31+00:00

In The Screening Room this week a past festival winner and a miniature horse that will win your heart.

First we have GASLINE, which won Best Short for the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Set in the New York suburbs of 1979 amidst the gas crisis, this poignant and exuberant drama follows a gas station owner throughout the course of a very, very bad day, shot with panache and a keen sense of observation. Between angry customers, disenfranchised employees, a marriage in shambles, unsympathetic wholesalers, and a troubled son, Ben Crosby has got a lot on his plate. Director Dave Silver made a prize-winning film that, sadly given its theme, stands the test of time. It’s intriguing to see a period-piece about the 70s crisis made a decade ago, seeing the circles the country seems to be stuck in.

Follow that one up with a quixotic little gem from director Randy Krallman. FORCE 1 TD is, naturally, about a blind NYC teen and his friends on the hunt for a very special pair of sneakers for his miniature guide horse. The tiny horse, a stylish creature, always equipped with fly kicks, is in need of the titular sole so he can match its owner at tomorrow night's prom. But finding the right shoes is never easy. Made for eBay, Krallman's fresh and natural approach to the caveats of growing up is brimming with creativity, elevating this would-be advertisement into a charming and charismatic short film full of life.

Stu Zicherman’s A.C.O.D. Finds Levity in Divorce

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-04-10T18:42:24+00:00

Stu Zicherman recalls his parents’ divorce with a nostalgia that belies everything we’re conditioned to believe about failed marriages. And even though he wavers when using terms like “levity” and “hilarious” to define his childhood experience, his candor tends to prevail. Perhaps that’s why Zicherman, who penned and directed A.C.O.D., short for Adult Children of Divorce, was as apt and equipped as anyone to introduce a film with a smart but comedic—and still as cynical as ever—take on the delicate subject.

Zicherman took a moment recently to share his unique experience premiering A.C.O.D. at the Sundance Film Festival last January, his expectations and anxieties about bringing the film to Sundance London later this month, and his flair for internalizing misfortune with a heaping dose of humor. Click here to purchase tickets to see A.C.O.D. at Sundance London.

You premiered A.C.O.D. at the Festival in Park City earlier this year. How would you describe the film’s reception?

I know you can say something like, “Outside the birth of my children, Sundance was the best day of my life,” but it might even beat the birth of my children...I’m joking.

The experience in January was epic. I had high expectations, but the actual first screening night was so overwhelming and I had never seen the movie in a big room like that—we premiered at the Eccles. It was just great and it played funny. The best of it was that it started a big conversation about people’s stories of divorce, and the legacy of divorce, and how people’s experiences as kids really informed them as adults. Everywhere I went in town, on the buses or walking the street, people would come up to me and say, “I’m an A.C.O.D. and my parents got divorced when I was 10,” and I’m like, “Cool!”

There’s this seemingly ever-growing American propensity for divorce, which suggests that this story would resonate strongly with U.S. audiences. That being said, how do you think this film will play in London?

I’m really curious to see the movie in London. They say divorce culture is a uniquely American thing, but I don’t think it is. At the end of the day, I don’t think this movie is about divorce as much as it’s about becoming an adult and not having to repeat the patterns of your parents. We screened at Sundance, and then we screened in Salt Lake City, which was a very different audience, and then we screened in Orlando, FL, for Sundance Film Festival U.S.A., which was a totally different audience. I really think that it’s going to play great over there.

You worked with a cast that offers some comedic diversity, from Adam Scott and Amy Poehler to Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara. Can you share a bit about what they bring to this film.

I think, first off, they bring so much credibility. We tried really hard to cast people who were funny, but could also do things besides be funny. We wanted actors whom people like to watch, but that they also believe. Richard Jenkins has not done a part like this since Flirting with Disaster. But it really starts with Adam, because I just find him so believable. His cynicism about life can be really believable and relatable. We shot the movie in 24 days, so we didn’t have a tone of time to do a ton of improv, but when we did, the stuff that comes out of their mouths is genius.

You’ve mentioned that you’re a child of divorce. What went into the decision to take a comedic approach to both your personal experience and this larger epidemic of marital failure?

I remember as a kid seeing Kramer vs. Kramer and movies like that, and they were really sad. My parents’ divorce was not like that—there were definitely sad moments, but there was some levity to it. I was the only child, so my Mom and Dad would talk to me about everything, and they would say things to me that were completely inappropriate. There were times when I literally would laugh at stuff. And there were moments that were originally in the script that were from my life, that no one believed, so we had to take them out.

As you grow up and become an adult, you get to a place when you realize you’re past that. But then you start getting into your own relationships and you start fucking up your own relationships because you realize you’re terrified of marriage and have no example of marriage.

So I did want to make a divorce comedy, which no one had ever made before. It does make you laugh; it makes you think about your own plight.

Shorts Break: Medieval Humor and the First-Ever IMAX Short

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-04-10T15:39:55+00:00

We are proud to share one of the more celebrated shorts of recent times - More, directed by Mark Osborne. This lovingly animated stop-motion tale of an inventor's search for bliss and meaning in a dehumanizing universe of mass consumption won the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Going beyond a great animation style, the short has an incredible level of humanism and the ability to take you into the story. More took more than nine months to film and was the first short ever shot in the IMAX format. And yes, that is music by New Order that you hear in the film. Though a popular fixture online in the early days of short film websites, the time has come to bring this powerful story back today, where it's still so strikingly relevant.

And here is our own iron man. Jake Mahaffy has been carving out a niche on the fringe of filmmaking for some time now, with the excellent character treatise Wellness, a favorite of the underground festival circuit, and the rustic, powerful New Frontier feature War (2004 Festival). A Sundance Institute Lab Fellow and multi-year Festival alum, this is one of a series of short films studying the effects and implications of motion in controlled environments, practical illustrations of basic concepts of physics – and of course with a deeper meaning that Mahaffy always touches on. In Motion Studies: Inertia, a man runs as hard and as long as he can in a full suit of Middle Age armor, with the result all at once hilarious and transcendent. Check out the complete collection of shorts in the YouTube Screening Room here.

Sundance Google+ Hangout: Applying for the TED Prize Filmmaker Award

Sundance Institute — 2013-04-05T23:17:34+00:00

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP) hosted its first ever Google+ Hangout for filmmakers interested in submitting proposals to the recently announced TED Prize Filmmaker Award. The TED Prize Filmmaker Award is a new initiative of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program in partnership with TED, the non-profit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading. Together the organizations have launched the TED Prize Filmmaker Award, a $125,000 prize for the production of a short documentary film project about the work of Sugata Mitra, this year’s TED Prize winner. The Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and Fund is currently accepting proposals through April 15, 2013 and the Award winner will be announced in June 2013 at TED Global in Edinburgh, Scotland.

During the Google+ Hangout, Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund, and Richard Ray Perez, producer of Creative Partnerships for the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, led a discussion and provided inside tips on how filmmakers could best position their proposals for the prize. Mertes and Perez addressed specific topics like approaches to communicating a strong story that addresses the larger societal issues Sugata Mitra’s work confronts; what expenses the $125,000 Award must cover and how filmmakers could leverage this support to expand the project beyond the production and delivery of an Academy Award-qualifying short documentary; how to think strategically about a proposed multi-platform distribution and outreach plan; and how to articulate a convincing engagement strategy – all elements of that must be addressed in a winning proposal and reflected in the proposed budget.

If you missed the Google Hangout, check it out below:

Participants in the Hangout asked some insightful questions that helped gain deeper insight into ways to approach the proposal and places where they can start doing some in-depth research about Sugata Mitra. Because this is a new award and the period between the announcement and the proposal deadline is very short, the Hangout was a great opportunity for prospective applicants to directly interact with the senior staffers of the Sundance DFP in a way that will inform stronger proposals and inspire them to apply by the deadline.

Click here to apply for the Ted Prize Filmmaker Award.

Roger Ebert, 1942-2013

Sundance Institute — 2013-04-04T22:57:27+00:00

Today the Sundance family joins our friends in the film community and film lovers everywhere in mourning the loss of Roger Ebert. His passion for great cinema was second to none, and his role as champion for artistic risk-taking and original storytelling was a driving cultural force that created enthusiastic audiences for the best independent films of our time.

In describing Roger, Robert Redford said, “Among the many things I admired about Roger Ebert is how he has long supported freedom of artistic expression. When I started Sundance in 1980, and when few would support us, Roger was there. This was one of the ways he communicated his forward-thinking outlook. He was one of the first to support our artists. His influence and reach was as meaningful as his personal passion for cinema.”

Roger was a frequent attendee of our Sundance Film Festival, where he discovered and supported films like Hoop Dreams, Man Push Cart, Come Early Morning, Longtime Companion, Metropolitan, The Brothers McMullen, Crumb, Picture Bride, American Movie, and The War Zone. Sundance alumni who count him as an advocate include Steve James, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and Werner Herzog. Roger’s spirit and legacy are wonderfully portrayed in this clip from the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

Over his 45-year career, Roger created a robust platform with which to advocate for the films that he loved. As chief film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger’s reviews were syndicated in more than 200 newspapers worldwide. His television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert at The Movies were co-hosted with Gene Siskel and earned multiple Emmy Award nominations. He authored 15 books and, in 1999, started the annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival in his hometown of Champaign, Illinois.

Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife Chaz, their family, and friends. We are deeply grateful for Roger’s enormous and unique impact on independent film and American culture at large. We are all richer for his contributions.

Shorts Break: How She Slept at Night and Our Neck of the Woods

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-04-03T17:56:09+00:00

Shorts Break returns this week with Lilli Carre's animated tone poem How She Slept At Night, about a man who tries to remember his wife, but can only come up with a few scattered details as his memory begins to decay. A Chicago-based artist and illustrator, Carre works within a number of forms and mediums, including experimental animation, comics and print. What's particularly striking about this project is how much emotional resonance she is able to pack in to such a simple idea and short runtime. In just a few hand-drawn images, we experience mystery, romance, nostalgia, joy, and tragedy unfolding below the surface of the narrator's phrases. You can view more of her art at www.lillicarre.com

Next up is a charming and subtly crafted narrative story set against the backdrop of a rural factory in the heartland. In Our Neck Of The Woods, Bob Underwood's mundane life manufacturing plastic lawn-ornament deer is disrupted by an enchanting Georgian refugee who begins working alongside him. Unable to stop daydreaming about her plight, he decides to rescue her from her troubled existence, whether she needs it or not. Director Rob Connolly, who grew up in a North Carolina factory town that has since fallen on hard times, brings a sense of understanding and context to the hard, yet monotonous work, and the daydreams and aspirations that come with the job. In fact, many of the extras were former workers at the factory the film was shot in, who came out for a chance to see the place up and running again. Balancing his vision between optimistic good-hearted characters and the hard realities of the culture, Connolly applies a great deal of detail and production value to ground his story. In the end, it's not the industry that defines these towns, it's the people who reside in them.

Come back next week for an Oscar-nominated tale of dystopian consumerism and an ill-fated quest to find fly sneakers for a stylish pony.

April Now Playing

Sundance Institute — 2013-04-01T18:53:57+00:00

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres, coming to DVD, or showing through #ArtistServices and the YouTube Screening Room this month.

Theatrical Releases

Friday, April 5

Upstream Color, directed by Shane Carruth

Simon Killer, directed by Antonio Campos

Wajma (An Afghan Love Story), 6:30 p.m., Guggenheim (New York)

Friday, April 19

Herman’s House, directed by Angad Singh Bhalla

Filly Brown, directed by Michael D. Olmos and Youssef Delara

jOBS, directed by Joshua Michael Stern

Friday, April 26

Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, directed by Terence Nance

Watch On TV

Friday, April 19

Chasing Ice, directed by Jeff Orlowski, 8 p.m., Nat Geo Channel

Monday, April 29

The Queen of Versailles, directed by Lauren Greenfield, 9 p.m., Bravo

New Frontier

The Cloud of Unknowing, the Guggenheim (New York), through May 22.

YouTube Screening Room

Openminds, directed by Joe Sedelmaier

My Rabit Hoppy, directed by Anthony Lucas

Sundance Institute Announces Lite-Brite Festival Sidebar

Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. — 2013-04-01T18:07:49+00:00

Sundance Institute is proud to announce the addition of a new programming wing to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival titled “Lite-Brite: Looking Back or Maybe Looking Forward.”

This new programming initiative headed by Sundance Institute staffer Laurent Dahan was called nothing short of revolutionary by Festival Director of Programming @TrevorGroth: “When Laurent approached me about the idea of a standalone Lite-Brite sidebar to the Festival, my immediate reaction was ‘Do you work here?’ When he responded ‘Trevor! Yes!’ I knew he was telling the truth and could be trusted.”

“The moving image is dead,” said Dahan when pushed about the genesis of his interest in the Lite-Brite Creative System, trademarked by Hasbro in 1967 – “I know lots of people that ask constantly, what about the single glowing image? When is the Festival going to address that?” he added with exasperation.

“I think audiences are ready to rediscover the static image,” added Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper. “I know when my girls bring something home for the fridge, I pay attention. (pause) I think the Lite-Brite Sidebar is an amazing extension of that idea.”

Sundance Institute Executive Director @KPutnam added via DM that “Audiences have been begging for this and now we have an answer.” The Lite-Brite Sidebar will be guest-curated by Sundance staffer Mike Plante and promises to display the very best in Lite-Brite images now and in the future. For more information, please consult your calendar or your local Lite-Brite Association for details. This message is NOT approved by Sundance Institute, its affiliates, Hasbro, the registered trademark-holders of “Lite-Brite” or anyone else now and ad infinitum.

4 Sundance Films For Spring Break

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-03-28T17:36:30+00:00

Spring Break is, for most, but a faded reverie marked by fond (even if not lucid) memories of beach parties and similar presages of summer. While the sheer bliss of Spring Break is not likely to be recaptured anytime soon, these five films will help you summon the nostalgia of those carefree days.

Spring Breakdown

Before there was Spring Breakers, Ryan Shiraki’s Spring Breakdown offered a similarly absurdist take on the infamous week of college revelry. Judy, Gayle, and Becky (played by Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Parker Posey, respectively) are three less than chic women, all pushing 40, and collectively in over their heads when they arrive at South Padre Island unwittingly the same week as Spring Break. Between various acts of depravity, each manage to find their niche among the younger partygoers and quickly assume a god-like reputation around town.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and...Spring

In a stark departure from the decadence exhibited above, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and...Spring (don’t’ ask), is catered to the philosophical, Zen-obsessed spring breaker. Sundance Institute Senior Programmer John Nein encapsulates the intentionally hazy plot in his description of Kim Ki-duk's 2004 Sundance selection:

“Kim Ki-Duk’s serene rumination on the cycles of life follows the spiritual evolution of one man from boyhood to old age, drawing from the sparsest elements a resonant experience of joy, sorrow, anger, and enlightenment.”

Twelve

There is little about Joel Schumacher’s Twelve that conjures the spirit of Spring Break: it’s the Upper East Side of Manhattan, ominously dark, and violence runs rampant. But, 50 Cent plays second-billing to a drug-dealing Chace Crawford, who finds trouble when all of the silver-spooned boarding school students return to the city for Spring Break—that’s good enough for inclusion on this list. Check out the trailer for the 2010 Festival selection below.

Psycho Beach Party

Robert Lee King’s 2000 SFF selection is about as madcap as they come. A disorienting hybrid that melds the tackiness of 50s surfer films and the tautness of Hitchcockian psycho-thrillers, Psycho Beach Party mangles together a cacophony of bizarre events that take place at a Malibu beach party. Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendon, and Charles Busch star in this murderous beach party classic.

Hangout on Google for Inside Tips on Submitting to the #Sundance TED Prize Filmmaker Award

Sundance Institute — 2013-03-27T18:24:15+00:00

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund recently announced an exciting new partnership with TED, the non-profit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading. Together the organizations have launched the TED Prize Filmmaker Award, a $125,000 award for the production of a short documentary film project about the work of Sugata Mitra, this year’s TED Prize winner. The Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and Fund is currently accepting proposals through April 15, 2013, and the Award winner will be announced in June 2013 at TED Global in Edinburgh, Scotland. Click here for the TED Prize application details.

To provide the documentary filmmaking community insight and in-depth information about this new award, we've announced a special Google Hangout on Wednesday April 3, 11:00 A.M. PDT (12:00 P.M. MDT / 1:00 P.M. CDT / 2:00 P.M. EDT). Potential applicants will have an exclusive chance to ask questions about the Award and the submission process directly with Sundance Institute. Because this is a new award and the period between the announcement and the proposal deadline is very short, we hope to engage serious and qualified applicants to convey additional information that will inform stronger proposals and inspire them to apply by the deadline. The target participants are documentary filmmakers with demonstrated exceptional talent from whom we’d like to receive proposals, or who are planning to or considering submitting a proposal. Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund, will lead and host the Google Hangout.

Click here to join our Google Hangout.

Cara Mertes designs, oversees and aids in the implementation of the activities of the DFP, including the Funds, Extended Artists Support/Labs, Public Programming and a portfolio of Creative Partnerships. She also serves as part of Sundance Institute's senior management team, leads the DFP's involvement in pan-Institute and cross-programmatic activities, and travels extensively to develop resources for the independent documentary field internationally. A graduate of Vassar College, she completed work for her Masters at Hunter College, and is currently a Ford Foundation Fellow attending Harvard Business School's Executive Program.

Shorts Break: The Greatest Visionary You’ve Never Heard Of

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-03-27T16:00:12+00:00

This week, we've reached into the Sundance vaults to pull out two weird and wild tales that will challenge and delight.

From the sordid brain of Joe Sedelmaier comes Openminds, an attempt to recount the life and times of Raymond E. Bowles, one of our nation's great visionaries who you have probably never heard of, made famous for his artificial trees that seem just like the real things. In his quest to explore his legacy, Sedelmaier goes deep down the rabbit hole with this rollercoaster of style and form. The result is a hefty bit of wit and wisdom that never fails to entertain. You may be surprised to learn (or not) that this short was first imagined in 1970, only to be temporarily abandoned when Sedelmaier's commercial career took off. While his FedEx "Fast Talking Guy" spots or his Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" ads may still be burned into your brain, he never forgot about his narrative opus and came back to it in 2001, when he completed the short. The same great style he used in his commercials is on display here—sharp editing and dialogue, amazing faces of character actors, and a shrewd commentary on people and society that is always timely.

For our second serving this week, and since no Easter weekend can be complete without a bunny rabbit, Australian director Anthony Lucas's My Rabit Hoppy should fit the bill.....sort of. Shot in the vein of a found-footage horror comedy, this quick little morsel of a short follows young Henry's show-and-tell school project about his pet rabbit as it goes horribly wrong. Today’s version of “home movies” made in backyards (often capturing a surprise accident) has become a genre, and Lucas uses visual FX in creative and hilarious ways to achieve its purpose. He knows what he's after, and he knows how to get in quick, tell his story, and get out. Short shorts are very hard to get right, but My Rabit Hoppy just goes to show that a lot can be done with a little. Happy Easter.

Chris Milk: Pioneering the New Frontier

Kamal Sinclair, Senior Manager, New Frontier — 2013-03-25T05:20:29+00:00

Since 2007, Sundance Institute has been thrilled by the vibrant work coming out of the New Frontier exhibition and performance space at the Sundance Film Festival. Senior Programmer Shari Frilot and the New Frontier artists have been on the forefront of a sea change in the way media and technology are enabling story creation. In 2011, Sundance Institute deepened its investment in this space by launching the New Frontier Story Lab.

The newest of the Institute’s Labs, the New Frontier Story Lab was created to identify and foster independent artists at the forefront of the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music and technology. One of the most seminal artists working in that space is Chris Milk, the subject of our first New Frontier Alumni Spotlight.

Milk came to the inaugural Story Lab in 2011 with the project ROME (written by David James Kelley) based on an album by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi that brings together one of the most intriguing and unusual line-ups ever assembled in modern music: Jack White, Norah Jones, Italian composer Daniel Luppi, and members of Ennio Morricone's original orchestra and choir from Rome, Italy. Rome is a concept album, for which Milk has already released an award-winning interactive film, Three Dreams of Black, and a single cell-animation video with Jack White. It is also the soundtrack for a film that does not (yet) exist, based on the characters and story of Alden Bell’s book The Reaper’s are the Angels.

At the Story Lab, Milk worked on the screenplay and story design for ROME with Creative Advisors at the top of their fields in an effort to further develop his project, using the album and the book as his foundation. Since the Lab, he has continued to develop the project by working with a writer to adapt the book into a screenplay.

Milk has proven to be one of the most innovative storytellers in what remains an inchoate segment of art culture. He has already created a body of work that includes projects that are quickly becoming canons in their respective forms. However, he is constantly pushing the boundaries by experimenting with new story and experience designs that leverage cutting edge technology to create art of high integrity. Here is a timeline of Chris Milk’s projects in recent years:

2010

Milk launched two field-defining projects: The Johnny Cash Project and The Wilderness Downtown, the latter of which features an installation that allowed participants to write postcards to their past selves. With The Johnny Cash Project, Milk resolved one of the biggest challenges the field faces in creating platforms for User Generated Content. This project serves as an example of how a strong story design is the key to both allowing your audience to contribute without losing the cohesiveness and integrity of the art. Milk found a way to design a world where open creative collaboration (more than one million participants) enhanced the beauty of the artwork, rather than degraded it.

2011

Milk’s collaboration with Arcade Fire deepened with the Summer into Dust concert installation at the Coachella Music Festival.

2012

Through the The Creator’s Project, Milk developed a large-scale interactive triptych titled The Treachery of Sanctuary, with which he took haptic technology from its common use in movement-based video games (i.e. Xbox’s Just Dance), to physical poetry. Milk also reconnected with his collaborator Aaron Koblin to create The Exquisite Forest, currently on display at The Tate Modern in London.

2013

Milk blew audiences’ minds with an immersive interactive concert experience with Beck, titled Hello, Again, featuring cinematography by Bradford Young (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints). Hello, Again invented new uses of binaural sound technology to create a more immersive and coherent experience of sound, cinema, and live performance then has ever been achieved.

Milk and his collaborators are actually creating new language and methodologies that will become standards in the field. He is also inventing ways to use technology for enabling story creation, in the same vain as Eadweard Muybridge who experimented with motion-sequence still photographs at the dawn of film.

In this current sea-change, where coding is becoming a fundamental storytelling skill, multi-screen and mixed reality experience is the norm, and co-creation with audience is expected, we need pioneers like Milk to take the risks required to figure out the conventions of the future storyteller and to continue creative innovation.

Makin’ Indie Films with Frankie Latina Is Tough (But YOU Can Help)

Danny Trejo, Actor — 2013-03-21T22:55:47+00:00

This has been an amazing roller coaster of a month working with my son Gilbert and Frankie on this Kickstarter campaign while they try to raise the budget for their new film "Snap Shot." I've never seen two guys more persistent, creative and passionate about getting their film made than Gilbert and Frankie in my entire career. I'm really proud to be part of this project it has been a very humbling experience to see how projects like these bring our communities together. Thank you to all who have donated thus far, I hope all of you will spread the word and share the the link for the final push this week ending Friday Mar 29, at 3:00 PM.

The first time I worked with Frankie on Modus Operandi it was amazing, I was overwhelmed with my trip to Milwaukee. When I got off the plane Frankie had the Milwaukee Police Department give me a police escort to my hotel. A police escort and not going to jail! On set in an abandoned 1930's movie theatre I pulled out a guys eye with a corkscrew, shoved a piece of dynamite in his eye socket, and blew his head up. I was really impressed by Frankie and his crew because it was a labor of love to them and I love working with directors that love what their doing and hes doing it for free! So thats when I say give me what you can and lets do this. I've never felt more at home any place, and thats any place in the world. Frankie and his crew were awesome! Usually somebody's got to have an attitude on set, I meen somebody's got to have an attitude. I was kinda pissed off somebody should have had a fucked up attitude on set but nobody! nobody!

Please continue to support independent film, what these guys are doing is what it's all about. I'd rather work with passionate people any day of the week, thanks for looking -- Danny

Shorts Break: The Scariest Corporate Symbol in History

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-03-19T16:35:43+00:00

Leading off this week’s Shorts Break is filmmaker Rodney Ascher’s The S From Hell, a documentary-cum-horror film about the scariest corporate symbol in history—the 1964 Screen Gems logo, aka ‘The S From Hell.’ Built around interviews with survivors still traumatized from their childhood exposure to the logo after shows like Bewitched or The Flintstones, the film brings their stories to life with animation, found footage, and dramatic reenactments. Not an exhaustive historical documentary, this is a subjective film whose aim is make the audience feel the same fear and confusion as the children who were first confronted by the vexing, unfolding sights and mournful, dissonant sounds that hid in the cracks between their favorite TV shows. Check out some other instances of logo-phobia in Rodney Ascher's playlist here.

Ascher has since applied this style and form of filmmaking on display in this short to his upcoming feature Room 237, a psychological exploration into the individuals obsessed with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. This exciting new film will be available on demand and in theaters beginning March 29th. More information can be found here: http://www.ifcfilms.com/uncategorized/room-237.

In our second short film offering, Sister Wife, filmmaker Jill Orschel offers a rare glimpse into the life of a polygamist wife. Her interview with Mormom fundamentalist DoriAnn, who shares a husband with her younger biological sister, is an incredibly revealing portrait of her feelings about her lifestyle, reasons for embracing it, and the challenges she faces. This frank insight into personal choice and tradition, which combines candid confessionals with footage of a private bathing meditation, presents its subject with striking intimacy and no judgement. Fans of BIG LOVE, or those with even a passing fascination with polygamist culture are sure to learn something about this very real life choice. Watch all of the YouTube Screening Room short films here.

Gurus Announced for #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop

Sundance Institute — 2013-03-18T18:10:55+00:00

Sundance Institute and the San Francisco Film Society are set to co-host the #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop, Saturday, April 6, 2013 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM PST in the Palm Room at San Francisco Film Centre 39 Mesa Street - Suite 107 The Presidio, San Francisco CA 94129, with happy hour to follow.

Join the conversation with industry experts as they discuss the latest technology and trends in Creative Financing, Digital Distribution, Guerrilla Marketing and Independent Theatrical Distribution. Get one-on-one advice in the intimate setting of The Presidio's San Francisco Film Centre.

50 Public Tickets Available for $50.00 each. There are some spaces available for Sundance Institute Alumni and San Francisco Film Society Grant and Filmhouse Alumni (First-Come, First-Served). San Francisco Film Society Alumni - request complimentary code here. Sundance Institute Alumni - request complimentary code here.

SCHEDULE

Opening Salvo by Ted Hope, San Francisco Film Society

TIME: 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM PST

American independent film producer and Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society, Hope has produced close to 70 films, among them the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini, and Shari Berman. Hope co-founded the production companies Good Machine and This Is That.

Among Ted’s 23 Sundance entries are 3 Grand Jury Prize winners American Splendor (2003), The Brothers McMullen (1995) and What Happened Was... (1994).

Hope is a champion of creative and community-based approaches to filmmaking and distribution, and through his Hope for Film blog and social-media is well known as a leader in the field. He recently launched the iOS app FLicklist, a tool to connect you with the films you'll love most.

Creative Funding Profile: Duncan Cork of Slated.com

TIME: 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM PST

As Slated’s CEO, Duncan provides day-to-day creative and strategic leadership to the business and its partnerships. Duncan created the initial vision for Slated and subsequently founded the company in 2010. Prior to Slated, Duncan was the creative director of Katharsis, a consultancy specializing in strategy, user experience, product development, and design for clients in the entertainment, media and technology industries. Duncan moved to New York where he continues to design and develop the core Slated marketplace product - connecting filmmakers with financiers and industry professionals. Slated launched at Sundance in 2012 and has since aggregated film investors representing hundreds of millions of dollars, and has announced partnerships with some of the world's leading financing, sales, and film companies.

Digital Cinema Mastering 101 For Indies: Graef Allen of Dolby

TIME: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST

Manager of Content Services at Dolby Laboratories in Los Angeles, California. Graef has been with Dolby for more than nine years, working primarily in digital cinema mastering and distribution. Although some of her work is on studio titles, most projects are independent films or educational films for science museums. Graef spent 15 years on the staff of the Telluride Film Festival, working in production, theatre operations, and projection.

* LUNCH *

Strategy to Know: Tiffany Shlain & Annie Roney Break Down EDU

TIME: 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM PST

Tiffany Shlain

Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain (@tiffanyshlain) is a filmmaker, artist, public speaker and founder of The Webby Awards. Tiffany’s work with film, technology, and activism has received 50 awards and distinctions and her last four films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She just released a new film and accompanying TED Book called Brain Power. Her acclaimed feature documentary, Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology, is currently screening around the world and is available on all digital platforms at connectedthefilm.com. It was selected by The U.S. State Department as part of the American Filmmaker Showcase to represent the United States.

A celebrated thinker and speaker, she is on the advisory board of The Institute for the Future, has advised Secretary Clinton on technology and society, and presented the campus-wide Commencement address at U.C. Berkeley.

Annie Roney

Founder of ro*co films international, started the documentary film distribution company in 2000 and added ro*co educational in 2009. With a previous distributor she worked on all of the films by Ken Burns as well as Frontline and NOVA. She is based in Sausalito, California.

Films in her ro*co catalog include: The Invisible War, How to Survive a Plague, Blood Brother, After Tiller, American Promise, Saving Face, Born Into Brothels, Jesus Camp, Street Fight, The Weather Underground, Promises, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

What We Love Right Now: Samantha Howe of Blurb.com

TIME: 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM PST

Howe is the Senior Marketing Manager and Partner Strategist at Blurb Inc. Over 12 years of marketing strategy, business development and partnership management experience working in numerous roles in London and the U.S.

She oversees global brand partnerships for Blurb, Inc. and formerly managed the international marketing for the company. Howe was a professional photographer with clients based in the U.K. and U.S. As a senior business development and marketing professional, Samantha has handled partnerships for brands as varied as Nokia, Wrigley, Sony Music, Flickr, Fed Ex and Volkswagen.

True Disruptors Roundtable

TIME: 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM PST

Jason Sondhi / Vimeo.com

A curator for Vimeo, Jason Sondhi's work bridges film and digital cultures, with a special eye towards audience-building. Selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2011, Sondhi is also the founder and managing editor of influential short film recommendation site Short of the Week. With both his website and role at Vimeo, he enjoys an ability to discover and present talented filmmakers to massive online audiences, a perspective he brings to bear in helping define and develop the new Vimeo On Demand platform.

Malcolm Pullinger / Elevision.com

Pullinger is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, who produced and edited the award-winning documentaries Winnebago Man, Following Sean, The Love Competition and The Key of G. His films have been released theatrically in the U.S. and Canada, have aired on the BBC, PBS, ARTE, and Channel Four, and have played at film festivals around the globe. Before co-founding Elevision, he served as the Producer and Creative Director of Wholphin, the acclaimed short film quarterly published by McSweeney’s.

Jake Lodwick / Elevision.com

Lodwick is an entrepreneur best known for creating Vimeo. Before that, he was CTO and product lead for CollegeHumor, and has served as an early advisor and investor to many successful startups, including Tumblr, Bleacher Report, and MakerBot. As a boy, he obsessively shot stop-motion video with his parents’ Hi8 camcorder, and as an adult has created dozens of short films, mostly for his own amusement.

Chris Horton, Moderator

Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to launch #ArtistServices, an initiative that further extends the organization's mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with tools and resources that enhance creative funding and self-distribution opportunities. Recent projects include two films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Detropia, winner of the U.S. Documentary Editing Award, and Indie Game: The Movie, winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award.

Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York digital distribution company and sister company to Cinetic Media. Under Horton's leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop and Chris Smith's Collapse.

Takeaways: Joseph Beyer / Sundance Institute

TIME: 4:00 PM PST

Beyer currently works as Director of Digital Initiatives for Sundance Institute, where he managed the development team and launch of the Sundance Institute #ArtistServices Initiative under the direction of Executive Director Keri Putnam and the Board of Trustees. #ArtistServices provides exclusive creative funding, distribution, marketing and theatrical support to 4,000+ Sundance Institute alumni artists. Filmmakers are eligible for innovative universal and pre-negotiated deals to self-distribute their work to top digital retailers - all while retaining and controlling their creative rights and release plans.

Beyer led the team that developed the first-ever collaboration with crowd funding leader Kickstarter.com to provide Institute alumni exclusive training and promotional support in creative funding. 100+ projects totaling over $3.9 million dollars have been successfully raised through the partnership since launching in January 2011.

Shorts Break: New Media and Oh My God

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2013-03-15T17:52:25+00:00

Welcome back to Shorts Break Friday. First up this week, we have New Media, an insightful American character study from director J.J. Adler. The story centers on an out-of-touch, middle-aged man living in the lap of luxury as a dentist and self-stylized inventor, who tries to make good by getting in on the “viral video” craze to amazingly awkward effect. Shifting often from quirky to heartbreaking, Adler's accomplished production displays a sharp knack for staging complicated scenes, great casting, and a smart use of locations and characters. The film builds to a memorable climax that may hit close to home for some viewers. This was Adler's graduate thesis project for Columbia University, and she made this film while also directing the video series for The Onion, which certainly comes through in her work.

Speaking of viral videos, our second short will introduce you to the manic energy of John Bryant. Desperate and scared, a man tries to understand the bloody mess he finds his family in when he returns home in Oh My God. This was the first of two ridiculous shorts that emerged from the twisted depths of Bryant's brain to wind up on Sundance Film Festival screens. Right when you think you are going to see a lo-fi, homemade, intense thriller, you get slapped with some laughs while slipping in the gore. Watch it with friends.

Breaking Down the Programme for the Sundance London Film and Music Festival

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2013-03-11T13:00:54+00:00

In the minds of Festival Director John Cooper and Director of Programming Trevor Groth, the difficulties inherent in programming the Sundance London film and music festival tend to look more like opportunities. That is to say, neither Cooper nor Groth appear to be fettered by ingrained concepts of how and where a film festival can and should be run.

Sundance London is now in its second year, following a debut festival rife with equal parts uncertainty and success, the former of which was vanquished by a dedicated contingent of UK film enthusiasts turning out to screenings and events throughout the four-day festival. That is precisely why, one year later, the programming pair is eager to return to London this April to share the just-announced 18 feature films, 9 shorts, and handful of panels with film lovers across the pond.

Fresh off the unveiling of a similarly exploratory film festival, NEXT WEEKEND, Cooper and Groth took a moment to shed light on the carefully curated programme for Sundance London, last year's ambitious UK audiences, and their respective affinity for sharing and showcasing the best independent film in the world.

With the Sundance Film Festival taking place just two months prior to Sundance London, what is the programming process for the latter?

John Cooper: For films, I think it really begins at our Sundance Film Festival in Park City. We have Sundance London in the back of our minds around that time, as we watch how audiences react to the films. Generally, we’re thinking about building a diverse program in addition to representing the broad fundamentals of film—documentary, narrative, and shorts. We want to give a good representation of not only what we’re doing at our Festival in Utah, but also what is going on in the independent film scene.

Trevor Groth: As a film and music festival, there are some obvious ones that jump out to you. Films like History of the Eagles Part One, Muscle Shoals, and The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, which Alicia Keyes did the music for and Jennifer Hudson stars in. But the greater driving force behind the program is to create a cross-section of what the Festival in Park City is all about and to give audiences in London a taste of what Sundance is.

Are the trends and themes that we saw at the Sundance Film Festival visible in the Sundance London programme?

JC: Many of the themes that we saw in Park City this year are represented in the Sundance London programme. Comedy looms large, there is an exploration of sexual relationships in films like Look of Love and Touchy Feely, and as always we’re drawn to documentaries with strong emotional impact, which is evident in a film like Blood Brother.

TG: One of the big stories that came out of Park City was the number of women directors in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and Sundance London is following suit in that regard. We’re excited to have 10 films directed by women screening at Sundance London.

What did you learn from the inaugural Sundance London, and how did that inform the programming this year?

JC: The audiences were very adventurous and engaged in the Q&As and panels. We’re creating our panel programming around that, with things like the “Screenwriting Flash Lab,” which is geared toward somebody who wants to be a screenwriter.

TG: We included some UK films in our Shorts Program last year, and there’s something compelling about seeing films from the U.S. side by side with films from the UK. We wanted to expand upon that, so we created a UK Spotlight section for feature films from the UK that premiered in Park City earlier this year.

How is Robert Redford’s vision for Sundance Institute perceptible in Sundance London?

JC: Redford played a huge role in the conception of Sundance London and he really continues to be engaged as it evolves. He’s very interested in artists interacting with different mediums—in this case filmmakers and musicians. That’s something that continues to drive him in his own career. We’re glad he can join us for Sundance London again this year.

What are you most looking forward to at Sundance London, and what films or events do you think will resonate strongly with UK audiences?

JC: I think all of the documentaries will play really well. We’ve selected filmmakers with very strong points of view—Lynn Shelton, Lake Bell, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts—and they create some real diversity. Additionally, Upstream Color created quite the stir at the festival because of its depth and story, and I’m looking forward to showing that film.

TG: What I’m looking forward to is something that’s a big part of the Festival in Park City, which is having first-time filmmakers alongside established filmmakers like Barbara Kopple and Michael Winterbottom.

Each of you talk often about the importance of reaching new audiences. What drives that desire?

JC: I like building things. I like trying things and then shifting them based on what works. Part of the goal of Sundance London is to engage a greater culture around cinema. We know that what we do for 10 days in January in Utah works, but where else can we take that?

TG: I love the idea of fueling creativity. At its core, that’s what Sundance Institute is all about. One of the things that surprised us last year was how many people came out to the panels about the raw process of filmmaking. Sundance London may help give someone in the UK the energy to go out and make films that maybe one day we can show.

Click here for the complete Sundance London film and panel programme.