Sundance Institute | Digest

Video: Alumni Spotlight: Billy Luther

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-31T03:46:33+00:00

Native American documentary filmmaker Billy Luther has directed two Sundance Film Festival Official Selections (Miss Navajo in 2007 and GRAB in 2011) and is the latest subject of our Alumni Spotlight series, where he explains the impetus for exploring his heritage through film.

Video: ShortsLab 2012

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-24T20:46:57+00:00

The Sundance Institute's third year of ShortsLab comes to New York, Seattle and Los Angeles in 2012. Participants include Antonio Campos, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Durkin, Hal Hartley, Nicole Kassell, Josh Leonard, Brit Marling, Adepero Odue, Nick Offerman, Lynn Shelton and many more. Short films screening in New York with Rooftop Films on June 15 to precede ShortsLab: NYC.

http://www.sundance.org/shortslab

http://www.sundance.org/shortslabnyc

http://www.sundance.org/shortslabseattle

http://www.sundance.org/shortslabla

Video: Native and Indigenous Film Program: Origin Story

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-21T19:34:13+00:00

Sundance Institute's Native American and Indigenousn Film Program supports Native artists through what Program Director, Bird Runningwater describes as an "indigenous film circle", helping young filmmakers to cultivate their stories.

News: The Stories of Change Impact Lab Unites Filmmakers, Social Entrepreneurs, and Designers

Jon Korn — 2012-05-31T19:29:50+00:00

"This is the sound of the world changing," observed a grinning Cara Mertes, Director of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program and Fund, as she took the stage amid deafening applause. The audience in front of her had gathered for the first ever Stories of Change Impact Lab, where teams of innovators and artists had spent the better part of the past week huddled together at the intersection of documentary storytelling, new media and social justice.

To say the crowd was diverse would be a wild understatement. Storytellers and technologists, designers and social entrepreneurs, strategists and programmers had come together in Berkeley, CA for this unprecedented new initiative from the Skoll Foundation and the Sundance Institute, designed to offer a forum for social entrepreneurs, innovators, and artists to find the areas where their work intersects and to devise strategies to expand the impact and reach of their work through more effective use of traditional and trans-media storytelling.

Mertes had kicked off the proceedings by tracing the origins of the Impact Lab, an outgrowth of the Stories of Change Partnership, which has been connecting filmmakers and social entrepreneurs since its founding in 2007. With 10 feature-length documentaries in production, Mertes explained, both Sundance Institute and Skoll felt they had reached a pivotal point in the life of these projects and the ever-evolving new media tools available to storytellers of all stripes. "This Lab is an expression of the evolution of this partnership," revealed Mertes, "to a newer, riskier, and ultimately more impactful endeavor."

The vital connection between story and change was a recurring theme throughout the course of the Impact Lab. "Storytelling is core to Skoll's view of the world," agreed Skoll Foundation's Director of Strategic Alliances, Sandy Herz. "Our belief is that we can accelerate the impact of social entrepreneurs around the world."That sentiment provided the foundation for the Lab's goals, which was to identify the biggest challenges facing each organization and design a strategy to address those issues. "We hope that this is going to be an interesting recipe, " laughed Gabi Brink, Founder and Executive Creative Director of Tomorrow Partners. "A wonderful combination that will lead to truly great ideas."

To facilitate this process, Skoll and Sundance Institute turned to Tomorrow Partners , a Berkeley-based strategic design agency, which spent three months devising and organizing a week-long lab that matched five established social change-makers with teams of storytellers, designers and advisers. The underlying hope behind this approach was that the results of these collaborations between these highly accomplished and effective individuals would ultimately equal more than the sum of their parts.

Among the most innovative aspects of the Lab is the design-centered approach and the extensive design and storytelling expertise each team had at its disposal. The five Skoll Foundation-supported social entrepreneur organizations participating in the Lab attended with filmmakers whose most recent projects have been funded by the Stories of Change partnership between the Skoll Foundation and Sundance Institute. The teams were engineered to showcase a diversity of unique perspectives on how to effectively convey a message that has the potential to become a catalyst for change. The Lab’s participants also represent the wide range of social entrepreneurs involved in Stories of Change:

Barefoot College aims to make rural communities self-sufficient and sustainable. The organization's recent work includes a program that has taught over 700 mothers and grandmothers from all over the world to be solar engineers. Filmmaker Mona Eldaief, who has worked on such documentaries as Control Room, A Wedding in Ramallah, and Her Name is Zelda, is currently working on a documentary about the solar training program.

Imazon promotes sustainable development in the Amazon through research and policy. In 21 years, the organization has developed a revolutionary method of tracking deforestation while publishing hundreds of papers and books.

Throughout the Lab, members of Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Staff helped the team integrate storytelling into their proposal.

mothers2mothers works to eradicate mother-to-child HIV transmission. The group employs mothers living with HIV as 'Mother Mentors,' who work to prevent new infections among infants while keeping both babies and their mothers alive. Dr. Neal Baer, who has executive produced such television hits as ER, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and A Gifted Man, joined the team as an advisor.

Partners In Health provides preferential health care options for the poor. Since 1987, the organization has grown to include 11,000 employees, working in 49 health centers and hospitals across 11 countries. Producer Cori Shephard Stern, whose has worked in both the film industry and as a social change strategist, is working on a documentary about PIH.

YouthBuild USA marshals the positive energy of low-income youth to rebuild their communities and their lives. Over the past 30 years, the program has grown to include 46 states and produced 300,000 graduates. Producer Brooke Brewer represented Break Thru Films, which is working on a film about YouthBuild and has made numerous documentaries including Burma Soldier, Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work and The Devil Came on Horseback.

Just five days after that initial meeting, the participants reunited as a group to share the results of their collaborations. As each team prepared for their fifteen-minute presentation, the room was abuzz with nervous energy and limitless possibility. All of the social entrepreneurs present worked for organizations that had succeeded in doing the impossible: producing lasting and tangible change in some of the most difficult settings around the world. But they had never done anything like this.

First mothers2mothers unveiled its plans for an 'ambassador's toolkit' that would allow the organization to raise the funds and awareness necessary to end Pediatric AIDS by 2015. Then Imazon explained how a redesign of its website - the primary vehicle through which its research is disseminated - might increase the efficacy and reach of the organization's work.

Partners In Health dedicated the week to designing a new means of online fundraising raising money. One potential solution to emerge from the Lab's brainstorming sessions was subscription-based initiative intended to fund a comprehensive plan to treat non-communicable diseases. Meanwhile, the Barefoot College team had created a program to equip every graduate of its program with a tablet that would offer continued training, a means of communication, and a tool to measure impact.

The Lab clearly had an impact on Jackie Gelb, YouthBuild USA's Growth Planning Senior Advisor. "It was spectacular," she exclaimed. "It was a revolutionary process." Her organization used the week to tackle their status as "the most successful organization that you've never heard of.'" The plan they developed was to start collecting success stories from YouthBuild USA's hundreds of thousands of graduates, and then share them online.

"We've always known we wanted to do this, but we had no idea how to create that pathway forward, "said Gelb. "The people we were working with had skills that were outside of our normal reach as a non-profit."

News: Kickstart Fight Church

Daniel Junge — 2012-05-30T23:24:57+00:00

Daniel Junge is a filmmaker whose work includes the Oscar-winner “Saving Face,” Oscar-nominee “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,” Emmy-nominated “They Killed Sister Dorothy,” Toronto-premiere (and Sundance Documentary Fund recipient) “Iron Ladies of Liberia,” and Tribeca award-winner “Chiefs.” He is currently using Kickstarter to raise funds for his new film “Fight Church.” Click here to help the film reach its goal.

I've been very fortunate to get my previous films funded through a variety of angles—through ITVS's Open Call, through broadcasters like HBO, through Sundance Documentary Fund and other grants, and through tried and true method of hitting up everyone I know for spare change.

For my most recent project, with co-director Bryan Storkel (Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians), we're going the Kickstarter route. It's been an education.

First of all, I'm very impressed by Kickstarter and have fellow filmmakers who have used it very successfully. Some people think it's over-saturated now, especially for documentaries, yet there continue to be success stories there. But I've learned some projects are more viable than others.

For those projects which tug at the heart strings of a very specific audience, it seems to be a very effective tool. Our film, however, is a little different story. FIGHT CHURCH is about confluence of Christianity and mixed martial arts (including Ultimate Fighting). It's about churches that espouse MMA and about fighters who are devout Christians.

Obviously this cross section is controversial, and the question our film poses is asked very directly by one of our subjects: "Can you love your neighbor as yourself while kneeing him in the face?"

I myself had skepticism about Christian MMA, but when you hang out with a guy like Pastor Paul Burress you can't help but be impressed with his devotion and earnestness. One thing you can say emphatically and without question is that nowhere in the Bible does it outlaw Mixed Martial Arts. Therefore religion is such that everyone has their own interpretation—sometimes a very passionate interpretation of whether or not it encompasses their lifestyle. The people who inhabit this lifestyle, fight, and are devout Christians believe that there are no contradictions there.

I have made a number of films that have faith implications including the murder of a Catholic nun in Brazil (They Killed Sister Dorothy, narrated by Martin Sheen), and I just did a film on acid violence in the Muslim world (Saving Face). In general, when I make these films I immerse myself in them, but they don’t profoundly impact my outlook on the world.

We are not intending to be overtly critical of this sub-culture, nor are we intending to support it. Rather, we're giving these passionate people a voice and allowing viewers to come up with their own conclusions. I think the best documentaries come from this "middle way."

But what we've discovered is that this editorial approach is not necessarily what sells when crowd-funding. We're as happy to get contributions from devout Christians and hardcore MMA fans as we are to take money from people who are unabashed critics of one or both of these cultures. But we don't want to skew our film, or our fundraising, to appeal to either of these very dedicated audiences. This leaves us to fish for money from lovers of documentary film—and this is the audience I feel has already "tapped out" (pun intended) on Kickstarter.

We're doing OK and with a last big push I think we'll make our goal. But it's been an education, and I hope other filmmakers who are considering this route will consider their film's editorial viewpoint (or lack thereof) and how that affects their ability to get dedicated audiences to fork out money early on.

We are currently 50% of the way to our goal and have raised over $15,000. We have just 5 days to go. If you are intrigued by this project and would like to see it finished, you can visit our Kickstarter page to help out. Thank you.

News: Kickstart I Am Not a Hipster

Destin Daniel Cretton — 2012-05-30T21:59:20+00:00

Destin Daniel Cretton is the writer and director of “I Am Not a Hipster,” which premiered in the NEXT category at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He is using Kickstarter to help raise funds for the film’s release. Click here to help the film reach its goal.

At the beginning of last year, Ron Najor (producer) sat me down and said these words (I’m paraphrasing): “I want to make a movie with you. I don’t care if it sucks, I just want to make something.” Im not sure if he realized this at the time, but that statement was the most freeing thing he could have said to me. I felt free to take chances, to try something I haven’t tried before, to write a story without boundaries or fears.

When I started writing, I had no idea it would end up where it did. I initially thought I was just going to tell a fun story about San Diego’s indie music and art scene, a community I fell in love with while living there for 10 years.

My secret reason for writing this script was to have an excuse to work with two of my favorite artists: Dominic Bogart (an actor who never ceases to surprise me both on screen and stage) and Joel P West (a musician whose melodies have inspired me for years).

Dominic had his work cut out for him, having to prep for basically every scene in the movie while also learning how to play and sing the five songs he performs (live). And in the end, I honestly have no problem bragging about both the acting and music performances in this movie, because I’m genuinely in love with both, and can’t wait for everyone to have a chance to experience it.

I Am Not A Hipster isn’t just a movie about “hipsterdom” or 20-year-olds trying really hard to be cool. Even though it’s a pretty fun movie, it’s not a spoof or a 90-minute joke. Somewhere along the way, it has become much more than that. It has become a story about a brother remembering how to laugh with his sisters; a son learning to relate to his father; a family struggling to love while grieving; and a young man realizing he can still sing in the midst of sadness.

The only reason this story ended up where it is now was because I felt like it was okay to mess-up, and that mentality stayed with us all the way through production. When it came to decisions on photography, music, performance, wardrobe, the constant reminder to everyone involved was, take a chance. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, or a complete failure, just try something new and see what happens. So that’s what we all did.

We weren’t trying to make something that would make money, or reach a mass audience, or even play at Sundance. We were only trying to make something. It just so happens, that something premiered at Sundance this January and it was one of the most frightening and amazing experiences of my life. When the first frame of our film popped onto the screen in a sold-out theater in Park City, I literally thought I was going to die. But while listening to the reaction at the credit roll, and talking to people after the screening, I’ve never felt so proud to be a part of a team that decided to take a chance.

Since Sundance, we’ve been taking the film to a number of wonderful festivals (Cleveland, Nashville, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Newport Beach, Arkansas, Seattle), where we’ve received some really great responses from audiences. Here’s a little video from a screening we did in San Diego: https://vimeo.com/42324671.

About a month ago, we decided to raise funds to release this film in the same way it was created. So, we launched a Kickstarter campaign (click here) where people can see some clips from the film and our time at Sundance, hear our story and decide whether or not it’s something they’d like to support. As a thank you to those who do support us, we’re offering rewards ranging from a pre-order of the DVD and soundtrack to a private screening and music performance in your home.

Thanks to everyone who supported us already, we’re over half-way to our goal! But we still have a way to go, so if anyone out there finds anything in this blog-post remotely interesting, please check out our campaign and let us know what you think!

News: Hal Hartley and Brit Marling Anchor a Short-tacular Lineup at ShortsLab NYC

Mike Plante, Short Film Programmer — 2012-05-30T15:58:48+00:00

It’s hard to truly comprehend how much the short film world has taken us by storm. “Viral video” is a dictionary term and news item. You can get a college degree by making shorts. Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, and Lynne Ramsay started out with shorts on their way to impressive film careers. With a camera, microphone and editing program, you too can be a storyteller, joke writer or political thunderstorm. How about some advice?

To help promote and foster the world of short films, the Sundance Institute created ShortsLab, a daylong seminar of panels, screenings and discussions. With so many outlets in today’s world for the short film, the goal of each ShortsLab is to provide insight and specific case studies to show how to make a good short. The first ShortsLab for 2012 will take place in Brooklyn in June.

For a panel on storytelling, we are lucky to have three distinct writer-directors share their experiences on everything from ideas to dialogue. Ilya Chaiken's films are defined by her sharp, clever humor and the quirky yet realistic characters she created. Nicole Kassell forms very complex characters within a variety of divisive plots. The indie legend Hal Hartley has created such a unique style of characters and dialogue that it takes but one scene to recognize his films are recognizable based on any one scene.

The importance of collaboration is often overlooked and yet foundational to the filmmaking process – working within a group is necessary for every film. The Borderline Films team will discuss their modes of production and teamwork in shorts and such features as Afterschool and Martha Marcy May Marlene. After they create nuanced stories, they work closely with their cinematographer and editor to fully realize the vision of each film and make a personal stamp on all parts of the filmmaking.

An important facet of every film is a director’s connection with actors, so we’ve brought together three intriguing actresses to offer their insights into creating a dynamic and productive collaboration with filmmakers. Adepero Oduye took the extraordinary character in Pariah from short to feature, with different challenges in each form. Sarita Choudhury has acted in many fields, from short to television roles to independent and studio feature films, breathing life into otherwise conventional roles. Brit Marling combined acting in a lead role with both writing and producing in two features, having a hand in each part of creation.

Possibly the most fun discussion will ignite around a program designed to deliver the inside scoop on filming on the streets, subways and sidewalks of New York. Learn what you are really in for and how to survive with these veterans of filmmaking in the big city. Filmmaker Magazine editor, Scott Macaulay, has produced some of the most unique indie films of the past two generations and has become a veritable a hub of info about all things relationg to film productionbut . Cinematographer Michael Simmonds knows how to find both beauty and gritty reality from all kinds of locations. And producer Mike Ryan has more crazy production stories than the entire Internet.

Short Film Programmers will also be on hand, offering background on the Sundance Film Festival and the process of programming short films, giving real advice and dispelling some myths.

ShortsLab NYC takes place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM Rose Cinemas) on Saturday, June 16. For registration and more info:www.sundance.org/shortslab

In advance of ShortsLab: NYC on Saturday, June 16, Rooftop Films will host a screening of short films the previous day (Friday, June 15) at Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side), 350 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002. The screening is open to the public, regardless of whether they plan to attend ShortsLab: NYC the following day. Tickets to the screening are available here.

News: Our Dean’s List of Sundance-Supported Films About Students, Just in Time for Graduation Season

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-05-25T17:47:04+00:00

Graduation season: A time of great optimism, renewal, and blissful naiveté. There is a sweet oblivion that comes with being a recent grad, before dreams have turned to fantasies and a glaring cynicism permeates every aspect of life. Ok, maybe post-grad life isn't that bad...

Celebrate the long lost graduate in you with our Sundance picks, and congrats to all the high school and college graduates!

Brick
Rian Johnson’s piercing crime drama is much too refined for a directorial debut. It flirts with a creepy neo-noir aesthetic, but refuses to pander to the genre-obsessed, expertly paving an unexpected path in terms of both style and narrative. Put simply, Brick excels in its ability to remain liberated from genre. I suppose that would explain its 2005 Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize For Originality Of Vision.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays an enigmatic high school student intent on connecting the dots following the death of his ex-girlfriend. Despite his outsider status, and though he approaches the periphery of the archetypical loser, he is nonetheless quick-witted and pretty badass. But is it enough to successfully infiltrate the high school crime ring and get to the bottom of the mystery?

Napoleon Dynamite
On paper, Napoleon Dynamite doesn’t gross $46 million, spawn a moon boot revival, and prompt the sale of millions of ‘Vote for Pedro’ t-shirts. And perhaps that improbability is the greatest testament to the work of director Jared Hess and the quirkiest of performances from John Heder.

Napoleon’s best friend and fellow outcast, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), is running for class president, and the two must devise a plan to defeat the snooty Summer Wheatly (Haylie Duff). While Napoleon Dynamite did garner an enthusiastic, somewhat fanatical group of followers, that group is by no means small. Thus, the cult label the film has received is a bit of a misnomer and a product of the film’s brilliant absurdity.

Adventureland
Another reclusive outcast wallowing in his teen angst, another appropriate addition to our Graduation Films List.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is devastated after his parents reveal they can’t finance his post-grad European trip. What’s worse: the alternative is staying home and finding summer employment in order to support his upcoming Ivy League schooling. It’s the summer of 1987, so that means working the games section at the local amusement park, Adventureland.

Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, and Ryan Reynolds lead a stellar cast and director Greg Motolla (Superbad) crafts a charming portrait of young love and self-realization with just the right dose of his trademark humor.

Liberal Arts
The multi-talented and seemingly ubiquitous Josh Radnor plays Jesse Fisher, a thirty-something caught in a drab existence and succumbing to early onset mid-life crisis. But when he returns to his alma mater to speak at a former professor’s retirement dinner, Jesse finds himself enthralled by a precocious 19-year-old student played by the alluring Elizabeth Olsen.

Heathers
Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is the newest addition to “The Heathers,” a quartet of snobby trend-setters at Westerburg High. Unbeknownst to her new counterparts, Veronica’s deviance far exceeds their own. After she begins dating the unruly school newcomer, J.D. (Christian Slater), the two collaborate in an effort to take down their enemies. But the outcome is far more sinister than anticipated, and the pair are forced to cover up a series of murders.

Also, soon to be released: HIGH School

What did we forget? Let us in on your favorite grad-themed Sundance films in the comment section below.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Elects Three New Trustees

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-24T17:00:36+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced three new members of the Institute’s Board of Trustees: Sean Bailey, Anand Mahindra and Jacki Zehner.

Under the guidance of President & Founder Robert Redford and in close collaboration with Executive Director Keri Putnam, the 23-person Board is responsible for the governance of Sundance Institute and works to actively advance creative and financial support for artists developing original stories for the screen and stage. Wally Weisman continues as Chairman of the Board.

Said Weisman: “We welcome these new members of our Board. We are proud of the organization’s standing as an internationally recognized nonprofit arts organization, and we are extremely optimistic about the stability of the Institute and its recent growth to include several new initiatives that are connecting artists with audiences around the world.”

Putnam said, “Sundance Institute is honored to expand our Board with the addition of these new Trustees, whose vision, creativity and expertise offer us the innovative leadership needed to continue to evolve and develop as a cultural organization.”

In addition to those announced today, Trustees that have recently joined the Board are Sheila C. Johnson, James R. Swartz and Stanley Tucci, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lynn Nottage and Heather Rae as Artist Trustees. Artist Trustees are participants from Institute programs, including the Sundance Film Festival, artistic Labs and direct granting, who share with the Board their perspectives and act as liaisons to other Institute alumni.

The other business, cultural and philanthropic leaders on the Institute’s Board are: Robert Redford, President & Founder; Wally Weisman, Chairman of the Board; Pat Mitchell, Vice Chairman; Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Secretary; Jack Ferraro, Treasurer; Kenneth Cole; Robert J. Frankenberg; George Gund; Mellody Hobson; Cindy Harrell Horn; Christine Lahti; Lyn Davis Lear; Geoffrey K. Sands; and John E. Warnock. In addition, Emeritus Trustees are: Glenn Close; Jake Eberts; Sally Field; Steven Haft; Thomas E. Rothman; and George White.

NEW TRUSTEES

Sean Bailey is President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production and oversees all aspects of live-action development, film production and physical production for Walt Disney Pictures. A 20-year industry veteran, Bailey has created, packaged and developed film, television and new media concepts for Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, New Line Cinema, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., all major television networks, MSN and Yahoo. His feature film producing credits include Disney's TRON: Legacy; Miramax's Gone, Baby, Gone, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Amy Ryan; Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage; The Core; and Best Laid Plans. His screenplay Solace, co-written by Ted Griffin, is in preproduction at New Line Cinema.

Anand Mahindra is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, one of India's largest, diversified corporations. Named one of the top 25 most powerful business people in Asia by Fortune magazine, he serves on the Board of Dean's Advisors at the Harvard Business School, the India Council for Sustainable Development, the Asia Business Council, and the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry and on the Board of the National Stock Exchange of India. As an Undergraduate at Harvard, he majored in Filmmaking, and his continued commitment to the Arts was in evidence last year when he made the largest ever gift to the Humanities at Harvard University. The Mahindra Group's media company, Mumbai Mantra, collaborated with Sundance Institute to organize the first-ever Screenwriters Lab in India. Anand is co-founder of Naandi Danone, a Life Trustee on the Board of Naandi Foundation and a Trustee of the K.C. Mahindra Education Trust. He received the 2005 Leadership Award from the American India Foundation for his commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.

Jacki Zehner was the youngest woman and first female trader to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. Since leaving Goldman in 2002 she has become an impassioned philanthropist committed to the advancement of women and girls. She currently serves as CEO of Women Moving Millions, whose goal is to mobilize unprecedented resources for women and girls. Jacki is also President of The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation and former board member of The Women’s Funding Network, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Center for Talent Innovation, The National Council for Research on Women and The University of British Columbia. She serves as an advisor for many other for-profit and non-profit organizations that are working to advance gender equality including The Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, the Pax Global Women's Equality Fund and Women Effect Investments. She is a frequent media commentator, consultant and speaker on women’s success in the workplace, women and wealth, investing, financial current events and high-impact philanthropy. Jacki lives in Park City, Utah with her husband Greg and two children.

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Press Release: National Arts Policy Roundtable Findings Released by Americans for the Arts and Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-23T15:00:01+00:00

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sundance Institute and Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today released a new report based on findings from the most recent National Arts Policy Roundtable.

Innovating for Impact: Arts-Based Solutions for a Stronger America is the result of a gathering of 35 leaders from the business, government, philanthropy, education and the arts sectors, which took place at the Sundance Resort in September 2011 to address ways in which the arts can be an economic driver as well as a vehicle for initiating positive social change.

The Roundtable participants made the following recommendations:

Deepen Strategic Alliances Across Sectors: Expand cross-sector collaboration between the arts and other institutions to help solve social problems.
Communicate the Value of the Arts: Engage individuals of all demographics in crafting and delivering personal narratives that demonstrate the importance of being an artist and the power expressing oneself gives them.
Expand Lines of Inquiry and Future Research: Use both qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate to the philanthropic, government and corporate sectors how the arts can be a key component in social problem-solving efforts.
Integrate the Arts into Legislative and Other Policy Reforms: Leverage available funding streams to include the arts as part of economic development, neighborhood revitalization or other community-based initiatives.

Roundtable participants included Joyce Foundation President Ellen Alberding; actor and former Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jane Alexander; filmmaker Angad Bhalla; Albert Chao, CEO Westlake Chemical; theatre artist Rha Goddess; musician Robert Gupta; filmmaker Lee Hirsch; playwright and former Sundance Institute board member Moises Kaufman; Americans for the Arts President and CEO, Robert L. Lynch; Anand Mahindra, CEO Mahindra & Mahindra, Ltd; Jeremy Nowak, President, William Penn Foundation; filmmaker Patrice O’Neill; Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam; Edgar L. Smith, CEO World Pac Paper; and noted actor, writer, producer and Sundance Institute board member Stanley Tucci.

“The arts are a fundamental component in the DNA of our communities and society at large,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “I look at every part of our society and see the arts affecting so much positive change for the economy, jobs, crime prevention, race relations, education, the health system and infrastructure. The recommendations communicate the value of the arts in American society and the integral role arts play in solving America’s social needs and issues.“

"The multifaceted power of the arts in communities, great and small, continues to grow and diversify,” said Sundance Institute president & founder Robert Redford. “From cultural diplomacy and fostering innovators of today and tomorrow, to massive economic impact, the arts are well past being considered a luxury we can do without. Public and private investment in the arts pays off in a big way and needs to expand and increase. Our own Sundance Film Festival’s overall economic impact, just since 2001, has been a half billion dollars, including thousands of jobs – a story repeating itself in cultural institutions all over the country.”

Participation in Roundtable Motivates Stanley Tucci to Testify Before Congress

Inspired by his participation in the 2011 Roundtable, Stanley Tucci testified before Congress on March 22 in Washington, D.C. Appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Tucci’s testimony focused on the unique ability of the arts to unify people from diverse backgrounds by giving them common experiences. He also discussed how the arts can be used to help America’s citizens better understand and be proud of who they are as a people.

“We must not look at the arts as an adjunct to society, but a vital and integral part of society,” Tucci noted in his testimony. “Sometimes the arts make us think and see things as we have never before, sometimes they simply entertain and sometimes, if we are lucky, they do both.”

Roundtable Inspires Launch of The Bully Project: 1Million Kids Program in Cincinnati

The Roundtable gathering has already sparked action on both the national and local level. Lee Hirsch’s inspiring discussion of the making of critically acclaimed documentary “Bully” at the Roundtable prompted WorldPac Paper CEO Edgar L. Smith to bring the filmmaker and project to Cincinnati for a premiere as well as a series of in-depth dialogues with more than 12,000 young people in May 2012. The community-wide partnership has galvanized leaders from the Cincinnati school system, businesses (such as Procter & Gamble, Sunny Delight and the JLB-Cincinnati Reds), nonprofit organizations (such as The Strive Partnership, and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) and government to participate in the project.

“At the start of the National Arts Policy Roundtable, Robert Redford charged us, as leaders of a movement, to come up with ways to use arts-based solutions for a stronger America. And in Cincinnati, we feel we have done just that,” said Smith. “I am honored and proud to have been a significant contributor to facilitate Hirsch’s vision of making The Bully Project: 1Million Kids Program a reality.”

Recommendations Stimulate Arts-Based Social Problem-Solving Initiatives

Two initiatives linking arts and social problem-solving strategies are underway to create opportunities for direct dialogue between artists and business leaders around creativity and embed artists in social change and policy organizations.

The first, National Creativity Conversations,proposed by The Conference Board President and CEO Jonathan Spector, establishes a series of dialogues between artists and business leaders to be co-led by The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts. At these day-long gatherings business executives will gain an understanding of the skills artists practice such as creativity, innovation and the ability to influence others through dramatic articulation and the visualization of ideas. Because they will take place in both a business and an art setting the conversations can take on a more immediate flavor of each operation. The experience is designed to unlock potential collaborative models.

With support from the Time Warner Foundation, Ann Beeson, senior fellow, Open Society Foundations is initiating the National Culture and Change Fellowship Program, which is a concept for placing artists in social change positions in policy organizations, including businesses, foundations and local governments. Time Warner Executive and Roundtable participant Lisa Quiroz is participating along with Americans for the Arts Animating Democracy Co-Directors Barbara Schaffer Bacon and Pam Korza on the design team creating the initiative. Among the objectives for the project are to encourage more nonprofit, government and business leaders and organizations to routinely incorporate art and culture in their social change strategies.

About The National Arts Policy Roundtable

The National Arts Policy Roundtable was launched in October 2006 by Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, and Robert Redford, president and founder of Sundance Institute, on the premise that issues important to the arts are also important to society. Since its inception, the Roundtable has convened more than 175 top level decision makers and thought leaders from the fields of business, government, the social sector, education and the arts in a unique cross-sector forum designed to discuss issues and propose solutions critical to advancing American culture and vitality. Each Roundtable yields a series of recommendations on public policies and private sector practices that are necessary to move the issue from thought to action. Past topics addressed include the future of private sector funding for the arts, the role of the arts in building a creative and internationally-competitive and 21st century workforce, fostering civic engagement and in strengthening global communities. The National Arts Policy Roundtable is currently organized and hosted by Sundance Institute and Americans for the Arts. Event organization is led by Cara Mertes, Director, Documentary Film Program, Sundance Institute, and Nora Halpern, Vice President of Leadership Alliances, Americans for the Arts.

For a full copy of the report, please visit the National Arts Policy Roundtable page on Americans for the Arts’ website.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Contacts:
Catherine Brandt, 202-712-2054, cbrandt@artsusa.org
Sarah Eaton, 310-492-2320, sarah_eaton@sundance.org

Press Release: Sundance Institute Presents 15th Annual Free Outdoor Film Screening Series For Locals

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-22T15:00:29+00:00

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced the four films to be featured at eight free outdoor film screenings for the 2012 Sundance Institute Summer Series. Now in its 15th year, screenings kick off on June 20 at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and June 21 in a new Park City venue for the summer series, Canyons Resort.

Jill Miller, Managing Director of Sundance Institute said, “Our Summer Series is one way we share independent film with audiences year round. We look forward to enjoying these films, a mix of audience and critical favorites from past Sundance Film Festivals, with our neighbors and friends in Utah during the gorgeous summer months.”

With a strong history of serving as a cultural catalyst by bringing films and artists to the area, the nonprofit Sundance Institute is once again joining forces with other local organizations to create memorable film events and promote community engagement. This year’s nonprofit collaborators include Red Butte Garden, Kimball Arts Festival and Park City Recreation for the August 3rd screening of BONES BRIGADE: An Autobiography. Event details to follow.
Audiences experience work from filmmakers who have screened their films at the Sundance Film Festival, and participated in the Institute’s artist-development programs such as the Directors Lab, the Documentary Editing and Storytelling Lab and the Film Composers Lab.
All screenings are free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnic baskets and blankets to sit on.

Films screening as part of the series are:

Under African Skies / U.S.A. (Director: Joe Berlinger) — Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he sparked for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa, designed to end Apartheid.

Wednesday, June 20 at 9:00 p.m. at Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City
Thursday, June 21 at 9:00 p.m. at Canyons Resort, Park City

CSNY Déjà vu / U.S.A. (Director: Bernard Shakey; Screenwriters: Neil Young, Mike Cerre)—The war in Iraq is the backdrop as the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Freedom of Speech Tour" crisscrosses North America. Echoes of Vietnam-era anti-war sentiment abound as the band connects with today's audiences. Cast: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Mike Cerre, Stephen Colbert.

Wednesday, July 11 at 9:00 p.m. at Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City (Note: Crosby, Stills and Nash will be performing live at Red Butte Garden on August 23rd)
Thursday, July 12 at 9:00 p.m. at Canyons Resort, Park City

Filly Brown / U.S.A. (Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Screenwriter: Youssef Delara) — A Hip Hop-driven drama about a Mexican girl who rises to fame and consciousness as she copes with the incarceration of her mother through music. Cast: Lou Diamond Phillips, Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera, Edward James Olmos.

Wednesday, July 25 at 9:00 p.m. at Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City
Thursday, July 26 at 9:00 p.m. at Canyons Resort, Park City

BONES BRIGADE: An Autobiography / U.S.A. (Director: Stacy Peralta) — When six teenage boys came together as a skateboarding team in the 1980s, they reinvented not only their chosen sport but themselves too – as they evolved from insecure outsiders to the most influential athletes in the field.

Wednesday, August 1 at 9:00 p.m. at Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City
Friday, August 3 at 9:00 p.m. at City Park, Park City – Sundance Institute is pleased to be part of the 43rd Annual Kimball Arts Festival and collaborating with Park City Recreation for special skateboard demonstration before the screening. Artist will be on site to create original designs on skate decks and filmmaker Stacey Peralta will be in attendance for Q&A and additional activities.

Sundance Institute gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Principal Sponsor Zions Bank, and Community Supporters Summit County RAP Tax, Salt Lake County Zap Tax Tier II, Salt Lake County Economic Development, Promontory Foundation, Red Butte Garden, Canyons Resort, Park City Municipal and Kimball Art Center.

For more information about Sundance Institute programming for Utah residents visit www.sundance.org/utah.

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Brings $80 Million to Utah With 2012 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-16T15:00:43+00:00

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced that the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Utah, in January, generated an overall economic impact of $80 million for the State of Utah, according to the independent annual economic and demographic study conducted by the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the David Eccles School of Business (BEBR).

The Economic Report, posted in full on the Sundance Institute website, also found that the 2012 Festival: supported over 1,731 jobs; generated over $69 million in media exposure; provided nearly $6.9 million in tax revenue; and was attended by more than 46,000 people, a 2% increase over the prior year. More than 66 percent of festival attendees traveled from outside of Utah, more than 5,700 visitors were from international locations and more than 44 percent of tourist attendees indicated that they intend to visit Utah again during the next year. 2012 figures show gains in all categories.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Nationwide it is proven that the arts boost tourism, create jobs, increase educational outreach and support local businesses, and we are proud to be a strong example of this. We will continue to raise awareness of the importance of corporate, government, foundation and individual funding for the arts because of the critical role the arts play in creating strong, resourceful communities.”
“We are proud to be the official Sundance Film Festival host state and appreciate both the economic value it brings to Utah as well as the invaluable cultural and artistic benefit to residents and visitors alike," said Governor Gary R. Herbert. “Our collaboration with Sundance Institute is multidimensional, and we are grateful to continue working together to attract the attention of international business leaders, highlight Utah’s commerce friendly dynamic and drive economic benefit to the State.”

Since 2001, Sundance Institute, through its annual Sundance Film Festival, has generated in excess of one-half billion dollars in economic activity for Utah. The Festival is the state’s largest annual international event, bolstering tourism and attracting worldwide media attention.

Jill Miller, Managing Director of Sundance Institute, said, “The 2012 Sundance Film Festival was a resounding success from a number of perspectives, and we are pleased to see the positive impact it continues to have each year on the State's economy. The event is a collaborative community effort involving local vendors, patrons and volunteers and it brings tremendous visibility to the State with press coverage from around the world. Utah and the Sundance Film Festival are synonymous with the best in American independent film and this year was no exception.”

Notable events at the 2012 Festival included the annual Salt Lake Gala, attended by Governor Herbert, legislators and community leaders. In the Governor’s welcoming remarks, he commented on the value of hosting the Festival in Utah, as evidenced by its cultural and economic impact on the state. Over 5,000 local high school students participated in the Institute’s Festival High School Screenings Program, where filmmakers presented their work and engaged in discussions with students about an array of cultural, political and social issues. The Festival also welcomed Hill Air Force Base for a special screening at Ogden’s Egyptian Theatre. The Utah Museum for Contemporary Art was again the official Salt Lake City venue for the Festival’s New Frontier program, which was free and open to the public. And, upon the conclusion of the Festival, many Utah locals attended Best of Fest, free public screenings of the Festival’s award-winning films.

Business Exposure for the State of Utah
During the 2012 Festival, Zions Bank and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development co-hosted the fifth annual Sundance Institute Business + Technology Connection, a networking event targeting CEOs and other top-level executives in the fields of technology, finance, sports and more who visit Utah specifically to attend the Festival. Attendees represented companies including Oracle, Adobe, Expedia, HP, Hilton Hotels and Microsoft. Keynote speakers included Governor Herbert, Scott Anderson, Danny Glover, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Redford and John Wamock.

Building Audiences at Home and Abroad
Between the announcement of the film program in late November 2011 through wrap-up articles in February 2012, Sundance Institute and the 2012 Festival generated more than 35,224 print and online articles. From January 15 to February 15, 2012, the Festival generated 2,400 television pieces. In total, publicity value from the Festival totaled more than $69 million.

Over 950 registered press from 20 countries attended the Festival, including Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Macedonia, Kosovo, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Taiwan, Russia and Venezuela.

Sundance Institute’s social media and website content strategy continues to expand to reach new audiences across the world to inspire dialogue and raise awareness for independent film. The Institute’s website, Sundance.org, had 1.5 million unique visitors from 210 countries. Top countries included the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany. In addition, the Festival has over 306,000 Facebook fans and over 127,000 Twitter followers.

Economic Report Methodology
The Economic Report findings were generated using an economic impact model known as RIMS II, developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The economic impact study measures the impact of the Sundance Film Festival on jobs, wages, and value-added (or gross state product) on the state of Utah during a two-week period in January 2012. It also provides an estimate of the fiscal impacts that result from the increased economic activity generated by the Festival during the study period. Fiscal impacts refer to the effects of the Festival on state and local tax collections.

Estimating the economic impact of the 2012 Festival was a two-part process. The first phase of the study estimated the economic impacts of direct expenditures made by the Institute to produce the Festival. The second phase estimated the impacts of spending by Festival attendees.

University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research
Established in 1932, the Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) is an applied research center in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. BEBR’s mission is to conduct and support research related to the structure of the Utah economy, its resources, and its potential for expansion. Since its inception, BEBR has been a primary source of information on the Utah economy. BEBR’s professional staff gathers and analyzes data specific to both Utah and the Rocky Mountain Region to identify those factors which influence the state’s economic growth.

The Sundance Film Festival
A program of the non-profit Sundance Institute, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex, lies, and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious, Trouble the Water, and Napoleon Dynamite, and through its New Frontier initiative, has showcased the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julien, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney.

2012 Festival sponsors included: Presenting Sponsors – Entertainment Weekly, HP, Acura, Sundance Channel and Chase SapphireSM; Leadership Sponsors – Adobe Systems Incorporated, Bing™, Canon, DIRECTV, Focus Forward, a partnership between GE and CINELAN, Southwest Airlines, Sprint and Yahoo!; Sustaining Sponsors – Bertolli® Frozen Meal Soups, FilterForGood®, a partnership between Brita® and Nalgene®, Grey Goose® Vodka, Hilton HHonors and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, L'Oréal Paris, Stella Artois®, Timberland, Time Warner Inc. and YouTubeTM. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helped defray costs associated with the 10-day Festival and the nonprofit Sundance Institute's year-round programs for independent film and theatre artists. www.sundance.org/festival

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

News: Spring Now Playing

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-15T18:58:03+00:00

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres across the country this spring.

Opening Friday, April 27:

Restless City, directed by Andrew Dosunmu

sound of my voice, directed by Zal Batmagli

Opening Friday, May 11:

Under African Skies, directed by Joe Berlinger

Opening Wednesday, May 16:

Elena, Andrei Zvyagintsev

Opening Friday, May 25:

Oslo, August 31^st, directed by Joachim Trier

Opening Wednesday, May 30:

5 Broken Cameras, directed by Emad Burna and Guy Davidi

Opening Friday, June 1:

HIGH School, directed by John Stalberg, Jr.

Opening Friday, June 8:

Safety Not Guaranteed, directed by Colin Trevorrow

DVD Releases:

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, directed by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim

Kinyarwanda, directed by Alrick Brown

Crime After Crime, directed by Yoav Potash

We Were Here, directed by David Weissman

Press Release: Seven Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows Selected for 2012

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-15T17:59:43+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute and the Time Warner Foundation announced today the seven artists selected for the 2012 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program. Each Fellow was identified by one of the following core programs of the Institute: Documentary Film Program, Feature Film Program, Film Music Program, Native American & Indigenous Film Program and Theatre Program.

Fellows attend an annual Lab and receive continued support from the Institute, including mentoring, strategic granting, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and participation in screenplay readings, work-in-progress screenings and related programs and events. The program promotes cultural, socio-economic and gender diversity as well as artistic collaboration and innovation among emerging film and theatre storytellers, documentary filmmakers and film composers. 2011 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows were Malik Vitthal, Ismet Prcic and Ramona Emerson.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Time Warner Foundation is playing a significant role in helping us empower storytellers with the necessary financial and creative tools they need. This program connects artists from diverse backgrounds to a meaningful continuum of support, with the goal of helping them develop their distinctive voices and share their stories with the world.”

Time Warner Foundation has supported the Institute since 2007. Through the Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund Grant (2007-2010), the Institute and the Time Warner Foundation supported 17 emerging feature film and theatre artists, including Elgin James (Little Birds), Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (On The Ice), Annie Baker (Circle Mirror Transformation) and Dee Rees (Pariah).

The 2012 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows are:

Almudena Carracedo (director), The Silence of Others (Documentary Film Program) — After decades of silence, children stolen during Franco’s brutal dictatorship begin the search to find loved ones and to confront the perpetrators. The Silence of Others will be a deeply personal account of Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Documentary filmmaker Almudena Carracedo studied filmmaking in Madrid and worked as a television director there before moving to the U.S. in 2000. Her 2003 short film about Tijuana, Welcome, A Documentary of Expressions, received the Sterling Award for Best Short Documentary at AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival. Her first full-length film, Made in LA (2007), has been broadcast on PBS several times, won an Emmy Award, and has been part of a three-year community engagement campaign with screenings in 29 countries.

Ryan Coogler (writer/director), Fruitvale (Feature Film Program) — Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

A filmmaker from the Bay Area, Ryan Coogler attended USC’s MFA program, where he made several award-winning short films including Locks (Tribeca Film Festival, Dana and Albert Broccoli Award for Filmmaking Excellence), Gap (Jack Nicholson Award for Achievement in Directing) and Fig (HBO Short Filmmaking Award, DGA Student Filmmaker Award). After graduating, he returned home to Richmond, California, where he works as a guidance counselor for juvenile delinquents.

Chloé Zhao (writer/director), Lee (Feature Film Program) — As his two best friends plan to leave for college, a Lakota teen wonders if his future on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is pre-ordained when a tragedy forces
him to take dangerous action to protect his family.

Chloé Zhao is an MFA thesis candidate at NYU’s Graduate Film Program. Her short film Daughters premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and won Best Student Live Action Short at the Palm Springs International ShortFest. She was raised in China and England and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Ronit Kirchman (composer), The Skin I’m In (Film Music Program) — A brush with death propels a young filmmaker to navigate an epic and transformational journey marked by the creation of his full back tattoo.

Ronit Kirchman is an award-winning composer, songwriter, producer, singer and multi-instrumental performer. Her film scores include the upcoming Neighbors, The Golden Age of Fish and Say You Love Me. Her theatre scores include Lincoln Center Theater and Stop Kiss (LA). Ronit's concert work has been performed internationally and premiered by the New Century Players. Awards include Sundance Institute Composers + Documentary Lab, BMI Conductors Fellowship and Subito/American Composers Forum. MFA CalArts, BA Yale University

Aurora Guerrero (director and screenwriter), Mosquita y Mari (Native American & Indigenous Film Program) — A friendship between two 15-year-old Latinas becomes complex as they struggle to recognize the sexual undercurrent in their relationship. Mosquita y Mari premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Aurora Guerrero is a queer-identified Chicana raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to writing and directing Mosquita y Mari, Guerrero’s short films include Pura Lengua and Viernes Girl. Guerrero is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2006 “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” She received her B.A. in Psychology and Chicano Studies from UC Berkeley and her M.F.A. in Film Directing from Cal Arts in Los Angeles.

Byron Au Yong (composer) and Aaron Jafferis (writer), Stuck Elevator (Theatre Program) — Based on the true story of an undocumented immigrant who survived 81 hours in a Bronx elevator, this comic-rap-scrap-metal-music-theatre work follows increasingly fantastic attempts to escape a 4' x 6' x 8' metal box. Stuck Elevator, with direction by Chay Yew, will premiere at the American Conservatory Theatre in April 2013.

Collaborative composer Byron Au Yong combines western classical music, Chinese folk elements and American musical theatre with a penchant for the avant-garde. His self-described "songs of dislocation" include Tzo Lho: Simmering Songs (The Esoterics, Stanford Chorale), Farewell: A Fantastical Contemplation On America's Relationship With China (Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater) and Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas (4Culture Site-Specific, Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts). Honors include a Creative Capital Award, Ford Foundation Fellowship and two Sundance Institute Theatre Lab residencies.

Aaron Jafferis’ musicals Kingdom, How to Break, Blood Magic, Shakespeare: The Remix and No Lie have been produced, presented or workshopped by The Old Globe, Public Theater, Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, Atlantic Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, HERE, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Yale Institute for Music Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Café, Collective Consciousness, Bregamos and many others. He is a former Open Rap Slam champion and teaches hip-hop poetry and theatre in his hometown of New Haven, CT.

Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

News: Native Lab Fellow Aurora Guerrero Reflects on a frenetic Festival

2012-05-14T21:46:20+00:00

It's been months since premiering Mosquita y Mari at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and I think I'm still in a daze over the whole thing. It came and went like the unpredictable weather patterns here in Northern California. I remember calling my spouse when I had first arrived in Park City, a few days before my premiere, and sharing that I felt like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz – straight picked up off the ground and dropped into another world. A world that I thought I knew.

I had been to Sundance with a short film and I had participated in the Native/Indigenous Lab as a Fellow, but let me tell you, NOTHING compares to having a feature film at the Festival. It's a crazy combination of being a cast and family wrangler, reception and press hopper, hand-shaker, bus rider, sudden expert (in my case on all things queer and Latina), facebook and twitter maniac, and sometimes—though rarely—a movie-goer. All of this while wearing three layers of clothes and totally sober (I think I was in the 1% for once in my life). Mind you, this isn't a complaint. I'm merely pointing out that having a feature film screen at the Sundance Film Festival is a crazy whirlwind of activity. And that's part of what makes Sundance so thrilling and unforgettable. You're thrust into a world that is eager and hyper about being the first to watch and discuss the work that you and your team so diligently produced. It makes you feel, well, special. And the best part about this adventure is sharing it with the ones dearest to you who make it to Park City. In my case, my family, my wife, the MyM team of artists, and my 20 queer Xicana homegirls (gotta have back-up).

And while Sundance provides those big life events for a filmmaker to treasure for eternity, I have to confess that my most memorable times stem from some of the smaller moments I experienced while there. Like feeling the warmth of my wife's hand clasped around mine as we made our long trek up icy Main Street to the Egyptian Theater for my premiere. Or my long embrace with Indigenous Lab Director Bird Runningwater right before he introduced me to my first Sundance audience. That hug felt like home to me. Or the moment when my two, young lead actors who had never left their beloved Los Angeles snatched the microphone from my hand and with sassy, adolescent frustration addressed an audience member's suspect question: “Hey, was there like something between you two?”

I don't know if I'll have another journey quite like this one but at least I know I have plenty of memories to play back in my mind – at least until I make new ones!

News: Something for Mom: Sundance Flicks with Memorable Mothers

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-05-11T22:14:39+00:00

Mother’s Day is this Sunday. Of course, you already knew that. Because while it may not be the paramount holiday of the spring season, we nonetheless treat it as such—and rightly so.

Mothers are an eclectic breed. From the (seemingly) tyrannical, to the meddling, to the eternally devoted. All idiosyncrasies aside, they are still our mothers, and we have them to thank for our existence and well-being.

For every variety of real life mom, there is a cinematic representation to accompany them. Here are some of our most memorable moms—both authentic and fictional—from Sundance-supported films. Happy Mother’s Day!

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.

Gas Food Lodging

The daunting and all-too-common undertaking faced by single moms is captured with tender insight and honesty in Alison Anders’ Gas Food Lodging, as a family of women struggle to find meaning in a desolate New Mexico town.

My Mom Smokes Weed

Like we said, mothers are an eclectic breed. And occasionally they decidedly don’t fit society's expectations. Exhibit A: Director Clay Liford’s My Mom Smokes Weed. Our Sundance Institute programmer description says it best:'

“After a loyal son comes home to visit his aging mother, she assigns him some chores; one of them involves a road trip to help satiate her desire for a certain special herb.”

Down To The Bone

Director Debra Granik’s 2004 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award winner stars Vera Farmiga as a working class mother fighting to save her marriage and raise her sons while trapped in drug addiction. Stark, chilly, and authentic, Down to the Bone is a painful tale of one mother’s repetitive downfall despite a resolve to change.

My Kid Could Paint That

Rest-assured, the prior four moms were all fictional. But the same can’t be said for the parents of Marla Olmstead, the 4-year-old girl who was heralded as the next Picasso after selling more than $300,000 worth of paintings. Director Amir Bar-Lev takes us on a ride inside the media frenzy surrounding the Olmstead family, and endeavors to determine if this is a story of a veritable child prodigy or a pitiable example of spotlight-obsessed parents.

News: Focus Forward Filmmaker Challenge—Short Films, Big Ideas with Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-05-10T23:32:39+00:00

Focus Forward—Short Films, Big Ideas is an unprecedented new series of 30 three-minute stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention, directed by the world's most celebrated documentary filmmakers.

As part of the initiative and with support from GE and Cinelan, Focus Forward is holding a Filmmaker Challenge and giving $200,000 USD in cash prizes to the top five entries, which will be announced at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the cash prizes, up to 100 finalists will be featured online at www.focusforwardfilms.com in the fall of 2012 alongside work by Steve James, Lucy Walker, Victor Kossakovsky, and others.

Click here for more details and submission requirements. Submissions close on August 23, 2012.

Directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg are currently putting the finishing touches on their untitled short film that will premiere later this year as part of the Focus Forward series. The duo form a distinguished directorial team that has brought three documentary features to the Sundance Film Festival (The Trials of Darryl Hunt, The Devil Came on Horseback, Joan Rivers—A Piece of Work). Below they discuss their relationship with Focus Forward and Cinelan, the singularly inspiring subject of their short, and the surprising liberation found in the constraints of a three-minute film.

How did you become involved with the Focus Forward program and this initiative?

Annie Sundberg: We’ve known Karol Martesko-Fenster (Cinelan, co-founder) for years, and when Karol was getting involved with Morgan Spurlock and CINELAN on these short films, he reached out to us. They were pulling together the 30 filmmakers, and Karol brought it up casually and said, ‘We’d love for you guys to do one. Do you have an idea?’ And for all the filmmakers who were commissioned to do these, everyone sort of came up with a couple ideas and kind of brainstormed. And we were looking at a bunch of different subjects, and then there was a particular individual, Peter Diamandis, who started the X PRIZE Foundation. Ricki and I started looking at him as a possible profile, and Damon Smith (Cinelan, director of content strategy and acquisitions) and Karol said ‘absolutely.’

Beyond the science and innovation themes established by Focus Forward, there is not much information available regarding the subject matter in your film. Can you tell me more about this short and where you are in the production process?

Sundberg: Well, we’ve had our primary shoot. But we haven’t done any of our animation, and we haven’t started editing yet. Ricki and I had been approached by Peter Diamandis and a couple other people in his team about a year and a half ago. He was writing a book at the time called Abundance. Everyone has a very dystopic feeling of what the future is going to be—we’re going to run out of resources, there’s going to be overpopulation, climate change is going to create rising oceans. It’s going to hell in a hand basket. And Peter’s attitude is, ‘No, we just need to think about it differently. We have incredible technologies that are allowing us to do things we’ve never imagined before. People have cell phone services in the middle of deserts in Africa. We can bring health care to places that have never had clean water supply, much less direct doctor treatment.’

He looks at this as an incredible time of potential, and it’s not a time of closing up shop. His book was really inspiring, and the documentary didn’t really move forward, but we stayed in touch. So then we were trying to figure our what is the short film? It’s really about this one man who sees what could be, who really does everyday look at the world with a very unique, optimistic perspective.

Ricki Stern: I think Peter’s story... he is so inspiring. And it’s so welcome. In all these films that seem so disastrous and gloom and doom, to spend some time with Peter just shows the potential. We are in a better place than we were, and that advancement in technology is actually something that we can feel good about. And I think that’s an inspiring thing. What we’re hoping to do with the short film is spark ideas and create an excitement and enthusiasm for Peter’s ideas.

Click here to watch Peter Diamandis speak at TED2012.

You both are seasoned editors, having endured the laborious process of cutting footage for feature-length documentaries. Can you speak to the difference of process and some of the challenges you faced in making such an abbreviated film?

Sundberg: We actually recently did a short film that was at Sundance that was a thank you film from Kenneth Cole and Sundance Institute for the volunteer staff. In terms of dwindling down, you shoot differently. You’re shooting specifically if you’re making a short film, as opposed to shooting verite coverage. And I think it was more so storyboarded in our minds, it’s not on paper, and I think what’s nice is that we’re going to allow imagery to play a larger role in it—it’s going to be more impressionistic. It doesn’t have to be so much of a storytelling piece, but it can really just be about sparking something. Whether it’s Peter’s ideas, or perspectives that we can convey in a short piece. It’s more liberating in some ways.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Selects Four Projects for 2012 NativeLab Fellowship

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-09T17:28:38+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the four fellows and projects selected for the 2012 NativeLab Fellowship, a two-stage development program that provides continuous and direct support to Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native film artists. For the first stage, filmmakers participate in an intensive five-day workshop (May 23-27) on the homelands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, where they receive guidance from seasoned artists including Fenton Bailey (Inside Deep Throat; Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Adam Bala Lough (Bomb The System, The Carter), Billy Luther (Miss Navajo, Grab) and Zach Sklar (JFK, The Feast of the Goat). The second stage brings Fellows to the Native Forum during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and provides opportunities networking with film professionals who advise them on the business of cinema.

Bird Runningwater, Director of the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “Key to the success of our NativeLab Fellowship is the holistic support it provides on an ongoing basis. Our time at the May workshop will mark the beginning of our relationship with these artists and projects.”

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Across many of our programs, we continue to be committed to supporting emerging Native American artists and helping their voice and vision be shared with the world. The artists and projects announced today hold great promise for continuing a rich legacy of Native American storytelling.”

The projects and participants selected for the 2012 Sundance Institute NativeLab Fellowship are:

I Am Thy Weapon / Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Navajo) – Shortfilm/Multimedia
I Am Thy Weapon is the hard-edged fictional account about a dispirited seventeen year-old young woman and her precocious eight year-old sister, as they search for light in the heavy shadows of life cast by poverty and apathy on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona.

Razelle Benally was born in 1988, of Oglala Lakota and Navajo blood. Her firsthand experience while filming and traveling with renowned skateboard company Apache Skateboards has helped her hone a self-developed style of editing and directing. She most notably gained acclaim for her short documentary The Humble, and six-minute experimental piece Love is a Losing Game. Benally is one of five young women featured in the 2011 documentary, Apache Chronicle. She has shown in galleries in Long Beach, CA and in Phoenix, AZ. Her films have been shown nationally and internationally at select screenings in Portland, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, and Sweden. She earned a third place award in the 2007 AIHEC Film Festival, and is the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market jury-awarded winner for Best Documentary in SWAIA’s Classification X.

Out of State / Ciara Leina’Ala Lacy (Hawaiian) – Feature Documentary
In an Arizona prison, why have a group of native Hawaiian career criminals—incarcerated thousands of miles from their families and home—formed their own weekly hula club?

Ciara Lacy has worked as a producer and writer of both nonfiction and scripted programming. She has produced and written for nonfiction television shows airing on PBS (Science Investigators), ABC (Wife Swap), TLC (Little People, Big World), Discovery (To Catch a Thief), Bravo (The Real Housewives of New Jersey) and A&E (Jackpot Diaries). As a production supervisor, production manager, and assistant on scripted features, Ciara has worked with talent like Joseph Gordon Levitt, Elijah Wood, Vince Vaughn and Kristen Wiig on films including Uncertainty and Revenge for Jolly! Ciara has produced music videos and concert DVDs for various recording artists including the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket, the Format, Cindy Lauper and Martina McBride. She has also produced feature documentaries for Dave Matthews, My Morning Jacket and Teddy Geiger. Ciara is currently in partnership with F5 Productions to develop a slate of documentary films that use both strong characters and investigative journalism to challenge the creative and political status quo. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Yale University and is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii.

Honor Beats: Singers of the Four Directions / Jeffrey Patrick Palmer (Kiowa) – Feature Documentary
Enter the sacred circle of Native drum groups and follow them from the quiet corners of Indian Country, to the spectacle of competitive powwow arenas, and on to hero status

Jeffrey Palmer is a burgeoning Kiowa filmmaker and media artist. Academically and professionally, he received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma in 2000, focusing on cultural and media representations of Native American society in the 20th century. In 2006, he received his M.A. in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma, focusing on Native American exploitation in early and Hollywood cinema. In 2008, he was the Director of Education for the Native American Journalists Association. He received his M.F.A. in Film and Video Production at the University of Iowa in 2012, with an emphasis in documentary film and video installation. Over the last three years, he worked extensively on projects highlighting Native culture in the state of Iowa. In 2012, he returned to Kiowa Country to work on his M.F.A. thesis titled: “Origins: Digital Reclamation of Kiowa Storyscapes”.

Circle / Brooke Swaney (Blackfeet/Salish) – Feature Film
Auralee wants a kid, Frankie wants love, and only one knows it is each other.

Brooke Pepion Swaney (Blackfeet & Salish) is a film director and writer, who received her M.F.A. in Film and Television from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. She has made several short films while at NYU, including Continental Divide (2008 ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and 2008 Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival). Prior to NYU, she worked in at a non-profit, the Indian Law Resource Center, a legal organization dedicated to protecting the land and culture of Indigenous people throughout the Western Hemisphere. In 2003, she graduated with honors from Stanford in psychology, writing an honors thesis on the media’s effect on American Indians. Brooke, a curious and observant child, has cultivated her inquisitive nature in her work. Her first film, The Indigenoid, showed a young Native man awakening to the Native stereotypes in everyday life. It was nominated for Best Live Short at the 2005 American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. Brooke was accepted to the Montana Artists Refuge during their 2009 American Indian Artists Residency and their October Writers Residency. In 2009,she was also a finalist in a time sensitive short film competition for the Madrid tourism board. In 2011, Ok Breathe Auralee, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program is generously supported by Time Warner Foundation, with additional support from Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Cindy Harrell Horn and Alan Horn, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, and SAGIndie/Screen Actors Guild.

Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program
Rooted in the recognition of a rich tradition of storytelling and artistic expression by Native American and Indigenous peoples, Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program operates the NativeLab Film Fellowship established for emerging Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian filmmakers. The program has also established filmmaker labs in New Zealand and Australia which have spawned such projects as The Strength of Water (New Zealand), Samson and Delilah (Australia), Bran Nue Dae (Australia) and Here I Am (Australia). The program also collaborates with the other artist programs of the Institute and scouts worldwide and across the United States for Indigenous artists with projects that can be supported through the Institute’s Feature Film Program, Creative Producers Summit/Creative Producing Fellowship and Sundance Film Festival. Filmmakers and projects identified for support include Sterlin Harjo, his Spirit Award–nominated Four Sheets to the Wind, and his follow-up feature Barking Water; Academy Award nominee Taika Waititi, his feature debut Eagle vs Shark, and his follow-up feature Boy; Billy Luther’s award-winning Miss Navajo and his second feature documentary Grab; and Andrew Okpeaha MacLean’s Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize–winning Sikumi and his feature debut On the Ice, which was awarded the Crystal Bear Award and the Best First Feature Prize at the 61st Berlinale; and Aurora Guerrero’s Mosquita y Mari, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Forthcoming projects include Sydney Freeland’s Drunktown’s Finest and Yolanda Cruz’s La Raya. www.sundance.org/native

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Selects 13 Projects for 2012 June Directors and Screenwriters Labs

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-08T20:00:50+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the 13 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 28 through June 28. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Institute’s Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the projects selected for this year's program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Italy, Romania, Australia, Algeria, France, Chile and the UK.

Directors Lab Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors, professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from their screenplays. Through this intense, hands-on process, the Fellows workshop their scripts, collaborate with actors and find a visual storytelling language for their films in an environment where experimentation and risk-taking is encouraged. Fellows also join in the week-long Screenwriters Lab with five additional projects to participate in individualized story sessions under the guidance of established screenwriters.

Projects supported through the Directors or Screenwriters Labs receive continued tailored support from the Feature Film Program, which can include ongoing creative and strategic advice, significant production and postproduction resources, a Screenplay Reading Series, a Work in Progress Screening Initiative and direct financial support through project-specific grants and artist fellowships.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “For independent artists in particular, it can be challenging to receive specialized support and encouragement. As our offerings for artists continue to grow our hope is that filmmakers have added incentive to remain true to their visions throughout the creative process.”

Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, “Our Directors and Screenwriters Labs are a creative hotbed for innovation and collaboration, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with emerging artists on the leading edge of independent filmmaking. We look forward to helping their unique visions unfold in the inspired setting of the Utah mountains, as we have done for more than three decades.”

Gyula Gazdag returns as the Artistic Director for the Directors Lab. This year’s Creative Advisors for the Directors and Screenwriters Labs include Gregg Araki, Michael Arndt, Andrea Arnold, John August, Ramin Bahrani, Walter Bernstein, Mark Boal, Scott Z. Burns, Sebastian Cordero, Joan Darling, Caleb Deschanel, Suzy Elmiger, Robert Elswit, Billy Goldenberg, Deena Goldstone, Affonso Gonçalves, Ed Harris, Michael Hoffman, Azazel Jacobs, Christine Lahti, Kasi Lemmons, Peter Medak, John Cameron Mitchell, Walter Mosley, Jessie Nelson, Jeff Nichols, Robert Redford, Jennifer Salt, Susan Shilliday, Stewart Stern, Wesley Strick, Joan Tewkesbury, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Bill Wheeler, Tyger Williams and Doug Wright.

The projects and participants selected for the 2012 June Directors Lab (May 28 – June 22) are:

Jonas Carpignano (writer/director) / A Chjàna (U.S.A./Italy): After leaving his native Burkina Faso in search of a better life, Ayiva makes the perilous journey to Italy; though he finds compatriots along the way, they are unprepared for the intolerance facing immigrants in their newly-claimed home.

Jonas Carpignano is a filmmaker based in New York City and Rome. His short films have been shown in film festivals around the world including Venice, SXSW and New Directors/New Films. His latest short film, A Chjàna, won the Controcampo Award for Best Short Film at the 68th Venice Film Festival and was awarded a Nastro D' Argento Special Mention from the Association of Italian Film Critics (SNGCI). Carpignano is currently an MFA candidate at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Ioana Uricaru (writer/director) / After the Wedding (U.S.A./Romania): Mara, a Romanian immigrant with a young son, discovers her recent marriage to an American resident is not enough to secure their place in the country. As she learns more about the system, an unfamiliar culture, and her husband, she must decide how far she will go to preserve her new family.

Born and raised in Romania, Ioana Uricaru relocated to Los Angeles in 2001. She co-directed and co-edited the omnibus feature Tales From the Golden Age, which was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and her short film Stopover had its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The project After the Wedding has been developed at the Residence de la Cinefondation, a program of the Cannes Film Festival.

Carson Mell (writer/director) / Ajax (U.S.A.): In this dark comedy, a band of alcoholic astronauts and a young woman adrift in outer space become at odds with one another after discovering the purpose of their mysterious mission.

An Arizona native, Carson Mell moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to work in film and television. His short films have screened several times at Sundance and several other festivals, and his short fiction has been published in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and Electric Literature.

Jody Lee Lipes (co-writer/director) and Jeff Peixoto (co-writer) / Confederacy (U.S.A.): Kentucky Territory, 1858. When Asa Candler joins the religious society of Shakers, uncovering their dark secrets forces him to confront his own buried sin.

Jody Lee Lipes’ directing credits include season one of HBO’s Girls; NY Export: Opus Jazz, a scripted adaptation of a Jerome Robbins’ ballet that aired on PBS and won an Audience Award at SXSW; and verité documentary Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be the Same. Lipes is also an Independent Spirit Award-nominated director of photography, chosen as one of Variety’s 10 Cinematographers to Watch in 2011. His DP credits include Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tiny Furniture, and Afterschool.

Marielle Heller (writer/director) / The Diary of a Teenage Girl (U.S.A.): In the haze of 1970’s San Francisco, a teenage artist with a brutally honest perspective tries to navigate her way through an affair with her mother's boyfriend. Adapted from the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner.

Marielle Heller is a New York based screenwriter, actor and playwright. Her theatrical production of The Diary of a Teenage Girl premiered in New York City in 2010 at 3LD in association with New Georges. Along with writing partner Cailin Goldberg-Meehan, Heller has written a pilot for ABC titled The Big Apple, and is developing a number of features, including one with the Mark Gordon Company. As an actor, she has performed in theatre all over the world, including at Berkeley Rep, The Barbican in London, Birmingham Rep, Soho Rep, San Diego Rep, and Magic Theater.

Chloé Zhao (writer/director) / Lee (U.S.A.): As his two best friends plan to leave for college, a Lakota teen wonders if his future on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is pre-ordained when a tragedy forces him to take dangerous action to protect his family.

Chloé Zhao is an MFA thesis candidate at NYU’s Graduate Film Program. Her short film Daughters premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and won Best Student Live Action Short at the Palm Springs International ShortFest. She was raised in China and England and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Ariel Kleiman (co-writer/director) and Sarah Cyngler (co-writer) / Partisan (Australia): Partisan is a provocative fable about 11-year-old Alexander, who, raised to see the world through his parent’s eyes, is starting to think for himself.

Ariel Kleiman’s short film Young Love screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won an Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking. His next short film, Deeper Than Yesterday, had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Week and was awarded the Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film and the Petit Rail d’Or. It has since gone on to win over 20 awards at film festivals all over the world, including the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Jury Prize in International Filmmaking. Kleiman was also the recipient of the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award for Filmmaking and the Rising Talent Award at the 2010 Inside Film Awards.

Sarah Cyngler has collaborated with writer/director Ariel Kleiman on over 15 productions in the role of producer, writer, production and costume designer. Theirs is a unique collaboration in which the two work closely together from early in development and pre-production all the way through to post-production and distribution. She also works with other directors as a production and costume designer on films, commercials, and music videos.

Karim Bensalah (writer/director) / Red Olive Tree (Algeria/France): Plagued by divided loyalties following the French-Algerian war, the recently deceased Ahmed miraculously arises to lead his bickering French family to his homeland, in a mysterious trip where they grapple with the consequences of the choices he made in life and allow him to find peace in death.

Karim Bensalah was born in Algeria. After spending his childhood in Algeria, Brazil, Haiti and Senegal, he went to study social sciences and philosophy in France. He next attended the London Film School. Bensalah directed the short Fatima’s Secret, then a segment of the feature film Paris La Métisse along with 15 other young directors. He has also directed the short films Chibanis and Construction(s) with the group Collectif Tribudom, and works as an actor in films and theatre.

The projects and participants joining Directors Lab Fellows for the 2012 June Screenwriters Lab (June 23-28) are:

Cutter Hodierne (writer/director) / Fishing Without Nets(U.S.A.): A naïve and desperate young Somali man is coerced to join a band of local pirates as they embark upon a hijacking, but instead of the riches he was promised, he finds mayhem and chaos as his reward.

Just before Cutter Hodierne was born, his parents sold everything they owned, quit their jobs, and bought a 32 foot cutter-rigged sailboat, for which he is named. Accordingly, Hodierne spent the first three years of his life sailing in the South Pacific Ocean. At age 22, he toured the world with U2 on the biggest rock tour in music history, serving as their 'filmmaker on the road', shooting online content, and directing pieces for U2: 360° at the Rose Bowl. At age 24, Hodierne traveled to East Africa to direct the short film Fishing Without Nets, which won the Grand Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Clay Jeter (co-writer/director), Will Basanta (co-writer), and Charles Spano (co-writer) / Io (U.S.A.): Sam, a teenaged girl, is one of the last people on a post-cataclysmic Earth. With the final shuttle scheduled to leave the planet, she must decide whether to journey to the launch point and join the rest of humanity, or remain on Earth, a castaway in the only home she has ever known.

Clay Jeter grew up in Tennessee converting abandoned houses into skateparks and organizing extremely dangerous firework-battles in the outskirts of his neighborhood. After working as a freelance director and cinematographer for a few years in Los Angeles, Jeter returned home to the family tobacco farm in Western Kentucky to direct his first narrative feature film. Jess + Moss premiered at Sundance and went on to screen at the Berlinale, among numerous other film festivals in 2011.

Will Basanta became interested in visual media at an early age, and has worked as a writer, producer, and cinematographer on numerous projects of all types. In 2008, he shot Bouncing Cats, a feature documentary about break-dancing in Uganda. His first narrative feature, Jess + Moss, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Last year he spent three months in New Delhi shooting and producing Tomorrow We Disappear, a feature documentary exploring a colony of dislocated Indian magicians.

Charles Spano considers himself a student of the Werner Herzog school of “rogue filmmaking” – an expert at guerrilla tactics, renegade budgeting, and filming in adverse conditions. Spano has studied anthropology, hiked throughout California and the Northeast, bicycled the cobblestone roads of France, backpacked Nicaragua, filmed breakdancers in Uganda, directed in a bulletproof vest (when necessary), and has circumnavigated the globe. He lives in New York City.

Marialy Rivas (co-writer/director) and Camilla Gutierrez (co-writer) / The Princess (Chile): In the isolated Chilean countryside, a young girl negotiates the contradictions between her developing sexuality and her family’s religious sect.

Marialy Rivas is a Chilean director whose work includes features, short films, television, and commercials. Her short film Blokes premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and went on to screen at several international film festivals including Berlin, Sundance, New York Film Festival, and the Miami International Film Festival, among others. Her debut feature Young and Wild premiered in competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Screenwriting Award.

Camila Gutiérrez is a journalist who studied Hispanic Literature at the Universidad de Chile and earned a Masters Degree in Written Journalism at Universidad Católica. Her articles have been published by the Sábado magazine of the El Mercurio newspaper, the Las Últimas Noticias newspaper, and by Gatopardo, a narrative journalism magazine. She is currently working on the staff of The Clinic Online, an online newspaper. Young and Wild, which she co-wrote and which screened at the 2012 Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, was her first screenplay.

Debbie Tucker-Green (writer/director) / Untitled (U.K.): A contemporary drama set in London following the dynamics of one family trying to stay together.

Debbie Tucker-Green is a writer/director who has written for the stage, radio, television and film.

Eric Flanagan (co-writer/director) and Sam Voutas (co-writer) / White Faced Lies (U.S.A.): Set in contemporary China, where local companies hire white (but not necessarily qualified) Americans to lend them credibility, longtime conman Stanley gets a new assistant who may be more than just a colleague – he thinks Stanley is his long-lost father.

Eric Flanagan began his career in the New York television industry, assisting on productions for both scripted and unscripted content on Bravo and NBC. He was accepted into the inaugural class at Tisch School of the Arts Asia and went on to make a series of short narrative and documentary films. His short film Teleglobal Dreamin’, which he wrote and directed, won a jury award at the 2010 SXSW (South by Southwest), saw festival play at the Clermont-Ferrand, Edinburgh, Aspen, and Palm Springs film festivals, appeared on Wholphin Volume 10 and was sold to the Sundance Channel. He's currently based in Singapore.

Red Light Revolution, a Chinese feature Sam Voutas wrote and directed, had its US premiere at the 2011 Santa Barbara Film Festival before playing Cinequest, Cleveland, Atlanta, and winning the People’s Choice Award at the Singapore International Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in Canada, the UK, and Singapore, and became a viral sensation in China when it was purchased by Tudou (China’s equivalent to Youtube), racking up a million views in less than a week. That same year, Voutas was accepted into both the Berlinale Talent Campus and Toronto TIFF Talent Lab. Documentaries directed by Voutas have screened on TV stations across Asia including The Biography Channel and NHK (Japan).

The 2012 Sundance Institute June Directors and Screenwriters Labs are made possible by generous support from: Cinereach; the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art; Director’s Guild of America; Hollywood Foreign Press Association; Indian Paintbrush Productions; Mumbai Mantra Media, LTD; NHK Enterprises 21, Inc.; the National Endowment for the Arts; RT Features; SAGIndie/Screen Actors Guild; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Time Warner Foundation, Inc.; Utah Film Commission; and Writers Guild of America, West.

Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Over its 30 year history, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported an extensive list of award-winning and groundbreaking independent films. In the past year, FFP films having their premieres include Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival), as well as Ry Russo-Young and Lena Dunham’s Nobody Walks, Craig Zobel’s Compliance, Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish’s Sleepwalk With Me, and Todd Louiso and Sarah Koskoff’s Hello I Must Be Going, all of which will receive theatrical releases later this year. Recent international FFP films include Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil, Andrei Zyvagintsev’s Elena, Edwin’s Postcards from the Zoo, and Alejandro Landes’ Porfirio. Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Fernando Eimbcke's Lake Tahoe, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Half Nelson, Andrea Arnold's Red Road, Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone, Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace, Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon, Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry, Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga, Walter Salles’ Central Station, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking, Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight, Tamara Jenkins’ Slums of Beverly Hills, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. www.sundance.org/featurefilm

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Press Release: Sundance Institute to host public ShortsLab filmmaking workshops in New York, Seattle and LA

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-08T17:00:39+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced it will host its popular series of one-day, public ShortsLab filmmaking workshops in New York, Los Angeles and for the first time, Seattle. This series marks the third year of ShortsLab programming for the Institute. Tickets are available at http://www.sundance.org/programs/shortslab/; limited space available.

ShortsLabs offer filmmakers first-hand insight and access into the world of short filmmaking through panels and sessions with industry representatives, as well as Sundance Institute staff and alumni, on story development, production and exhibition of shorts. Featured participants for the series (vary by city) include Antonio Campos, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Durkin, Hal Hartley, Nicole Kassell, Josh Leonard, Brit Marling, Adepero Oduye, Nick Offerman and Lynn Shelton. Following the ShortsLab, attendees can stay connected with the Sundance Institute community through a monthly email with job opportunities, crew needs, and links to recommended shorts.

Notable Institute alumni who started their careers with short films are Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Spike Jonze, Debra Granik, Paul Thomas Anderson, David O. Russell, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Tamara Jenkins, and Jason Reitman.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “ShortsLabs are an extension of the more intensive filmmaking Labs Sundance Institute has hosted for more than three decades. ShortsLabs give filmmakers the opportunity to improve their storytelling techniques, learn about the world of production, and explore platforms to showcase their work in an environment that celebrates and fosters individual voices.”

Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, added, “Fueled by the enthusiastic response from last years ShortsLabs we are thrilled to do them again in New York and Los Angeles. We are especially looking forward to hosting our first one in Seattle, an area with a vibrant cinema history and a wealth of emerging filmmaking talent.”

ShortsLab: NYC
Saturday, June 16
10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
BAM
Tickets: $150
Featured participants to include: Ilya Chaiken, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Kassell, Scott Macauley, Adepero Oduye (schedule permitting), Hal Hartley, Brit Marling, Matthew M. Ross, Mike S. Ryan and the Borderline Films team: Antonio Campos, Jody Lee Lipes, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Zachary Stuart-Pontier

ShortsLab: Seattle
Sunday, July 15
12:00 p.m. – 5::30 p.m.
SIFF Cinema
Tickets: $75
Featured participants to include: Ben Kasulke, Lynn Shelton and more to be announced

ShortsLab: LA
August (date and venue to be announced)
Tickets: $150
Featured participants to include: Azazel Jacobs, Joshua Leonard, Nicholas McCarthy, Nick Offerman, Matt Ross and more to be announced

ShortsLab: LA is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

News: Inside the Sundance Institute Istanbul Screenwriting Lab: A Fellow’s POV

Deniz Gamze Erguven, 2012 !F Sundance Fellow — 2012-05-07T22:38:12+00:00

Paris, France -- Throughout the years, everything I had heard about the Sundance Labs had been completely appealing. I had viewed them from a distance with great interest and curiosity. The closer encounter happened through !F, (the Istanbul International Film Festival) early this year. The feature film script I am developing had been selected along with three other projects from Turkish directors. We were to be gathered for a shortened version of the Screenwriter’s Lab in Istanbul during the !F 2012 festival.

I have never lived in Istanbul, but my path has been drawn there often for the last twenty years. For the last decade, the city has been going through a literal rebirth. And as a frequent visitor, I have viewed this transformation as big steps forward. You quickly get a sense of a very lively and powerful youth culture, the re-appropriation of the cultural heritage and fulgurant developments in arts, industry… as well as a fair amount of chaos that comes along this much movement.

There is also a real momentum in terms of cinema, but this growing interest for films has not yet been matched by a willingness to encourage and support filmmaking. In this context, the alliance of !F and Sundance becomes all the more interesting.

The intention of such Labs is clearly to create a haven around developing films. With a few opening words, Alesia Weston, Associate Director of Sundance Institute's Feature Film Internaional Program, shuts the doors from the inside on a safe creative space. For the three days to come, advisors and fellows will meet with a single interest: the best, (boldest, freest) creative blooming of each film.

My first meeting was with Jeremy Pikser, a big gun of a scriptwriter, with an obvious drive for a very wild type of comedy. This was absolute luxury. Jeremy greeted me at the entrance of a hundred-twenty-year-old giant bank building recently reopened as a contemporary art space called Salt. We shook hands and immediately raced to our table. And before we were seated, we had our hands in the engine together.

The draft at hand is getting close to a shooting script, but some passages still need some work and fine tuning. We go through them, bouncing on each other’s ideas. Simple, perfect adjustments pop out. The work session is lively and rewarding. I get a sense of rareness and urgency that makes me speak as fast as I can. We then discuss the backstories of the five main characters. Two still have secrets to be revealed. We go on talking at length about the script. Then Jeremy starts this very personal and brilliant reading of it: “See, your film is about transgression, that’s your backbone” He then goes on with a demonstration of how all the different parts are articulated around that. Jeremy is putting the lights on a work I have done mostly in the dark, instinctively. It feels like I’m shown the X-ray of my own script. This kind of conceptualization strengthens your work not only through the writing process, but through the shooting to the finishing.... This is a real gift he’s giving me.

It took a few emissaries calling the end of our meeting for us to actually leave that table. I felt ready to jump into a re-write, but Jeremy stopped me right there with a nonnegotiable rule: No writing throughout the Lab.

Scriptwriting is such a long distance race, that your first instinct is to sprint your way through it whenever you can. So learn to hold your horses, which is so essential at some moments of the process, is probably nothing I would do spontaneously. The pens-down/sit-down-and think constraint works as a valuable transmission of method (and a great guilt buster) for me.

The second meeting was with Athina Rachel Tsangari and I’m expecting a very different perspective on the script. Athina has a cinematographic language of her own, though you can sense through her cinema, the obsessive film watcher and hundreds of influences. She just brings in references as distant Monthy Python’s silly-walks and Antonioni’s Red Desert in the same shot. And Athina’s films are open doors to codes of other art forms, dance, video works... I introduce the project, then go through an assessment of all we have worked on with Jeremy. Athina takes over the discussion on structure where it was left, as if she was working the next shift. The discussions then jumps from philosophical levels to the most down to earth and trivial questions about how to make this film. As our meeting goes on, she puts on one hat after the other: writer, director and producer. It’s not only a great discussion. Again I also love the encounter.

Through the !F-Sundance program, Istanbul really feels like the crossroad it is. Our little community convened people with extremely complex cultural backgrounds. Many have moved from one country to another over their lives, are at home in many different cultures and speak numerous languages. Nobody’s French around the table, but the discussion spontaneously switches to French with Alesia, Athina and Reha, who for very different reasons speak that language perfectly. People probably meet on other levels. I often felt that for filmmakers, such gatherings as film festivals, labs…. give a sense that you’re meeting with people from your own specie. This is rare in every day life and it can be very reassuring at times. You share the same problematics, the same (chaotic) lives. And it’s wonderful to know that you’re not the only nutcase doing what you’re doing out there.

The !F-Sundance program included a panel discussion about the creative process for writers. Surprisingly enough, the discussion starts very openly on the dark sides of scriptwriting. Simply put, scriptwriting is tough, humbling. Even if you’re not a bit prone to depression, it can squeeze every ounce of happiness out of you and hurt you so much you’ll want to cry for your mama. It’s also a big gamble, so it shakes you. I discovered this through writing, but I would never discuss this publicly.

As I’m listening to this panel and hearing other scriptwriters speaking about their hardships while writing, of course I get a misery loves company kind of relief. But they’re giving an accurate account of the writing process and how completely strange it is. The audience is listening in rapt attention as everyone in the panel gives up their dirty secrets. If there’s anyone new to scriptwriting in the room, this is completely generous.

Then Alesia introduces the Sundance Institute Labs, detailing everything from the project submission to the work done in different Labs. Sally El Hosaini - who has freshly jumped out of the post-production on her first film, My brother the devil, and into a whirlwind of festivals - recounts her personal journey with her film, which was developed throughout the Sundance Labs.

Making a film -- particularly a first feature film -- is a long slog upstream. Programs like the !F-Sundance Lab, feel like a beautiful gift from the gods, helping you on your way. I deeply thank you for doing this.

Press Release: Sundance Institute and Hammer Museum Host Free Public Screening of Work-In-Progress Documentary Fil

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-07T21:04:06+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute with Hammer Museum will host a free, public, work-in-progress screening of Cooked by award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand on Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. at Hammer Museum. Cooked examines the 1995 heat wave in Chicago, Illinois – one of the deadliest in U.S. history – and explores the politics of disaster. The film has been supported with a grant by the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.

The screening will be followed by a moderated panel discussion addressing issues surrounding climate justice and offering local solutions to large-scale challenges. Participants will be Helfand, Dr. Alonzo Plough Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, LA County Department of Public Health, Mike Blockstein of Public Matters group and Noreen McClendon of Concerned Citizens of South Los Angeles. Author and sociologist Rachel Morello-Frosch will moderate.

Helfand will also give a sneak peek of her trans-media project “Declare Home,” a new mapping tool for communities to re-invigorate and re-imagine their neighborhoods.

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program work-in-progress screenings offer a behind-the-scenes look into the creative process and an opportunity to engage with the filmmaker. Cooked is among a range of powerful environmentally-based films the DFP has supported, including A Fierce Green Fire, Island President and When Two Worlds Collide.

All Hammer Museum Public Programs are free. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required. Hammer Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA (Main Phone: 310.443.7000). Parking under the museum is available for $3 after 6:00 p.m.

This screening is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

The Hammer Museum
The Hammer Museum explores the capacity of art to impact and illuminate our lives. Through its collections, exhibitions and programs, the Hammer examines the depth and diversity of artistic expression through the centuries with a special emphasis on art of our time. At the core of the Hammer's mission is the recognition that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of human experience. The Hammer advances UCLA’s mission by contributing to the intellectual life of the University and the world beyond. www.hammer.ucla.edu

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program provides year-round support to nonfiction filmmakers worldwide. The program advances innovative nonfiction storytelling about a broad range of contemporary social issues, and promotes the exhibition of documentary films to audiences. Through the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Edit and Story Laboratory, Composers + Documentary Laboratory, Creative Producing Lab, as well as the Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Creative Producing Summit and a variety of partnerships and international initiatives, the program provides a unique, global resource for contemporary independent documentary film. www.sundance.org/documentary

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. www.sundance.org

News: Reverse Angle: A Programmer Looks Back at Sundance London

Charlie Reff, Assistant to Director of Programming & Coordinator, Shorts Labs — 2012-05-02T19:13:18+00:00

It’s officially over. I’m back in our LA office finally able to process what happened over my five hectic days in London. Things can get pretty intense when you’re in “festival mode” so it always takes a little time before you can look back and understand what really just happened. I spent a lot of my sleepless flight back to LA pondering whether or not we had conjured those “Sundance Moments” that happen every year in Park City in London. I'm thinking of those singular moments at the Festival, where everyone in a single room (audience, staff, artists) feel that they are a part of something special, experiencing something truly unique. I'm convinced that those times -- when all the right elements coalsece -- are a major reason audiences come back to Sundance every year; and it was always important to us that we were able to bring that element of the festival to Sundance London. I thought I’d share a couple of those with you that I experienced this past weekend.

On Friday night, Robert Redford and T-Bone Burnett sat down with moderator Nick Hornby for a lively conversation about their histories with film music. It was hard not to be entertained by stories of ‘The Sting’, ‘O Brother Where Art Though’ and ‘Walk The Line’, but the most special moment came when Brit rockers “Guillemots” took the stage after the intermission. They were invited to the event to cover some of the more famous songs from Redford and T-Bone’s catalogues. As they began the first notes of ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’, Redford’s face lit up with a smile that he couldn’t hold back and everyone was quickly reminded why it is one of the greatest film songs of all time. Everywhere I looked, I saw audience members quietly singing along to themselves.

On Saturday evening, ‘LUV’ director Sheldon Candis took the stage for a post-screening Q&A of his deeply personal film that is inspired by true events from his youth. Two younger women were so affected by the film that they couldn’t fight back their tears. When they were finally called on to ask their question, they asked if it’d be OK for them to come up and give him a hug which he of course agreed to. This all happened with Sheldon’s mother in the audience who had flown out specially to attend this screening.

On Sunday afternoon, Lian Lunson’s “Sing Me A Song” had it’s world premiere. The film documents a concert that happened back in NYC May 2011 that celebrated the life and music of singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle who had recently passed. After the screening the 300 person crowd walked over to our music venue, The Indigo, for an intimate performance by Kate’s children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright. They performed some of their mother’s most memorable songs and their own songs that had been inspired by her life in what was a powerful celebration of a mother’s love.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the audience attending Jeff Orlowski’s “Chasing Ice” received a nice surprise when Robert Redford walked out to introduce the film, speaking to the importance of the film’s environmental message, a subject close to his heart. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see the Sundance 2012 U.S. Documentary Cinematography Award winner on the 180 foot Superscreen, Redford finished his intro and grabbed a seat in the crowd so he too could take in the film’s awe-inspiring imagery on such a grand canvas.

On Sunday night, our amazing volunteers were given their time to celebrate as the festival came to a close at the ‘Volunteer Party’. The room was a sea of yellow festival hoodies (their official outfit) except for filmmakers Sheldon Candis, Michael Olmos, and ‘Filly Brown’ star Gina Rodriguez who stopped by to say bye to the volunteers and personally thank them for all their hard work. The volunteers had given their time for the opportunity to see works by these new artists, and now they were getting the chance to speak one-on-one with them. Without the volunteers, we couldn’t put on the festival and the filmmakers wouldn’t have a platform to share their work. After a busy four days for everyone involved, we were there to celebrate a job well-done and speculate what will happen next. Hope to see you soon, London.

Blog: Kick It: “Aatsinki - The Story of Arctic Cowboys”

Jessica Oreck — 2012-05-02T17:30:55+00:00

Jessica Oreck is a filmmaker whose work focuses on issues of ethnobiology. Her first feature, "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo" was released in the US and UK in 2009. Her short film "Venus" played the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.

We have 9 days left on Kickstarter and $20,000 to go. We also have some crazy great rewards and an amazing film that we want to get out to audiences like you. This little piece was written to give you a sense of how personal the project is and how it got started – but now the film is in your hands, and it can only be finished with your help. Your help, your friend’s help, your mom’s help. Make a pledge, spread the word, and help us reach our goal!

I love old Westerns. The character of the cowboy is infinitely appealing to me. I love the idea of a man alone in a great expanse of space, in tune with the weather and the needs of his animals. He knows the stars and the landscape almost innately. He is separate from the driving rush of civilization, his time exists for daylight and moonlight. He doesn’t have a Blackberry.

I wanted to find that type of man (or woman!) – a modern cowboy.

When my parents moved to Helsinki, I spent about three weeks traveling around the north of Finland, searching for the manifestation of this idealized concept of the modern cowboy, but I was consistently disappointed.

Knowing that I was getting frustrated, my mom, helpful as always, said something along the lines of, “Well, there’s this really nice man down at the farmer’s market who sells reindeer meat, I’m sure he knows a family of herders you could get in touch with…”

I was skeptical, but I did end up meeting “the nice man from the farmer’s market,” Jari Etelälahti, in April 2010. Before I could even open my mouth, he said, “I know just the family. You’ll love them. I’ll meet you in Rovaniemi in two weeks.”

Two weeks and plenty of indecision later, I meet Jari in the parking lot of a hotel in Rovaniemi, the largest town in Lapland, more than thirteen hours from Helsinki by train. We get into his car, almost total strangers. A few hours later we arrive at the house of a man named Hannu. Hannu says something in Finnish. The three of us climb into his car and continue north.

An hour later we are in the middle of the woods. We switch to snowmobiles. An hour later we are at a tiny cabin even deeper in the woods. There is no electricity and no running water. Hannu lights a fire. I shiver.

And then I hear the sound of a snowmobile approaching. Moments later, Aarne Aatsinki saunters in. The three men sip coffee and speak Finnish. Without a word of explanation, I am loaded onto the back of Aarne’s snowmobile. I don’t know where to put my hands. His snowmobile is obviously for hard riding, not carrying tourists. I wrap my arms around him in the most polite way I can figure.

We zip across frozen lakes, up mountainsides, take in vistas. We reach a giant fence, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. “Russia,” Aarne says, pointing to the other side. Later in our ride, we are stopped by some border guards who greet Aarne and skeptically study my papers.

More mountains, more vistas. And then, without warning, Aarne stands up quickly, leaving me dangling on the back of his snowmobile with nothing to hold onto. I hear Aarne say quietly, “O-ho” and then we are falling down an incredibly steep, though thankfully short, cliff. We land and Aarne turns off the snowmobile. I dismount ungracefully, shaking. He laughs at me, but in a protective way, while he checks his engine.

As I stand there, trembling, something catches Aarne’s eye and he hikes a short distance up the cliff. He waves me over, points to a track in the snow, and follows the trail to a tiny opening I hadn’t even noticed. Producing a flashlight from within his thick clothing, he peers into a cave and says to me, “Ahma.” I nod, mystified.

It starts to snow. Thickly. Aarne turns his snowmobile and we meet up with Jari and Hannu at a nearby hut. Aarne lights a fire and someone fills a kettle with water. In a few minutes we are all drinking coffee. Jari explains to me that, on our way off the cliff, we must have startled a wolverine (one of my first Finnish words: ahma) leaving his lair. In Finland, wolverines are highly protected animals and it is illegal even track them. Jari expresses his concern for Aarne should the border guards see his footprints.

I ask Jari how long we’ll be here. Jari ask Aarne. Aarne pulls open the door a few inches, looks into the blank, white sky and shrugs his answer in Finnish. “Two hours,” Jari translates. Two hours later, nearly to the minute, the snow stops, the sky clears, and I am back on Aarne’s snowmobile, Jari and Hannu behind us.

Aarne stops several times simply to listen. It always sounds silent to me, but at one point he turns off the path and we crest a hill. Dozens of reindeer are spread out below us – my first sighting of the animals in the wild.

Aarne eventually takes me back to the tiny cabin where we met and shakes my hand goodbye. I tell him I will return in September to meet his family and follow them for a year. He seems to think this is a good idea, and smiles – though I am pretty sure he had no idea what he was getting himself into...

Press Release: Five Independent Films Supported by Sundance Institute Now Available in the UK

Sundance Institute — 2012-05-01T19:00:21+00:00

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced five films supported by the Institute that are now available to rent and download in the UK, on iTunes and SundanceNOW. The films include Independent Spirit Award Winner Obselidia and New York Times Critic’s Pick Lord Byron. These projects are among the first to participate in the Institute’s Artist Services program, which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. For a full list of titles and where they are available, visit sundance.org/nowplaying.

These films are immediately available in the UK, following the first-ever Sundance London film and music festival, 26-29 April at The O2.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “For years we have supported filmmakers working in the UK, so it seems natural for us to expand our offerings to audiences in this same region. Through Sundance London and through the digital availability of these five films, audiences in the UK are now able to connect with exciting independent work in a significant way.”

The films and their availability are:

Advise & Dissent (Director: David Van Taylor) — A riveting, in the trenches look into the politicized Supreme Court confirmation battles. iTunes, SundanceNOW. (2003 Sundance Documentary Film Grant)

Lord Byron (Director: Zack Godshall) — This New York Times Critics Pick about a Don Juan from the Bayou charmed audiences and critics at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. iTunes, SundanceNOW. (2011 Sundance Film Festival, 2011 New York Times Critics Pick)

New Low (Director: Adam Bowers) — Adam Bowers wrote, directed and stars in this winning comedy about a neurotic twenty-something choosing love between the best and worst girls he’s ever known. iTunes, SundanceNOW. (2010 Sundance Film Festival, Winner 2011 Amsterdam Film Festival)

Obselidia (Director: Diane Bell) — Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Alfred P. Sloan Prize and Excellence in Cinematography Award, “Obselidia” is part road movie, part love story, and endlessly fascinating. iTunes, SundanceNOW. (2010 Sundance Film Festival, 2011 Independent Spirit Award Nominee)

The Oregonian (Director: Calvin Lee Reeder) — Lindsay Pulsipher (“True Blood”) stars as a girl on the run in this creepy selection from the Midnight section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. iTunes, SundanceNOW. (2011 Sundance Film Festival)

New Video® is the exclusive aggregation partner for distribution across all portals participating in the Artist Services program. The Artist Services initiative is made possible by The Bertha Foundation. O’Melveny & Myers generously provided pro bono legal services for the program.

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Returns to Morocco With Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue From May 7 to 1

Sundance Institute — 2012-04-30T18:37:46+00:00

Rabat, Morocco— Sundance Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Morocco will present FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue in cities throughout the Kingdom of Morocco from May 7 to 12, 2012. FILM FORWARD, a program that promotes cultural dialogue through independent documentary and narrative film, will have a special advanced screening in the capital city of Rabat on May 3 of the acclaimed documentary film Buck, at the International Festival of Wildlife and Environmental Film (FIFALE). The initiative officially kicks off on May 7 with a screening of Somewhere Between at the Agdal Cultural Center in Rabat hosted by U.S. Ambassador Samuel L. Kaplan.

The cultural program which features independent films, workshops, and filmmaker appearances, will be presented in multiple venues in Rabat, Oujda/Berkane, Khouribga, Beni Mellal and Fez before ending in Casablanca on May 12 with a screening of Another Earth at the International Festival of Student Film (FIFE). Building on last year’s successful presentation in Morocco, the program is meant to engage students and community groups whom do not have access to this type of programming. FILM FORWARD screenings are free of charge for the general public.

FILM FORWARD is an initiative of Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“Sundance Institute, in collaboration with our colleagues at the U.S. Embassy, is pleased to have the opportunity to return with FILM FORWARD to the vibrant Kingdom of Morocco,“ said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute. “Morocco is a country that maintains a strong cultural heritage yet also celebrates artistic expression and encourages communication between diverse cultures. This makes them ideal hosts for FILM FORWARD.”

“Film is an integral part of our cultural programming and a fantastic way to reach out to youth and underserved audiences,” said Christopher Fitzgerald, Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat. “We are thrilled to have FILM FORWARD back again in Morocco to continue the cultural conversation we began last year.”

Filmmakers Mike Cahill (Another Earth) and Linda Goldstein Knowlton (Somewhere Between) travel with FILM FORWARD to participate in Q&As, discussions, workshops and meet-and-greet events in the selected cities. They will be joined by Moroccan filmmakers Rabii El Jawhari and Hamid Basket, who will serve as moderators and cultural advisors. For a complete schedule of events in Morocco, please visit: http://www.sundance.org/filmforward/destination/morocco-2012/.

Sundance Institute’s Managing Director, Jill Miller, and FILM FORWARD Manager, Brittany Ballard, will be in attendance. A consortium of local cultural and government organizations will support the FILM FORWARD initiative in Morocco including: Agdal Cultural Center, American Language Center/Arabic Language Institute of Fez, Arts et Métiers Association, Hassan II High School, Oujda American Corner, Oum El Koura Language School, Mohamed I University, Ribat Al Fath Association, School of Cinema Professions of Casablanca (EMCC), Sultan Moulay Slimane University and Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University.

The films participating in the FILM FORWARD program in Morocco represent a powerful exploration of universal themes that provide an avenue for greater cultural understanding. The Film Forward films collectively illustrate coming-of-age stories, explore identity and reveal the transformation process, both political and personal. Somewhere Between follows the story of four Chinese-American girls struggling with their Identity as they grow into young women and Another Earth explores the lives of two strangers whose lives become intertwined after the discovery of a duplicate Earth. Buck is , the story of Buck Brannaman and his extraordinary work with horses.

A total of 10 films and filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad were selected by Sundance Institute and the partners to participate in the 2012 FILM FORWARD program, traveling to four domestic and five international locations. Filmmakers participate in screenings, extended Q&As, workshops, and master classes at Universities, film and cultural centers, museums, libraries and other community, educational, and cultural venues cultivating engaged dialogue, fostering appreciation of other viewpoints, and developing new audiences for independent film.

2012 FILM FORWARD Films Slate

Another Earth / USA (Director: Mike Cahill) — After the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes, and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined. When one of them is presented with the opportunity to travel to the other Earth and embrace an alternative reality, which new life will they choose? Cast: Brit Marling (also a co-writer), William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach

Beginners / USA (Director: Mike Mills) — BEGINNERS imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver, whose life is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover. Cast: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent

Bran Nue Dae / Australia (Director: Rachel Perkins) — This musical, set in the Summer of 1969, tells the story of a young man who flees the Catholic mission where he is studying to join the priesthood. He journeys across Australia on a life-changing journey that ultimately leads him back home. Cast: Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Geoffrey Rush

Buck / USA (Director: Cindy Meehl) — BUCK profiles famous “horse whisperer” Buck Brannaman, tracing his life from an abusive childhood to his career as a world-renowned horse handler and trainer. By teaching people to communicate with horses through instinct, not punishment, he frees the spirit of the horse and its human comrade.

Grbavica / Bosnia and Herzegovina (Director: Jasmila Zbanic) — GRBAVICA explores the painful long-term effects of war on a Bosnian woman and her daughter as they struggle to make a life in post-war Sarajevo. Removing the veil from the ultimate taboo of the war in the Balkans, the use of rape as a weapon, the film reveals that the post-war denial of this war crime is as devastating as the crime itself. Cast: Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic, Leon Lucev.

The Green Wave / Germany (Director: Ali Samadi Ahadi) — Ali Samadi Ahadi’s timely documentary reveals how Iranian civilians reacted to the 2009 Iranian Presidential elections. Using actual footage of the protests as well as interviews with Iranian bloggers and political leaders, Ahadi paints a compelling portrait of a nation on the brink of revolution.

On the Ice / USA (Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) — Two Alaskan teenagers deal with guilt and a web of deceit after accidentally killing a friend in a fight that got out of control. With their future in the balance, the two boys are forced to explore the limits of friendship and honor. Cast: Frank Irelan, Adamina Kerr, John Miller

Senna / UK (Director: Asif Kapadia) —The story of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest race car driver who ever lived, is an epic tale that literally twists at every turn. Facing titanic struggles, he conquered Formula One and became a global icon who was idolized in his home country.

Somewhere Between / USA (Director: Linda Goldstein Knowlton) – Somewhere Between tells the story of four teenaged girls adjusting to life in the US after their Chinese birth parents are forced to part with them due to China’s “One-Child” policy. The film provides an intimate look into the lives of teenage adoptees as they come to terms with their unique identities.

Unfinished Spaces (Directors: Benjamin Murray, Alysa Nahmias)— Fidel Castro invites 3 exiled architects back to Cuba to finish work on art school they started 40 years ago. Featuring intimate footage of Fidel Castro, the documentary offers a remarkable view into Cuba’s past, present, and future.

Upcoming FILM FORWARD Tour Dates
Imperial Valley: May 1-4
Morocco: May 6-12
Colombia: July 9-14
Puerto Rico: August 22-26
Oklahoma: September 6-8
UNESCO, Paris: September dates tbd

Already Completed:
Arizona – Feb 26-March 1
India – March 15-22
China – March 15-22

U.S. Embassy Rabat
The American Embassy in Morocco is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador, who is the President's personal representative to the Kingdom of Morocco.

Morocco was one of the first countries to accord recognition of the new American republic when it allowed American ships access to Moroccan ports in 1777, shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolution. Less than ten years later, the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship and Peace which was renewed for an indefinite term in 1836. As testament to the special nature of the U.S.-Moroccan relationship, the Moroccan city of Tangier is home to the oldest U.S. diplomatic property in the world, and the only building on foreign soil that is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the American Legation in Tangier.
Ever since these early days, the U.S. and Morocco have shared a close and abiding relationship across the Atlantic Ocean. Our shared interests include the economic prosperity of both countries, the pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East region, and the maintenance of regional security and cooperation, and sustainable development and protection for the environment.

FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue
FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue is an international cultural exchange program designed to enhance cross-cultural understanding, collaboration and dialogue around the globe by engaging audiences through the exhibition of film and conversation with filmmakers. FILM FORWARD is an Initiative of Sundance Institute and The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Federal Partners
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) bridges the interests of American federal agencies and the private sector, supports special projects that increase participation and excellence in the arts and humanities, and helps incorporate these disciplines into White House objectives. First Lady Michelle Obama is the Honorary Chairman of the PCAH.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent federal agency, provides support for documentary films, digital media and other educational programs in the humanities through competitive grant programs. The NEH is the nation’s leading supporter of research, education, preservation and public programs in the humanities.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The IMLS works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.

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Media Contacts:
Sundance Institute: Sarah Eaton 310.492.2320 sarah_eaton@Sundance.org	Murphy PR: John Murphy 212.414.0408 jmurphy@murphypr.com

Press Release: First-Ever Sundance London Film and Music Festival Comes to a Close

Sundance Institute — 2012-04-30T16:05:30+00:00

London, 30 April 2012 — The first-ever Sundance London film and music festival came to a close last night, capping off four days of film screenings and music performances hosted by Robert Redford, Sundance Enterprises, Sundance Institute and AEG Europe, with the support of Presenting Partner Sony Entertainment Network. The festival closed with an intimate performance by Rufus and Martha Wainwright following the World Premiere of Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You ~ A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, Lian Lunson’s film about the music of their mother, folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute, said: “Sundance London marked our first time hosting an event in the UK, and we are grateful to all our supporters and collaborators for the reception we received. These four days have seen features, documentaries and live events with insightful filmmakers and musicians, as well as passionate audiences in attendance.”

Alex Hill, Chief Finance and Strategy Officer of AEG Europe, owner and operator of The O2, adds: “The feedback to our hosting Sundance London has been terrific. We set out to bring a slice of the Sundance Film Festival to London and if the audiences’ positive reaction is anything to go by, there’s obviously a real appetite for this kind of festival in the UK. The unique content of Sundance London, featuring a stunning film programme, amazing music performances and discussion panels, has brought new audiences to The O2 and allowed us to showcase the venue as a truly multi-purpose entertainment destination.”

Sundance London provided an array of film premieres, live music performances, discussions and panels with guest speakers. Opening the proceedings on 26 April, Robert Redford and 12-time Grammy Award winner T Bone Burnett led a fascinating discussion on the magical relationship between film and music. The two shared their recollections of achieving great musical moments with the many filmmakers, actors and musicians they’ve collaborated with throughout their storied careers. Nick Hornby moderated the event, which also featured performances from Guillemots and Glen Hansard.

Making their UK premieres at Sundance London were 14 fiction and documentary features as well as eight short films from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A. Those films included The Queen of Versailles by Lauren Greenfield, Liberal Arts by Josh Radnor, Chasing Ice by Jeff Orlowski, The House I Live In by Eugene Jarecki, Under African Skies by Joe Berlinger, and SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace.

The four Special Events at Sundance London were: an intimate performance by Rufus and Martha Wainwright following the world premiere of Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You ~ A Concert for Kate McGarrigle; The debut theatrical screening of Coming Up For Air; a screening of the documentary HARMONY about the three decades of work by HRH The Prince of Wales to combat climate change and the global environmental crisis; and the 25^th anniversary screening of River’s Edge, which first premiered at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival.

Music was featured prominently at the festival. In addition to showing several music-themed films, Friday night saw Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird reunite to perform the album Maxinquaye, and Placebo gave an electrifying performance to a sold-out crowd on Saturday night. Among the artists that performed in the festival’s Music Café at festival hub the Inc Club at The O2 were Beatrice Andersen and Seye.

Multiple panels on the creative process of independent filmmaking also took place at the festival, reflecting the year-round work of Sundance Institute. Events at the festival’s Cinema Café included guest speakers such Gina Rodriguez (Filly Brown), Sheldon Candis and producer Jason Michael Berman (LUV) in a relaxed and conversational setting. Also at the Cinema Café was a Table Read of FARMING, directed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (GI Joe, The Bourne Identity, LOST,OZ) and with a cast that included Ashley Walters, Marc Warren, Minnie Driver and David Harewood.

Sundance London took place 26-29 April at The O2. For more information, visit www.sundance-london.com.

All photos are copyrighted and may be used by press only for the purpose of one-time reproduction. Unauthorized use, alteration or reproduction of photographs is strictly prohibited.

All Sundance London Press enquiries:
Premier Public Relations
Claire Gascoyne / Liberty Green / Sanam Jehanfard (online)
Tel: 020 7292 8330
Email : Firstname.surname@premierpr.com
www.premierpr.com

FILMS AT SUNDANCE LONDON
2 Days in New York (Director: Julie Delpy, Screenwriters: Julie Delpy, Alexia Landeau)
Chasing Ice (Director: Jeff Orlowski)
Filly Brown (Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Screenwriter: Youssef Delara)
Finding North (Directors: Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush)
For Ellen (Director and screenwriter: So Yong Kim)
The House I Live In (Director: Eugene Jarecki)
Liberal Arts (Director and screenwriter: Josh Radnor)
LUV (Director: Sheldon Candis, Screenwriters: Sheldon Candis, Justin Wilson)
Nobody Walks (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young)
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (Director and screenwriter: Terence Nance)
The Queen of Versailles (Director: Lauren Greenfield)
Safety Not Guaranteed (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly)
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS (Directors: Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace)
Under African Skies (Director: Joe Berlinger)

Special Event films:
Coming Up For Air (Director: Charlie Targett-Adams)
HARMONY: A New Way of Looking at Our World, Inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales (Directors: Stuart Sender, Julie Bergman Sender)
River’s Edge (Director: Tim Hunter, Screenwriter: Neal Jiminez)
Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You ~ A Concert for Kate McGarrigle (Director: Lian Lunson)

Short films:
The Arm (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis)
Dol (First Birthday) (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Ahn)
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Directors: Joseph Pelling, Rebecca Sloan)
Extranjero (Directors and screenwriters: Daniel Lumb and Crinan Campbell)
FISHING WITHOUT NETS (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey)
The Return (Kthimi) (Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj)
Robots of Brixton (Director: Kibwe Tavares)
Song of the Spindle (Director and screenwriter: Drew Christie)
Tooty’s Wedding (Director: Frederic Casella, Screenwriters: Laura Solon, Ben Willbond)

MUSICAL PERFORMERS AT SUNDANCE LONDON
Glen Hansard
Guillemots
Placebo
Fifi Rong
Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird

Music Café, produced by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP):
Beatrice Andersen
Gabrielle Aplin
Daughter
Escapists
Cosmo Jarvis
Simon Lynge
Man Without Country
Rams’ Pocket Radio
Orlando Seale and The Swell (winner of the Gibson Spotlight at Sundance London contest in association with Absolute Radio)
Seye
Charlene Soraia
The Staves

EVENTS AT SUNDANCE LONDON
Opening Night event: An Evening with Robert Redford and T Bone Burnett

Panels:
Documentary Flash Lab
Film Music from the Composer’s Point of View: an afternoon with Harry Gregson-Williams
Thinking Independently: UK versus US

Cinema Cafe:
Table Read: FARMING, with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (actor/writer/director)
Bring the Noise: Music in My Film
Making LUV

Notes to the Editor:

Sundance London
The first-ever Sundance London film and music festival took place at The O2 26-29 April, 2012, and is a partnership between Robert Redford, Sundance Enterprises, Sundance Institute and AEG Europe. Sundance London hosted the UK premieres of films fresh from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival as well as live music performances and events each evening, including the previously announced Opening Night event An Evening With Robert Redford and T Bone Burnett, Placebo in concert, Rufus and Martha Wainwright sing Kate McGarrigle, and Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird performing Maxinquaye. Also on offer to Sundance London audiences were unique opportunities to attend panels and hear guest speakers talk about the part they play in making films, documentaries and the role of music in modern cinema. Sundance London is made possible by support from: Presenting Partner – Sony Entertainment Network; Supporting Partners – The Langham, London and Stella Artois®; Official Providers – Air New Zealand, ASCAP, Dolby Laboratories, Inc, Gibson Guitar Corp., HR Owen and Aston Martin, MGM HD, Stolichnaya Vodka, US Embassy Office of Cultural Affairs, and WorldView. Special thanks to AMC Networks, The BRITDOC Foundation; BAFTA, BFI, Film London, and Sundance Channel. 30% of proceeds go to the nonprofit Sundance Institute. For more information on Sundance London, please visit www.sundance-london.com or follow @SundancefestUK on Twitter.

Robert Redford
Robert Redford is an Academy Award-winning actor, director and producer, a passionate advocate for the arts and a leading environmentalist. He serves as President of the non-profit Sundance Institute, which he founded 30 years ago to foster independence, discovery and new voices in American film and theatre. Mr. Redford also founded the Sundance Channel, Sundance Resort, Sundance Catalog, and Sundance Cinemas and the non-profit Redford Center. Though very different in their activities and independent in their operations, all of Mr. Redford’s Sundance entities share the same core mission he has always held dear: a passionate connection to new artists, new voices and new perspectives. www.sundancegroup.net

Sundance Institute
The Sundance Film Festival is a program of Sundance Institute, a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

AEG
AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. It owns or operates some of the world’s best arenas and theatres, numerous sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL) and LA Galaxy (MLS), and a collection of companies dedicated to producing, promoting and presenting world-class live entertainment.

In May 2005, AEG Europe announced that it would transform the former Millennium Dome and the surrounding area into the UK’s most exciting and technically advanced music, sport and entertainment destination. It was renamed The O2 and opened in June 2007.

The centrepiece of the multi-million pound development is the 20,000 capacity indoor arena, the most popular music arena in the world. There is also a live music venue – indigO2 - with a capacity of 2,350, The O2 bubble – a state of the art exhibition space that is host to the British Music Experience, a permanent, high-tech, interactive music museum, an 11 screen cinema complex, and a vibrant ‘Entertainment District’ featuring a variety of bars, restaurants and leisure facilities.

The O2 arena sold more tickets than any other arena in the world last year (breaking all previous records) – making it the most popular music venue in the world for the fifth year running.

AEG employs more than 3,000 staff in over 45 operating companies worldwide. Its international head office is in Los Angeles, and its European headquarters is based in London.

Sony Entertainment Network are proud to be Presenting Partner of Sundance London. Sony Entertainment Network is the ultimate destination for digital music, movies, games, and more accessible across a wide array of connected devices through one convenient account. The service incorporates Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited and the PlayStation Network. Video Unlimited is a global premium digital video service with a growing library of over 80,000 of blockbuster movies and hit TV shows. It gives users convenient, single account access to great content across a wide variety of connected devices both in the home and on the go. Music Unlimitedis a global cloud-based, digital streaming music service that features an expanding catalogue of over 15 million songs. It gives music lovers convenient, single account access to great music on a wide variety of connected devices both in-home and on the go. www.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com

News: Twice Is Nice: Gina Rodriguez on Filly Brown’s Second Sundance Premiere

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-04-28T23:34:08+00:00

We're launching our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival's journey across the pond at Sundance London with a series of on-the-ground interviews with filmmakers and musicians participating in the celebration of film and music. Filly Brown premiered at Day 2 of Sundance London.

Gina Rodriguez, who dazzles as the strong-willed hip-hop artist in Filly Brown, couldn’t help but manage her expectations for the film’s Sundance London premiere on Friday.

“The Park City reception we had was so wonderful, and you can’t just expect that all the time,” she said. “You really have to come down to the ground.”

And exporting a story so deeply rooted in Latin culture to a London audience seemed ambitious. But true to her unwavering tendencies as the lead in Filly Brown, the Chicago born actress approached Friday’s premiere with a stanch optimism, trusting that the film was as much a tale of human struggle as it was a story of second-generation strife. And wouldn’t you know, the Sundance London crowd agreed.

What was the atmosphere like for the premiere and how did the London audience respond to the film?

Rodriguez: I got in yesterday, and right from the get go it’s been an amazing reception. We had the Robert Redford panel yesterday with T-Bone Burnett and it was brilliant, and it’s been like London has opened its arms and given me a big old hug. And I’m here with my parents. And my Dad had never seen the movie until tonight.

While this is a story of a young Latina girl’s struggle, and it features a hip-hop heavy score, it is nonetheless a very American story. Did you have any concerns about how a London audience would respond, and did it seem like the film resonated with them?

Rodriguez: Yeah, I was terrified. I was terrified because it is a second generation immigrant story, and I am a Latina. But then that goes against everything that I say at the same time. Filly Brown is just a story. It does not matter that I’m a brown baby, it does not matter that I’m a Latina, because it’s not like “viva la raza,” “go Latinos.” It’s just a girl who loves music, who has family drama, like we all do. We all have dreams, we all aspire to do something great, we all aspire for our parents to be a lot less crazy and dysfunctional. And we all can relate to that message, to the art of what Filly Brown is.

I’d imagine a very different Q&A session took place in London than in Park City.

Rodriguez: When I got to the Q&A we were late because they messed up with the time, but people were still sitting there, and they loved it. They connected, and they loved the music. I prayed for a response like that, but I just never wanted to expect that to happen. Because the Park City reception we had was so wonderful, and you can’t just expect that all the time, you really have to come down to the ground. And the response was ten times more the praise than I could have ever prayed for.

Sundance London was designed to cultivate this very organic relationship between music and film, one that is extremely prevalent in Filly Brown. Off hand, do you have any favorite film scores or films with musicians in lead roles?

The first thing that came to mind was Drive. I love the score to drive. It was feminine, but with a very masculine lead character. You know what I also really liked? Idlewild, with Andre 3000 and Big Boi. The score was outrageous. It was so good. Oh, and Hustle and Flow and 8 Mile.

Filly Brown has served as a major stepping stone in your acting career, but you also have a background in spoken word, which made this role as a hip-hop artist a natural fit. Do you have any musical aspirations beyond film?

Rodriguez: I write all the time. I’m in the studio all the time. I just finished my first song, that I personally wrote, and it’s not hip-hop at all, it’s actually more folk music. I’m a huge Mumford & Sons fan, huge Avett Brothers fan...Florence & the Machine, Kate Nash. I love hip-hop, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a part of me that I discovered in this whole journey of music and being in the studio.

You know what’s so funny? We’re all artists, we all have creativity in us. But I love these people who are like, “I’m not creative at all.” And then you go to the club with them, and they dance amazing. And you’re just like, “What are you talking about you’re not creative? You have art surging through your body, and when that music comes on it just explodes.” It’s interesting how we all have something artistic in us. Some of it we seek, some of it somebody tells us, and some of it just unveils itself to you over time.

Music was something I was always afraid of, because I thought I was going to fail, so I never touched it. I sang in the shower like everybody else. I had dreams of being on stage and performing. But I was always afraid that it wasn’t where my strength was. My strength was in acting, and you’ve gotta’ stick to what you’re strong at. This movie gave me an opportunity to be like, “You want to do this, now here’s a platform for you not to be terrified, not to get down on yourself, not to decide that you’re a failure before you even try.”

News: Sundance London Programmer’s POV: Quality Cinema Knows No Boundary

Charlie Reiff, Assistant to Director of Programming & Coordinator, Shorts Labs — 2012-04-28T14:54:53+00:00

Going into Sundance London, the programming staff headspace echoed the overarching theme of Terrence Nance’s “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty” (playing here at SDL): Complications can arise when expectations meet reality. We’ve had decades to build a sense of trust with our Park City audience. We know their taste and they know ours. But now we’re heading across the globe to put on an event for a foreign audience full of questions. Will they show up? Are they avid documentary film lovers? Do they even care about short films? Will our American comedies translate well? We really had no idea.

With two days of the festival already passed, we have all breathed a collective sign of relief. The screenings are packed with locals excited for American independent cinema. We’ve seen comedies by Josh Radnor and Colin Trevorrow received the same massive receptions (albeit very 'polite' massive receptions) in the 700+ seat Superscreen theater as they did back in January in Park City. Paul Simon, Lauren Greenfield and Eugene Jarecki have spoken before enraptured audiences during their post-screening Q&A’s. And in the lively exchange following last night’s first of three sold out screenings of our short film program, the discussion focused around the commercial potential of shorts after one audience member commended the quality and diversity of the program and wondered why the 90 minute program couldn’t be released directly into public movie theaters like features. Despite all the anxiety we had coming into this new endeavor, we again realize that it’s all about the storytelling. Quality cinema knows no boundary and that’s not a bad lesson for us to remember.

News: Sundance London: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Comes Full Circle with Farming

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-04-28T00:54:52+00:00

English actor and Sundance alum Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, Oz, G.I. Joe) sounded like anything but the hulking, sometimes menacing characters he depicts on screen as he recalled his Friday table-read at Sundance London. It was another step toward the director’s chair for Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who led a remarkable cast in a reading of his Sundance Lab-supported project Farming to a packed London audience. The script is semi-autobiographical and revisits an era in England when it was common practice for immigrant parents to foster their children to families as they worked toward financial stability. Akinnuoye-Agbaje –still gleaming following the reading and speaking with a palpable enthusiasm—checked in with us to provide a sense of the festival's atmosphere, his impressions of the event, and the almost eerie aptness of debuting the script at Sundance London.

When you consider the subject matter of Farming, your screenplay reading is one of the more ‘British’ events of the weekend. What was your impression of the audience's response?

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: This event is painted with firsts. It’s the first time that Sundance has come to London, the first time that a table reading has been done of this nature in England, and it’s the first time that I’ve aired Sundance to the public, particularly the British public. And on all those levels it was quite emotional, and a triumphant feeling. And the audience was just marvelous; the response was phenomenal actually. People laughed in places that I hadn’t anticipated, and applauded in places where I’d hoped. It’s a hybrid between a play and a movie, and I think it’s a real luxury that we should embrace. Because an audience for the first time actually gets to connect with this wonderful cast, these people who they see on their TV, and just to see the workings of how a script is translated into a movie. It’s just a unique experience that you can’t miss, and a very exciting experiment for me to see some of the responses.

You’re always nervous about these things. It’s like sending your kid to school for the first day. You don’t really want to let him go through those gates, but you have to. Fortunately I was guided by the performance of such great actors. The moment they said the first few lines, I was like, “Ok, they’ve got it, I can let my baby go.”

This project is a product of the Sundance Institute Labs and is finally coming to fruition at a Sundance hosted event in your hometown. Could it be any more appropriate?

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: It’s quite mystic really. For it to go through all the stages of the Labs and be a baby that went through the machinery of the Institute... And then for Sundance now to come to London, to bring it home and give it a home-based platform—it’s a gift. Never do you get a platform like that for this type of story. I’m just fortunate to have experienced all of the Labs, and then being able to show that result to my own British public. It’s full circle.

You enlisted the talents of Ashley Walters, Minnie Driver, David Harewood, and many others for this reading. What was it like having that all-star, and very local, cast alongside for this event?

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: It’s really quite surreal to me, to be honest with you. It really was humbling, and it gave me a great sense of gratitude. It’s not an easy journey. It means people have to invest themselves. And to take that from people, and for them to give that freely, it was just a gift, a wonderful honor.

Farming is such an emotional and deeply personal story—do you find it painful to confront, or does it serve as a catharsis?

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: It’s been a five-year journey. It was cathartic for me to write it, and it’s a different level now. Reading had many levels of reaction for me. On an emotional level, because it is my life and something that is personal that I’ve written and lived; and on a creative level, to put it in front of an audience that is your peers and counterparts that grew up in your culture, and would understand some of the references that you’re pointing to. It was just exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time to see how they would react. And I think it was quite positive overall. I’m quite blow away to be honest. But I’m still processing it, because it just happened.

What’s next for this project?

Akinnuoye-Agbaje: I intend to make the film. My plan is to take it to the next step and hopefully it is connected to some of the Institute personnel that attended. And sooner than later, probably in this year, we’ll try to lock funding and get on with a story that needs to be told. And I think judging from the audience reaction, it wants to be heard.

News: Sundance London: Harmony Filmmakers Tune Into Prince Charles’ Efforts to Save the Planet

Christine Spines — 2012-04-27T23:16:02+00:00

There are few pinch-yourself moments in a filmmaker's career as potent (and head-spinningly daunting) as being anointed by the future King of England to capture his legacy on film. But when filmmakers Julie Bergman Sender and Stuart Sender managed to keep their wits about them when His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales asked them to collaborate with him on a feature documentary capturing his pioneering work to protect and presere the environment. Three years and several royal tea services later, the Senders have come to Sundance London bearing the fruit of that collaboration in the form of Harmony: A New Way of Looking at the World, which follows Prince Charles around the globe as he collaborates with ground-breaking artists, architects, and business leaders to heal the world.

In the following candid conversation on the even of Harmony's world premiere, Bergman Sender waxed nostalgic about her notable distinction as (perhaps the only ) filmmaker who was present at the inception of both Sundance London and the Sundance Film Festival in Park City and what it's really like to get the (unironic and unmetaphoric) royal treatment.

Sundance.org: How did you come to make a film about HRH The Prince of Wales' work on behalf of the environment?

Julie Bergman Sender: The Prince had made a film in 1990 for the BBC called The Earth in Balance about Global Warming and climate change and looming issues that at the time nobody really knew what that meant but now seems quite prescient. We have a clip from that film where he’s interviewing Al Gore and the two of them were in their thirties at the time.

So he told a colleague of ours that he really wanted to make another film, not a follow up but a film that talks about the holistic nature of the problems we’re facing and the equally holistic nature of the way forward and way to look at solutions. I believe there are many amazing solutions happening all over the world and they come from the shift in paradigms in the way of looking at those problems. So our colleague said, yeah I know the perfect people. But to be honest, I think we may be the only filmmakers he knew.

Initially, we knew very little about His Royal Highness except what most Americans know. So we began doing research and speeches he was making and people he was working with all over the world and we said this is amazing. Who knew? We were so excited to get through the process to where we finally met with him and then we all decided we were going to embark on this journey. And that was five years ago.

Sundance.org: Can you set the scene of what the meeting was like?

Julie Bergman Sender: When we first arrived, it was clear to us there were going to be a series of hurdles we’d have to clear before we got to meet him. There were people who had worked with him for a long time and we clearly needed to pass muster with them first. So once we did that, we were lead into this room in his private residence and we were lead into this beautiful English blue drawing room. And I’m looking around and one of his staff was in the room with me and they started to speak with me and I turned around and said, 'I’m afraid you’re going to have to give me a moment because I may never be in this room again and I’m looking at a Monet on the wall that clearly no one had ever seen unless they were in this room.' And that’s because the Queen Mother, his grandmother, was an avid art collector from the time she was a young girl, and Monet was one of the people she was a patron to. So I’m looking at this painting that had been on the wall since the Queen Mother had been in her thirties or something and underneath it was a round table with a glass top and a plastic framed photo of his children. So that’s where you realize, yes we’re a historic place but we’re also in a place where someone really lives. The we were lead into a very beautiful small dining area and we all sat down in a dining area where we were served tea and I was like, oh so now I have to sound smart, listen and drink tea all at the same time. This is going to be a challenge. And as is usually the case, when you’re meeting someone who is very well protected, when the principal walks in the room, they usually put you right at ease and that’s exactly what happened. And both Stuart and I were very moved by how introspective smart and kind he was. Then we went back to LA and started to flesh out the larger ideas of the film. I felt like I went to school and learned to many things I might not have otherwise known.

Sundance.org: Why did he choose this medium to tell his story?

Julie Bergman Sender: I think generationally, anyone who was born in the media age of which he certainly is a member understands the power of visual storytelling. He also produced several smaller films for the BBC. I think he understands the power and the value of film. The big assignment we had for this movie was to take very very big ideas and try to make them accessible to everyone and hopefully we’ve made him shine through in a different way than people are accustomed to seeing. We hoped people would get to know the work that he’s done and why he does it.

Sundance.org: Was he always comfortable being a central character in the film?

Julie Bergman Sender: I think that piece evolved. Initially he always wanted to be as central to the film as necessary. It just evolved into a situation to him playing the role of the visual storyteller and convenor of these ideas and the narrator who brings the people and places involved together.

Sundance.org: What’s the Prince’s relationship with film like? Is he a film buff? How involved was he in the process?

Julie Bergman Sender: He watched every cut. He was very integral to the making of the movie. And because he’s an artist – he’s a painter – he’s very visual and he appreciates film. I don’t know whether he’s a film buff exactly. Because I don’t imagine they have much time because they’re kept so busy. I don’t think he would have wanted to do this if he wasn’t. I think he understands multi-platform messaging even if he wouldn’t call it that. He was also incredibly supportive and respectful and kind all the way through. Those of us making movies aren’t used to that.

Sundance.org: How did you come to premiere the film at Sundance London?

Julie Bergman Sender: When I heard Sundance was going to London, which was maybe a little over a year ago, we were still in the process of editing the movie and I really felt like if that was when we were able to premiere the movie, from my point of view I just felt like the connection between film and the environmental issues and Robert Redford’s connection to the environmental movement as an authentic leader, I just felt like it was such a good fit. And what a great way to talk about all these issues from a film point of view and an issues point of view.

Sundance.org: What’s your experience been like there?

Julie Bergman Sender: I was at the first three Sundance film festivals. I was at the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival, too. So in a funny way, there’s a lot of symmetry for me at this festival, including that my mentor was Sidney Pollack, I worked for him for many, many years. I had known Bob before this. And last night I went to the T-Bone Burnett thing and they talked about the songwriters who wrote The Way We Were, the were talking about Conrad Hall, who shot Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who lived across the street from me when I was growing up and whose kids were my best friends. Everything that was going on on the stage was right out of my life. And it’s a silly thing to say, but the movie’s called Harmony and the way we’re showing this movie her for the first time is probably my version of harmony.

Sundance.org: How did the title come about?

Julie Bergman Sender: When you look at the definition of harmony, it means that things are in balance. It’s a visual thing, it’s an emotional thing, it’s a compass of what works and what doesn’t. You don’t have to define it with words, you just know it when you feel it. So we all decided it was the right title because it’s evocative and it means a lot of things.

Sundance.org: Your premiere is tomorrow night. How do you feel?

Julie Bergman Sender: It’s a little terrifying that this is the first time that people outside our inner circle will see the movie. It’s the beginning for us of the next step of where we take the movie and how we decide to distribute it because it’s an unusual situation in that we own the movie outright. We haven’t made deals with distributors yet by design because we really want to use the movie in a proactive way. We want to bring it to conferences and we already have a great relationship with the 350+ organizations that are part of the Climate Action Network. They’ll be pushing the film out to their hundred million emails, from light green to dark green. We’ve laid the track to turn this into a tool for raising awareness of issues in arenas where you can rejoin the heart and head around the environment crisis we’re in. We have a lot of work to do but this is a very special moment where we just have to see how it lands.

Sundance.org: Was the Prince always planning on introducing the film?

Julie Bergman Sender: No. This was always how I hoped it would go. I think we all felt like it would be really, really wonderful if he could be there for the very beginning of this process of getting the film seen by the rest of the world. But his schedule is always such that it’s kind of amazing that he was able to come.

News: Liberal Arts’ Josh Radnor Takes Us Behind the Scenes of His Sundance London Debut

Christine Spines — 2012-04-25T21:50:13+00:00

Greetings from Sundance London! We're launching our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival's journey across the pond with a series of on-the-ground interviews with filmmakers and musicians participating in the celebration of film and music. Over the next four days, we'll take an artist's eye view of the proceedings with a series of daily interviews with participating artists about their experience engaging with audiences and other films and musical performances at the newly-minted Festival.

Short of hopping on the next flight to London and high-tailing it to the O2 Arena to catch one of the stellar films that debuted in Park City in January or one of exclusive performances by T-Bone Burnett, Glen Hansard, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, we'll bring you backstage and behind the scenes, capturing the immediacy of the experience of creating a pop-up community around a set of hand-picked creative works that are at turns risk-taking and rule-breaking, thought-provoking and heart-stoking works of cinematic and musical artistry.

Our first installment comes courtesy of actor-writer-director, Josh Radnor, whose wistful ode to love, neurosis, and early-onset midlife crisis, Liberal Arts screened (to standing ovations) in the Premieres section of the Sundance Film Festival and made its UK bow on Sundance London's opening day. The film stars Radnor as an aimless (possibly depressed, definitely developmentally-arrested) thirtysomething who returns to his alma mater to give a speech and falls for a vivacious seriously age-inappriate undergrad (Elizabeth Olsen). Calling from the O2 shortly after Liberal Arts' bow, Radnor offered the following glimpse inside his Sundance London experience.

Sundance.org: There's something so quintessentially American about the type of college nostalgia Liberal Arts evokes. How did audiences in London respond?

Josh Radnor: The screening went really, really well. I spoke to a Cambridge graduate today who said she went through the same thing. So maybe it’s more universal than we realize.

Sundance.org: What were the biggest differences between the way Park City and London audiences responded?

Josh Radnor: There were certain commonalities. Certain people get really obsessive in wanting to know what books I’m referring to in the script. And tonight there was actually a Kenyon student in the audience which was funny. She had a funny anecdote about the frozen-in-time nature of some of these campuses and how it was to go back and shoot there after being a student there. But there were no unanswerable curve balls.

Sundance.org: What were your expectations coming into Sundance London?

Josh Radnor: Basically you’re just going on your own instinct and praying your taste lines up with other people’s taste. It feels like an act of great strength and bravery to use that as your guiding system. This film also speaks to some universal concerns. You have characters who, each in their own way, are rejecting where they are. There’s the older one and there’s the younger one and all of them come to some sort of more settled quality in their life -- a more accepting space. So I think that’s the type of thing that really lands on people. Also there’s not a lot of films made for book lovers. Maybe that’s an under represented demographic.

Sundance.org: What are some of the books that were your touchstones in writing Liberal Arts? Why did you decide not to name-check the books your characters discuss in the film?

Josh Radnor: One of the reason I didn’t name the books in the movie is because you say a certain book and then someone might think, ‘oh I hated that book’ or ‘oh I didn’t like that book.’ But if you don’t say what the books are, people can bring their own favorites to it and use their imagination. It’s like a Hirshfeld drawing: It’s a line and you can kind of fill in the rest with your imagination. But some of the books are directly lifted from my experience. The book that they talk about is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I just didn’t want to mention it for a number of reasons, mainly because it kind of clangs in my ear when [filmmakers] want you to know: This is what that book is. I kind of felt better about it being something they could speak shorthand about with great fondness. They refer to the fact that the author killed himself and the cover is not the exact cover of the book but it’s close enough to the paperback cover that people who knew the book would recognize it. The other book that Jesse had to read in any bookstore—for me that book is The Hours by Michael Cunningham. There’s something really stunning about the last three pages to me. I was so moved by them that for years, when I was in a bookstore, I would just pick up different versions of that book and read the ending. That’s what I had in mind, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what Jesse was reading.

Sundance.org: Books have clearly had a huge impact on your filmmaking. Has music been a similar source of inspiration?

Josh Radnor: Oh yeah. Huge. I’m an obsessive music lover and always searching for new things. A few years ago, I got really into classical music. Some classical music, in order to get it, it requires a certain amount of unlocking, not unlike British Romantic poetry or something like that. I was fortunate in having had one of the best Keats scholars in the world while I was at Kenyon, so I felt like I was getting the secret code of how to read those poems. And classical music is a little like that in that it requires a little initiation. But while I was writing Liberal Arts I was listening to a lot of classical music. So I decided to make it a plot point in the same way those old poems in those old books are some of the sturdy pillars of a liberal arts education, that music is analogous to that. It’s also very romantic and it alters my consciousness in a really plesant way and I wanted Jesse to have some sort of expansive experience with that music. My first film was scored by one of my favorite singer-songwriters, a good friend of mine whose name is Jaymay. It was great to collaborate with her and work in that way with a living artist. Sometimes I will hear a song and it will inspire a scene. I see music as a collaborator in many ways.

Sundance.org: What tracks made their way into your creative process on this film?

Josh Radnor: Once I decided to use classical music as a plot point, I got a playlist together of things that were moving me. Like there’s that Cosi Fan Tutte piece that she thinks will make everyone feel attractive. That came from one day when I had my headphones on and everyone looked beautiful suddenly. The Wagner Overture Tannhauser and Beethoven’s Symponie Pastorale I really, really love. There’s two Vivaldi pieces, there’s Beethoven Emperor Concerto. It was fun to think of what would be on the CD.

Sundance.org: Both your movies are the work of a pure Romantic with a capital R. Beethoven is clearly in your blood.

Josh Radnor: Definitely. I just got all Karajan’s Nine Symphonies by the Berlin Philharmonic. I’m really dorking out on that right now.

Sundance.org: Are you planning on seeing any music while you're at Sundance London?

Josh Radnor: Oh yeah. I’m planning on seeing the Wainwrights and seeing Tricky tomorrow night. I’m really keen on doing that.

Sundance.org: What's the most indellible Sundance London experience you've had so far?

Josh Radnor: We were all at the US Ambassador’s residence last night. That was definitely a surreal festival moment. It’s much more intimate feeling. It’s definitely not as chaotic as Park City. Few things are.

News: Now Playing: Sound of My Voice

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator — 2012-04-25T21:10:27+00:00

Time travel, cults, and a beguiling Brit Marling. What more can you ask of a film?

Zal Batmanglij’s debut feature, Sound of My Voice, premiered in the NEXT category at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival—a.k.a. Brit Marling’s coming-out party—and opens in the theatres Friday, April 27. We’d call it a psychological thriller, but Batmanglij’s (yes, we envy his name too) mind-bender transcends the usual limitations of genre.

The script is co-written by Marling, who dazzles as an enigmatic cult leader from the future whose community is threatened by an inquisitive young couple posing as believers. When Marling last spoke with us at the 2011 Festival, she expressed her hesitations regarding the role.

“Playing a cult leader is so far outside of my life. From an acting perspective, I believed I was from the future, and my doubts were like anyone’s doubts: can I really be an actor or writer? It’s grounded in the mundane and in emotions, but being locked in a time period that’s not your own. As a writer, it’s interesting the way sci-fi can create original juxtapositions in normal human dramas.” Click here to read the full interview with Marling.

Sound of My Voice is the final release in a trio of Fox Searchlight acquisitions from the 2011 Festival that hint at a new “mini-wave” of American cinema. First-time feature directors Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Mike Cahill (Another Earth, also starring Marling) saw their releases in 2011, both of which tread the periphery of psychological dramas while remaining stylistically innovative and quintessentially ‘independent.’

Fox Searchlight has made the first 12 minutes of Sound of My Voice available here, a clever gimmick for a film that hooks as quickly as any.