sundance institute
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
The Sundance Institute has released the films screening in the out-of-competition sections of the Sundance Film Festival and have announced that the closing night film will be Dito Montiel‘s The Son of No One (pictured right). The film, set in a post-9/11 New York, follows two men as their lives unravel due to incidents from their past. It stars Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Ray Liotta and Juliette Binoche.
Other highlights from the list include George Ratliff‘s Salvation Boulevard, Morgan Spurlock‘s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Joshua Leonard‘s The Lie (which will play in the fest’s NEXT section), Liz Garbus‘ Bobby Fischer Against the World, Susanne Bier‘s In a Better World, Steve James‘ The Interrupters, Kevin Smith‘s Red State, Gregg Araki‘s Kaboom and Kelly Reichardt‘s Meek’s Cutoff.
See the complete list of out-of-competition titles below. The competition titles can be found here.
The festival will take place Jan. 20-30, 2011 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
PREMIERES
Cedar Rapids/U.S.A. (Director: Miguel Arteta; Screenwriter: Phil Johnston) — A wholesome and naive small-town Wisconsin man travels to big city Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at a regional insurance conference. Cast: Ed Helms, John C Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alia Shawkat, Sigourney Weaver.
The Convincer/U.S.A. (Director: Jill Sprecher; Screenwriters: Jill Sprecher & Karen Sprecher) — An insurance salesman, caught in a caper involving a rare musical instrument, sets off a series of dramatic consequences. Cast: Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, David Harbour.
The Details/U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jacob Aaron Estes) — When hungry raccoons discover worms living under the sod in a young couple’s backyard, the pest problem sets off a wild and absurd chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity, organ donation and murder by way of bow and arrow. Cast: Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert.
The Devil’s Double/Belgium (Director: Lee Tamahori; Screenwriter: Michael Thomas) — An extraordinary chapter in … Read the rest
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
The Sundance Institute announced today the competition films for its 2011 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. At first glance, it looks like an exciting list with quite a few filmmakers we follow here at the magazine premiering their work, including Rashaad Ernesto Green‘s Gun Hill Road, Sean Durkin‘s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean‘s On the Ice, Dee Rees‘ Pariah, Azazel Jacobs‘ Terri and Marshall Curry‘s If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front to name just a few.
In the release sent out today, festival director John Cooper commented, ““The Festival is a challenge to narrowly define. It is all at once exciting, fun, crazy, engaging, visceral, and sometimes even painful. We can explain storylines, we can share what we know of each artist’s unique journey, but ultimately what we will experience for 10 days in January is different for each of us. It’s the spark from the filmmakers – their passion – that brings 200 unique worlds to life and, in turn, ignites the audience. The films, conversations, encounters are there to experience. And that’s what makes Sundance so magical.”
Said Trevor Groth, director of programming, “Knowing how difficult it is to get a film made anywhere, and given that the number of submissions was higher than ever, it is a testament to the passion and creativity of filmmakers everywhere that they are able to preserve and stay true to their vision. The caliber of films submitted this year was exceptional and made for exhilarating discussion among the programmers. Now that discussion gets turned over to the audience.”
The festival, which takes place Jan. 20-30, 2011 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah, will also change their opening night format by screening one narrative, one documentary and one shorts program to kick off Sundance 2011.
The four competition sections — U.S. Dramatic and Documentary, and World Dramatic and Documentary — are below. The out-of-competition sections will be announced tomorrow.
Check back in the coming days for more commentary on this … Read the rest
Friday, June 25th, 2010
The Sundance Institute announced its 12 Documentary Film Fellows and their five projects in the seventh Documentary Edit and Story Laboratory. Taking place from June 19-27 at a resort in Sundance, Utah, this Lab supports visionary filmmakers and their projects.
Fellows are selected from a pool of 60 active, Sundance-funded documentary projects.
Lab Fellows are:
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (Directing Fellow), Michael Collins (Directing Fellow), Heather Courtney (Directing Fellow), Ramona Diaz (Directing Fellow), Ron Goldman (Editing Fellow), Kyle Henry (Editing Fellow), Stephen Maing (Directing Fellow), Leah Marino (Editing Fellow), Eric Daniel Metzgar (Editing Fellow), Jonathan Oppenheim (Editing Fellow), Trina Rodriquez (Editing Fellow), Marty Syjuco (Directing Fellow).
The 5 films selected for the 2010 Sundance Institute Documentary Editing and Story Lab are:
GIVE UP TOMORROW (U.S.)
After languishing for 12 years on death row in a Philippine prison, Paco Larrañaga finds hope when the international human rights community upholds his innocence and launches a grass-roots campaign that triggers the total abolishment of the death penalty.
HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE (U.S./China)
High Tech, Low Life follows the personal journey of two of China’s most well-known roving citizen reporters as they travel the country chronicling under-reported news and social issues stories.
THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (Israel / Palestinian Territories)
What happens to the rule of law when a democracy enforces military rule over a neighboring population in a territory one third of its size?
THE LEARNING (U.S.)
The Learning follows four Filipino teachers recruited to from the Philippines to teach in Baltimore City. Across the school year’s changing seasons, the film chronicles the sacrifices they make as they try to maintain a long-distance relationship with their children and families, and begin a new one with the mostly African-American students whose schooling is now entrusted to them.
WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM (U.S.)
Looking for money for college, a group of childhood friends join the National Guard when they graduate from their rural high school. Thus begins their 4-year-journey from teenagers stuck in their town, to soldiers looking for bombs in Afghanistan, to 23-year-old combat veterans trying to restart their civilian lives.… Read the rest
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
The Sundance Institute has announced the inaugural Shortslab: LA, a three-part, all-day workshop that will offer filmmakers inside guidance through the development, production, and exhibition of short films. Shortlabs: LA will be held Saturday, July 31st at the Downtown Independent Theater (251 South Main Street) in Los Angeles.
Tickets are $150. For information or to purchase tickets visit: www.sundance.org/shortslab
Here is the workshop schedule:
Story Development (9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.): Acclaimed filmmakers including Sundance Film Festival alumni share their experiences working with short-form during their careers. These tales from the trenches will focus on conceptualization and script development. Participants will be announced shortly.
Production (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.): Industry professionals and special guests speak to the many challenges filmmakers face during production, including budgeting, working with unions, music rights, financing, and much more.
Exhibition (3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.): An eclectic mix of speakers — including festival programmers, agents, managers and distributers — share advice on how to handle a completed film.
Cocktail Mixer and Screening (5:30 p.m.): ShortsLab: L.A. caps off with an informal gathering followed by a 7:30 p.m. screening of award-winning short films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Feedback: If a filmmaker participates in ShortsLab: L.A. and submits a short film to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, a Festival programmer will call them post-Festival to offer individual feedback on the film.… Read the rest
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
At The Film Stage, Kristin Coates has a long and impressively detailed take on the early days of the Sundance Institute and Festival, tracing the social, political and industry currents that lead to the formation of what is now one of the dominant institutions in the world of independent film. The Directors Lab is currently unfolding at Redford’s Sundance Institute in Utah, and Coates’ article is not only a timely tale of Sundance but also a history of the transition from the “New Hollywood” of the mid-’70s to a self-identifying American independent film movement that gathered steam in the ’80s. In her telling, though, Coates is also aware of the limitations of all official histories, quoting Michel Foucault in her discussion of why Sundance’s origins lie before the 1985 birth celebrated at its 2009 “25th anniversary.”
As historian and theorist Michel Foucault would argue, the trouble with an origin point is that there was always something before. Indeed, 1985 did mark the beginning of something new, but that something grew out of many earlier happenings. As Foucault described, “A genealogy of values, morality, asceticism, and knowledge will never confuse itself with a quest for their “origins,” will never neglect as inaccessible all the episodes of history. On the contrary, it will cultivate the details and accidents that accompany every beginning; it will be scrupulously attentive to their petty malice; it will await their emergence, once unmasked, as the face of the other.”
The creation of Sundance was not a single moment in time, but rather it developed out of a number of different circumstances that were happening synchronously, and whose paths crossed and became intertwined. “Creation” in this case is a moment when multiple paths intersected through shared occurrences and motivations. History in this case is a series of trajectories, and when these multiple trajectories intersected and aligned, something new was formed.
The complete article is at the link.… Read the rest
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Originally posted on the Filmmaker blog.
Moments ago the Sundance Institute announced the lineup of films screening in the competition categories for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, which will take place Jan. 15-25 in Park City, Utah and neighboring regions. Some of the titles that jump out for us are Joe Berlinger‘s Crude, R.J. Cutler‘s The September Issue, Ondi Timoner‘s We Live in Public and Tom DiCillo‘s When You’re Strange on the doc side and Cary Fukunaga‘s Sin Nombre, Lee Daniels‘s Push and Ross Katz‘s Taking Chance on the dramatic side. Descriptions of these titles and all the others selected are below.
The films screening in Documentary Competition are:
Art & Copy (Director: Doug Pray; Screenwriter: Timothy J. Sexton)—Rare interviews with the most influential advertising creative minds of our age illustrate the wide-reaching effect advertising and creativity have on modern culture. World Premiere
Boy Interrupted (Director: Dana Perry)—An intimate look at the life, mental illness and death of a young man told from the point of view of the filmmaker: his mother. World Premiere
The Cove (Director: Louie Psihoyos; Screenwriter: Mark Monroe)—Dolphins are dying, whales are disappearing, and the oceans are growing sick. The horrors of a secret cove nestled off a small, coastal village in Japan are revealed by a group of activists led by Ric O’Barry, the man behind Flipper. World Premiere
Crude (Director: Joe Berlinger)—The inside story of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case in the rainforest of Ecuador, the largest oil-related environmental lawsuit in the world. World Premiere
Dirt! The Movie (Directors: Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow)—The story of the relationship between humans and dirt, Dirt! The Movie humorously details how humans are rapidly destroying the last natural resource on earth. World Premiere
El General (Director: Natalia Almada)—As great-granddaughter of Mexican President Plutarco Elias Calles, one of Mexico’s most controversial revolutionary figures, filmmaker Natalia Almada paints an intimate portrait of Mexico. World Premiere
Good Hair (Director: Jeff Stilson)—Comedian Chris Rock turns documentary filmmaker when he sets out to examine the culture of African-American hair and hairstyles. World … Read the rest
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
The Sundance Institute today announced the expansion of Sundance Institute Art House Project, a partnership with art house cinemas nationwide to build audiences and develop a supportive community of theatre owners committed to independent film. In its fourth year, the Art House Project this year includes a specially-selected series of short films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Go to the participating theaters’ websites below to learn more about when the films are showing.
The shorts program includes:
MAN (directed by Myna Joseph)
FCU: Fact Checkers Unit (directed by Dan Beers)
Sikumi (directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean)
I Love Sarah Jane (directed by Spencer Susser)
W. (directed by The Vikings)
Spider (directed by Nash Edgerton)
Your Truly (directed by Osbert Parker)
Dennis (directed by Mads Matthiesen)
my olympic summer (directed by Daniel Robin)
Participating Theatres are:
BAM, New York, NY, www.bam.org
Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN, www.belcourt.org
Broadway Centre Cinemas, Salt Lake City, UT, www.saltlakefilmsociety.org
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA, www.coolidge.org
Enzian Theater, Orlando, FL, www.enzian.org
Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR, www.hollywoodtheatre.org
International Film Series, Boulder, CO, www.internationalfilmseries.com
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY, www.burnsfilmscenter.org
The Loft, Tucson, AZ, www.loftcinema.com
Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI, www.michtheater.org
The Music Box, Chicago, IL, www.musicboxtheatre.com
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK, www.okcmoa.org
The Palm, San Luis Obispo, CA, www.thepalmtheatre.com
Pickford Cinema, Bellingham, WA, www.pickfordcinema.org
Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA, www.cafilm.org
Ragtag Cinema, Columbia, MO, www.ragtagfilm.com
Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville, ME, www.railroadsquarecinema.com
The Screen, Santa Fe, NM, www.thescreen.csf.edu… Read the rest
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Launched in 2005, the Middle East Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished Creative Advisors in an environment that encourages storytelling at the highest level. The five-day Lab was held in an eco-lodge in Wadi Feynan, Southern Jordan. This year’s Lab brings together eight Fellows from the Middle East and North Africa with Creative Advisors from the United States, Europe, Latin America and Malaysia.
Run by the Royal Film Commission in consultation with The Sundance Institute, the Labs is held in Jordan from October 14-19, 2008. This year’s Creative Advisors included Zach Sklar, Artistic Director (JFK), Karim Ainouz (Madame Satã), DV DeVincentis (High Fidelity), U-Wei Bin Hajisaarim (The Arsonist), Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me), Bernd Lichtenberg (Goodbye Lenin) and Tyger Williams (Menace II Society).
The participants and projects selected for the 2008 Screenwriters Lab are:
ABU SHANAB/Aseel Mansour (Writer/Director), Jordan
Abu Shanab is personal story about the Palestinian people’s belief in their right of return, told through the eyes of a precocious young boy. Ziad is a 12-year old boy living in Gaza who becomes curious about his family’s past, and finds answers in the journey he undertakes searching for a small box that his grandfather hides in his old house in Jaffa.
THE FIFTH STRING/ Selma Bargach (Writer/Director), Morocco
The Fifth String tells the story of Malek, an 18-year old young man and his dream to become a well-known lute musician.
LAND OF THE BRAVE/Nizar Wattad (Writer), Palestinian Territories/U.S.
An Arab-American family living in Tennessee must come together when their strained relations are tested in the aftermath of 9/11.
LET IT BE MORNING /Sayed Kashua (Writer), Israel
Let it be Morning is about Sami, a journalist who was fired from his job at a Hebrew newspaper. Economic reasons force him and his family to move back to the Arab village he left years ago, while peace talks take place between Palestinians and Israelis.
LITTLE AMERICAN WHORE/Maysoon Zayid (Writer), Palestinian Territories/U.S.
Little … Read the rest
Friday, November 7th, 2008
The Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have announced the twelve finalists for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The annual cash award to support new artists in international cinema (winners announced at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival) is celebrating its 13th year with an impressive list of past recipients including: Alex Rivera (The Sleep Dealer), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Walter Salles (Central Station).
The twelve finalists for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards are:
EUROPE
Celia Galán Julve / ROSITA GUZMÁN IS ALIVE (Spain) – When dangerous fugitive Rosita Guzmán disappears into the Mexican desert, criminologist Garcia Navarro, convinced that she is a product of an unjust system, becomes obsessed with finding and unraveling the truth about her.
Lucile Hadzihalilovic/EVOLUTION (France) – A group of young boys who are isolated from the world act as guinea pigs in a series of bizarre medical procedures intended to trigger a reverse evolutionary step. EVOLUTION depicts the attempts of one young, unruly test subject as he seeks to escape experimentation and recall his clouded past.
Marco Van Geffen/AMONG US (Netherlands) – Cross-cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications compound when a Polish au pair goes to work for a Dutch family. Structured in a puzzle-like narrative, AMONG US depicts the young woman’s tenure there from various points of view, and the characters failure to connect.
LATIN AMERICA
Fellipe Barbosa /CASA GRANDE (Brazil, co-writer Karen Sztajnberg) – A teenage boy struggles to define his future and explore issues of class privilege among Rio’s decadent elite while his overprotective parents spiral into bankruptcy.
Marcelo Gomes and Cao Guimarães /THE MAN OF THE CROWD (Brazil) – In a vast Brazilian metropolis, two solitary subway employees gradually come to know one another, triggering a change in perspective on their lonely lives.
Diego Lerman / THE DISCIPLINE MONITOR (LA PRECEPTORA NACIONAL)(Argentina) – During the last years of the military dictatorship, a sexually repressed school monitor in Buenos Aires indulges in a strange compulsion, allowing her dark desires to compromise her role at the school.
UNITED STATES… Read the rest
Wednesday, April 27th, 2005
If you pick up the new issue of Filmmaker, you’ll notice by reading our cover articles on Miranda July and her first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, the large role the Sundance Institute had in developing that film and supporting its production. July’s film was a Summer 2003 Sundance Lab project and it went to become a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and will open from IFC Films this June. And then there’s another Lab project I’m very interested in — David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley, which I thought was an amazing script and which will premiere in Cannes next month.
Now, Sundance has just announced its 2005 Summer Lab projects. (Off the bat, I’m excited to see Annemarie Jacir on the list as she was one of Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” of 2004.) From the press release:
“Over the course of the Filmmakers Lab, the selected eight filmmakers collaborate with professional actors and digital production crews, shooting and editing key scenes from their scripts. Through this hands-on process, the directors can do a ‘dress rehearsal’ of their material in an atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged. Filmmakers Lab participants also take part in the week-long Screenwriters Lab, when writers involved with five additional projects join the group to participate in one-on-one story sessions with established screenwriters.
“‘We’re excited to be supporting such a unique group of emerging filmmakers who bring their authentic voices to stories that are bold in content and aesthetic,’ said Michelle Satter, Director of the Feature Film Program. ‘We look forward to joining them on their creative journeys and see the June Lab as a centerpiece of our year-round program. Our commitment to including international work at the Labs continues with filmmakers from places as diverse as South Africa, New Zealand, the Middle East and Pakistan.’
“During the Labs, participants work with a group of accomplished creative advisors as part of a month-long mentoring process. Gyula Gazdag returns for his 9th year as Artistic Director for the Filmmakers Lab. This year’s creative advisors include: John August, Walter Bernstein, … Read the rest
