Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences, today announced the appointment of Michael Monroe as Chief Marketing Officer. Reporting to Institute CEO Keri Putnam, Monroe will be responsible for leading all aspects of brand, marketing, and communications strategy for the Institute, including the annual Sundance Film Festival. He begins on May 28, 2019 and will be based in the Institute’s Los Angeles offices.
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After 30 Years on Staff, 11 as DirectorJohn Cooper will Assume Newly-Created Emeritus Director Role Following 2020 Festival.
Sundance Institute announced today that John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, will move into a newly-created Emeritus Director role following the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. 2020 will mark his 30th Sundance Film Festival, and his 11th year as Festival Director.
The new role will focus on special projects and overseeing the 40th anniversa...
Sundance Institute today announced Knock Down the House as the winner of the Festival Favorite Award, selected by audience votes from the 121 features screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, which took place in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah from January 24 through February 3. The Festival Favorite is the 29th and final recognition bestowed on this year’s Features, including juried prizes and category-specific Audience Awards; others were announced at a ceremon...
I had the honor this week to connect with the incredibly talented, Short Film Grand Jury Prize Winner, Soudade Kaadan. Her story may be one of the most important in the whole festival. As a Syrian filmmaker, she has experienced more hardships than any American filmmaker can imagine. She does not have nearly the same resources as many of her competitors yet she still manages to make high caliber film that is enjoyable even without its profound political context.
Her fil...
The U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft winner, Honey Boy was the true winner of Sundance. No movie will come out of the festival with more hype than Honey Boy. This heart wrenching, semi-biographical account of fatherly abuse touched the hearts of many. It screened to multiple standing ovations and was nearly impossible to watch with packed tents full of eager cinephiles lined up in hopes of seeing Shia LaBeouf’s latest masterpiece. Personally, I tried a total of four ...
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award: Clemency, directed by Chinonye Chukwu
U.S. Dramatic Audience Award: Brittany Runs a Marathon, directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo
U.S. Dramatic Directing Award: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, directed by Joe Talbot
U.S. Dramatic Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Share, screenplay by Pippa Bianco
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft: Honeyboy, directed ...
"Big Time Adolescence"
"The Last Black Man in San Francisco"
"The Farewell"
"Little Monsters"
"Marshall from Detroit"
"Velvet Buzzsaw"
"Koko-Di-Koko-Da"
"The Report"
"Ms. Purple"
"After the Wedding"
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Streaming best moments of a fun evening, with awards revealed.
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U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award: Clemency, directed by Chinonye Chukwu
U.S. Dramatic Audience Award: Brittany Runs a Marathon, directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo
U.S. Dramatic Directing Award: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, directed by Joe Talbot
U.S. Dramatic Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Share, screenplay by Pippa Bianco
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft: Honeyboy, directe...
Look back at day nine of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
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First time director Jason Orley, alongside budding star Pete Davidson, unleash an emotionally draining yet cheerfully humorous coming of age story with Big Time Adolescence. The film leaves you both regretting the terrible decisions of your youth while longing for those days at the same time. It ultimately asks the question if bad decisions as an adolescent are a healthy, normal part of life, or pitfalls we ought to avoid.
Big Time Adolescence is the type of movie that just may blow up as a ...
Not many movies can move at a sedated pace without putting the majority of the audience to sleep. Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man on Earth is the rare exception. The film flows like the still waters of the San Francisco Bay, by telling a melancholic story of gentrification and the pain that losing a childhood home brings. It is a beautiful depiction of poverty and class struggle that teaches those who have not personally experienced gentrification, what it feels like to be backed into a ...
As a Chinese-American filmmaker myself, there is a special place in my heart for Chinese-American film. The consistently negative depictions of Asians in American film-culture instilled a sense of shame in me that translated to hiding the fact that I was Asian from many people up until early adulthood. Being mixed, that was generally not too difficult and it was an easier way to navigate life. The only way to truly fix this problem is by people like Lulu Wang succeeding. She absolutely does so...
In a festival full of artistically layered and creatively structured films, Abe Forsythe’s Little Monsters stands out by telling a classic three-act narrative with predictable beats that lead to an ending we’ve all seen before. Usually, that would not be a compliment in my book, however, this film executes it’s ‘save the cat’ style story to perfection. It gives the audience everything they want in a film. It is chock-full of humor that has the crowd boisterous thr...
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Presents Feature Film Prize to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Announces New Grants to Artists at 2019 Sundance Film Festival
Winners of Commissioning Grant, Episodic Storytelling Grant and Lab Fellowship Revealed
Director-Screenwriter-Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor Honored
At a reception at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival today, the benef...
In contemplating the complexities of the world, we have always looked to artists and storytellers to challenge our thinking and shake us from complacency. That’s particularly true of fiercely independent artists who maintain the freedom to shatter prevailing orthodoxies, reframe moral perspectives, and push the boundaries of accepted norms. They don’t lead us to safety but away from it, out of our comfort zones. We’re joined by a group of exceptional, provocative filmmakers a...
Penny , director of Hail Satan, sets out to subvert American history with intelligence and wit. Here, she asks us to question why certain religions are deemed “normal,” even though, notes one Temple member, Catholic mass is all about the symbolic drinking of blood.
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Look back at day seven of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
The Documentary "David Crosby: Remember My Name" premiered at Sundance Fest
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Winners of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival jury prizes in short filmmaking were announced today by Sundance Institute at a ceremony in Park City, Utah. The Short Film Grand Jury Prize, awarded to one film in the program of 73 shorts selected from 9,443 submissions, went to Aziza, directed by Soudade Kaadan and co-written by Kaadan and May Hayek. Full video of the ceremony is at youtube.com/sff. The Short Film program is presented by YouTube, as part of their...
GAZA Paints a Portrait of Life in Palestine”; plus RAISE HELL: THE LiIFE & TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS, STIEG LARSSON — THE MAN WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, SWEETHEART
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Look back at day five of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
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Eminem is one of the greatest rappers to ever exist. Sway Calloway is the best hip-hop journalist and radio personality in the world. The two come together to have a patient conversation about some of Eminem's roots in Detroit, utilizing a medium that usually gets attributed to a modern aesthetic. However, with Eminem and Sway Calloway being such rich fixtures of hip-hop history, the aesthetic is grainy and has a vintage feel to it.
The 20 minute short is a VR experience that...
Watch yesterday's recap video including highlights with the cast of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile; Paradise Hills; and Luce.
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Some of our favorite moments from day three on the mountain included a conversation with KiKi Layne and Ashton Sanders, plus catching up with the cast of The Report at the world premiere.
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The editorial team 
