Founded in 1981, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that discovers and supports independent film, media, and theatre artists from the U.S. and around the world.
Sundance Institute helps artists tell their stories—and the Sundance Institute Archives & Collection works to protect and preserve them. We are passionate about preserving and sharing the stories of our supported artists and the history of the organization for generations to come. Learn more about the Archives & Collection at sundance.org/archives.
To keep up with all of the stories, photos, and other archival gems from the Sundance Institute Archives, follow @sundanceorg on Instagram. See you soon!
Short Film Spotlight: Broken Orchestra (dir. Charlie Tyrell)
The Symphony for a Broken Orchestra project collected hundreds of broken instruments from the Philadelphia public school system, fixed them, and then returned them to the hands of students.
Film stills and poster courtesy of Broken Orchestra.
Have you ever wanted to experience the summer labs at Utah’s very own Sundance Resort? While we’ve transitioned these labs to digital platforms, we put together a few beauty shots from over the years as a part of the US National Archives’ #ArchivesVirtualVisit to give you an inside look.Â
“Did you know your foot’s as big as your arm from your elbow to your wrist?” That’s a little bit of trivia offered by Julia Roberts’ Vivian in the 1990 film Pretty Woman. Another bit of trivia for you: Pretty Woman actually had its beginnings as a Sundance lab project! In 1988, screenwriter J.F. Lawton (above) attended the Screenwriters and Directors Labs to workshop his script, then titled Three Thousand.Â
Since the film recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its release, we thought we would share some photos taken on set of the project during the Directors Lab that year.
Some of the biggest moments and movements in modern human history have been (or are being) carefully documented by independent artists working in film, theatre, VR, music, and beyond.
For Preservation Week, we’ve highlighted a selection of Sundance-supported stories told by extraordinary artists during extraordinary times that must be seen and remembered. Read the full blog post Preserving the Record: Why Storytelling Is So Vital in Times Like These.
1. Trouble the Water film still. Courtesy Trouble the Water.
2. Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance film still. Courtesy of Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance.
Director and screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood workshopped her award winning film Love & Basketball at the 1998 Directors Lab and premiered it two years later at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.Â
This month marks 20 years since Love & Basketball’s release and ESPN recently posted an interview with Prince-Bythewood, along with the cast and crew of the groundbreaking film and it’s definitely worth checking out, 'Love & Basketball': An oral history of the film that changed the game.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Exit Through the Gift Shop in theaters. This acclaimed documentary premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as a surprise screening. Fittingly, as the film itself has its share of secrets and mysteries, such as whether or not the whole premise of the film is entirely fake. The mystery at the crux of it all is a question that remains as captivating and flummoxing as ever: who IS Banksy?
Longtime alum Roger Ross Williams’ new documentary tells the rich history of the Apollo Theater in Harlem – The Apollo is available to stream for free in April on HBO.Â
“It’s 85 years of the history of black music and black entertainment in this country. We used music and art to lift ourselves out of oppression.”Â
- Roger Ross Williams
Williams received a 2011 Sundance Documentary Fund Grant for his first feature length documentary God Loves Uganda, attended the Documentary Edit and Story Lab with the film in 2012, and premiered it during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Life, Animated, Roger Ross Williams’ second feature documentary, premiered at the 2016 Festival and won the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary.
Most recently Roger Ross Williams attended the 2019 Sundance Film Festival with Traveling While Black, an installation and VR experience at New Frontier.
Stream The Apollo on HBO and check out the trailer below:
In honor of World Theatre Day, we’re highlighting theatre artists and the work they do.Â
(pictured above) Director Chay Yew during a rehearsal of There's Always the Hudson at the 2017 Theatre Lab.
Andre De Shields participates in a reading of Lemon Andersen’s ToasT at the 2012 Theatre Lab. De Shields was most recently in the 2019 Best Musical Tony Award winner, Hadestown.
Playwright and composer Jeanine Tesori works with Judy Kuhn, Raul Esparza, and Beth Malone on Fun Home at the 2012 Theatre Lab. Fun Home went on to win 5 Tony Awards in 2015, including Best Musical.
The Dreaming Zenzile team during rehearsal at the 2019 Theatre Lab.
Alex Brightman, most recently on Broadway as the titular character in Beetlejuice, rehearses a song from an untitled musical by Jeanine Tesori and David Linsay-Abaire, adapted from the play Kimberly Akimbo at the 2017 Theatre Lab.
Playwright Paula Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman workshop Indecent at the 2013 Theatre Lab. Indecent went on to win 2 Tony Awards in 2017, including Best Play.
Self-isolating got you down? Take this as an opportunity to finally see all those films you keep moving to your “Watch Later” list. Here are a few feel-good Sundance faves that we love to get you started.
The Farewell (Amazon Prime)
After learning their beloved matriarch has terminal lung cancer, a family opts not to tell her about the diagnosis, instead scheduling an impromptu wedding-reunion back in China. Headstrong and emotional writer Billi rebels against her parents’ directive to stay in New York and joins the family as they awkwardly attempt to rekindle old bonds, throw together a wedding that only grandma is actually looking forward to, and surreptitiously say their goodbyes.
Minding the Gap (Hulu)
Bing, 24, returns home and reconnects with his friends Zack and Keire, whom he’s been skateboarding with since childhood. Archival recordings of their former glory coupled with current interviews and extraordinary skateboard footage tell the story of three young men who banded together to escape their volatile families. As they grow up before our eyes, unexpected revelations threaten to crash their decade-long friendship.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor (HBO)
With his gentle voice and heartfelt words of wisdom, Fred Rogers served as a compassionate surrogate father for generations of American children who tuned in to public television. He believed in love as the essential ingredient in life and was able to assist kids through difficult situations armed merely with handmade puppets suggesting tolerance and acceptance.Â
The Fundamentals of Caring (Netflix)
Having suffered a tragedy, Ben becomes a caregiver to earn money. His first client, Trevor, is a hilarious 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. One paralyzed emotionally, one paralyzed physically, Ben and Trevor hit the road on a trip into the western states. The folks they collect along the way will help them test their skills for surviving outside their calculated existence. Together, they come to understand the importance of hope and the necessity of true friendship.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (Amazon Prime)
Brittany Forgler is a funny, likeable, 27-year-old hot mess of a New Yorker whose trashy nightclub adventures and early-morning walks of shame make her late for work every day. But when she stops by a Yelp-recommended doctor’s office in an attempt to score Adderall, Brittany gets handed a series of diagnoses instead—elevated heart rate, high blood pressure … the list goes on. Suddenly forced to get a grip, Brittany laces up her Converse sneakers and runs one sweaty block. The next day, she runs two. Soon she runs a mile. Brittany finally has direction—but is she on the right path?
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Hulu)
Raised on hip-hop and foster care, defiant city kid Ricky gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside. He quickly finds himself at home with his new foster family: the loving Aunt Bella, the cantankerous Uncle Hec, and dog Tupac. When a tragedy strikes that threatens to ship Ricky to another home, both he and Hec go on the run in the bush. As a national manhunt ensues, the newly branded outlaws must face their options: go out in a blaze of glory or overcome their differences and survive as a family.
Green, an undocumented Turkish pedicab driver, unwittingly draws police attention, endangering his brother, his community, and himself.
Director/screenwriter Suzanne Andrews Correa, screenwriter/producer Mustafa Kaymak, and producer Michael Peters took home the Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.Â
Don’t say his name, but do check out the official trailer for Sundance alums director/screenwriter Nia DaCosta, screenwriter/producer Jordan Peele, and screenwriter Win Rosenfeld’s new take on the terrifying urban legend that is Candyman.
Nia DaCosta workshopped her first feature, Little Woods, during the 2015 Directors Lab, Jordan Peele premiered Get Out during a surprise screening at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and Win Rosenfeld premiered Lorena alongside Jordan Peele at the 2019 Festival.
Black women directors have created some of the most powerful, nuanced, and layered stories of our time. From indie hits to serious blockbusters, projects written and directed by black women have proven to be essential in contributing a unique cinematic gaze. In the span of 39 years, Sundance Institute has supported numerous black women artists in telling their stories via labs, grants, and the annual Festival in Park City.Â
In celebration of Black History Month, we’re highlighting black women feature-film directors with ties to Sundance Institute. We’ve chosen 11 artists who have worked to portray the intricate lives of black women, bring into focus cultural aspects of the African diaspora, and express socially relevant themes through film.
Brrr, it definitely feels like the first day of winter here in Park City, so we’re bundling up for December Archives Hashtag Party: #ArchivesSweaterWeather! Pictured above is Roger Ebert, Melvin Van Peebles, and Michael Moore during the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.Â
Against landscapes that the artist and his father traversed, audio of the father in the Ho-Chunk language is transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet, which tapers off, narrowing the distance between recorder and recordings, new and traditional, memory and song.
Director Sky Hopinka will make an exciting return to Sundance for the 2020 Festival with malni - towards the ocean, towards the shore; a New Frontier film exploring the origin of the death myth of the Chinookan people.
Let's take a lesson from Mr. Rogers for World Kindness Day and remember that: “The greatest thing we can do is to help somebody know that they're loved and capable of loving.”
Watch Morgan Neville's 2018 Sundance Film Festival documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? and get inspired to do something nice for someone today on World Kindness Day.
With his gentle voice and heartfelt words of wisdom, Fred Rogers served as a compassionate surrogate father for generations of American children who tuned in to public television. He believed in love as the essential ingredient in life and was able to assist kids through difficult situations armed merely with handmade puppets suggesting tolerance and acceptance. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Mr. Rogers made speaking directly and openly to children his life’s work, both on and off his long-running show. He was at the forefront of a movement devoted to meeting the specific needs of children and was considered a radical back then for saying, “I like you just the way you are.”
Animated sequences are peppered between archival footage of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and interviews with Fred Rogers’s family, friends, and colleagues. Examining Rogers’s legacy, Academy Award–winning director Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom) offers a deliberate and beautiful tribute to an authentic human being and provides a much-needed salve for these often-fraught times.
Find Won't You Be My Neighbor? on-demand.
Film still by Jim Judkis, courtesy of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The newly released Honey Boy is a collaboration between director Alma Har'el and screenwriter/star Shia LaBeouf that explores the psychological fallout of growing up in a home marked by addiction. A semi-autobiographical film for LaBeouf, the script was born out of an assignment during court-ordered rehab where he was tasked with writing out his life memories. He sent the writings to Har’el, who immediately knew that this was a story they had to tell together. Known for her visionary style in music videos and experimental documentaries, this was Har’el’s first narrative feature, and she was awarded a Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
When 12-year-old Otis starts to find success as a child television star in Hollywood, his ex-rodeo-clown father returns to serve as his guardian. When Otis isn’t on set charming audiences, he spends his days with his father at an extended-stay motel on the edge of the city, enduring his overbearing father’s abuse. Honey Boy follows two threads of time, watching father and son's contentious relationship and their attempts to mend it across the course of a decade.
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