Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson, made its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on Opening Night. Admittedly, in tears after seeing Swift perform “Better Man,” in Brian Loschiavo’s extraordinary documentary, Bluebird, at the 50th Anniversary of the Nashville Film Festival, I was intrigued. Utilizing present-day narrative voice-over from Swift, archival footage, still photos and current interviews from those closest to the megastar and cultural icon, a portrait of who Taylor Swift is, was, and will be is painted with both smooth and coarse strokes. Others appearing in Miss Americana are Swift’s mother, best friend, publicist, producer and a plethora of others inside the star’s orbit. Using at times both documentary recording techniques of direct cinema and cinema verite, Jenny Roh, reveals as much and probably more than the spoken words. Admittedly, after seeing Swift perform in Brian Loschiavo’s documentary, Bluebird, at the 50th Anniversary of the Nashville Film Festival, I was intrigued.
Wilson begins with Taylor’s first song-writing attempts captured on home videos providing a glimpse into the driving force behind Swift’s rapid ascent into stardom. At the age of 9, Taylor, seated on a performer’s chair looks directly into the camera and shares with her audience she’s going to sing a song she wrote yesterday. Without missing a beat a cut returns to Taylor, again in a chair looking into the camera sharing with the audience she about to sing a song she wrote five minutes ago. These moments set the tone for the journey Miss Americana takes the audience. At once serious. At other times playful and introspective.
A few pivotal moments occur when Ms. Swift wins album of the year at age 16 – an unheard-of achievement – the youngest person to ever write, record and perform a number one hit and her rise to stardom is just beginning. What could have been a massive train derailment occurred at the VMA Awards. Swift was honored with the Video of the Year award. Mid-way through her speech a fellow performer under the influence jaunted out on stage, droopy drawers and all, high-jacked a microphone and began belligerently crying foul. Later this artist dubbed “a jackass” by the then President of the United States, Barack Obama, would lay claim to Swift’s success by his sheer stupidity, ignorance, mean-spiritedness and jealous nature.
The young woman’s biggest career moment, normally a monumentally happy occasion, turned nightmarish as the young starlet appeared bewildered and somewhat dumbfounded by the chaotic moment. Loud boos and barbs were hurled from the audience as Swift left stage head-down, shoulder slumped. In present-day time Shift shares what was going through her mind. What transpired over the next few years is unparalleled in the history of the music industry. Swift pumped out four number one albums back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Each album remained at the number one slot on the charts for at least six weeks. No other group or performer, including the Fab Four (The Beatles) has accomplished such a feat.
Alone at the top without a life partner despite a close and loving mother-daughter relationship, Taylor realizes she wants an intimate partner to share the ups and downs of life. The only caveat is both parties decide it needs to be a private relationship. An exquisite camera shot of the couple walking focuses on the shadows cast on willowing grass. A maturing woman, Wilson reveals Swift’s understanding of life and actions to ensure she and other women have an equal opportunity to enjoy success and live their lives to the fullest without regrets and without needing approval from an audience.
All I can say is stay tuned for more on this iconic performer as Swift will continue to reveal (seemingly at times reinventing) who she is in what is truly an art form. Her recent performances and videos continue to receive critical acclaim and her stadium and arena concerts are the hottest tickets in town. And, if that’s not enough, Swift has entered the political ring with an endorsement for the 2018 U.S. Senatorial race in her home state of Tennessee.
If you don’t know who Taylor Swift is Miss Americana is the doc for you. And, if you think you know Taylor Swift, check out Miss Americana for a look into what makes Taylor tick. Highly recommended.
Seemingly, the documentary to see at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival is Crip Camp premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition. I saw it and I wholeheartedly agree.
Crip Camp, executively produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, tells the story of Camp Jened, a summer camp for disabled teens in upstate New York, close to Woodstock. What started out as a rather traditional camp in 1951, morphed into a social experiment as the times were a-changing. In 1967, a new methodology, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and engineered by hippies, was implemented. Allowing camp attendees full expression to share intimate thoughts and feelings, a shift in consciousness was implanted. Social interactions were encouraged and became normalized.
Filmmaker/Directors Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht (Camp Jened attendee) utilized archival footage captured by The People’s Video Theatre company from 1970-72 at Camp Jened as well as personal video footage from camp members provided an introduction to the future leaders and prime movers of the American Disabilities Act. Present-day interviews and voice-over narrations provided valuable context to these pivotal moments for the disabled community in the United States.
No longer allowing themselves to be institutionalized in horrific environments like the one portrayed in the film, Willowbrook State School, where one voice-over narrator commented she had never heard such an unnerving sound as the wailing howl emanating from the institutionalized at Willowbrook. Statistics revealed 50 Willowbrook disabled residents were cared for by one attendant. Malnutrition was rampant and the individuals residing within its dark walls only hope was death.
In juxtaposition, the members at Camp Jened held meetings to discuss what dinners, entertainment, exercise, and social events would be like. They co-created their environment. Those that needed attendants had them – often times their attendants were camp veterans.
The disabled were emerging from Camp Jened stays hungry to experience a full life and make valuable contributions to society. Unfortunately, the disabled were not allowed access to a normal life. Thus began, the movement. Headed by Camp Jened committee leader, Judy Heuman, the disabled organized themselves, to gain access to schools, universities, hospitals and federal buildings. Many would go on to achieve college educations, Master’s Degrees and make valuable contributions to society in the arts and sciences as well as in business.
Unbeknownst to many today, this small group also caused a major uproar. And Crip Camp lays it all out in the open. In 1973, the passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act gave the disabled status as a minority. Demanding access to schools, hospitals, and federally funded buildings, the disabled were told no by President Richard “Dick” Nixon. An archival recording of Nixon’s voice saying “it would cost too much money to provide the (disabled) access. An ensuing lawsuit citing Brown v Board of Education and the shooting down of “separate but equal” beamed light into the lives of the disabled.
Yet, the provision included in Section Clause 504, stating any new federally funded buildings had to provide the disabled access was not being enforced and plans to forgo any re-authorization were undertaken by the Reagan Administration. Yet, the Disabled would not be denied and began a protest in San Francisco. Footage and archival photos were captured and voice-over narration explained the feelings and angst. Aided by various groups and business owners including Vietnam veterans, the Black Panthers and a lesbian bar owner the group found support and hope. Yet, nothing was coming out of Washington, D.C. and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano would not recognize the group publicly or privately, the group had to go to war with the nation’s capital to win.
With a stroke of luck, the networks were having technical issue and the American Broadcasting Company ran work gathered by an embedded reporter that reached a national audience. Finally, Secretary Califano provided the group with an audience. The archival news reports, Presidential tape recordings and footage captured by an embedded reporter verifies the struggle.
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy got behind the movement and the American Disabilities Act was finally introduced into the 101st Congress (1991). It passed and made discrimination against the disabled a civil rights violation. ADA and the disabled were given a long-awaited and much-needed access. They were finally given a voice and were allowed to be heard.
Nick Nickson, left, holds a microphone for Judy Heuman of Crip Camp, at the Easterseals Disability Services Panel ‘Has Recent Industry Emphasis on D&I Influenced Storytelling.’ (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson)
The fight continues today, as numerous statistical data finds disabled storytelling has a financially lucrative viewing audience. Several of the Camp Jenet attendees were in Sundance including the unofficial leader, Judy Heuman. The dream to be part of the American way of life burns brightly. And, ever so brightly in Crip Camp.
The Climb, featured in the Spotlight section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival is directed by New York actor and filmmaker, Michael Angelo Covino. Covino most recently received the Special Jury Prize at SXSW for Hunter Gatherer. In 2016, he was named to Moviemaker Magazine’s “25 screenwriters to watch” list. In The Climb, from Sony Pictures Classic, Covino tells the story of two best friends navigating adulthood and what it means to be a best friend. The film opens with the two main characters, Kyle, portrayed by Kyle Marvin, and Mike, portrayed by Covino himself, biking up a long incline in France.
Best friends, Kyle, left, portrayed by Kyle Marvin, and Mike, portrayed by Michael Angelo Covino, star in the Sony Pictures Classics, The Climb. (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classic)
Both riders are climbing vigorously when the fun begins. Kyle reveals to his best friend and soon-to-be best man at Kyle’s upcoming wedding his anxiety about the thoughts of married life. Without missing a beat Mike drops a silent but deadly bombshell – he slept with Kyle’s fiance’, Suzi, portrayed by Talia Balsam, multiple times. But before Kyle and Suzi began dating. Mike a standout high school football player swears it meant nothing and they broke it off long ago.
Adding to the raucous opening, a small Italian car arrives blaring its obnoxious horn. Mike comes undone swearing for the driver to go by and then he proceeds to chase the car profusely. When Kyle finally catches up, the driver is pummelling a prostrate Mike culminating in a few well-placed stomps that land Mike in the hospital. Suzi arrives to check on Kyle’s well-being and discovers Mike in an examining station. Both swear they have no feelings for each other before engaging in a no-holds-barred passionate kiss. Kyle walks in and the wedding is off while the story is just beginning.
Covino delivers brilliance with a sharply written script he and Morgan co-wrote. Adding into the mix some nicely placed diegetic musical performances and The Climb is quickly elevated into art cinema. A strong musical score from Jon Natchez and Martin Mabz heightens the film’s revealing truths. Cinematographer Zach Cupperstein executes several French New Wave shots that speak volumes in the film’s cinematic language. Sara Shaw provides seamless editing and complementary pacing consistent with the narrative. Callan Stokes handled costuming augmenting the setting while enhancing an eye-pleasing mise-en-scene. A strong supporting cast includes veteran actor, George Wendt, Judith Godreche, and Gayle Rankin in well-executed roles.
The Climb is a treasure-trove of filmmaking techniques with strong screenwriting, well-executed cinematography, and compelling performances. It’s is a fun ride and a highly recommended viewing.
Additional screenings at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival are Sunday, January 26th, 6:30 PM, at the Ray Theatre, and Saturday, February 1st, 6PM, at the Park City Library.
Actors & Decision Makers Will Spotlight Need to Include Disability in Diversity Conversations; Organization Serves as Member of Sundance Institute’s Accessibility & Inclusion Alliance
PARK CITY, UTAH — Jan. 23, 2020 — For Immediate Release — An Allied Organization of Sundance Institute and member of its newly announced Accessibility & Inclusion Alliance, Easterseals Disability Services will host a panel on the influence of diversity and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood in increasing the visibility of/opportunities for talent with disabilities in the entertainment industry. As a go-to resource for filmmakers and actors with disabilities, ESSC has worked with the Institute since 2018, helping to make the annual Sundance Film Festival more inclusive and accessible.
Moderated by Britt Stephens, Celebrity & Entertainment Editor, Pop Sugar. Guest panelists include Shanique Bonelli-Moore, Executive Director of Inclusion, United Talent Agency; Franklin Leonard, Founder and CEO, The Black List; John Travis, VP of Brand Marketing, Adobe; and Shoshannah Stern, Creator, Executive Producer, Writer and Star of Sundance TV’s This Close.
The disability community, which makes up 25 percent of the U.S. population and commands $21 billion in discretionary income, is represented in less than three percent of on-screen roles. It is time for Hollywood to take the opportunity to capitalize on new, authentic stories and reach a large segment of the marketplace by including people with disabilities in their content.
Said Mark Whitley, CEO, ESSC, “It’s been just three years since Sundance and Easterseals joined forces to advance disability inclusion and greater accessibility across the Festival and the entertainment industry at large. We’re making real progress, but still have more to do to make disability inclusion, whether in front of or behind the camera, commonplace— an industry practice and standard. This year, we’re honored to extend our work and partnership with Sundance Film Festival, bringing together new and diverse voices to share their unique perspectives, address challenges and push the needle forward on inclusion.”
As part of Easterseals’ vision of building a more inclusive future for more than 61 million Americans with disabilities, the organization is working with Sundance Institute to increase accessibility for filmmakers, critics and film enthusiasts with disabilities at the Festival.
Activation Adds Sponsors, Event Programs to Multi-Venue Roster
January 20, 2019 (Park City, UT)— WELLHAUS, the new health, wellness and CBD/cannabis-focused event platform from event industry veterans Axcess Entertainment, is pleased to announce that their second-annual activation during 2020’s Sundance/Slamdance film festivals in Park City, UT will be going zero-waste. A zero-waste event follows sustainable practices to send the least possible (approaching zero) amount of waste to landfills. Recycling, reusing items, and reducing waste are all important components of a zero-waste event. In addition to the zero-waste initiative, new panels, parties and partnerships have been added.
Located in the heart of historic Main Street, WELLHAUS has partnered with three local venues to create a first-ever multi-location brand experience at the Festival: the WELLHAUS Spa Experience at the PuraVida Spa at Sky & Main Hotel (201 Heber Street at Main); the WELLHAUS Café Experience offering complimentary organic coffees and healthy snacks at the Main Street Deli (525 Main Street) and the WELLHAUS Lounge at the brand-new Old Town Cellars (OTC, 408 Main Street) from January 24th through 27th during the festivals’ kick-off weekend. The Wellhaus Spa will additionally offer unique health & wellness services for the duration of the festival week, through February 2nd.
Joining the WELLHAUS Lounge as its resident DJ during the festivals to provide world-class entertainment for all events will be DJ Lavelle Dupree, one half of famous EDM duo Scooter & Lavelle. Recently voted the #1 DJ in San Diego, Lavelle has performed for crowds all across the globe and at notable music events such as Coachella and Winter Music Conference in addition to residencies in Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego and Park City.
Presenting Sponsor The Erba Verde Group (EVG) is a company with the global vision and leadership to become the future of legal cannabis. EVG is focused on early-stage investments, distribution, ancillary businesses and digital solutions in the emerging cannabis market. Erbe Verde is an end-to-end player in the cannabis, hemp and CBD space, involved in cultivation, extraction, R&D, product development, and distribution. WELLHAUS seeks to embody the Group’s ethos—as well as those of their other sponsors and partners—by implementing a series of unique programming and hospitality activations throughout the duration of Sundance, each aimed to educate and entertain the public and the festival community on the rapidly growing cannabis and CBD movement and wider health and wellness industries.
Joining EVG is BRIC’S Milano (https://bricstore.com). Established in 1952 in Florence, Italy by Mario Briccola, BRIC’S has been handcrafting travel bags and fine leather goods for over 60 years. Today BRIC’S is located in the beautiful Lake Como region of northern Italy, and with the motto, “happiness is packing for your next adventure,” the brand is currently owned and operated by Mario’s sons, daughters and grandchildren. This new generation carries on the family values, workmanship, and pride that was Mario’s original vision. BRIC’S Milano luxury pieces will be distributed with an array of Erba Verde Group and WELLHAUS health, wellness, hydration and CBD products to form a WELLHAUS “festival survival kit” for select media and celebrities attending the festival.
SEED Us Society [https://seedussociety.com], in conjunction with WELLHAUS, invites you into the conversation around self-awareness, the experience marketplace and the importance of an impact society. The SEED team, led by renowned conscious entrepreneurs Brandi Veil and Amanda Manares, will host an afternoon experience in mind, body and soul connection featuring keynote speakers, impact investors, community builders, a sound bath exercise, movement and networking, including a talk led by Theodore Adams III, Stan Lee Foundation co-founder, among others.
When it debuted last year, WELLHAUS was the first fully integrated health, wellness and ancillary product concept house during the festival, marking a departure from the typical mainstream consumer brand sponsor activations. Featuring the Wellhaus Lounge at OTC with exciting experiential and hospitality activations daily, WELLHAUS will host film premieres, dinners, receptions, daytime experiential activities, happy hours and panel discussions on cannabis in Hollywood and other topics. WELLHAUS will mix this programming with events in support of official competition films and leading filmmakers at the festival, to provide a truly integrated and unique Main Street experience. Select activities at WELLHAUS will also be open to the festival-going public—making this one of the most sought-after and highly trafficked locations during the festival. Here is a sampling of activities (*open to pubic):
FRIDAY, January 24:
10:00am-7:00pm: Spa open by appointment for talent and media throughout festival / * open for public with daily bookings
2:00-5:00pm: Night House Junket
5:00-7:00pm: WELLHAUS Opening Party *
8:00-11:00pm: Cocktail Party for Night House cast/crew
SATURDAY, January 24:
10:00am-7:00pm: Spa open *
Noon-3:00pm: DAILY GRIT panels/cocktails
3:00pm-6:00pm: SEED mind/body/soul experience
7:30pm-9:30pm: Kirby Dick/Amy Ziering documentary party: On the Record
11:00pm-1am: Premiere Party for Save Yourselves cast/crew
SUNDAY, January 25:
10:00am-7:00pm: Spa open *
3:00-7:00pm: Asian Pacific Filmmaker’s Experience Part
8:00-10:00pm: Film Fatales annual festival party
Complementing the flagship Wellhaus Lounge is the Wellhaus Spa Experience, operating through the duration of the festivals at PuraVida Spa in the Main & Sky complex at 201 Heber Avenue (at Main Street) and featuring Erba Verde Group’s high-end CBD products woven into traditional Ayurvedic therapies. The Wellhaus Spa will offer full-range professional spa treatments to media, celebrities and the public by appointment daily.
WELLHAUS is wholly-owned and produced by Axcess Wellness, a division of Axcess Entertainment – a global leader in live event, festival and entertainment production for more than 17 years and producer of more than 500 individual film events worldwide. The concept debuted in 2019 with activations during Sundance and SXSW, and expects to tour throughout North America and internationally in 2020 with executions in Malibu, Coachella, Las Vegas, Austin, Toronto, Miami and New York. For more information follow @ThisIsWellhaus on Instagram and visit the Axcess Entertainment website.
About Erba Verde Group (EVG)
A vertically integrated cannabis platform, EVG is comprised of a network of industry leaders and experienced operators and staff who ensure our products are the best they can be, from cultivation to production and into the market place. EVG has built a farm network from proven farmers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, and Oregon and is constantly expanding. Our production network is equipped with the latest in extraction technology. Our equipment extracts all cannabinoids, giving EVG the flexibility to produce any product the market wants. EVG has partnered with the industry’s top distribution companies which include marketing and creative specialists, dispensaries and logistics services. Please visit us at https://erbaverdegroup.com
About BRIC’S Milano
Still family-owned for more than 60 years, the collections offered today result from a combination of research into new and traditional materials designed to meet the needs of today’s travelers. Modern amenities and styling combined with iconic silhouettes provide the best of both worlds.
As BRIC’S continues to grow into a global brand it’s the core values of quality, artistry, attention to detail, Italian style, function, fashion, innovation, aesthetics, and durability, all backed by a family name that has helped BRIC’S grow into one of the premier luxury travel bag brands in the world. Please visit www.bricstore.com
About SEED Us Society
SEED Us is a society of impact investors and innovators who align through mission-driven projects and curated experiential, wellness events, which successfully aims to bring creatives, spiritualists, executives, musicians and industry thought leaders together to steward in the for-benefit economy.
Founder of Being Investments and creator of SEED Us Society Brandi Veil says “a society” that is focused on mission-driven impact can shift culture and impact the world for the better! SEED Us Society’s funding culture creates unique opportunities and experiences that cultivate change and is rewarding to the human spirit and the bottom-line. Health and wellness can be the drivers of the influence marketplace but first, you must experience it to have a cultural shift. If you can influence culture, you can influence the markets! Social Funding for GOOD! Join SEED Us Society today.
About Tyler’s Coffee
Tyler’s recommends drinking acid-free coffee for better health. They pride themselves on being the “only acid-free USDA-Certified Organic Coffee.” Tyler’s Coffee offers a healthier alternative for people suffering a variety of ailments from acid-related issues. Please visit https://www.tylerscoffees.com
THROUGH PANEL DISCUSSIONS AND DAILY SOUND BATHS, AUDIBLE CELEBRATES THE NEXT FRONTIER OF BOLD, TRAILBLAZING VOICES
WHAT:Audible Inc., the world’s largest producer and seller of spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, today announced it will make its Sundance Film Festival debut as the Festival’s exclusive audio entertainment sponsor with The Audible Speakeasy, where stories are stirred, shaken and spoken. Creators and Festival attendees will have the opportunity to attend Los Angeles Times-curated and -hosted panel discussions, daily sound baths and more.
The Speakeasy will provide a home for powerful voices and feature innovative filmmakers and creatives through panel discussions curated and hosted by the Los Angeles Times. Audible Speakeasy attendees are also invited to relax through daily, 30-minute sound baths hosted by a leading voice in sound bath experiences, Sara Auster. Guests will be introduced to sound meditation with guided instructions focused on breathing practices.
The Audible Speakeasy will provide Festival attendees, creators and industry professionals with an inspiring and comfortable meeting place at the center of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Space will be open to the public on Main Street in Park City from Friday, January 24 through Monday, January 27.
Audible has a robust slate of original content featuring exclusive audio entertainment created by celebrated storytellers from the worlds of entertainment, theater, journalism, comedy, literature and more. Audible Originals offer powerful performances created specifically for listeners, spanning every genre and length, from Patti Smith at the Minetta Lane, the intimate portrait of an icon via spoken-word stories from her life, interwoven with the music from her beloved catalog; to Evil Eye, an episodic light-hearted family dramedy turned supernatural thriller by playwright Madhuri Shekar; to Kate McKinnon’s Heads Will Roll, a raunchy episodic satire set in Medieval times produced with Broadway Video and featuring Kate McKinnon, Emily Lynne, Meryl Streep and Peter Dinklage.
WHERE & THE AUDIBLE SPEAKEASY
WHEN: Address: 692 Main Street, Park City (at 7th Street)
Public Hours of Operation:Friday, January 24 – Sunday, January 26:
10:30am – 4:00pm & Monday, January 27: 10:00am – 3:00pm
*Speakeasy will close promptly at 4:00pm (Jan. 24-26) for RSVP-only private events
Daily Public Programming:
9:00 – 10:00am: Sound Bath with Sara Auster (RSVP required)
Afternoon: Los Angeles Times Panel (Jan. 24-26)
ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC. Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio content, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible content includes more than 475,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.
(Source: Press release provided by Gabrielle Flamand, CIVIC on behalf of Audible)
(Los Angeles, California, December 18, 2019) – Celebrating thirteen years of engaging and elevated programming since 2007, The Blackhouse Foundation once again returns to the 2020 Sundance Film Festival (January 24-January 27 in Park City, UT), as announced this morning by The Hollywood Reporter. This year, The Blackhouse Foundation welcomes Facebook as the Presenting Sponsor and Strayer University and Warner Media as Premier Sponsors.
Facebook is thrilled to be returning for the third year in a row with their SEEN (IG@seen) program supporting underrepresented voices in film. They will be on the ground at The Blackhouse workshopping with and creating content to promote black filmmakers and their stories at the festival.
The Blackhouse Foundation also returns to the Filmmaker Lodge with another slate of its history-making programs. In past years, featured guests have included Harry Belafonte, Ice-T, genre-shaping black women in film, and some of the leading minds behind television and film’s most significant projects.
The Blackhouse Foundation co-founder Brickson Diamond says,
Brickson Diamond, Blackhouse Foundation Co-Founder
“Our work at Sundance represents the pinnacle of what Blackhouse does. The line-up is more diverse than ever. We count 55 films, episodic, VR and live performance projects with black directors, subject matter and/or cast included in the 2020 Sundance Film Festival programming. This represents yet another record and a beautiful trajectory from the seven programmed black films that accompanied our first year at Sundance in 2007. We couldn’t be more excited about or proud of our community and the Sundance team. Our incredible sponsors and brilliant constituents are going to be busy teaching, learning, sharing and elevating all of this #blackexcellence come January.”
Leading up to the festival, The Blackhouse Foundation will reveal a stacked slate of panels, activations, discussions, events, and community gatherings in the coming weeks. As always, expect surprise guests and full cultural immersion.
Additional sponsors include OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, BET Networks, CAA, and more. The Blackhouse Foundation stands out as a bastion for the most influential and impactful Black writers, directors, producers, crew, actors, and actresses throughout film, television, digital media, and beyond. It continues to elevate such talent into the spotlight on a global scale via engagements at Sundance.
ABOUT THE BLACKHOUSE FOUNDATION:
The Blackhouse Foundation works to expand opportunities for Black content creators by providing pathways to opportunities within film, television, digital and emerging platforms. Blackhouse provides opportunities for minority creatives to learn about the financial, production, marketing and distribution resources that will raise the profile of their content, while also providing participants with a nucleus for continuing support, community, and education.
The Social Dilemma Joins Documentary Premieres; Born into Brothels and High Art Are From The Collection Films
Special Event Love Fraud Confirmed as Day One Screening
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) Park City, UT — Sundance Institute adds three feature films to the 2020 Sundance Film Festival’s robust slate of independent work today, alongside previously announced work. The Institute also confirmed that previously-announced Special Event, Love Fraud, will screen on Day One of the Festival. The Festival will take place in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort on January 23–February 2, 2020.
Pulling from the vault of festivals past, archival selection High Art will be presented thanks to a newly created DCP provided by Focus Features/Universal Pictures. Lisa Cholodenko’s feature debut, featuring a breakthrough performance from Patricia Clarkson and Radha Mitchell, and an award-winning turn from Ally Sheedy, High Art premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. High Art follows an ambitious female magazine editor who has a chance encounter with her neighbor, a brilliant photographer who’s lost in an underworld of sex and drugs. As the two begin a passionate love affair, a powerful struggle ensues and a story of ambition, sacrifice, seduction, and other career moves unfolds.
Born into Brothels, the second archival screening, won the Documentary Audience Award when it premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children of prostitutes living in the red light district of Calcutta. Photographer Zana Briski gives the children cameras as they learn to see the world with new eyes. The film, which highlights the immensely restorative, empowering, and liberating nature of art, went on to win an Academy Award® for Documentary Feature in 2005. Nearly lost in a fire, Born into Brothels has been digitally restored, and a DCP was created through a collaboration between Sundance Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Academy Film Archive branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Archival screenings are made possible by the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA and give audiences the opportunity to discover and rediscover the films that have shaped the heritage of both Sundance Institute and independent storytelling. To address the specific preservation risks posed to independent film, including high costs of storage, lab closures, issues around intellectual property rights, and damage from neglect, Sundance Institute partnered with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 1997 to form the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA.
The Collection has grown to over 4,000 holdings representing nearly 2,300 titles, and is dedicated to preserving independent feature-length and short films supported by Sundance Institute. Celebrating the history of independent film, past From the Collection screenings have included The Blair Witch Project, Hours and Times, River of Grass, Paris is Burning, Desert Hearts, Daughters of the Dust, El Mariachi, sex, lies, and videotape, Hoop Dreams, and Paris, Texas.
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES
The Social Dilemma / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski, Screenwriters: Vickie Curtis, Davis Coombe, Jeff Orlowski, Producer: Larissa Rhodes) — Never before have a handful of tech designers had such control over the way billions of us think, act, and live our lives. Insiders from Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube reveal how these platforms are reprogramming civilization by exposing what’s hiding on the other side of your screen. Cast: Vincent Kartheiser, Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward. World Premiere
FROM THE COLLECTION
Born into Brothels / U.S.A. (Directors: Zana Briski, Ross Kaufman) – A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children of prostitutes living in the red light district of Calcutta. Photographer Zana Briski gives the children cameras as they learn to see the world with new eyes.
High Art / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko, Producers: Dolly Hall, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Susan A. Stover) – A story of ambition, sacrifice, seduction, and other career moves. Syd, an ambitious female magazine editor, has a chance encounter with her neighbor one night, the enigmatic Lucy, a brilliant photographer who’s lost in an underworld of sex and drugs. As the two begin a passionate love affair, a powerful struggle ensues – will Lucy be saved or will Syd be destroyed? Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Tammy Grimes, Gabriel Mann, Radha Mitchell, Bill Sage, Ally Sheedy. The Sundance Film Festival®
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Eighth Grade, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs, and sex, lies, and videotape. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2020 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, Chase Sapphire; AT&T; Leadership Sponsors – Adobe, Amazon Studios, DIRECTV, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, Southwest Airlines®, Stella Artois®, WarnerMedia; Sustaining Sponsors – Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, Fire TV, GEICO, High West Distillery, Hulu, IMDbPro, Lyft, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Variety, The Wall Street Journal. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Look for the Official Partner seal at their venues at the Festival. sundance.org/festival
Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Co//ab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discovering original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as The Farewell, Late Night, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Eighth Grade, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, RBG, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Top of the Lake, Winter’s Bone, Dear White People, Little Miss Sunshine, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, State of the Union, Indecent, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Writer/Directors from China, South Africa, U.S. and U.K.
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)Los Angeles, CA — Fifteen screenwriters will convene to advance their independent projects at Sundance Institute’s January Screenwriters Lab, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, from January 17-22, 2020. At the Lab, the screenwriters will immerse themselves in a rigorous and holistic creative process, working to further develop their scripts with the mentorship of accomplished Creative Advisors.
The January Screenwriters Lab has been created and organized under the leadership of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter and Deputy Director Ilyse McKimmie. The team of Creative Advisors includes Artistic Director Scott Frank, Michael Arndt, Suha Arraf, Ritesh Batra, Andrea Berloff, D.V. DeVincentis, Gonzalo Maza, Doug McGrath, Walter Mosley, Nicole Perlman, Howard Rodman, Susan Shilliday, Zach Sklar, Dana Stevens, Joan Tewkesbury, Bill Wheeler, and Tyger Williams.
Michelle Satter
“We’re so excited to welcome this singular and bold group of artists to our January Screenwriters Lab,” said Satter. “Our program provides a safe and protected space for writers to be rigorous in their creative process as they develop new work that’s a true reflection of their unique voice and power as storytellers. Our Labs are the beginning of a long-term commitment to these writer/directors, who we will continue to advance with a robust, ongoing suite of customized support.”
Current award-winning films supported by the Feature Film Program (FFP) Labs include Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Laure de Clermont Tonnere’s The Mustang, and Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Ten films supported by the Feature Film Program will premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In U.S. Dramatic Competition, those films include The 40-Year-Old Version, written and directed by Radha Blank; Farewell Amor, written and directed by Ekwa Msangi; Miss Juneteenth, written and directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples; Nine Days, written and directed by Edson Oda; and Save Yourselves!, co-written and co-directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson. The World Cinema Dramatic Competition includes the FFP-supported films Cuties, written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, and Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness, written and directed by Massoud Bakhshi. In addition, the Midnight section features His House, written and directed by Remi Weekes; the NEXT section includes The Mountains Are a Dream That Call to Me, written and directed by Cedric Cheung-Lau; and Wendy, co-written by Benh and Eliza Zeitlin and directed by Benh Zeitlin, will screen in the Premieres section.
Alumni writer/directors with new films premiering at the Festival include Miranda July, Sean Durkin, Rodrigo Garcia, Sara Colangelo, Braden King, Eliza Hittman, Julie Taymor and Dee Rees.
The projects and fellows selected for the 2020 January Screenwriters Lab are:
Aftersun (United Kingdom/U.S.A.) Charlotte Wells (writer/director)
A young father and his 11-year-old daughter have impossible expectations of themselves and each other on a week’s holiday at a resort in the Mediterranean, forcing them to confront the disconnect between who they are as a family and who they are apart.
Charlotte “Charlie” Wells is a Scottish filmmaker based in New York. Her first short film, Tuesday, was nominated for a London Critics’ Circle Award, two BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards, and won special mention at the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Her second short film, Laps, won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, screened online as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere, and was featured on Short of the Week, Topic, and Nowness. Wells’ most recent short, Blue Christmas, premiered at TIFF, screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and won awards at festivals in the US and UK. She is a graduate of the MBA/MFA dual-degree program at NYU and was featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 Faces of Independent Film” 2018.
Birth/Rebirth (U.S.A.) Laura Moss (co-writer/director) and Brendan O’Brien (co-writer)
In this all-female reimagining of the Frankenstein story, a grieving maternity nurse and an obsessive morgue technician are unexpectedly bound together in a quest to successfully re-animate a deceased child.
Laura Moss is a filmmaker from New York City whose work has screened at MoMA, Tribeca, Rotterdam and SXSW. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2017 and her short film, Fry Day, which is currently available on the Criterion Channel, premiered at SXSW in 2017. Her latest project, the pilot of the sci-fi/comedy series neurotica, starring Karen Gillan and Jon Bass, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Director for a Comedy Pilot at Seriesfest.
Brendan O’Brien is a writer and producer whose films have screened at SXSW, Rotterdam, Tribeca and Clermont-Ferrand. His work has been included in the London Review of Books and the Zombie Movie Encyclopedia.
Chalino (U.S.A.) Jesus Celaya (writer) Chalino tells the true story of Chalino Sanchez, the originator of the narcocorrido, who immigrated from Sinaloa to Los Angeles in the early 1990s and started a musical revolution with his songs about the lives of Mexican outlaws. Recipient of the Sundance Institute Latinx Fellowship.
Jesus Celaya is a Mexican American genre writer raised between the mountains of Washington State and the deserts of Sonora, Mexico. He finally settled in Los Angeles for film school, where he now resides. Celaya comes from a storytelling family born of a storytelling culture, marrying his love of history and folklore with his passion for cinema. Chink (U.S.A.) Bing Liu (writer/director)
An Asian American teen raised in a volatile household wrestles with complex familial relationships while carving his own path toward independence and self-worth. Recipient of the Sundance Institute Asian American Fellowship.
Bing Liu is a Chicago-based filmmaker best known for the Academy Award and Emmy-nominated documentary Minding the Gap, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win a Peabody Award. He directed three storylines on America To Me, a 10-hour series from Steve James that examines racial inequities in the U.S. education system. Liu is a 2017 Film Independent Fellow, a Garrett Scott Development Grant recipient, and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is in post-production on his second feature documentary, following two young men and their mentors transforming lives in two Chicago neighborhoods affected by gun violence.
Frybread Face and Me (U.S.A.) Billy Luther (writer/director)
Two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona, as they learn about their family’s past and themselves.
Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo) is the director/producer of the award-winning documentary, Miss Navajo, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens that same year. His second documentary featureGRAB premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on Public Television that same year. His latest short documentary film Red Lake had its world premiere at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2016 International Documentary Association Awards. In 2018, he launched his web-series alter-NATIVE for PBS’ IndieLens StoryCast.
Luna Likes (U.S.A.) Danya Jimenez (co-writer) and Hannah McMechan (co-writer)
Luna Ramirez, a melodramatic Mexican teen, is Anthony Bourdain’s biggest fan, and she knows it is her destiny to become the next great culinary/travel documentarian extraordinaire! The only issue: Luna is undocumented, and her family doesn’t understand or support a career they see as fraught with risk. Recipient of the Sundance Institute | Comedy Central Comedy Fellowship.
Danya JimenezHannah McMechan
Danya Jimenez is a Mexican American writer who learned English by repeating everything Lizzie McGuire said. Hannah McMechan was raised in a small tourist town beneath Yosemite National Park before moving to LA to pursue her dream of fulfilling that cliché. Together, their first pilot earned them a place in the 2017 Black List x Women in Film Episodic Television Lab. Since then, they have co-written and co-directed the 2018 Black List Release Video, punched up movies for Universal and Disney, and made The 2019 LatinX List for their feature, Luna Likes. Currently, the two are working on an upcoming Sony feature and writing on the Disney Channel show Gabby Duran & The Unsittables.
Magnolia Bloom (U.S.A.) Phillip Youmans (writer/director)
Young, black community organizers with bonds thicker than blood strive for self-governance in 1970 New Orleans.
Phillip Youmans is a filmmaker from the 7th Ward of New Orleans. At 19, he became the youngest and first African American director to win the Founder’s Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival for his feature-length debut, Burning Cane, which he wrote, directed, shot, and edited during his final years of high school. Distributed by Ava Duvernay’s ARRAY Releasing, Burning Cane opened in select theaters and on Netflix in fall of 2019, and Youmans was nominated for a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director for his work on the film.
Nanny (U.S.A.) Nikyatu (writer/director)
Aisha is an undocumented nanny in New York City, caring for the privileged child of an Upper East Side family. As she prepares for the arrival of the child she left behind in her native country, a violent presence rattles her reality, jeopardizing the American Dream she has so carefully constructed.
Sierra Leonean American filmmaker Nikyatu’s films have screened at film festivals nationally and internationally. With a BA from Duke University and an MFA from NYU’s Tisch Graduate Film School, she has earned numerous awards including NYU’s Spike Lee Fellowship Award, the Princess Grace Narrative film grant and Director’s Guild of America Honorable Mentions. Her short film Suicide By Sunlight screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Sisyphus (China) Xixi Wang (writer/director)
Based on true events, a single mother fights to uncover the truth after her son dies in a subway station in China. Over the course of the investigation, she confronts an impenetrable bureaucracy but also rediscovers herself.
Xixi Wang, a Chinese writer and director, graduated from Beijing Film Academy with a B.A. in Screenwriting and received an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. She is currently teaching in the Department of Screenwriting and Film Studies at Beijing Film Academy.
The Spirit Guest (South Africa) Fanyana Hlabangane (writer/director)
Estranged brothers Tito and Kgabane struggle to make a life on the fringes of Johannesburg. During a mercilessly dry winter, their dead mother suddenly arrives in the flesh, bringing childhood pain to the surface and forcing the brothers to confront the trauma that pulled them apart.
Screenwriter, director, and photographer Fanyana Hlabangane was born and raised in Alexandra, Johannesburg’s oldest township. Having written episodic content professionally for Mnet, Africa’s main Pay TV channel, his shorts have also screened at numerous international film festivals such as Durban and Shnit. He developed his debut feature script The Spirit Guest through Realness, and producer Mmabatho Kau will attend 2020 IFFR PRO with the project. Hlabangane’s photographic work was also recently exhibited at the 12th Recontres de Bamako (2019), Africa’s most significant photo biennale.
Tiger Girl (U.S.A.) Andrew Thomas Huang (writer/director)
Set in 1966 Los Angeles, Tiger Girl is a coming of age fantasy about a repressed Chinese American teenage girl haunted by a tiger lurking in her attic. When pressured by her immigrant mother’s rigid social expectations, the girl must learn that the beast upstairs is the tiger within that will set her free.
With a background in fine art, visual effects, animation and puppetry, Andrew Thomas Huang is a visual artist and filmmaker whose collaborators include Björk, FKA twigs and Thom Yorke among others. Huang served as creative director for the immersive traveling VR exhibit Bjork Digital and his work has been shown at The Museum of Contemporary Art, NYC, the Sydney Opera House and The Museum of Contemporary Art, LA. Huang is an IFP filmmaker, a Cinereach fellow, a participant in the Film Independent Screenwriters & Directors Labs, and a recipient of the K Period Media Grant. His most recent narrative short Kiss of the Rabbit God premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Welcome (United Kingdom) Nadia Latif (co-writer/director) and Omar El-Khairy (co-writer)
Documentarian Melissa feels compelled to invite Tarek, a Yemeni asylum-seeker and the subject of her latest film, into her London home. As Tarek brings the outside world crashing into these close quarters, it is Melissa’s trauma that begins to surface in unexpected and terrifying ways.
Nadia Latif is a theatre maker and film director, originally from Sudan. She has worked at theatres including the Almeida, Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Court. She was Associate Director of the Young Vic from 2018-2020, where she most recently directed the sold out production of the Pulitzer-prize winning Fairview. Her first short film, White Girl, written by Omar El Khairy, was produced with BFI support, is currently in festivals, and was nominated for Best Short at the 2019 London Film Festival.
Omar El-Khairy is a former Leverhulme Associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre and an alumnus of The Old Vic 12. His plays include Burst, Sour Lips, The Keepers of Infinite Space, The Chaplain: or, a short tale of how we learned to love good Muslims whilst torturing bad ones, Homegrown and The Mob Reformers. His first short film, No Exit, received its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival 2014. White Girl, his latest short, supported by BFI NETWORK, premiered in competition for the Short Film Award at the BFI London Film Festival 2019. He is also co-directing a feature-length documentary with Ana Naomi de Sousa and Hakawati.
In addition to the Lab projects, the Feature Film Program will host Michelle Latimer as an Artist in Residence at the January Screenwriters Lab:
Michelle Latimer is the showrunner and director of the breakout Indigenous resistance series RISE (Viceland), which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and won the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Series. Her latest film Nuuca (Field of Vision) premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and screened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale Film Festival. Latimer is currently showrunning and directing a six part scripted series, Trickster, that she co-created and adapted from bestselling author, Eden Robinson’s trilogy Son of a Trickster. She is also completing production on the documentary feature adaptation of Thomas King’s novel Inconvenient Indian (Bell/HBO Canada). Michelle’s Métis/Algonquin heritage informs her filmmaking perspective, and much of her work is dedicated to the pursuit of Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation; Maja Kristin; Universal Filmed Entertainment Group; Amazon Studios; Hollywood Foreign Press Association; Karen Lauder; RT Features; Sandra and Malcolm Berman Charitable Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund; NHK/NHK Enterprises, Inc.; Comedy Central; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; SAGindie; Philip Fung—A3 Foundation; Directors Guild of America; Writers Guild of America West; Rosalie Swedlin and Robert Cort; and the Deborah Reinisch and Michael Theodore Fund.
Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Co//ab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from Sundance Advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as The Farewell, Late Night, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Eighth Grade, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, RBG, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Top of the Lake, Winter’s Bone, Dear White People, Little Miss Sunshine, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, State of the Union, Indecent, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, to Receive the Inaugural Vanguard Award for Philanthropy
Evening Featuring the World Premiere of Crip Camp: Tickets on Sale Now Here
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) Park City, UT — Sundance Institute invites champions of independent storytelling to attend An Artist at the Table Presented by IMDbPro, Sundance Institute’s annual fundraising event hosted on the first night of the Sundance Film Festival, Thursday, January 23, 2020, in Park City, Utah. During the celebratory event, Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, will be honored with the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy. Proceeds from the evening will advance Sundance Institute’s mission and programs that discover, support and amplify risk-taking and exciting independent film, media and theatre artists. In addition to Presenting Sponsor IMDbPro, the event is supported by Lead Sponsor the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation.
The evening will begin with the world premiere of Crip Camp, a documentary detailing the revolution that blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement down the road from Woodstock, New York in the early 1970’s. Directed by Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham and produced by Sara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht, and Nicole Newnham, the film will screen in the U.S. Documentary Competition category of the Festival. Crip Camp was developed at Sundance Institute’s 2018 Documentary Edit and Story Lab, participated in the Institute’s Creative Producing Summit and Catalyst Forum and received a grant from the Institute’s 2017 Sundance Documentary Film Fund.
Following the screening, guests will convene for a celebratory dinner and a brief live program, centered on the creative minds behind some of today’s most exciting new stories in independent film and media and celebrating the Institute’s community of supporters and artists. Each table is hosted by a Sundance Institute artist, allowing guests the unique opportunity to connect directly with Institute alumni and learn more about their artistic paths, works, and experiences. This year’s artists include Ritesh Batra (Photograph), Joe Berlinger (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile), Catherine Gund (Aggie), Lisa Kron (Fun Home), Dee Rees (The Last Thing He Wanted), Junaid Sarieddeen (36 Abbas Street, Haifa), Nanfu Wang (One Child Nation), Benh Zeitlin (Wendy), and Marina Zenovich (Lance), with more to be confirmed.
The evening will also feature Sundance Institute’s inaugural Vanguard Award for Philanthropy, which honors innovation, originality, and independent spirit as demonstrated over an exemplary career in philanthropy and social impact. This year’s honoree, Darren Walker, has helmed transformational initiatives like the Art for Justice Fund, demonstrated a commitment to diversifying leadership in museums and cultural institutions, and redesigned the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. His tenure at the Ford Foundation has inspired many, provided long-lasting career stability for hundreds of artists, and created space for a more just and equitable arts landscape in the United States and around the world.
Darren Walker
“On behalf of my colleagues at the Ford Foundation, I am honored to receive the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy from Sundance Institute,” said Walker. “The projects and artists supported by Sundance have helped shape public discourse on some of the most pressing social issues of our time. As a society, we can, and should, do more to support our artists as leaders in the community.”
Keri Putnam
“The opening night of the Sundance Film Festival is a perfect occasion to celebrate the incredible artists, audiences and supporters who together fuel the creative community of Sundance Institute – dedicated to independent voices, risk-taking art, and stories that seek truth and forge connections,” said Keri Putnam, CEO of Sundance Institute. “As a visionary leader in the philanthropic space, Darren and his inspiring work embody the spirit of Sundance Institute and we are pleased to honor him with the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy.”
While this is the first special iteration of the Vanguard to honor a philanthropist, Sundance Institute has previously presented the Vanguard Leadership Award to established filmmakers and the Vanguard Emerging Award to new independent storytellers. Previous winners of the Vanguard Award include Lulu Wang, Boots Riley, Marielle Heller, Benh Zeitlin, Ryan Coogler, Damien Chazelle, and Dee Rees; winners of the Vanguard Leadership Award include Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Glenn Close, and Roger Ebert.
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Sorry to Bother You, Eighth Grade, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, RBG, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Top of the Lake, Winter’s Bone, Dear White People, Brooklyn, Little Miss Sunshine, 20 Feet From Stardom, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, I’m Poppy, America to Me, Leimert Park, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Omar El-Khairy is a former Leverhulme Associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre and an alumnus of The Old Vic 12. His plays include Burst, Sour Lips, The Keepers of Infinite Space, The Chaplain: or, a short tale of how we learned to love good Muslims whilst torturing bad ones, Homegrown and The Mob Reformers. His first short film, No Exit, received its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival 2014. White Girl, his latest short, supported by BFI NETWORK, premiered in competition for the Short Film Award at the BFI London Film Festival 2019. He is also co-directing a feature-length documentary with Ana Naomi de Sousa and Hakawati.
Michelle Latimer is the showrunner and director of the breakout Indigenous resistance series RISE (Viceland), which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and won the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Series. Her latest film Nuuca (Field of Vision) premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and screened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale Film Festival. Latimer is currently showrunning and directing a six part scripted series, Trickster, that she co-created and adapted from bestselling author, Eden Robinson’s trilogy Son of a Trickster. She is also completing production on the documentary feature adaptation of Thomas King’s novel Inconvenient Indian (Bell/HBO Canada). Michelle’s Métis/Algonquin heritage informs her filmmaking perspective, and much of her work is dedicated to the pursuit of Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
