Keri Putnam News

The third annual Celebrate Sundance Institute Los Angeles Benefit, celebrating artistry and visionary leadership in independent film. This year, the benefit will honor the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam, in recognition of his advocacy of independent cinema. The award will be presented by Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford and accepted by Ebert's wife, Chaz Ebert. Kerry Washington will present Ryan Coogler with the Vanguard Award, Presented by Tiffany & Co. Coogler is a director and alum of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, was selected for Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab and went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced that the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound will take place at Skywalker Ranch in 2013 and 2014 and also announced the artists that will participate in the 2013 Labs. This is the first time the two organizations will collaborate to support independent filmmakers and film composers and marks a significant expansion of the Institute's existing Composers Labs to include sound design.

Sundance Institute welcomes 13 projects, selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from today, May 27 through June 27. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Institute's Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Fellows selected for this year's program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Europe, Mexico, Peru and Somalia.

The third annual Celebrate Sundance Institute Los Angeles Benefit, celebrating artistry and visionary leadership in independent film. This year, the benefit will honor the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam, in recognition of his advocacy of independent cinema. The award will be presented by Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford and accepted by Ebert's wife, Chaz Ebert. Kerry Washington will present Ryan Coogler with the Vanguard Award, Presented by Tiffany & Co. Coogler is a director and alum of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, was selected for Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab and went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Institute today announced the seven projects selected to participate in the 2013 Theatre Lab, July 8-28 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director, and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Theatre Lab is the centerpiece of the Sundance Institute's Theatre Program's year-round work and is designed to support emerging and established artists and to create a place where their original work can be effectively mentored and challenged.

Sundance Institute today announced the 13 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 27 through June 27. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Institute's Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Fellows selected for this year's program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Europe, Mexico, Peru and Somalia.

Sundance Institute today announced filmmaker Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) will be honored with theVanguard Award, presented by Tiffany & Co. Actress Kerry Washington will present the award to Coogler at the third annual 'Celebrate Sundance Institute' benefit on June 5, 2013 in Los Angeles. As previously announced, the benefit will also honor the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam, in recognition of his advocacy of independent cinema. The award will be presented by Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford and accepted by Ebert's wife, Chaz Ebert.

Sundance Institute just presented playwright and Sundance Institute Theatre Lab alum Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with the first-ever Tennessee Williams Award from the Institute's Theatre Program, which supports the development of new work for the stage. Sundance Institute Emeritus Trustee Sally Field presented the honor and accompanying $10,000 grant at the Celebrate Sundance Institute benefit for its Theatre Program last night at Stephan Weiss Studio in Greenwich Village. BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities and you can check out who was there to celebrate below!

NEXT WEEKEND, Presented by Sundance Institute will take place Aug. 8-11, 2013 at Sundance Sunset Cinema and additional venues throughout Los Angeles. The event is an extension of the popular NEXT <=> section at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which showcases stylistically adventurous films that take a bold approach to storytelling.

Sundance Institute has announced that playwright and Sundance Institute Theatre Lab alum Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will receive the first-ever Tennessee Williams Award from the Institute's Theatre Program, which supports the development of new work for the stage. Sundance Institute Emeritus Trustee Sally Field will present the honor and accompanying $10,000 grant at the Celebrate Sundance Institute benefit for its Theatre Program on April 8, 2013 at Stephan Weiss Studio in Greenwich Village.

Sundance Institute and TED today announced the first collaboration between the two organizations, which will jointly award $125,000 for a short documentary film project about the work of Sugata Mitra, winner of the annual TED Prize. The Institute's Documentary Film Program and Fund will accept proposals March 1 through April 15, 2013 at www.sundance.org/ted and will design and oversee the selection process in collaboration with TED.

Sundance Institute last evening announced the Jury, Audience, NEXT <=> and other special awards of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival at the feature film Awards Ceremony, hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Park City, Utah.

Sundance Institute today announced the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Lab Fellowship, presented through the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute, and Cathy Schulman, President, Women In Film Los Angeles, announced today the results of a first-of-its-kind research study examining gender disparity in American independent film. The study is part of a collaboration between Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles to support independent female filmmakers. Results were shared at a gathering of film and industry leaders at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, today announced that the Institute's Artist Services program - which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work - has expanded to include selected films supported by one foundation and five nonprofit organizations. Additionally, these organizations will join with Sundance Institute in continuing to shape the program and the services it offers.

Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation today announced the members of the Sloan Jury at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, who will also participate in the Science in Film Forum Panel at the Festival. The members of the 2013 Sloan Jury are: Paula Apsell (Senior Executive Producer, Nova and Nova ScienceNow, Director, WGBH Science Unit), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Fountain, Pi), Scott Burns (writer, Contagion, Pu-239, The Informant and producer, An Inconvenient Truth), Dr. André Fenton (Professor of Neural Science at the Center for Neural Science at New York University), Dr. Lisa Randall (Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science, Harvard University, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World).

Sundance Institute today announced that 13 independent films are now available through a variety of platforms to rent, download or stream via the Institute's Artist Services program. Titles include 2012 Sundance Film Festival films Detropia, I Am Not a Hipster, The Atomic States of America, and We're Not Broke. For full details on where to access these films, please visit sundance.org/nowplaying. (The complete list of new titles available follows below.)

The Sundance Institute Theatre Program previously announced that it would return to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) for its Fall Lab, which provides creative support and direction for innovative musical theatre and ensemble-generated projects.

Sundance Institute today announced the seven artists selected for its 2013 Playwrights Retreat at Ucross Foundation, February 4-22, 2013. The annual writing colony at the 20,000-acre working cattle ranch outside of Sheridan, Wyo. provides a supportive environment for artists to create new work and receive guidance and reactions to it at an early stage. Under the supervision of Philip Himberg, Artistic Director of the Theatre Program, and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Playwrights Retreat is made possible through the generosity of Ucross Foundation.

Sundance Institute today announced that it has established a first-of-its-kind Tennessee Williams Award to honor emerging playwrights who have participated in its Theatre Program Labs. Permission was given by The University of the South, the beneficiary of the Williams' estate.