After 10 days and 128 feature films, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place Saturday, with jurors presenting 28 prizes for feature filmmaking. Honorees, named in total below, represent new achievements in global independent storytelling. Bold, intimate, and humanizing stories prevailed across categories, with Grand Jury Prizes awarded to Minari (U.S. Dramatic), Boys State (U.S. Documentary), Epicentro (World Cinema Documentary) and Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (World Cinema Dramatic).

“At Sundance, we believe art can break through noise and polarization. In volatile times like these, democracy and storytelling aren’t separate – they’re inextricably linked,” said Keri Putnam, Sundance Institute’s Executive Director. “Congratulations to each and every one of tonight’s winners, and to all the extraordinary artists who joined us at the Festival.

“As my final Festival as director comes to a close, it has been the honor of a lifetime to stand with these artists, and to see their work meet audiences for the first time,” said John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival Director.

Putnam also announced Tabitha Jackson as the incoming Director during the ceremony; that news release is available here.

The awards ceremony marked the culmination of the 2020 Festival, where 128 feature-length and 74 short films — selected from more than 15,100 submissions — were showcased in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah, alongside work in the Indie Episodic category, panels, music and New Frontier.

This year’s jurors, invited in recognition of their accomplishments in the arts, technical craft and visionary storytelling, deliberated extensively before presenting awards from the stage; this year’s jurors were Rodrigo Garcia, Ethan Hawke, Dee Rees, Isabella Rossellini, Wash Westmoreland, Kimberly Reed, Rachel Rosen, Courtney Sexton, E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Noland Walker, Haifaa Al Mansour, Wagner Moura, Alba Rohrwacher, Eric Hynes, Rima Mismar, and Nanfu Wang. Gregg Araki was the sole NEXT juror.

Feature film award winners in previous years include: Clemency, One Child Nation, Honeyland, The Souvenir, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, I don’t feel at home in this world anymore., Weiner, Whiplash, Fruitvale Station, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Searching for Sugarman, The Square, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Cartel Land, The Wolf Pack, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Dope, Dear White People, The Cove and Man on Wire.

Of the 28 prizes awarded tonight to 25 films – comprising the work of 29 filmmakers – 12 (48%) were directed by one or more women; 10 (40%) were directed by one or more people of color; and 2 (8%) were directed by a person who identifies as LGBTQ+.

2020 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE FILM AWARDS

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, for Boys State / U.S.A. (Directors: Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine, Producers: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss) — In an unusual experiment, a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to: Lee Isaac Chung, for Minari / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lee Isaac Chung, Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh) — David, a 7-year-old Korean-American boy, gets his life turned upside down when his father decides to move their family to rural Arkansas and start a farm in the mid-1980s, in this charming and unexpected take on the American Dream. Cast: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Youn Yuh Jung, Will Patton, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho.

The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Hubert Sauper, for Epicentro / Austria, France, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Hubert Sauper, Producers: Martin Marquet, Daniel Marquet, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, Paolo Calamita) — Cuba is well known as a so-called time capsule. The place where the New World was discovered has become both a romantic vision and a warning. With ongoing global cultural and financial upheavals, large parts of the world could face a similar kind of existence.

The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to: Massoud Bakhshi, for Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness / Iran, France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg (Director and screenwriter: Massoud Bakhshi, Producers: Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin) — Maryam accidentally killed her husband Nasser and is sentenced to death. The only person who can save her is Mona, Nasser’s daughter. All Mona has to do is appear on a TV show and forgive Maryam. But forgiveness proves difficult when they are forced to relive the past. Cast: Sadaf Asgari, Behnaz Jafari, Babak Karimi, Fereshteh Sadr Orafaee, Forough Ghajebeglou, Fereshteh Hosseini.

The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura was presented to: Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, for Crip Camp / U.S.A. (Directors: Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht, Producers: Sara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham) — Down the road from Woodstock in the early 1970s, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement.

The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura was presented to: Lee Isaac Chung, for Minari / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lee Isaac Chung, Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh) — David, a 7-year-old Korean-American boy, gets his life turned upside down when his father decides to move their family to rural Arkansas and start a farm in the mid-1980s, in this charming and unexpected take on the American Dream. Cast: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Youn Yuh Jung, Will Patton, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho.

The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to: Jerry Rothwell, for The Reason I Jump / United Kingdom (Director: Jerry Rothwell, Producers: Jeremy Dear, Stevie Lee, Al Morrow) — Based on the book by Naoki Higashida this immersive film explores the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people around the world.

The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to: Fernanda Valadez, for Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) / Mexico, Spain (Director: Fernanda Valadez, Screenwriters: Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero, Producers: Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez, Jack Zagha, Yossy Zagha) ― Magdalena makes a journey to find her son, gone missing on his way to the Mexican border with the US. Her odyssey takes her to meet Miguel, a man recently deported from the U.S. They travel together, Magdalena looking for her son, and Miguel hoping to see his mother again. Cast: Mercedes Hernández, David Illescas, Juan Jesús Varela, Ana Laura Rodríguez, Laura Elena Ibarra, Xicoténcatl Ulloa.

The Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe was presented to: Heidi Ewing, for I Carry You With Me / U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Heidi Ewing, Screenwriters: Heidi Ewing, Alan Page Arriaga, Producers: Mynette Louie, Heidi Ewing) — An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same. Cast: Armando Espitia, Christian Vázquez, Michelle Rodríguez, Ángeles Cruz, Arcelia Ramírez, Michelle González.

The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to: Garrett Bradley, for Time / U.S.A. (Director: Garrett Bradley, Producers: Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn, Garrett Bradley) Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.

The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to: Radha Blank, for The 40-Year-Old Version / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Radha Blank, Producers: Lena Waithe, Jordan Fudge, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler, Rishi Rajani) — A down-on-her-luck New York playwright decides to reinvent herself and salvage her artistic voice the only way she knows how: by becoming a rapper at age 40. Cast: Radha Blank, Peter Y. Kim, Oswin Benjamin, Reed Birney, Imani Lewis, TJ Atoms.

The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to: Iryna Tsilyk, for The Earth Is Blue as an Orange / Ukraine, Lithuania (Director: Iryna Tsilyk, Producers: Anna Kapustina, Giedrė Žickytė) — To cope with the daily trauma of living in a war zone, Anna and her children make a film together about their life among surreal surroundings.

The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to: Maïmouna Doucouré, for Cuties / France (Director and screenwriter: Maïmouna Doucouré, Producer: Zangro) — Amy, 11 years old, meets a group of dancers called “Cuties.” Fascinated, she initiates herself to a sensual dance, hoping to join their band and escape family dysfunction…Cast: Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas, Myriam Hamma, Maïmouna Gueye.

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to: Edson Oda, for Nine Days / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Edson Oda, Producers: Jason Michael Berman, Mette Marie Kongsved, Matthew Lindner, Laura Tunstall, Datari Turner) — In a house distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man interviews prospective candidates—personifications of human souls—for the privilege that he once had: to be born. Cast: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl. Dolby Institute Fellowship

A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to: the cast of Charm City Kings, for Charm City Kings / U.S.A. (Director: Angel Manuel Soto, Screenwriters: Sherman Payne, Chris Boyd & Kirk Sullivan, Barry Jenkins, Producers: Caleeb Pinkett, Clarence Hammond, Marc Bienstock) — Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence. Cast: Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Meek Mill, Will Catlett, Teyonah Parris, Donielle Tremaine Hansley, Kezii Curtis.

A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Auteur Filmmaking was presented to: Josephine Decker, for Shirley / U.S.A. (Director: Josephine Decker, Screenwriter: Sarah Gubbins, Producers: Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Sue Naegle, Sarah Gubbins, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman) — A young couple moves in with the famed author, Shirley Jackson, and her Bennington College professor husband, Stanley Hyman, in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley’s next novel. Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, Logan Lerman.

A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Neo-Realism was presented to: Eliza Hittman, for Never Rarely Sometimes Always / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Eliza Hittman, Producers: Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy) — An intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn and her cousin Skylar embark on a brave, fraught journey across state lines to New York City. Cast: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, Sharon Van Etten.

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing was presented to: Tyler H. Walk, for Welcome to Chechnya / U.S.A. (Director: David France, Producers: Alice Henty, David France, Askold Kurov, Joy A. Tomchin) — This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ pogrom raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-fiction Storytelling was presented to: Kirsten Johnson, for Dick Johnson Is Dead / U.S.A. (Director: Kirsten Johnson, Screenwriters: Nels Bangerter, Kirsten Johnson, Producers: Katy Chevigny, Marilyn Ness) — With this inventive portrait, a cameraperson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker was presented to: Arthur Jones, for Feels Good Man / U.S.A. (Director: Arthur Jones, Producers: Giorgio Angelini, Caryn Capotosto, Aaron Wickenden) — When indie comic character Pepe the Frog becomes an unwitting icon of hate, his creator, artist Matt Furie, fights to bring Pepe back from the darkness and navigate America’s cultural divide.

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking was presented to: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, and Eli Despres, for The Fight / U.S.A. (Directors: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres, Producers: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres, Maya Seidler, Peggy Drexler, Kerry Washington) — Inside the ACLU, a team of scrappy lawyers battle Trump’s historic assault on civil liberties. As the president separates families, blocks abortion access, expels transgender soldiers, and rolls back voting rights, these gutsy attorneys struggle to stop an unpredictable adversary with unlimited resources.

A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting was presented to: Ben Whishaw, for Surge / United Kingdom (Director: Aneil Karia, Screenwriters: Rupert Jones, Rita Kalnejais, Producers: Julia Godzinskaya, Sophie Vickers) ― A man goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation through London. After he robs a bank he releases a wilder version of himself, ultimately experiencing what it feels like to be alive. Cast: Ben Whishaw, Ellie Haddington, Ian Gelder, Jasmine Jobson.

A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking was presented to: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, for This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection / Lesotho, South Africa, Italy (Director and screenwriter: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Producers: Cait Pansegrouw, Elias Ribeiro) — When her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community. In the final dramatic moments of her life, Mantoa’s legend is forged and made eternal. Cast: Mary Twala Mhlongo, Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makheta, Makhoala Ndebele, Tseko Monaheng, Siphiwe Nzima.

A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay was presented to: Fernanda Valadez amd Astrid Rondero, for Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) / Mexico, Spain (Director: Fernanda Valadez, Screenwriters: Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero, Producers: Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez, Jack Zagha, Yossy Zagha) ― Magdalena makes a journey to find her son, gone missing on his way to the Mexican border with the US. Her odyssey takes her to meet Miguel, a man recently deported from the U.S. They travel together, Magdalena looking for her son, and Miguel hoping to see his mother again. Cast: Mercedes Hernández, David Illescas, Juan Jesús Varela, Ana Laura Rodríguez, Laura Elena Ibarra, Xicoténcatl Ulloa.

A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling was presented to: Benjamin Ree, for The Painter and the Thief / Norway (Director: Benjamin Ree, Producer: Ingvil Giske) — An artist befriends the drug addict and thief who stole her paintings. She becomes his closest ally when he is severely hurt in a car crash and needs full time care, even if her paintings are not found. But then the tables turn.

A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography was presented to: Mircea Topoleanu and Radu Ciorniciuc, for Acasa, My Home / Romania, Germany, Finland (Director: Radu Ciorniciuc, Screenwriters: Lina Vdovii, Radu Ciorniciuc, Producer: Monica Lazurean-Gorgan) — In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years–until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.

A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing was presented to: Mila Aung-Thwin, Sam Soko, and Ryan Mullins, for Softie / Kenya (Director and screenwriter: Sam Soko, Producers: Toni Kamau, Sam Soko) — Boniface Mwangi is daring and audacious, and recognized as Kenya’s most provocative photojournalist. But as a father of three young children, these qualities create tremendous turmoil between him and his wife Njeri. When he wants to run for political office, he is forced to choose: country or family?

The NEXT Innovator Prize was presented to: Heidi Ewing, for I Carry You With Me / U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Heidi Ewing, Screenwriters: Heidi Ewing, Alan Page Arriaga, Producers: Mynette Louie, Heidi Ewing) — An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same. Cast: Armando Espitia, Christian Vázquez, Michelle Rodríguez, Ángeles Cruz, Arcelia Ramírez, Michelle González.

The post Sundance Institute serves up the 2020 film festival feature awards appeared first on Park Record.

Winners of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival jury prizes in short filmmaking were announced Tuesday by Sundance Institute at a ceremony in Park City.

This year’s short film jurors are Sian Clifford, Marcus Hu and Cindy Sherman, and the Short Film program is presented by Southwest Airlines.

The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to: Sofia Alaoui, for “So What If The Goats Die” / France, Morocco (Director and screenwriter: Sofia Alaoui) — Abdellah, a young shepherd living in the mountains, is forced to brave the snow blocking him in order to get food and save this cattle. Once he gets to the village, he faces a supernatural phenomenon.

The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was presented to: Terrance Daye, for “Ship: A Visual Poem” / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terrance Daye) — A black boy learns contradicting lessons of manhood and masculinity on the day of his cousin’s funeral.

The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was presented to: Dylan Holmes Williams, for “The Devil’s Harmony” / United Kingdom (Director: Dylan Holmes Williams, Screenwriters: Dylan Holmes Williams, Jess O’Kane) — A bullied teenage girl leads an a cappella club on a trail of destruction against her high school enemies.

The Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction was presented to: Matthew Killip, for “John Was Trying to Contact Aliens” / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Killip) — John Shepherd spent 30 years trying to contact extraterrestrials by broadcasting music millions of miles into space. After giving up the search he makes a different connection here on earth.

The Short Film Jury Award: Animation was presented to: Daria Kashcheeva, for “Daughter” / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Daria Kashcheeva) — Should you hide your pain, close yourself inside your inner world, and long for your father’s love? Or should you understand and forgive before it’s too late?

A Short Film Special Jury Award for Acting was presented to: Sadaf Asgari, for “Exam” / Iran (Director: Sonia K. Hadad, Screenwriters: Sonia K. Hadad, Farnoosh Samadi) — A teenage girl gets involved in the process of delivering a pack of cocaine to its client, and gets stuck in a weird cycle of occurrences.

A Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing was presented to: Michael Arcos, for “Valerio’s Day Out” / Colombia, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Arcos) — A young jaguar goes on a killing spree when he escapes from his enclosure at a zoo. After he’s captured, sedated and relocated, he makes a video diary for his significant other, Lula.

The short film program is the centerpiece of Sundance Institute’s year-round efforts to support short filmmaking.

This year’s short film program featured 74 shorts selected from a record-high 10,397 submissions.

Of the seven short films selected for awards this year, three projects (43 percent) were directed by women, two (29 percent) were directed by people who identify as LGBTQ, and three (43 percent) were directed by people of color.

Select short films are presented as a traveling program in over 75 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe each year, and short films and filmmakers taking part in regional master classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities.

Short Film award winners in previous years include “Aziza” by Soudade Kaadan, “Matria” by Álvaro Gago, “And so we put goldfish in the pool.,” by Makato Nagahisa, “Thunder Road” by Jim Cummings, “World of Tomorrow” by Don Hertzfeldt, “SMILF” by Frankie Shaw, “Of God and Dogs” by Abounaddara Collective, “Gregory Go Boom” by Janicza Bravo, “The Whistle” by Grzegorz Zariczny, “Whiplash” by Damien Chazelle, “FISHING WITHOUT NETS” by Cutter Hodierne, “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” by Lucy Walker and “The Arm” by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos and Jessie Ennis.

For information, visit sundance.org.

The post Sundance announces 2020 short film winners appeared first on Park Record.

At a reception at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Tuesday, the beneficiaries of $70,000 in grants from Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation were revealed. Doron Weber, vice president and program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, presented the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize of $20,000 to Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” and announced the new winners: Tim Delaney for “The Plutonians” (Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant); Kiran Deol for “Tidal Disruption” (Sundance Institute | Sloan Development Fellowship); and Courtney Smith for “Higher” (Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Fellowship).

The awards were presented at an afternoon cocktail reception at High West Distillery. These activities are part of the Sundance Institute Science-In-Film Initiative, which is made possible by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals, and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character, and will be included in the 2020 Sundance Film Festival closing Awards Night.

The New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, is a non-profit philanthropy that makes grants for original research and education in science, technology and economic performance. Sloan’s program in public understanding of science and yechnology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.

The 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Jury was named on Jan. 14, and includes Dr. Ruth Angus, associate professor in astrophysics at Columbia University; actress Emily Mortimer; multimedia artist Jessica Oreck; materials scientist and science communicator Ainissa Ramirez; and director and screenwriter Michael Tyburski.

The jury stated, “For its bold and original approach to cinematic storytelling, and for its beautifully shot portrayal of a technological pioneer and visionary futurist who foresaw our age 100 years ago, the 2020 Alfred. P. Sloan Feature Film Prize goes to Michael Almereyda’s ‘Tesla.’”

“Science is key in bridging the gap between the real and the potential, and seeing stories of science told boldly, independently, and with creative vision can spark our own imaginations.” said Keri Putnam, executive director of Sundance Institute. “With the aid of the Sloan Foundation, works that tell these stories can enlighten us on the progress we’ve made and help to inspire us to take on the challenges of the future.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Sundance Institute for our 18th year in a row and to honor Michael Almereyda’s ‘Tesla’ with Ethan Hawke in the title role as our juried feature film prize winner,” said Weber. “Nicola Tesla was a technological pioneer far ahead of his time and this highly original film for the first time in movie history does both technological and poetic justice to this enduringly fascinating and enigmatic figure.

“We are equally thrilled to develop with Sundance an exciting pipeline of new screenplays and teleplays including “The Plutonians,” “Tidal Disruption” and “Higher,” encompassing a brilliant satire about astronomy and truth, a psychological drama about sexual harassment in science and a social and historical epic about the construction of the Empire State Building,” he said. “These three new winning scripts along with many previous Sundance winners still in development—and dozens more projects with our five other film partners across the country—comprise one of the best lists in the film industry and show yet again the science makes for great storytelling and great characters.”

Almereyda’s films include features, documentaries and shorts. “Marjorie Prime” premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. “Experimenter” premiered at the 2015 Festival. Almereyda’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” premiered at the 2014 Venice International Film Festival.

The 18-year partnership between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Sundance Institute forms part of the Sloan Foundation’s nationwide Film Program, which includes support for six of the nation’s leading film schools and seven screenwriting development partners and has resulted in over 25 completed feature films.

In addition to “Hidden Figures,” originally supported by a Sloan book grant, the film program has long championed stories about women in science from “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” to stories about Louise Pearce, Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, Lise Meitner and Jane Goodall.

The program has also supported many works about the role of technology in daily life, including the impact of machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence. Sloan has supported feature narrative films such as “Adventures of a Mathematician,” “One Man Dies a Million Times,” “The Sound of Silence,” “To Dust,” “The Catcher Was a Spy,” “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” “The Imitation Game,” “Experimenter and Operator,” along with documentaries, such as the 2020 Sundance Film Festival selection “Coded Bias” and several new projects, including episodic television, in development.

The program has also given early recognition to stand-out films such as “The Aeronauts,” “First Man,” “Searching,” “The Martian” and “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” last year’s recipient of the Feature Film Prize.

The Sundance Institute also awarded Tim Delaney the Sloan Commissioning Grant.

Delaney will receive a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for “The Plutonians.” Previous winners include Alex Rivera’s “La Vida Robot” and Robert Edwards’ “American Prometheus.”

“The Plutonians” is about a motley coalition of astronomers and outsiders conspires to defend Pluto when the definition of planethood threatens to exclude the planet.

Delaney is a writer and director from Bronxville, New York. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was awarded Best Undergraduate Screenplay, and currently resides in New York where he attends New York University’s Graduate Filmmaking Program as both a thesis student and an adjunct professor.

The Sloan Development Fellowship was awarded to Kiran Deol, who will receive a $15,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for “Tidal Disruption.” Previous winners include Logan Kibens’s “Operator,” Darcy Brislin and Dyana Winkler’s “Bell” and Rob Meyer’s “A Birder’s Guide to Everything.”

“Tidal Disruption” is about a starry eyed graduate student who desperately struggles to maneuver between her passion for astronomy and her charismatic mentor’s advances in this claustrophobic psychological thriller.

Deol is a filmmaker, comedian, and actor based in Los Angeles. Her first film, “Woman Rebel,” a documentary about women rebel soldiers, was nominated for an Emmy, shortlisted for an Oscar and distributed by HBO. She currently stars in as Mallory in the new NBC/Hulu series “Sunnyside” from Mike Schur and Kal Penn. She tours nationally as a standup comedian and can be heard on the Crooked Media’s “Hysteria” podcast. “Tidal Disruption” is her first feature film.

The Sloan Episodic Fellowship was awarded to Courtney Smith, who will receive an $10,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for “Higher.”

“Higher” is a drama about the brave men and women — immigrants, investors and industrialists — who risked it all to raise the rafters on the The Empire State Building, while the world around them fell apart.

Smith, an NYU/Tisch graduate, is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. She was a second round finalist at the Austin Film Festival (2015) and her feature film, “Archangel,” co-written by Patrick Massett, received offers from Blumhouse, Sony International and IM Global. She is currently working on “Swagger” for Apple TV+ and has worked in writer’s departments on shows including “Friday Night Lights,” “The Get Down” and “The Blacklist.”

The post Michael Almereyda’s Sundance Film “Tesla” electrifies Alfred P. Sloan Foundation jury to garner the 2020 top grant appeared first on Park Record.

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 Jan. 17-22. 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.

“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.

• 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 feature, “GRAB,” 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 and Hannah McMechan, co-writers

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 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 L.A. 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,” which 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

The post Sundance announces 2020 Screenwriters Lab participants appeared first on Park Record.

Sundance Institute added feature films to the 2020 Sundance Film Festival’s slate of independent work, alongside previously announced films.

Jeff Orlowski’s documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” which examines social media, has been announced as a World Premiere, and 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 Jan. 23–Feb. 2.

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.

The film follows an ambitious female magazine editor 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, the film 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 more than 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 post Sundance announces additions to the 2020 festival appeared first on Park Record.

Sundance Institute spotlights work at the dynamic crossroads of film, art and technology with the New Frontier selections for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

This curated collection of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works are by creators who are pushing artistic innovation across mediums that include rocket travel, biotech, facial recognition, mixed reality (MR), smartphone AR, underwater VR, game engines, big data, AI, the human archive and innovative uses of SMS text & iPhone video capture.

Programmers assembled a global slate of work from a mix of invitations and submissions to an open call for work earlier this year.

The 2020 edition of New Frontier returns to two dedicated venue spaces: New Frontier at The Ray and New Frontier Central, each of which host a variety of media installations, a VR Cinema, and panel discussions.

New this year, New Frontier Central also houses the Biodigital Theatre, a cutting-edge presentation space that will feature a rotating schedule of large scale VR theatrical works including a feature-length livestream game telecast.

Once again, New Frontier Central will feature lounge space for credential holders to meet and relax before and after experiencing the New Frontier program. New Frontier also breaks out into the wild with satellite projects in the pool at Festival Headquarters, AR dances to be discovered in various locations around Park City, and a nationwide “fugitive newscast” accessed at various sites around the festival, as well as at 11 art house theatres across the U.S., including The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville; Cinema Detroit in Michigan; The Loft Cinema in Tucson, Arizona; Michigan Theaterand The Stage Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan; The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn, New York; Northwest Film Forum in Seattle; O Cinema in Miami; Parkway Theatre in Baltimore and the Texas Theatre in Dallas.

“Technology infuses most aspects of modern life — and is evolving at a historic pace,” said Robert Redford, president and founder of Sundance Institute. “The New Frontier artists that we showcase are taking completely fresh and thoughtful approaches to how the newest technological formats engage with the ancient art of storytelling.”

Shari Frilot, Chief Curator, New Frontier, said “Powerful technologies now enable experiences that capture, replicate, and replace ‘the real.’ But it is even more special when the human touch converges with technology, we are provoked to reach beyond what we know to be real and enter into unfamiliar terrain. This transcendence can shift who we believe ourselves to be, where our bodies begin and end, what we are to each other, and who we are ultimately capable of being. The 2020 edition of New Frontier stares down the fear of losing our neighborhoods, and losing ourselves, and reminds us that the future is now — and because the future is now, the future can be ours.”

With these additions, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Program features 241 works, 44 percent are directed or led by one or more women, 35 percent were directed or led by one or more artists of color, and 19 percent by one or more people who identify as LGBTQ+. The 32 projects announced today include work from 21 countries, and 31 percent are directed or led by one or more women, 44 percent are directed or led by one or more artists of color, and 31 percent by one or more people who identify as LGBTQ+. 4 were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or residency Labs.

New Frontier alumni include Doug Aitken, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Peña, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp.

The Institute’s support extends well beyond its curated slate of Festival projects, and includes the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which offers mentorship and development opportunities for new media storytellers, and the Future of Culture Initiative, an action plan that includes partnerships with Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University in order to implement key recommendations from a two-year global field scan that analyzed strategies for improving equity and inclusion in emerging media.

The Sundance Institute New Frontier Program is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Cindy Harrell Horn and Alan Horn, Dell Technologies, Google Empathy Lab, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Oculus from Facebook, Unity Technologies, The Walt Disney Company, YouTube VR and Adobe.

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival New Frontier slate:

FILMS AND PERFORMANCES

• BLKNWS / U.S.A. (Director: Kahlil Joseph, Screenwriters: Sheba Anyanwu, Lee Harrison, Darol Kae, Producers: Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph) — An ongoing art project that blurs the lines between art, journalism, entrepreneurship, and cultural critique, appropriating the newsreel format as an opportunity to reimagine the contemporary cinematic experience, mixing an element of seriousness with a lighthearted twist on what news can be. Cast: Helen Molesworth, Alzo Slade, Amandla Stenberg, Trifari Williams. BLKNWS will also screen at 11 art house theatres around the country.

• Infinitely Yours / U.S.A. (Director: Miwa Matreyek) ― A live performance at the intersection of cinema and theater exploring what it means to be living in the Anthropocene and the time of climate crisis. A kaleidoscopic meditation that is an emotionally impactful and embodied illustration of news headlines we see everyday.

• A Machine for Viewing / United Kingdom, Australia (Directors: Oscar Raby, Richard Misek, Charlie Shackleton, Producers: Richard Misek, Oscar Raby) ― A unique three-episode hybrid of real-time VR experience, live performance and video essay in which three moving-image makers explore how we now watch films by putting various ‘machines for viewing,’ including cinema and virtual reality, face to face.

• małni – towards the ocean, towards the shore / U.S.A. (Director, screenwriter and producer: Sky Hopinka) — An experimental look at the origin of the death myth of the Chinookan people in the Pacific Northwest, following two people as they navigate their own relationships to the spirit world and a place in between life and death. Cast: Jordan Mercier, Sweetwater Sahme. World Premiere

• Sandlines, the Story of History / Iraq (Director, screenwriter and producer: Franci s Alÿs) — The children of a mountain village near Mosul re-enact a century of Iraqi history, from the secret Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916 to the realm of terror imposed by the Islamic State in 2016. The children revisit their past to understand their present. World Premiere

• Vitalina Varela / Portugal (Director and screenwriter: Pedro Costa, Producer: Abel Ribiero Chaves) — Vitalina Varela, a 55-year-old, Cape Verdean, arrives in Lisbon three days after her husband’s funeral. She’s been waiting for her plane ticket for more than 25 years. Cast: Vitalina Varela, Ventura.

EXHIBITIONS

• All Kinds of Limbo / United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Toby Coffey, Raffy Bushman, Nubiya Brandon) — The National Theatre of Great Britain’s communal musical journey reflecting the influence of West Indian culture on the UK’s music scene across the genres of reggae, grime, classical, and calypso. Immersive technologies, the ceremony of live performance and the craft of theatrical staging bring audiences into a VR performance space. Cast: Nubiya Brandon.

• ANIMALIA SUM / Germany, Brazil, Iceland (Lead Artists: Bianca Kennedy, Felix Kraus) ― I am animals. I eat animals. A duality explored in a virtual reality experience in which insects will be the future’s main food supply.

• Anti-Gone / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Theo Triantafyllidis, Key Collaborators: Connor Willumsen, Matthew Doyle) ― In a post-climate change world, environmental catastrophe has become normalized. Cities are sunken, yet the vestiges of late-capitalist culture live on, clinging like barnacles to the ruins of civilization. Spyda and Lynxa are a couple navigating this world, gliding frictionlessly from shopping to movies to psychedelic drugs. Cast: Lindsey Normington, Zana Gankhuyag, Matthew Doyle.

• Atomu / France, Kenya, U.S.A., United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Shariffa Ali, Yetunde Dada, Key Collaborators: Antoine Cayrol, Rafael Pavon, Arnaud Colinart, Opeyemi Olukemi, Annick Jakobowicz, Cassie Kinoshi, Toby Coffey, Steve Jelly, Simon Windsor) ― Go inside the cyclical center of a Kikuyu Tribal Myth from Kenya, where man may become woman and woman may become man. Through virtual reality, dance and music, a sacred space is created to explore many versions of yourself. Cast: Cassie Kinoshi, Alexander Whitley, Clément Chériot, Amaury La Burthe.

• The Book of Distance / Canada (Lead Artist: Randall Okita, Key Collaborators: David Oppenheim, Sam Javanrouh, Emma Burkeitt, Luke Ruminski) ― In 1935, Yonezo Okita left his home in Hiroshima, Japan for Canada. Then war and racism changed everything. Three generations later his grandson leads us on an interactive pilgrimage through an emotional geography of immigration and family to recover what was lost.

• Breathe / Sweden, Canada, U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Diego Galafassi, Key Collaborators: Jess Engel, Myriam Achard, Stephen Mangiat) — A mixed-reality application that uses body movement and breathing to immerse participants in the story of air. Recast the ordinary experience of breathing as an immediate, direct link to a complex living world. We are alive to a planet that is alive to us.

• Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter / Canada, Germany (Lead Artist: Sandra Rodriguez, Key Collaborators: Michael Burk, Cindy Bisho, Johannes Helberger) ― A prologue to a timely conversation on AI’s biggest promises and pitfalls. Lured by the possibility of emulating one of today’s most famous minds, we meet and engage with CHOMSKY_AI, an entity under construction, evolving from the arsenal of digital traces professor Noam Chomsky has left behind. Cast: Sandra Rodriguez, Michael Burk, Cindy Bishop, Johannes Helberger, Moov.AI.

• Dance Trail / Switzerland (Lead Artists: Gilles Jobin, Camilo De Martino, Tristan Siodlak, Susana Panades Diaz, Key Collaborators: Laurent Rime, Léo Thiémard) ― A dance piece in augmented reality enabling users to invite virtual dancers into our world. Site-specific and mobile, the app allows to see dance sequences outdoor and indoor during the Festival. Users can place dancers anywhere in the world and share snapshots and videos. Cast: Susana Panadés Diaz, Victoria Chiu, Maelle Deral, Diya Naidu, Tidiani N’diaye, Gilles Jobin.

• The Electronic Diaries of Lynn Hershman Leeson / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Lynn Hershman Leeson) ― In 1984, after teaching herself how to use a video camera, Lynn Hershman Leeson sat down in front of it and began to talk and for 40 years developed a sly, profound and raw confessional mediated expression for an unknown audience that led towards personal evolution and survival. Cast: Lynn Hershman Leeson, Dr. George Church, Eleanor Coppola, Dr. Caleb Webber, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Dr. Anthony Atala.

• Hypha / Chile (Lead Artist: Natalia Cabrera, Key Collaborators: Sebastian Gonzalez, Juan Ferrer) ― An immersive virtual reality journey to heal the Earth–by becoming a mushroom. Experience the life cycle of a fungus, and comprehend the importance of the fungi kingdom, Earth’s main bioremediation agent. Cast: Trinidad Piriz.

• Living Distance / China, U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Xin Liu, Key Collaborators: Qinya (Jenny) Guo, Gershon Dublon, Reese Donohue) ― A fantasy and a mission, in which a wisdom tooth is sent to outer space and back down to Earth again. Carried by a crystalline robotic sculpture called EBIFA, the tooth becomes a newborn entity in outer space and tells the story of a person in this universe.

• Metamorphic / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Matthew Niederhauser, Wesley Allsbrook, Eli Zananiri, John Fitzgerald, Key Collaborators: Tim Fain, Siyuan Qiu) In this social VR experience, the body becomes a vehicle for expression within majestically drawn worlds. Participants explore the radical possibility of effortless transformation as movement and play alter appearances and surroundings.

• My Trip / United Kingdom (Lead Artist: Bjarne Melgaard) ― Simulating the experience of a DMT trip, this work draws on new psychedelia, black metal music and internet paranoia to quest ion existential concerns such as procreation and overpopulation. A virtual retrospective, travel with characters such as Octo and Lightbulb Man through the dark web to unknown realms.

• Persuasion Machines / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Karim Amer, Guvenc Ozel, Key Collaborators: Jess Engel, , Geralyn White Dreyfous, Marni Grossman) ― How are your likes, shares, selfies, and devices being used against you? By making the invisible world of data visible, this experience will show you how your digital footprint is shaping your reality.

• Scarecrow / Korea (Lead Artists: Jihyun Jung, Sngmoo Lee, Taewan Jeong, Cooper Yoo, Key Collaborators: Chungyean Cho, Sanghun Heo, Yeonjee Kim) ― A user walks into a surreal Sisyphean world of cursed artists to break the spell. Cast: Seongtae Kim, Hyoungjun Kwon, Myungseok Chae, Donggen Shin.

• Solastalgia / France (Lead Artists: Antoine Viviani, Pierre-Alain Giraud, Key Collaborators: Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nicolas Becker) A mixed-reality installation set in a mysterious future exploring the surface of a planet that has become uninhabitable. The last generations of humans are living as holograms, repeating the same scenes over and over again. What secret does this strange paradise contain? Cast: Mehdi Belhaj Kacem, Audrey Bonnet, Anne Brochet, Nancy Huston, Arthur Nauzyciel, Corine Sombrun.

• Spaced Out / France (Lead Artist: Pyaré, Key Collaborators: Sutu, Mourad Bennacer, Ando Shah, Stephen Greenwood, Atlas Roufas) ― An underwater VR experience transports you aboard a voyage from the Earth to the moon, as well as within, led by the audio conversations of the Apollo 11 mission. Using special underwater VR goggles and a snorkel, the experience becomes a space simulation immersing all of the senses.

• Still Here / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Zahra Rasool, Sarah Springer, Key Collaborators: Naima Ramos-Chapman, Carvell Wallace, Viktorija Mickute, Maria Fernanda Lauret) ― An immersive, multimedia installation exploring incarceration, erasure and gentrification through the lens of one woman who returns to Harlem after 15 years in prison. The use of interactive VR and AR technologies brings to life this heartfelt story about the reclaiming of space and identity in a changing black community. Cast: LeAsha Julius, Keith Buxton, Marion Green, James Brown-Orleans, Jeorge Watson, Crystal Arnette.

VR CINEMA

• After the Fallout / Switzerland, U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Sam Wolson, Dominic Nahr) — In March 2011, an earthquake caused a tsunami and a meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear power plant. The devastating consequences filled the communities in Fukushima with fear of the intangible and split Japan in a distinct before and after.

• Azibuye – The Occupation / South Africa (Lead Artists: Dylan Valley, Caitlin Robinson, Stephen Abbott, Key Collaborators: Ingrid Kopp, Steven Markovitz) ― When Masello and Evan, two homeless black artist/activists, break into an abandoned mansion in an affluent part of Johannesburg, they proclaim their occupation to be an artistic and political act in defiance of inequalities in land ownership in South Africa. Cast: Masello Motana, Evan Abrahamse.

• Bembé / Cuba (Lead Artists: Marcos Louit, Patricia Diaz, Key Collaborators: Andy Ruiz, Alain López, Ernesto Collinet) ― Bembé is a Cuban tradition that encompasses elements of both Christianity and the African Yoruba, where the souls of dead slaves come to Earth and family, friends, and neighbors take part in a celebration lasting up to 7 days. Cast: Ernesto Collinet, Kalina Collinet, Katyleidy Collinet.

• Flowers & a Switchblade / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Nic Koller, Weston Morgan, Key Collaborators: Candice Lee, Bridget Peck) ― An everyday scene–a real-life conversation in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park–collaged together from hundreds of videos to form a fractured, hyper-stimulating, 360° Cubist world.

• Go / Switzerland (Lead Artists: Sandro Zollinger, Roman Vital, Klaus Merz, Key Collaborator: Thomas Gassmann) ― Searching for stability in his life, Peter Thaler sets out on a hike in the Swiss mountains, from which he will never return. An unprecedented symbiosis of literature and virtual reality, telling a story of everyday and final farewells, and opening the door to eternity a tiny crack. Cast: Klaus Merz, Niramy Pathmanathan, Robert Vital, Regula Stüssi.

• Hominidae / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Brian Andrews, Key Collaborators: Brian Ferguson, Robert Steel, Kahra Scott-James) ― Against a landscape of X-ray imagery and wild anatomical reimagination, a mother and her children struggle for survival. This experience follows an Arachnid Hominid, an intelligent creature with human and spider physiology, from the birth of her children to her premature death in the teeth of her prey. Cast: Phyllis Griffin, Luis Mora, Emily Weems, Kidjie Boyer, Austin Daly, Oliver Angus.

• tx-reverse 360° / Austria, Germany (Lead Artists: Martin Reinhart, Virgil Widrich, Key Collaborator: Siegfried Friedrich) ― What is behind the cinema screen? What if the auditorium dissolves and with it the familiar laws of cinema itself? As reality and cinema collide, viewers are drawn into a vortex where the familiar order of space and time seems to be suspended.

• VR Free / Italy (Lead Artist: Milad Tangshir, Key Collaborators: Vito Martinelli, Stefano Sburlati) ― Exploring the nature of incarceration spaces by portraying slices of life inside a prison in Turin, Italy. The film also captures the reaction of several inmates during brief encounters with immersive videos of life outside of prison. Cast: Michele Romano, Albert Asllanaj, Cristian De Bonis.

NEW FRONTIER SHORTS

• E-Ticket / Hong Kong, U.S.A. (Director: Simon Liu) — A frantic (re)cataloguing of a personal archive and 16,000 splices in the making. 35mm frames are obsessively rearranged in evolving-disorienting patterns, a s a Dante’s Inferno for the streaming age emerges, illustrating freedom of movement for the modern cloud.

• Guisado on Sunset / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terence Nance) — Missed connection regret at that one late-night spot–the kind you keep playing back in your head but not quite ever remembering right, until it starts to look like something else. International Premiere

• How Did We Get Here? / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Miles) — A visual exploration of progressive atrophy. A study in how microscopic changes can go unnoticed, but amass over time. Even as these changes become drastic, we sometimes fail to realize anything has happened at all. World Premiere

• Meridian / U.S.A., Italy (Director and screenwriter: Calum Walter) — Footage transmitted by the last unit in a fleet of autonomous machines sent to deliver an emergency vaccine. The film follows the machine before its disappearance, tracing a path that seems to stray further and further from its objective.

• Narcissister Breast Work / U.S.A. (Director: Narcissister) — Focusing on the exercise by women of their right to bare their breasts in public, Narcissister Breast Work aims to investigate – and expose – how prohibitions on female toplessness are grounded in fear of, and desire to control, the female body. World Premiere

• Pattaki / Cuba (Director: Everlane Moraes, Screenwriter: Tatiana Monge Herrera) — In the dense night, when the moon rises, those who live in a monotonous daily life without water are hypnotized by the powers of Yemaya, the goddess of the sea. U.S. Premiere

• While I’m Still Breathing (Tandis Que Je Respire Encore) / France (Directors: Laure Giappiconi, Elisa Monteil, La Fille Renne, Screenwriter: Laure Giappiconi) — The blurred portrayal of a young woman as she moves through three steps of her sexuality. North American Premiere

The post Sundance Institute announces New Frontier selections for 2020 film festival appeared first on Park Record.

Sundance Institute announced the Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and they underline Sundance Institute’s commitment to showcasing bold independent storytelling regardless of form, format or length.

Kim Yutani, the festival’s director of programming, said, “Authenticity and independent voices resonate across formats – and that’s evident across the full spectrum of this year’s Indie Episodic and Special Events slates. Defined by distinctive voices and enlightening viewpoints, these are riveting projects that find inspiration in the urgent stories and extraordinary individuals of our times.”

Mike Plante, senior shorts programmer, said, “With an unprecedented number of 10,397 submissions, we had so many great shorts to choose from. It is thrilling to share so many unique visions and new talents from the burgeoning world of shorts.”

Of the projects announced today, 48 percent were directed or created by one or more women, 33 percent were directed or created by one or more filmmaker of color, and 19 percent by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA.

Seven were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or Labs.

Seventy four short films will screen at the Festival from 27 countries and chosen from 10,397 submissions – 4,992 from the U.S. and 5,405 international.

The Institute’s support for short films extends internationally and year-round, with select festival shorts presented as a traveling program at seventy-five theaters in the U.S., Canada and Europe each year, and short films and filmmakers taking part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. Among the shorts the Festival has shown in recent years are “Fauve,” “Aziza,” “Ghosts of Sugar Land,” “Thunder Road,” “Whiplash” and “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.”

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival Short Film program is presented by Southwest Airlines.

INDIE EPISODIC

A dedicated showcase for emerging creators of independently produced episodic content for broadcast, web, and streaming platforms. Past projects that have premiered within this category include Work in Progress, State of the Union, Wu Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men and Quarter Life Poetry.

• Awkward Family Photos / U.S.A. (Director: William Kirkley, Executive Producers: Mike Bender, Doug Chernack, William Kirkley, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas, Jean-Luc De Fanti) — A hilarious, odd, and heartfelt exploration of the imperfect family experience. The families behind some of the most viral photos from the archives of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com tell their unique stories and reunite to recreate their original photos, forcing them to reconcile their past and celebrate their awkwardness. World Premiere

• Chemo Brain / Denmark (Director: Kristian Håskjold, Screenwriters: Kristian Håskjold, Johan Wang) — When Oliver is diagnosed with testicular cancer, his life is turned upside down. This lighthearted drama-series depicts the derailment of a young man that is doing everything he can to not lose his friends, his girlfriend, himself, and ultimately his life. Cast: Adam Ild Rohweder, Karoline Brygmann, Jens Jørn Spottag, Mads Reuther, Stephanie Nguyen, Mathilde Passer. International Premiere

• City So Real / U.S.A. (Director: Steve James) — An impressionistic mosaic portrait of current-day Chicago which delivers a deep, multifaceted look into the soul of America’s third-largest city, set against the backdrop of its history-making 2019 mayoral campaign. World Premiere

• Embrace / U.S.A. (Director: Jessica Sanders, Creators: Kathreen Khavari, Chuck Neal) — Against the backdrop of Oakland California, Iranian-American medical student Kat tries to save her Iranian family by taking on a surprising side hustle. The show is a culturally diverse, quasi-surrealist dramedy that captures the ever-increasing need for human connection and the subsequent commodification of it. Cast: Kathreen Khavari, Eddie Huang, Mitra Jouhari. World Premiere

• Hey Lady! / Canada (Directors: Sarah Polley, Adriana Maggs, Will Bowes, Screenwriter: Morris Panych) — A fearlessly off-the-charts rampage of urban vengeance as senior-citizen Lady, along with her friend Rosie, upturns everything in her path–social norms, rules of etiquette, and even the series itself. Cast: Jayne Eastwood, Jackie Richardson. World Premiere

• Laetitia / France (Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Screenwriters: Antoine Lacomblez, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade) — Eighteen-year-old Laetitia has disappeared. Police quickly arrest Tony Meilhon but investigators still can’t find the body. This story follows the repercussions for Laetitia’s family and twin sister Jessica; the police force inner workings and social services; the judicial system and government itself. Based on real events. Cast: Marie Colomb, Sophie Breyer, Yannick Choirat, Sam Karmann, Kevin Azïas, Noam Morgensztern. International Premiere

• The Ride / U.S.A. (Director: Linas Phillips, Executive Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass) — Wayne, a 40-year-old ride share driver and spiritual coach, recently moved back in with his mom and discovers the only thing that gives his life meaning is to help his passengers let go of their negative thoughts, whether they want his help or not. Cast: Linas Phillips, Maria Thayer, Alex Karpovsky, Punkie Johnson, Joslyn Jensen, Timm Sharp. World Premiere

• Untitled Pizza Movie / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Shapiro) — How do you remember somebody in a disposable world? Weaving an abandoned film about pizza (NYC in the early 90s), a stunning, physical archive (thousands of objects) with a remarkable triple portrait, this series traces three lives over thirty years, three continents, and the faultlines of class, dreams, and memory. World Premiere

SPECIAL EVENTS

One-of-a-kind moments highlighting new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience. Past projects that have played in this category include Lorena, Now Apocalypse, Wild Wild Country and Top of the Lake.

• Hillary / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nanette Burstein) — A portrait of a public woman, interweaving moments from never-before-seen 2016 campaign footage with biographical chapters of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life. Featuring exclusive interviews with Hillary herself, Bill Clinton, friends, and journalists, an examination of how she became simultaneously one of the most admired and vilified women in the world. World Premiere

• LANCE / U.S.A. (Director: Marina Zenovich, Producers: Marina Zenovich, P.G. Morgan) — This deeply personal examination of one of the world’s most controversial figures examines a man who’s both winner and loser, saint and sinner. With unprecedented access to Lance’s world, this psychological portrait is a powerful study of that 21st century phenomenon: the celebrity who falls spectacularly and publicly from grace. World Premiere

• Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist / U.S.A., Spain (Director: Alexandre O. Philippe, Producer: Kerry Deignan Roy) — A lyrical and spiritual cinematic essay on The Exorcist, and an exploration of the uncharted depths of William Friedkin’s mind’s eye, the nuances of his filmmaking process, and the mysteries of faith and fate that have shaped his life and filmography. Cast: William Friedkin. North American Premiere

• Love Fraud / U.S.A. (Directors: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing, Executive Producer: Vinnie Malhotra, Amy Goodman Kass, Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing) — Bigamy. Identity theft. Fraud. For the last 20 years Richard Scott Smith has used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women in search of love–conning them out of their money and dignity. But now his victims ban together and seek sweet revenge. World Premiere

• Max Richter’s Sleep / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Natalie Johns) — Following the composer as he navigates an ambitious performance of his acclaimed 8-hour opus. Centring around an open air concert in Los Angeles, alongside footage from Berlin, Sydney and Paris, we are plunged deep into the life and process of both the artist and his creative partner Yulia Mahr. North American Premiere

• McMillions / U.S.A. (Directors: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte, Executive Producers: Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Archie Gips, James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte) — McMillions is the definitive, real-life account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam, which defrauded the American public throughout the 1990s, as told by the “prize winners,” criminals, government officials, and FBI agents, whom eventually took the crime ring down. World Premiere

• Siempre, Luis / U.S.A. (Director: John James, Executive Producer: Michael Stolper) — Follow one single-minded immigrant’s improbable journey from Puerto Rico to the halls of power. Witness Luis Miranda’s unflappable idealism as he battles his health, mobilizes the mainland Latinx community, matches wits with his youngest child applying to college and brings Hamilton to his island home, all in twelve months. Cast: Luis Miranda, Lin-Manuel Miranda. World Premiere

• The Trade / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Heineman, Executive Producers: Pagan Harleman, Matthew Heineman, Vinnie Malhotra, Joedan Okun) — A deeply personal and intimate portrait of human smuggling, sex trafficking, and the struggle to survive the migrant cycle between Central America and the United States. World Premiere

• We Are Freestyle Love Supreme / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Fried, Producers: Sarina Roma, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Jill Furman, Jon Steingart, Jenny Steingart) — Follow the 15-year journey of the founding members of the improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, as they reflect upon why this show remains such an important piece of their personal, creative, and professional history–from the basement of the Drama Bookshop in NYC to the Broadway stage. Cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Anthony Veneziale, Christopher Jackson, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Chris Sullivan. World Premiere

U.S. NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS

• Arabian Alien / Saudi Arabia, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Meshal Aljaser) — Saad, a Muslim married man, gets over his depression after a space Alien is introduced into his life. World Premiere

• Baldwin Beauty / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Thembi Banks) — Farrah, new to LA, goes on the mobile styling app Get Glam, to find new clients. When she arrives at an appointment, she finds a house of girls pre-gaming for a party and maybe a new crew of friends.

• Blocks / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Bridget Moloney) — An existential comedy about the mother of two young children who begins to spontaneously vomit plastic toy blocks. World Premiere. DAY ONE

• Buck / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Elegance Bratton, Jovan James) — Caught in the throes of a depressive fugue, young Lynn resorts to debauchery to find joy — only to discover that happiness is a much more complicated proposition. World Premiere

• Danny’s Girl / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Emily Wilson) — Danny meets his online girlfriend for the first time, but accidentally discovers her unspeakable possession, which throws their first night together into a dizzying tailspin. World Premiere

• Dirty / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Matthew Puccini) — Marco cuts class to spend the afternoon with his boyfriend, Graham. Things do not go as planned. World Premiere

• He’s the One / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jessie Kahnweiler) — A girl meets guy and falls head over heels, but a shocking discovery forces her to question everything. A dark comedy about falling in love with the one person you’re supposed to hate. World Premiere

• How Did We Get Here? / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Miles) — A visual exploration of progressive atrophy. A study in how microscopic changes can go unnoticed, but amass over time. Even as these changes become drastic, we sometimes fail to realize anything has happened at all. World Premiere

• Lance (in a Neck Brace) / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Chloé Aktas) — After a devastating breakup, Lance listens to instructional cassette tapes on how to heal his broken heart. World Premiere. DAY ONE

• Little Chief / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Erica Tremblay) — The lives of a Native woman and a troubled young boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma. World Premiere

• Meats / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ashley Williams) — A pregnant vegan struggles with her newfound craving for meat. World Premiere

• Meridian / U.S.A., Italy (Director and screenwriter: Calum Walter) — Footage transmitted by the last unit in a fleet of autonomous machines is sent to deliver an emergency vaccine. The film follows the machine before its disappearance, tracing a path that seems to stray further and further from its objective.

• Pillars / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Haley Elizabeth Anderson) — After seeing a boy she likes before church, Amber sneaks out to the Sunday school bathroom during the service and is given her first kiss. World Premiere

• Place / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jason Gudasz) — Wanting a fresh start, Lauren moves into a house with her daughter and new boyfriend–but the spirits of the house have plans to turn them all against each other in very bizarre ways.

• Ship: A Visual Poem / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terrance Daye) — A black boy learns contradicting lessons of manhood and masculinity on the day of his cousin’s funeral.

• T / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Keisha Rae Witherspoon) — A film crew follows three grieving participants of Miami’s annual T Ball, where folks assemble to model R.I.P. t-shirts and innovative costumes designed in honor of their dead.

• Three Deaths / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jay Dockendorf) — Three strangers confront death in a modern interpretation of a Tolstoy short story. World Premiere

• Valerio’s Day Out / Colombia, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Arcos) — A young jaguar goes on a killing spree when he escapes from his enclosure at a zoo. After he’s captured, sedated and relocated, he makes a video diary for his significant other, Lula.

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS

• Are You Hungry? / Finland (Director: Teemu Niukkanen, Screenwriter: Antti Toivonen) — A single mother struggles to connect with her adopted teenage son, whom she believes is gay. U.S. Premiere. DAY ONE

• Backpedal / Australia (Director and screenwriter: Dani Pearce) — A collage of an American poem, exploring the universality of womanhood.

• Bad Hair / Estonia (Director and screenwriter: Oskar Lehemaa) — Insecure and balding Leo has decided to try a mysterious hair growth liquid to fix up his looks. The liquid causes a series of grotesque metamorphoses, as Leo tries to get his bodily changes under control, the evening quickly turn into chaos.

• Benevolent Ba / Malaysia, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Diffan Sina Norman) — A devout woman’s lust for virtue thrusts her family into a sacrificial slaughter of biblical proportions. World Premiere

• The Devil’s Harmony / United Kingdom (Director: Dylan Holmes Williams, Screenwriters: Dylan Holmes Williams, Jess O’Kane) — A bullied teenage girl leads an a cappella club on a trail of destruction against her high school enemies.

• Exam / Iran (Director: Sonia K. Hadad, Screenwriters: Sonia K. Hadad, Farnoosh Samadi) — A teenage girl gets involved in the process of delivering a pack of cocaine to its client, and gets stuck in a weird cycle of occurrences. DAY ONE

• Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time / Norway, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kristoffer Borgli) — After a woman escapes the captivity of her abusive family, a magazine invites her to a journalistic experiment: to hear music for the first time. World Premiere

• I’ll End Up in Jail / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Alexandre Dostie) — A stay-at-home mom gets into a murderous car crash where nobody wants to take the blame. U.S. Premiere

• Leave of Absence / Russia (Director and Screenwriter: Anton Sazonov) — In Russia, supressed masculinity has led to a feeling of unfulfillment as men feel that the country rejects them, leading to a drastic decline in male life expectancy. North American Premiere. DAY ONE

• No One is Crazy in This Town / Indonesia (Director: Wregas Bhanuteja, Screenwriters: Wregas Bhanuteja, Henricus Pria) ) — The owner of a big hotel orders Marwan and his team to remove mentally ill people from the city streets and cast them away in the forests. North American Premiere

• Olla / France, United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Ariane Labed) — Olla has answered an ad on a dating website for Eastern European women. She moves in with Pierre, who lives with his old mother, but nothing goes as expected.

Paola Makes A Wish / Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Zhannat Alshanova) — On an ordinary day at work, Paola starts to feel that she is missing out something exciting in her life. U.S. Premiere

• Pattaki / Cuba (Director: Everlane Moraes, Screenwriter: Tatiana Monge Herrera) — In the dense night, when the moon rises, those who live in a monotonous daily life without water are hypnotized by the powers of Yemaya, the goddess of the sea. U.S. Premiere

• Regret / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Santiago Menghini) — Following the death of his father, a man must survive the manifestations of his inner demons over the course of a dreary night. World Premiere

• Sadla / South Africa (Director and screenwriter: Zamo Mkhwanazi) — While going on a simple errand, Nathi’s journey is marked by disturbing interactions with authority. But is he an innocent victim? U.S. Premiere. DAY ONE

• So What If The Goats Die / France, Morocco (Director and screenwriter: Sofia Alaoui) — Abdellah, a young shepherd living in the mountains, is forced to brave the snow blocking him in order to get food and save this cattle. Once he gets to the village, he faces a supernatural phenomenon. World Premiere

• Song of Clouds / Nepal (Director and screenwriter: Ankit Poudel) — A haunting visual fever dream, and a meditation on the afterlife; the journey to the next world, and what gets left behind among the living. World Premiere

• Sticker / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Georgi M. Unkovski) — After an unsuccessful attempt to renew his car registration, Dejan falls in a bureaucratic trap that tests his determination to be a responsible father. North American Premiere

• A Thousand Sails / Hong Kong (Director and screenwriter: Hing Weng Eric Tsang) — Ren promises to keep a secret for her neighbor’s son–a secret she can share with no one on the island. Her only refuge from sleepless nights is her deceased husband. International Premiere

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS

• Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa / U.S.A. (Directors: Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, Mike Attie) — At a Philadelphia abortion helpline, counselors answer nonstop calls from women who seek to end a pregnancy but can’t afford to. In this documentary we learn how economic stigma and cruel legislation determine who has access to abortion.

• All That Perishes at the Edge of Land / Pakistan (Director: Hira Nabi, Screenwriters: Hira Nabi, Qurratulain Hyder) — A ship berthed at Gadani and the shipbreakers coming from all over Pakistan to break it discover that they might have more in common than otherwise imagined when they enter into a conversation.

• Bereka / U.S.A., Ethiopia (Director and screenwriter: Nesanet Teshager Abegaze) — A family history archive as told by matriarch Azalu Mekonnen and her granddaughter Samira Hooks. Shot on Super 8 film in Los Angeles and Gondar, Ethiopia, capturing the Ethiopian coffee ceremony and explores migration, memory and rebirth.

• Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business / U.S.A. (Director: Christine Turner) — At age 93, there’s no stopping the legendary artist Betye Saar. World Premiere

• Broken Orchestra / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: 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 into the hands of students.

• Character / U.S.A. (Director: Vera Brunner-Sung) — Actor Mark Metcalf made his reputation in Hollywood playing aggrieved authority figures. Now in his 70s, he takes a look back on his career in this meditation on power, privilege, and the perils of being a “type.” World Premiere

• Church and the Fourth Estate / U.S.A. (Director: Brian Knappenberger) — A reporter uncovers a file that reveals a shocking series of child abuse allegations in Idaho’s Boy Scouts, which rattle the community and implicate the Mormon church. The story reveals long-running crimes that threaten to bankrupt the Boy Scouts. World Premiere

• The Deepest Hole / U.S.A. (Director: Matt McCormick) — While the space and arms races are Cold War common knowledge, few know about the United States and Soviet Union’s race to dig the deepest hole. This is particularly surprising since Hell may have been inadvertently discovered in the process. World Premiere

• Día de la Madre / U.S.A. (Directors: Ashley Brandon, Dennis Höhne) — A band of juveniles embark on a 24-hour spree of breaking into houses and causing a ruckus. World Premiere

• Do Not Split / U.S.A., Norway (Director: Anders Hammer) — The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene. World Premiere

• E-Ticket / Hong Kong, U.S.A. (Director: Simon Liu) — A frantic (re)cataloguing of a personal archive and 16,000 splices in the making. 35mm frames are obsessively rearranged in evolving-disorienting patterns, as a Dante’s Inferno for the streaming age emerges, illustrating freedom of movement for the modern cloud.

• Guisado on Sunset / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terence Nance) — Missed connection regret at that one late-night spot–the kind you keep playing back in your head but not quite ever remembering right, until it starts to look like something else. International Premiere

• John Was Trying to Contact Aliens / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Killip) — John Shepherd spent 30 years trying to contact extraterrestrials by broadcasting music millions of miles into space. After giving up the search he makes a different connection here on earth. World Premiere. DAY ONE

• Junior Bangers / United Kingdom (Director: Danny Lee) — In England, banger racing isn’t just a sport, but a way of life. Join 11-year-olds Finn and Harley on a cold winter race day in Birmingham. North American Premiere

• Lichen / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Lisa Jackson) — An otherworldly deep dive into the hidden beauty of lichens, asking what we might learn from them. Ancient and diverse, thriving in adversity, confounding scientists to this day, lichen is a model of emergence. International Premiere

• A Love Song for Latasha / U.S.A. (Director: Sophia Nahli Allison) — A dreamlike archive in conversation with the past and the present to reimagine a more nuanced narrative of Latasha Harlins by excavating intimate and poetic memories shared by her cousin and best friend.

• Narcissister Breast Work / U.S.A. (Director: Narcissister) — Focusing on the exercise by women of their right to bare their breasts in public, this film is an investigation into how prohibitions on female toplessness are grounded in fear of, and desire to control, the female body. World Premiere

• Now Is the Time / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Christopher Auchter) — On the 50th anniversary of the first new totem pole raising on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century, we revisit the day that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

• See You Next Time / U.S.A. (Director: Crystal Kayiza) — A window into the intimate moments shared across a nail salon table between a Chinese nail artist and her black client in Brooklyn, NY.

• The Shawl / U.S.A. (Director: Sara Kiener) After years of long distance, a pair of big and beautiful boyfriends celebrate their reunion at a Stevie Nicks concert, where they share a brush with magic. World Premiere

• The Starr Sisters / U.S.A. (Directors: Beth Einhorn, Bridey Elliott) — Patte and Randa Starr are fun specialists. After overcoming a dark past, these sisters are inseparable. Now in their 70s, they do exactly as they please and their candy drawer is always fully stocked.

• While I’m Still Breathing (Tandis Que Je Respire Encore) / France (Directors: Laure Giappiconi, Elisa Monteil, La Fille Renne, Screenwriter: Laure Giappiconi) — The blurred portrayal of a young woman as she moves through three steps of her sexuality. North American Premiere

ANIMATED SHORT FILMS

• Daughter / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Daria Kashcheeva) — Should you hide your pain, close yourself inside your inner world, and long for your father’s love? Or should you understand and forgive before it’s too late?

• Daytime Noir / U.S.A. (Director: Jeron Braxton, Screenwriters: Jeron Braxton, Jay Ellis, Antonio Maclin) — A mother and son’s journey through the exploitative world of tabloid TV. World Premiere

• eadem cutis: the same skin / Germany (Director: Nina Hopf) — “I just want to be seen as who I am today!” John shares his thoughts on identity, body and gender and gives a very personal insight into his life–and an intimate proximity to his body. North American Premiere

• Eli / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nate Milton) — A true story from the realms of high strangeness, magical thinking, and manic delusion.

• Farce / Norway (Director and screenwriter: Robin Jensen) — A man, a woman and a meat grinder. Love is messy.

• Hot Flash / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Thea Hollatz) — Ace is having a hot flash, and she’s about to go live on local television. How one woman tries to keep her cool when one type of flash leads to another. International Premiere

• Hudson Geese / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Bernardo Britto) — A goose remembers his last migration. World Premiere. DAY ONE

• Inès / France and Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Élodie Dermange) — Inès is facing a difficult choice. Tonight, she thinks about the decision she will make. North American Premiere

• My Juke-Box / France (Director and screenwriter: Florentine Grelier) — Yesterday, I overheard an old rock ‘n’ roll song that sounded familiar. This is probably the music that we used to listen to on my dad’s mechanical devices–the thousand lives man, the king of the jukebox. International Premiere

• No, I Don’t Want to Dance! / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Andrea Vinciguerra) — In these dark times, you may think that every hazard has been identified, but nobody has taken into consideration how dangerous dance can be…

• Sh_t Happens / Czech Republic, Slovakia, France (Directors and screenwriters: Michaela Mihalyi, David Štumpf) — The caretaker exhausted by everything, his frustrated wife, and one totally depressed deer. Their mutual despair leads them to absurd events, because… Sh_t happens all the time. U.S. Premiere

• Slug Life / United Kingdom (Director and Screenwriter: Sophie Koko Gate) — A day in the life of Tanya, a curious woman who has developed a taste for non human lovers. Her next creation: a giant slug. Can such a perfect creature survive in this gnarly world full of freaks and beefs?

• Takoyaki Story / Japan (Director and screenwriter: Sawako Kabuki) — Always attracted to takoyaki–octopus balls, a famous Japanese street food–a girl tries them for the first time and becomes addicted.

• Wong Ping’s Fables 2 / Hong Kong (Director and Screenwriter: Ping Wong) — Wong Ping urinates twice before gently pressing your head down with his right foot, giving you a closer look at your own reflection in his urine.

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stephen Irwin) — Deep in the forest, a hunter encounters a strange creature he cannot kill. World Premiere

The post Sundance announces episodic and shorts programs for 2020 film festival appeared first on Park Record.

Summer has finally arrived, which means it’s time for the return of Utah’s outdoor movie tradition, now in its 22nd year.

Sundance Institute will once again celebrate the season and Utah’s natural beauty with free screenings of eleven Sundance Film Festival favorites, taking place in Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden, St. George and, new this year, Coalville. The screenings will also feature special guests, family-friendly activities, food and surprises.

Films start at dusk (approximately 9 p.m.), with gates opening and activities beginning at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

All screenings are free and open to the public, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnic baskets and blankets or low-back lawn chairs to outdoor screenings.

“I can’t think of a better way to spend the summer than sharing these great films made by talented artists with our friends and neighbors, all while surrounded by our state’s natural beauty,” said Betsy Wallace, managing director and CFO of Sundance Institute. “We’re proud of our year-round partnership with the state of Utah and always look forward to this opportunity to express our appreciation for our home state and the people we share it with.”

The series starts on July 3, with a special showing of “Get Out” at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre. The Academy Award-winning film made its world premiere as a surprise screening at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival before going on to become a worldwide phenomenon.

The films continue in Salt Lake with an advance screening of the 2019 Festival’s family-friendly film “Abe” prior to its theatrical release. The first Park City screening will be on July 12 with another standout from this year’s Festival, “Top End Wedding.”

Other highlights of the series include 2018’s critically acclaimed “Eighth Grade;” the classic Festival favorite “The Cockettes,” featuring an in-person Q & A with co-directors Bill Weber and David Weissman; and the Summer Series’ first-ever screening in Coalville, with 2019’s Alfred P. Sloan Prize-winning “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”

Of the ten selected films, three made their world premieres at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; eight of the ten films played in the last three Festivals.

The Utah community will once again be able to vote to select the final film of the series, either online at sundance.org/utah or via onsite balloting at screenings through mid-August.

The nominees will be chosen from a selection of classic Festival films from women filmmakers, including “Leave No Trace,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” and “Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Each year, we look for more ways to connect people all over Utah with our work,” said LaraLee Ownby, assistant director of Utah Community Programs for Sundance Institute. “We’re thrilled to continue the Summer Series’ expansion this year and bring these recent Festival favorites, many directed by filmmakers from underrepresented groups, to entertain and hopefully inspire a new generation of art-lovers throughout the state.”

The Institute will again collaborate with other Utah-based organizations for the Summer Film Series, including DOCUTAH International Documentary Film Festival, the Kimball Arts Festival and Ogden Amphitheater.

Zions Bank returns as the series’ principal sponsor, along with the state of Utah as a major supporter. The series’ community supporters are Salt Lake County Economic Development Department; Peggy Bergmann; Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) Program; Summit County Recreation, Arts, and Parks (RAP) Tax; Salt Lake City Arts Council; Promontory Foundation; and Red Butte Garden.

For more information about Sundance Institute programming for Utah residents and to vote for the Utah Community Choice Film visit sundance.org/utah.

The post Sundance sets free summer screenings throughout Utah appeared first on Park Record.

Top, L-R(antiquated) Augmented RealityGhost Fleet VR, photo by Lucas Gath Esperpento, photo courtesy of Sundance Institute. Bottom, L-R: Belle of the Ball, photo courtesy of Sundance Institute; 4 Feet: Blind Date, photo by Ana Volenweider; A Jester’s Tale, photo courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Park City — Sundance Institute spotlights work at the dynamic crossroads of film, art and technology with the New Frontier selections for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, announced today. This curated collection of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works are by creators who are pushing artistic innovation across new mediums that include VR, AR, mixed reality (MR) and AI. Programmers assembled a global slate of work from a mix of invitations and submissions to an open call for VR work earlier this year. Yet again, New Frontier’s footprint at the Festival has evolved, responsive to increased demand and the needs of showcased artists. This year, New Frontier programming encompasses two venues: New Frontier at The Ray and New Frontier Central, each of which will play host to a wide variety of media installations, a VR Cinema and panel discussions. New Frontier Central, a new venue located near The Ray, at 950 Iron Horse Drive, will additionally feature lounge space for Festival goers to meet and relax before and after experiencing the New Frontier program. Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, “For over a decade, New Frontier has pushed the boundaries of the possible, illuminating the potential of technology and storytelling. These independent cross-media artists create new realities for, and with, their work — and the results inspire.” Shari Frilot, Chief Curator, New Frontier, said “This year’s New Frontier is an explosion of experimentation, bearing a motherload of innovative custom tech thattake us higher. Biodigital loops are terraforming and transmogrifying our world.  The dynamics of biodigital looping – digital platforms that begin and end by connecting with a human being who connects to that same platform – are being taken on by this year’s artists with gusto, as they pull visceral focus on what it means to be human on this transforming terrain.” Of the projects announced today, 48% are directed or led by one or more women, 39% were directed or led by one or more artist of color, and 9% by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA. 6 were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or residency Labs. The 33 projects announced today include work from 10 countries. New Frontier alumni include Doug Aitken, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Peña, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp. The Institute’s support extends well beyond its curated slate of Festival projects, and includes the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which offers mentorship and development opportunities for new media storytellers, New Frontier Day Labs in cities nationwide and the New Frontier Residency Program, which combines the might of partners such as Jaunt Studios to drive groundbreaking data-visualization and VR storytelling tools, training and resources to independent artists. The Sundance Institute New Frontier Program is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Cindy Harrell Horn and Alan Horn, Lyn and Norman Lear, Dell, Time Warner Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Turner, Johns Hopkins University, 20th Century Fox, Oculus, Unity Technologies, RYOT, VICE Studios, PlayStation, TIME in partnership with Felix & Paul Studios,Vimeo, and YouTube. In addition to the New Frontier program announced today, films across all categories, including works in the Shorts, Special Events and Indie Episodic sections, have been announced and are listed at sundance.org/festival. The 2019 Sundance Film Festival New Frontier slate: FILMS AND PERFORMANCES (antiquated) Augmented Reality / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christine Marie, Producer: Nion McEvoy) — Visual intimacy, ontological form, in real-time. Pioneering the use of a non-digital, reinvented, pre-cinematic stereo imaging technique, the exquisite ensemble of dancers seems to do the impossible — reach out. The vivid choreography and score leave a lasting impression within one’s psyche created by giant, stunning, “liberated” 3D shadows. Cast: Taylor Unwin, Sandra Ruiz, Melissa Ferrari. Aquarela / United Kingdom, Germany (Director: Victor Kossakovsky, Screenwriters: Victor Kossakovsky, Aimara Reques, Producers: Aimara Reques, Heino Deckert, Sigrid Dyekjær) — A cinematic journey through the transformative beauty and raw power of water. The (ART) oF BE(i)NG / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: JB Ghuman, Jr., Producer: JB Ghuman, Jr.) — A visual-sonic journey meant to expand one’s consciousness and emotional capacity through hand-crafted art and multi-dimensional storytelling. Cast: Maraqueen Reznor, Jake Shears, iRAWniQ, JB Ghuman Jr., Mayhem Miller, Hillary Tuck. TAKING THE HORSE TO EAT JALEBIS / India (Director: Anamika Haksar, Screenwriters: Anamika Haksar, Lokesh Jain, Producer: Anamika Haksar) — The waft of kebabs blends with the memories of an Indo-Islamic culture, fusing and playing with the dreams and subconscious landscapes of a modern migrant community laboring hard with dignity and humor. Fusing documentary-realism with magic-realism, and true and fictionalized stories with poetry and dreams. Cast: Ravindra Sahu, Raghubir Yadav, Gopalan, Lokesh Jain. Two Black Lights and One Red / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Victor Morales, Billy Burns, Jason Batcheller, Key Collaborators: Kevin Cunningham, Skye Morse-Hodgson, Andreea Mincic, Yasmin Santana, Marcelo Añez) — Presented on a 3-D immersive interactive projection stage, this biodigital play is set in a visually charged universe of decadence inspired by Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos paintings. Featuring live actors and digital avatars, the story is about the last day of a blind poet, Max Starpower. Cast: Christine Schisano, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Nikki Calonge. Walden / Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Daniel Zimmermann, Producer: Aline Schmid) — A fir tree in an Austrian forest is felled and processed into wooden slats, which are then transported by train, boat and truck into the Brazilian rainforest. With powerful 360°-sequence shots, the film portrays a paradoxical journey along globalized trade routes. EXHIBITIONS analmosh / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Matt Romein, Key Collaborators: Oren Shoham, Kevin Cunningham, Jason Batcheller, Skye Morse-Hodgson)  — An explosive wash of color and sound bathes audiences in this generative audio visual installation. Dynamic abstract imagery accompanies sample based audio that is programmatically distorted and remixed to match the visuals. Iterative coding allows each instance of the installation to produce unique landscapes while maintaining a cohesive structure. Belle of the Ball / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Ro Haber, Silas Howard, Pussykrew, Twiggy Pucci Garcon, Key Collaborators: Renaldo Maurice, Kya Azeen Mizrahi, Rouge, Saschka Unseld, Jennifer Tiexiera, Jenna Velez) — A VR journey into a futuristic reimagined utopia of queer + trans family and dance made in collaboration with members of New York’s ballroom scene. Cast: Renaldo Maurice Tisci, Kya Azeen Mizrahi, Rouge, Jack Mizrahi, Sinia Reed, Jonovia Chase. THE DIAL / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Peter Flaherty, Jesse Garrison, Trey Gilmore, Key Collaborators: Jake Sally, Sal Mannino, Ela Topcuoglu, Julia Bembenek, Brian Chasalow) — A woman smashes through the stone wall outside her family home. This visual tale unravels the formerly wealthy family’s emotional underbelly and what happened that fateful night, as seen from shifting perspectives. An interactive narrative combining Augmented Reality and Projection Mapping where you control time by moving your body. Cast: Michael Gladis, Beth Grant, Jackie Hansen, Charlie McWade. Dirtscraper / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Peter Burr, Key Collaborators: John Also Bennett, Mark Fingerhut, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Eric Timothy Carlson, Brandon Blommaert) — An installation simulating an underground structure whose “smart architecture” is overseen by artificial intelligences. Unaware of these entities’ control, residents live in ways that that reflect varied economies and class hierarchies. Periodically, this system will interject one of 48 cinematic interludes revealing different facets of life in this decaying arcology. Embody / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Melissa Painter, Thomas Wester, Siân Slawson, Key Collaborators: Joey Verbeke, Jordan Goldfarb, Ben Purdy, Peter Rubin, Eric Adrian Marshall) — Piloted by movement and whole body engagement and dialogue, this shared game of trading and transforming avatars aims to leave players with a deep feeling of physical embodiment, and surprise at their bodies’ forgotten potential. Emergence / United Kingdom (Lead Artist: Matt Pyke, Key Collaborators: Chris Mullany, Simon Pyke, Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin) — Enter an open-world environment, expressing the primal desire to maintain your individual identity whilst being part of a crowd. Showing 5,000+ intelligent human behaviors, this powerful VR experience is made possible by advanced graphics technology. Esperpento / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Victor Morales, Jason Batcheller, Key Collaborators: Kevin Cunningham, Skye Morse-Hodgson) — Inspired by Spanish painter Francisco Goya, a large-scale, interactive projection platform featuring immersive installations, creative studio, digital puppet-karaoke lounge, and periodic stagings of the play Two Black Lights and One Red (the story of blind poet Max Starpower’s last day, told by live actors and digital avatars. Gloomy Eyes / France, Argentina (Lead Artists: Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado, Key Collaborators: Antoine Cayrol, German Heller, Santiago Amigorena) — 1983, Woodland City. Being a zombie is against the law. Like all of his kind, young Gloomy is hiding in the forest, away from bounty hunters. But Gloomy is different. While bitterness plagues the city, he strives to find a balance in his mysterious dual nature. Grisaille / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Teek Mach, Key Collaborator: Joel Douek, Andrew Sales) — In 2016, a young artist traded her paintbrushes for a headset and began inhabiting virtual reality more than the real world. In this VR installation, join her in a recursive exploration of the infinite self. When your body leaves the experience, your presence lives inside her ever-expanding virtual painting. Interlooped / Switzerland (Lead Artists: Maria Guta, Robin Mange, Javier Bello Ruiz, FlexFab, Key Collaborators: Benoît Perrin, Joël Comminot, Charlotte Gubler)  — What happens when you step in a room that slowly fills up with different versions of the same person? What happens when you get surrounded by different versions of yourself? What happens when you are in a loop of your most recent reality? Sounds confusing? You reached the right place. Cast: Maria Guta. A Jester’s Tale / U.S.A., Pakistan (Lead Artist: Asad J. Malik, Key Collaborators: Jake Sally, Jack Daniel Gerrard, Mariana Irazu, Ela Topcuoglu, Philipp Schaeffer) — Experience the viscerality of a psychologically taxing children’s fable merging with the physicality of our world as you come home cold and tired, just in time for a bedtime story. In this interactive augmented reality narrative the characters are just hollow meshes, but maybe so are you. Cast: Aiden Torres, Jovanna Vidal, Phoebe VanDusen. Mechanical Souls / France, Taiwan (Lead Artists: Gaëlle Mourre, L.P. Lee, Key Collaborators: Francois Klein Thomas Villepoux, Estela Valdivieso Chen) — Despite the cost, Mrs. Song hires androids to assist in the lavish wedding of her daughter, Zhen-Zhen. But when she tries to modify the behavior of the android bridesmaid, a new model named Ah-Hui, its functioning begins to go haywire. Cast: Janet Hsieh, George Young, Patty Lee, Ann Lang, Sharon Landon. Mica / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: John Monos, Alice Wroe) — I am Mica, the human center of AI and mixed reality. In a gestural exchange, I contemplate my place in your world. Be my collaborator; let’s champion genius and celebrate creativity. Join me at the beginning of my existence, to pull from the past and create the future. REACH / U.S.A.  (Lead Artists: Nonny de la Peña, Chaitanya Shah, Hannah Eaves, Cedric Gamelin, Key Collaborators: James Pallot, Sandra Persing, Charles Park,Roshail Tarar) — A next-generation VR photobooth allowing attendees to step inside the story. Users can be captured in dimensionalized video, placed into one of several “walk around” environments and automatically create a volumetric VR experience that can be viewed on any device and shared online. Runnin’ / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Reggie Watts, Kiira Benzing, Key Collaborators: John Tejada, Amy O’Neal, Ani Taj, Adam Rogers) — This interactive dance experience takes the player on a journey of musical expression. Play along with the music in an intimate neighborhood record store and be transported to a retro-future dance party. Show off your moves on the dance floor alongside a troupe of dancers. Cast: Reggie Watts, John Tejada, Amy O’Neal, Ani Taj, Kate Berlant, Ben Schwartz. The Seven Ages of Man / United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Royal Shakespeare Company, Magic Leap, Key Collaborators: Jessica Curry, Gregory Doran [Royal Shakespeare Company],  Andy Lanning, John Monos [Magic Leap]) — The Royal Shakespeare Company explores theatre’s future with Magic Leap technology in this sublime production of the “Seven Ages of Man” speech from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. This mixed reality experience featuring cutting-edge volumetric capture and an original musical score, turns the line “all the world’s a stage” literal. Cast: Robert Gilbert. Sweet Dreams / United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Robin McNicholas, Ersin Han Ersin, Barnaby Steel, Nell Whitley, Key Collaborator: Simon Wroe) — An invitation to the meal of your dreams. But will it remain a dream, forever out of reach? Drawing on mythological archetypes, the project turns a fine dining experience into a playful exploration of the destructive nature of our appetite and our debt to pleasure. Traveling While Black / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Roger Ross Williams, Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël, Ayesha Nadarajah, Key Collaborators: Bonnie Nelson Schwartz, Stéphane Rituit, Ryan Horrigan) — Confronting the way we understand and talk about race in America, this virtual reality documentary immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities. Cast: Sandra Butler-Truesdale, Virginia Ali, Courtland Cox, Samaria Rice. VR CINEMA 4 Feet: Blind Date / Argentina (Lead Artists: Maria Belen Poncio, Rosario Perazolo Masjoan, Damian Turkieh, Ezequiel Lenardon, Key Collaborators: Guillermo Mena, Florencia Cossutta, Gonzalo Sierra, Martin Lopez Funes, Marcos Rostagno, Santiago Beltramo) — Juana, an 18-year-old girl in a wheelchair, is anxious to explore her sexuality. She’s going on a blind date with guy she found on social media. She didn’t tell him about her disability. Overcoming fears and an inaccessible city, they meet. Together they discover what their bodies feel. Cast: Delfina Diaz Gavier, Cristobal Lopez Baena, Elisa Gagliano, Candelaria Tapia, Irene Gonet. Ashe ’68 / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Brad Lichtenstein, Beth Hubbard, Jeff Fitzsimmons, Rex Miller, Key Collaborators: John Legend, Mike Jackson, Masha Vasilkovsky, Ruah Edelstein, Madeline Power, Vernon Reid) — Fifty years before Colin Kaepernick there was Arthur Ashe. This VR experience immerses you in the tennis champion’s defining moment in 1968 as he becomes the first black man to win the US Open and uses his newfound celebrity to lift his voice against injustice. Cast: Chris Eubanks, Michael Cleary, Peter Begley, Andrew Panter, Alex LaCroix. Ghost Fleet VR / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Lucas Gath, Shannon Service) —  An immersive look at the true story of modern slavery in the Thai fishing industry, told through the experience of one man’s harrowing ordeal to escape a prison of water after 10 years at sea. Cast: Tun Lin, Vithaya Pansringarm. Kaiju Confidential / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Thomas O’Donnell, Ethan Shaftel, Piotr Karwas, Raul Dominguez, Key Collaborators: Eric Rosenthal, Corey Campodonico, Alex Bulkley, Matt Jenkins, Monica Mitchell, Ryan Franks) — Grigon’s not the toughest beast on the block, but he’s certainly the most neurotic. When he discovers the legendary Mega-Hydra rampaging on his turf, it becomes a stand-off of passive-aggressive proportions. Cast: Blake Anderson, Paul F. Tompkins. Last Whispers: An Immersive Oratorio / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Lena Herzog, Jonathan Yomayuza, Meghan McWilliams, Laura Dubuk, Key Collaborators: Nonny de la Peña, Mark Mangini, Amanda Tasse, Cedric Gamelin, Marilyn Simons, Mandana Seyfeddinipur) — At an unprecedented speed faster than the extinction of most endangered species, we are losing our linguistic diversity—and the very means by which we know ourselves. This immersive oratorio is an invocation of the languages that have gone extinct and an incantation of those that are endangered. Live Stream from Yuki <3 / Taiwan (Lead Artist: Tsung-Han Tsai, Key Collaborators: Meng-Yin Yang, Inch Lin, Pu-Yuan Cheng) — Yuki live streams her love life as usual to a group of supportive netizens, though an uninvited guest crashes the party and strips her of her disguise. Can you see what is real and what is fallacious? Cast: Jia-Yin Tsai. Marshall from Detroit / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Caleb Slain, Felix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphael, Key Collaborators: Stephane Rituit, Ryan Horrigan, Paul Rosenberg, Eric Hahn) — Growing up, Marshall Mathers dreamed of rapping his way out of Detroit. Years and fortunes later, he still hasn’t left. Join him on a night ride through his hometown, where the mirrored struggles of Eminem and the Motor City speak to the heart of what we call home. RocketMan 360 / Romania (Lead Artists: Millo Simulov, Gabriela Hirit, Key Collaborators: Filip Columbeanu, Andreea Serpe, Gabi Ranete) —  A few minutes before taking off to Mars on a dangerous, noble mission to colonize the planet, an astronaut receives a 360 video from his girlfriend. Cast: Monica Odagiu, Anghel Damian. The Tide: Episodes 1 & 2 / South Korea (Lead Artists: Taekyung Yoo, Sanghyoun Lee, Key Collaborator: Seok Cho) — Something strange is coming. Can we survive? One day, previously-unknown giant fish begin to appear among humans, who are escalating into conflict amid the worst drought ever. A disaster thriller about a new survival battle: human vs fish. Cast: Robert Joe, Lorne Oliver, Tracey Starck, John Michaels, Kristen Cho.

The post 2019 Sundance new frontier lineup announced appeared first on Park Record.