Click and explore 2006 Sundance Film Festival Online at www.sundance.org

Free to access from anywhere in the world, the official website for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival is geared to share the Festival experience with the global community. No user registration is needed to view or collect up-to-the-minute information about ticket purchasing, travel tips and box office procedures. Official Festival merchandise will go on sale November 18. Sundance Film Festival Online at www.sundance.org will uniquely showcase short films, filmmaker interviews and video highlights from Park City that will be available to view during the 2006 Sundance Film Festival (January 19-29, 2006) and through June 20, 2006 at no charge.

Click here to view the full press release

The new Sundance Film Festival Online shares the Festival experience beyond the streets of Park City with a global audience.

Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue

Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue, the winner of the American Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, opened in theatres this month, and tells the story of three intertwined lives in Memphis, Tennesse. But for years before the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, Sachs was a Fellow of the Institute’s Feature Film Program as he worked to craft the film that would go on to receive critical acclaim.

	Ira Sachs accepting the American Dramatic Grand Jury Award for Forty Shades of Blue at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
	Forty Shades of Blue opens in theatres this month.

Sundance Institute Announces Sloan Commissioning Fund

The Sloan Commissioning Fund at the Sundance Institute will enable further support of the development, presentation and celebration of science and technology through independent film. The Commissioning Fund will extend the script-level support of the Sundance Feature Film Labs to projects in an earlier phase of development, providing key resources to attach a science advisor, option source material, conduct research, and begin the initial writing process. The Commissioning Fund is the latest component in the Institute’s "Science in Focus" Initiative. The Initiative, now in its fourth year, is made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and includes the Sloan Commissioning Fund, the Sloan Fellowships at the Feature Film Labs to support the development of science/technology projects; the Science in Film Forum at the Sundance Film Festival to build public discourse about science in cinema; and the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for an outstanding dramatic feature film that focuses on science and technology.

Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Life After the Labs

Since being developed at the Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs, ten projects recently supported by the Institute’s Feature Film Program have been completed, and seven others have significantly advanced into various stages of production.

Completed Projects
Watch for Michael Kang’s The Motel (2002 Filmmakers Lab) in theatres in early 2006, to be released by Palm Pictures.

Sundance Lab filmmakers had a presence at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, with four films supported by the Feature Film Program screening there. They include the Palestinian project from Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), which will be released in the U.S. by Warner Independent this month; Andrucha Waddington’s House of Sand (2004 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award winner, Brazil), which was just picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics; The Quiet, written by Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft (2004 Screenwriters Lab) and directed by Jamie Babbitt, which stars Edie Falco, Elisha Cuthbert, Martin Donovan, and Camilla Belle; and David Ayer’s directorial debut Harsh Times (1997 Screenwriters Lab), starring Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez, which was recently acquired by Bauer Martinez Distribution. And congratulations also to David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley (2003 Screenwriters Labs) and Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), both of which continued their successful festival runs with screenings at this summer’s 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival. Me and You and Everyone We Know was released to much acclaim this summer by IFC Films.

In Post-Production
Many more Lab-supported films are moving forward in various stages of production. Recently wrapped projects in post-production include Half Nelson, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (2004 Screenwriters Lab), which stars Ryan Gosling, Tina Holmes, and Shareeka Epps; All Fall Down, written and directed by Matt Tauber (2002 Screenwriters Lab), starring Anthony LaPaglia, Isabella Rossellini, and Viola Davis; A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, written and directed by Orlando “Dito” Montiel (2004 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) and starring Robert Downey Jr., Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, and Dianne Wiest; David Kaplan’s Year of the Fish (1995 Screenwriters Lab), a groundbreaking animated project inspired by the Cinderella fairy tale; Wristcutters, written and directed by Goran Dukic (2004 Screenwriters Lab), which stars Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, and Shannyn Sossaman; Laurie Collyer’s Sherrybaby (2001 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal; and Wild Tigers I Have Known (2005 Screenwriters Lab), the directorial debut from perennial Sundance Film Festival short filmmaker Cam Archer. In addition, several international projects are in post-production, including the Israeli project Sweet Mud, written and directed by Dror Shaul (2003 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs); The Minder, written and directed by Rodrigo Moreno (2005 Sundance/NHK winner, Argentina); Taxidermia, written and directed by Gyorgi Palfi (2004 Sundance/NHK winner, Hungary), and Women Without Men, the narrative feature debut from Iranian-born visual artist Shirin Neshat (2003 Screenwriters Lab).

In Production
Currently in production, Hilary Brougher’s Stephanie Daley (2001 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs) stars Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn; also in production is Catalin Mitulescu’s The Way I Spent the End of the World (2005 Sundance/NHK Winner, Romania).

In Pre-Production
And gearing up to start production before the end of the year are Something Beginning with Love (2005 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs), the feature directorial debut from Oscar-nominated New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi; Where God Left His Shoes, written and directed by Sal Stabile (2005 Screenwriters Lab) and to star John Leguizamo; The Sleep Dealer, written and directed by Alex Rivera (2001 and 2002 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs); Red Road (2005 Screenwriters Lab), the feature directorial debut from the UK’s Andrea Arnold, who won the Oscar for Best Narrative Short earlier this year; the Brazilian project Not By Chance, written and directed by Philippe Barcinski (2005 Screenwriters Lab); and Four Sheets to the Wind, written and directed by Sterlin Harjo (2004 Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs). And two other 2005 Lab projects, Cruz Angeles and Maria Topete’s Don’t Let Me Drown and DW Harper’s Dreamland, will participate in the IFP’s No Borders Market in New York this month through the sponsorship of Sundance.

	2005 Filmmakers Lab, Mackenzie Muldoon, Stew and Debra Wilson rehearsing We Can See Today.
	Ryan Eslinger with DP Advisor, Denis Lenoir, at the 2005 Sundance Institute Filmmakers Lab.

First Person: From The Filmmakers Lab

Each summer, a small group of emerging independent filmmakers are invited to participate in the Institute’s Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs held in the mountains of Sundance, Utah. During their three-week residencies, the filmmakers work with a cast and crew to rehearse and shoot 4-6 scenes from their feature film project. The industry’s leading writers, directors, editors, cinematographers, and actors serve as creative advisors, and support the participating filmmakers as they work to craft the most compelling version of their film.

Here, Filmmakers Lab Fellow Cruz Angeles and advisor Michael Lehmann share their experiences from the past summer with us.

Go with the your gut!
By Cruz Angeles

Cruz Angeles attended the 2005 Filmmakers Lab to develop his project Don’t Let Me Drown, which he co-wrote with Maria Topete. Here, he offers a first-hand account of his experience.

My first week at the Sundance Filmmakers Lab was intimidating. Just thinking about the industry heavy hitters who would be watching over me as I directed made me sweat. But all my worries and insecurities were soon quieted by the wonderful words of the lovely Joan Darling who happened to be my first one-on-one advisor. She said, "Don’t worry about it. Go with your gut and do it the way you know how." I had told her that sometimes I really felt like an impostor because my way of directing is not cerebral but intuitive and improvised. I really follow my instincts and the biggest fear I developed while attending film school was from all the questions that people bombarded you with. Why did you shoot it this way? Why did you tell your actors this or why did you make them do that? And sometimes even I didn’t know why I did certain things a certain way. So, it stifled me because as a film student I became too scared to make certain decisions without having a series of answers and I forced myself to always have them. It stopped me from working from the gut. So, Joan says, "From now on if anyone asks. Just tell them that God told you to." She gave me permission to be an artist again. She reminded me of what is important - that my voice and vision is idiosyncratic to my own experience and that you have to defend it even if at times you don’t quite understand the meaning of it yourself.

If this was the only thing I could take away from being at the Lab, that day I thought I had struck gold. But it only got better. On my first day of shooting, I quickly realized that my crew was bar none the best film crew I had ever worked with. My DP Rob Humphreys was a fun guy and we challenged each other throughout the process. But more importantly he is a real ball-buster like me. My AD, Maggie Carey, was always two steps ahead of me on what needed to be done. And there was always shit talking on set, which created my kind of atmosphere but when things got rough and I got serious my crew followed. They were always on top of it. The lab emphasizes process over product and having efficient people on set gave me time to work on what is most important: directing my actors and finding a visual narrative style for the film. Plus, that day I had Joan Darling, Robert Redford, Harold Ramis, and Michael Hoffman visiting my set and advising me. What more can you ask for?

In one of my evaluations (where all the advisors that week watch your scenes and give you feedback) I had Gyula Gazdag, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Keith Gordon, Christine Lahti, Tommy Schlamme, Sally Field, Michael Lehmann, Joan Tewkesbury and they were all telling me to not be too hard on myself. I was really unhappy with one of my scenes and I blamed myself for getting too caught up in the emotion of the scene that I lost perspective both on the performances and the coverage. Anyway, as all this is going on and I’m probably cursing up a storm and in walks Robert Redford in the middle of my rant. So, then Michelle Satter asks him if he has anything too add. And he says that he only has positive things to say. So he says what he liked about the scenes and, using a well-known F-word that I use a lot on my own set, brings me down to earth and allows me to move on.

Everyone laughs and then straight from the gut, as I was advised, out of my mouth comes, "Hey man, same to you!"

And then the laughter ROARS and I’m sitting there regretting it and thinking, "Damn, I just cursed at the godfather of this joint and in front of all these people." But really it was all good. None of it was meant in a bad way. If Robert Redford can call me out like that, with no sugarcoated bullshit, and snap me out of my negativity, then I knew that this place is all it says it is and more.

Other than having a chance to rehearse, shoot and edit scenes from my script, what is incredible about the Lab is that they really investigate and diagnose your needs and help you with what you need help on. I came in not believing in myself and my process and have come out with a fiery confidence. To hear from Robert Redford himself that I had a good grasp on directing actors and that he really liked my demeanor on set was all I needed. It was empowering. He gave me a license to continue. From Joan Darling I learned to be more fierce about the details and to leave a scene alone if it’s working. She says, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Christine Lahti taught me to not chump out on emotion. If actors get to place where you want them then that’s the time to rehearse even if emotions are high. Tommy Schlamme reminded me to anchor the scene in the POV of the kids. It"s their story. Most importantly he says, "Never lose track of the movie that’s in your head." It’s so easy to get side tracked. Being on set, rehearsals, and lunch meetings with each one of the advisors was invaluable. Their many words of wisdom will be ringing in my head for quite a while.

There is so much I can write about, so many stories. The parties… ahh... the parties. And the friendships that are instantly created on and off set. Everyday was a unique journey. Thanks to Michelle Satter, Mathew Greenfield and Gyula Gazdag, I always felt like I was part of a family. I felt at home. The atmosphere and vibe that they created was one where you feel free to explore, experiment and take risks. It is a nice place to fuel your soul.

Through the Advisor’s Lens
By Michael Lehmann

Although I don’t yet believe in God, in middle age I’ve come to
recognize certain consistencies in life, none more predictable than
the ones I encounter at the Filmmaker’s Lab. Some of these
consistencies are shared by many if not all of the fellows who come
to the Lab:

the filmmakers will find themselves overwhelmed by the magnitude of
the task at hand; they will feel empowered, inspired, their talents
confirmed, their confidence dashed, their process affirmed, their
process dismantled, their process reaffirmed;

they will love their actors, hate their actors, be baffled as to why
the actors don’t do what they’re told, even more baffled as to why
the actors hate them, and then thoroughly baffled when the actors
finally love them, trust them, and will do everything they are asked;

some of the filmmakers will do everything the advisors tell them
until the advisors tell them to stop doing what the advisors tell
them, which confuses them for a moment, until they realize the
advisors don’t seem to have to tell them anything anymore, and they
just go out and do their work;

other filmmakers will be so self assured that they will do nothing
the advisors tell them-- until they break down, blame everyone else,
then admit that they really don’t understand everything about
filmmaking, and miraculously emerge a few days later with a new-found
confidence far greater than what they had before they came to the lab;

most of the fellows will direct their scenes while looking only at
the monitor, and they’ll be furious at the advisor (usually me,
apparently) who points out that they might want to watch the actors,
whose live performance they will never have the opportunity to
observe again;

But there are also many consistent elements of the advisor’s experience:

We will learn insane amounts about the filmmaking process from
discussions with the other advisors; discussions which we can’t seem
to have anywhere else, discussions that happen apart from the
business and marketing concerns which dominate Hollywood and suck the
life out of filmmaking;

We will learn so much about the filmmaking process from observing the
(extremely talented) fellows and trying to help them avoid the
mistakes we make daily in our professional life;

I know that I will get a glimpse into the secret world of actors and
their process, so I can pretend to understand them when I’m directing;

We will make friends with other advisors whose work we admire and
with whom we may never have the opportunity to work;

We will sit in awe of Gyula and Michelle and wonder how they can
continue to be so perceptive and so sensitive in their handling of
all those highly complex individuals who come to workshop their
projects.

This past summer, I decided that because my fellow advisors were all
so knowledgeable about the more refined elements of the cinematic
art, I was going to focus on giving the filmmakers practical
advice. Why not, I figured, offer a few hints about how to cover a
scene, how to block action efficiently, how to provide choices in the
cutting room, how to choose the right lens, when and how to move the
camera? Couldn’t hurt, could it?

One filmmaker pulled me aside and furtively asked me if good
directors ever offered an actor a line reading or gave result-
oriented direction. Being Mr. Practical, I said, ‘It’s true that
result-oriented direction usually doesn’t lead to the intended
result, BUT there are times when you gotta do what you gotta do…We
don’t encourage that here, but…’ The filmmaker was delighted: oh,
so you guys don’t really work this way? I quickly backed down,
explaining that yes, of course, we all aim for purity in our work,
but it’s not always possible to—luckily, another advisor joined us at
that point, and I quickly changed the subject.

One of the other filmmakers seemed ready for my practical advice. He
had a dialogue going with his actors, was making good, if safe,
choices in how to shoot his scene, and seemed to have enough
understanding of the filmmaking process to take my advice without
being confused by it.

So I stood by and discreetly offered a few suggestions: if you move
the camera over here, the shot will be less compromised; you might
think about picking up an extra shot from position C to bridge shot A
with shot B; if you call cut a little later, you will have more
editorial opportunities, and you might get a bit of extra good work
from the actors.

I was about to pat myself on the back for being useful, when the
filmmaker turned to me and said: ‘No.’ ‘No?’ ‘Yes, no. I don’t
want to do what you’re suggesting.’ ‘Ok,’ I said, ‘that’s fine, but
these are just simple practical things you might want to consider.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘I don’t want to consider them. I want to do it my
way. This is how my process is. I don’t want choices.’ Feeling
stubborn as well as practical, I dug in, he dug in, and the next
thing I knew, we were arguing intensely about whether or not he
should let his shot run ten seconds longer before calling cut.
Luckily, Keith Gordon wandered on to the set, moved each of us into
our respective corners, and defused the situation. Keith took over,
engaged with him about different issues, and of course he got in all
that practical advice as well.

I spent the next two days feeling useless. All I wanted to do was be
practical, and all I’d done was alienate a filmmaker and shut him off
from what I was trying to tell him. I had failed as an advisor. I
had allowed myself to get pig-headed and emotional. All because I
wanted to give some easy, practical advice.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. As I said before, there are
certain consistencies at the Lab; one of them is that sometimes
filmmakers dig in, break down, and emerge stronger as a result. I
now realize that the same thing applies to advisors: I dug in, shut
down, and once I figured out what I’d done, I became a better
advisor. I certainly learned, briefly, when to keep my mouth shut
(funny how hard it is to hold onto that lesson). Oh, and the
filmmaker told me later that the experience of feeling shut down led
to a breakthrough for him and was a pivotal moment of his Lab
experience.

Among themselves and somewhat sheepishly, the advisors at the Lab
inevitably confess that by the end of the week they come away with
more than they could possibly give. That, for me, is something that
has held true with remarkable consistency, and I look forward to
having that experience again and again.

Institute Bids Farewell to Documentary Program Director

After five years of building and leading the Sundance Institute Documentary Program, today Diane Weyermann leaves her post as director of that program to accept a role with Participant Productions as Executive Vice President of Documentary Production. She will continue to serve as a member of the Selection Committee for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

"Sundance Institute has been truly fortunate to have Diane at the helm of our Documentary Film Program for the past five years," said Robert Redford, President and founder of Sundance Institute. "Over this time she has greatly advanced the art form of the documentary, and specifically international documentaries. We wish her all the best in her new adventure at Participant and we look forward to continuing her relationship with the Institute as well as working together on projects in the future."

In her role at the Institute since 2001, Weyermann has overseen the funding of roughly 150 nonfiction films through the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, in addition to instituting two annual Labs to support documentary filmmakers through the creative process, and participating in the programming of the Sundance Film Festival. At Participant Productions, she will oversee the documentary slate and assume responsibility for managing the company’s documentary department, including the acquisition of new projects and the supervision of projects from production through release.

“Diane leaves the Institute having established a very strong documentary program which now provides creative, financial, and strategic support to nonfiction filmmakers around the world and is a core program of the Institute,” said Ken Brecher, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.

"I’ve had a great experience at Sundance, where I’ve been able to support extraordinary filmmakers and documentaries from around the world,” said Weyermann. “It has also been my privilege to work with amazing colleagues who possess tremendous commitment, creativity, and humanity."

“Our Documentary Program has a strong team in place,” Brecher continued, “and we will continue to be deeply committed to the development and exhibition of nonfiction film.”

The Institute’s Documentary Fund will announce its newest slate of grantees in the coming weeks.

Diane Weyermann (at right) meeting with creative advisors at the 2005 Documentary Edit and Storytelling Lab.

Emmy Win for In Rwanda we say…The family that does not speak dies

On September 19, 2005 Anne Aghion’s, In Rwanda we say….The family that does not speak dies won an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Informational Programming Long Form. Funded partially by the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, the film aired on Sundance Channel’s DOCday on April 5, 2004 in recognition of the International Day of Reflection that was tied to the 10th anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda. Aghion is currently working on her third and final film about Rwanda and says that she hopes her, “future film will have as big an impact as this one is having.”

First Person: From the Theatre Lab

The Institute’s Theatre Lab takes place each July in the mountains of Sundance, Utah and offers playwrights and theatre directors an opportunity to craft their new work in a remote setting where they are removed from real-world pressures such as final production, opening night, and critical review. After leaving the Lab this summer, composer Mark Bennett, who had attended the Lab to develop the musical Most Wanted, offered a thank you to the Institute’s Theatre Program Director Philip Himberg:

Philip,

I never really had an opportunity in the swirl of our final moments to thank you for offering us Sundance as a place to work this summer on Most Wanted.

I might have guessed that it would be pretty up there, but THAT beautiful?! I was completely blown away.

I might have assumed that we’d get some good work done, but THAT much change and real open heart surgery? We completely restructured large chunks, wrote new material (including Liz’s second song), retailored, trimmed, and tightened just about everything! I think the piece really FOUND itself in those three weeks.

I might have imagined a very professional, static, final presentation, but to see so much of it moving around, and to have the commitment from your staff and the actors to go with Michael’s desire to "put it on it’s feet", and for Jessica (writer and lyricist) and I to be able to learn so much from seeing it presented in a visually dynamic way....well, like the commercial says, THAT, is priceless.

Your staff supported us in every way, Meg and John found us a wonderful cast, you found fantastic local people to fill in essential vocal and percussive requirements, and, sincerely, your dramaturgs and observers gave us great thoughts and insights (I HONESTLY wanted our session to go on longer!), and I feel that the piece made a huge leap forward. Parenthetically, I know Shirley felt that way as well.

I remember our March phone call where you expressed the experience of some other past musicals in the lab, and you were so concerned that my time on the mountain not be unhappy or frustrating. Well, not only was it completely satisfying, but I can honestly tell you that the lab was one of the most exciting, and meaningful, working experiences I’ve had in the theatre in the last 20 years.

So, simply, THANK YOU!

With much love and gratitude,
Mark Bennett

PS: PLEASE feel free to pass on these thoughts on to Ken, Debbie, Peppy, and Michael B.

Sundance Institute Doc Film Series Presents Park City Screening of The Education of Shelby Knox

On November 3, the Sundance Institute Doc Film Series presents The Education of Shelby Knox, as part of its free monthly screenings of documentary films that have shown at the Sundance Film Festival. All screenings take place the first Thursday of the month and are held at the Jim Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library at 7:00 p.m. Q&A sessions with special guests follow each screening.

In The Education of Shelby Knox, directors Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt track Lubbock Texas high school student Shelby Knox as she works with her city-sponsored youth organization to reform her school’s ineffective Abstinence Until Marriage sexual education policy in spite of her conservative family beliefs. Set in the cultural context of a county where teen pregnancy and STD rates top the national charts, the film received the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Excellence in Cinematography Award.

The Education of Shelby Knox is accompanied by the Reel Story Film, Split Ends, by high school student Emma McFarland. Split Ends follows the journey of one girl’s search for a personal sense of what it means to be feminine.

Full Schedule

Filmmaker’s Resource: Film Independent’s First Annual Filmmaker Forum

On October 15, Film Independent presents it’s first annual Filmmaker Forum. Focused on the ins and outs of selling independent films, Sundance Film Festival Director Geoff Gilmore leads a session on navigating the Festival that kicks off the day-long forum. Other topics include tips on dealing with distributors, sales agents, and publicists. The program takes place at the Hammer Museum in LA. To register for the forum and for more information, call 310.432.1222 or visit www.filmindependent.org.