Featuring essays on Sundance from key figures in the industry, a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of the Sundance Labs, and profiles/interviews with many of the top people in the independent film community. This special section was made possible with the support of Hewlett-Packard.

The Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization based in Park City, Utah, and founded by actor/director/producer Robert Redford in 1981. Emerging and aspiring filmmakers, directors, producers, film composers, screenwriters, playwrights, and theatre artists from around the world attend highly competitive artistic development programs run by the Institute, to assist them in developing their craft.

The Sundance Institute celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006. The Institute also owns and manages the annual Sundance Film Festival.

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Sundance is 25.

Published on FILMMAKER FALL 2006

And is it possible to imagine independent film without the presence and influence of the Sundance Institute over the
past two-and-a-half decades?

Sundance’s contributions to independent film are many and diverse. The Sundance Film Festival defines the state of the independent world each year while remaining the brass ring for so  many thousands of filmmakers who rush to finish a cut by the September submission deadline.

The pioneering Filmmaker Labs, which stage intensive, interactive and philosophically refined workshops for emerging writers, directors and composers, are admired but seldom duplicated models of artists’ support. Sundance also maintains a robust Theater Program, and more recently it has begun providing both development and financing support to documentary films.

But in reviewing all of Sundance’s achievements on this 25th anniversary, it seems right to just start by hailing its commitment to the idea that independent cinema remains rooted in the voice of the artist. While independent film is often defined as being movies made outside of the world of Hollywood financing, Sundance, across its various programs, locates its definition of independence within points-of-views, opinions, musings, statements and artistic flights of fancy not yet celebrated within the more mercantile culture of Hollywood. And as the media landscape bisects in the years to come, splitting between programming that is developed and distributed within corporate-controlled production and distribution outlets and works that percolate up through DIY, new media and user-generated channels, it is reassuring to know that organizations like Sundance will be there to help ensure that the artist’s voice remains vibrant and valued.

And, as a side note, it’s worth noting that this magazine was originally conceived of at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival when the Independent Feature Project and Independent Feature Project/West met and decided to start a national publication.

Every year since we’ve provided special coverage of the Festival and have keenly tracked the alumni of its Filmmaker Labs both in our feature coverage and in our annual “25 New Faces” report. Now, in this special section, we take a closer and more direct look at Sundance by focusing not so much on the past but on its present and future. In the pages that follow you’ll find articles on the programs of the Sundance Institute, appreciations of the Festival’s impact on the film world, conversations with Sundance’s key players, and much more.

We’re pleased to celebrate Sundance’s silver anniversary and look forward to its continuing and vital contributions to our world of independent film in the years to come.

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