Sep 25, 2007
Los
Angeles,
CA and Palo
Alto, CA –
Sundance Institute and the Skoll Foundation
announced today a $3 million, three-year partnership dedicated to exploring
film's role in advancing knowledge about social entrepreneurship. The grant will
support the launch of STORIES OF CHANGE: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN FOCUS
THROUGH DOCUMENTARY, a new initiative spearheaded by the Sundance Institute
Documentary Film Program.
STORIES OF
CHANGE builds on earlier work between the Skoll Foundation and Sundance
Institute in exploring the potential of combining the art of storytelling with
the impact of social entrepreneurship. This
partnership will help create new opportunities for leading social entrepreneurs
and outstanding documentary filmmakers to collaborate and to create new projects
that advance the innovative approaches found in both fields.
"The challenges we
currently face as a global society demand deep understanding and inspired
solutions,” said Cara Mertes,
Director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. “This partnership is
based on the belief that exemplary documentary storytellers and visionary social
entrepreneurs have much to share, and more to learn from each other. We hope
both good film projects, as well as creative possibilities in democratic
practice which inform contemporary public thought will emerge through new
networks created between the two fields.”
STORIES OF CHANGE is the
only multi-year, multi-million
dollar grant awarded by the Skoll Foundation that funds both a new network of
professional exchange, and the film projects which result.
“Sundance Institute is an internationally recognized resource for the world’s
storytellers, and it has taken the lead in exploring the role of documentary as
an avenue for cultural expression in the 21st century,” said Sally
Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. “The Sundance Institute
Documentary Program supports filmmakers who share a passion with our social
entrepreneurs for effecting lasting, transformative social change, and they have
a unique capacity to examine and amplify that passion for a global
audience."
STORIES OF
CHANGE has several facets, including a year-round network connecting social
entrepreneurs and filmmakers centered on annual convenings at major events such
as the Sundance Film Festival in Park City,
Utah and the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England. It will provide $1.2 million
in film project grants to enable the seeding, development and creation of new
films; expand the audienceship of documentary films concerned with social
entrepreneurship; create an online resource for social entrepreneurs and
filmmakers to facilitate individual and community-level networking,
collaboration and exchange of information, knowledge and expertise; and will
present case studies to frame and shape how those working in social
entrepreneurship and film/media approach creative concept development.
"Storytelling
is central and fundamental to who we are as humans," said Ken Brecher, Executive Director, Sundance Institute.
"The Skoll partnership will further advance Sundance Institute's interest in
connecting dynamic storytellers with the transformative thinking of some of the
world’s social-change visionaries. Through this, we can explore the capacity of
contemporary-issue filmmaking to imagine new
possibilities.
Sundance
Institute Documentary Film Program
The Sundance Institute
Documentary Film Program is a resource for contemporary-issue documentary
filmmakers globally. The program advances innovative nonfiction storytelling
about a range of social issues, and promotes the exhibition of documentary films
to broad audiences. Through the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Edit
and Story Laboratory, Documentary Composers Laboratory as well as the Sundance
Film Festival, the Sundance Institute Independent Producers Conference and a
variety of international initiatives, the program support the filmmaker’s vision
through a range of opportunities and services. Films that have received the
financial and/or creative support of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film
Program include LONG NIGHT’S JOURNEY INTO DAY, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY, BORN INTO
BROTHELS, IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, MANDA BALA, PARAGRAPH 175, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN,
BLACK GOLD, DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK and IRAQ IN
FRAGMENTS.
Since 1996, the Sundance
Documentary Fund has supported more than 400 films in 52 countries. In its next phase, the Sundance Institute
Documentary Program is poised to become a center of gravity for human rights in
film, media and related fields globally, signaling the growing significance of
the field.
Sundance
Institute
Founded by Robert Redford
in 1981, Sundance Institute is dedicated to the development of artists of
independent vision and the exhibition of their new work. Since its inception,
the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for
filmmakers and other artists. Sundance Institute conducts national and
international labs for filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, writers and theatre
artists. The annual Sundance Film Festival, a major program of Sundance
Institute, is held each January and is considered the premier showcase for
American and international independent film. The Institute supports non-fiction
filmmakers through the Documentary Film Program by providing year-round support
through the Sundance Documentary Fund and a series of programs that nurture
their growth, encourage the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling
and promote the exhibition of documentary films to a broader audience. Through
the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, the Institute is committed to
invigorating the national theatre movement with original and creative work and
to nurturing the diversity of artistic expression among theatre artists. The
Institute also maintains The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a unique archive of
independent film.
Skoll
Foundation
Headquartered in
California’s Silicon Valley, the Skoll Foundation was created in 1999 by eBay’s
first president, Jeff Skoll, to promote his vision for a more peaceful and
prosperous world. Today, the Skoll Foundation advances systemic change to
benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating
social entrepreneurs – individuals dedicated to pioneering new solutions that
result in lasting improvements to complex social problems. It invests in social
entrepreneurs through the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. It connects
them through Social Edge, an online community at www.socialedge.org and via the annual
Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University. It celebrates social
entrepreneurs through such projects as the PBS Foundation Social
Entrepreneurship Fund, which promotes large-scale public awareness of social
entrepreneurship. For more information, visit
www.skollfoundation.org.
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