Sundance ’21 Goes Beyond Film

The lineup for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, taking place on a Sundance-built and feature-rich online platform, goes well beyond feature and short films, episodic work and the VR/XR of New Frontier — it also encompasses a curated program of free special events, conversations and activations available to the global public. These Talks and Events, presented on the Sundance platform, include our new Opening Ceremony, Sundance Dailies, and The Big Conversation series, trademark gatherings at Cinema Café and the Power of Story, Awards Night and the concluding “It’s A Wrap” session. Additional partner programming will take place in a bustling digital Festival Village, which includes Main Street, Satellite Screens and the Artist Lounge.  Sundance ’21 Goes Beyond Film

SCHEDULED TALKS & EVENTS – All talks and events are free to view globally. Sign up for an account at Festival.Sundance.org to access. All times are U.S. Mountain time. 

• 2021 Sundance Film Festival Opening Night Welcome – Thursday, January 28, 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• The Sundance Dailies #SundanceDailies – Friday, January 29–Tuesday, February 2, 9:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m. Guests include: Eugenio Derbez (CODA), Rebecca Hall (Passing), Ed Helms (Together Together), Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein (How It Ends), and more. Presented by Acura.
• Cinema Café #CinemaCafe – Friday, January 29–Monday, February 1, 10:30 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Cinema Café guests will include: Shaka King & Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Friday, January 29, 10:30 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Sonia Manzano & Rita Moreno, Saturday, January 30, 10:30 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Rebecca Hall & Robin Wright, Sunday, January 31, 10:30 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Tyson Brown, Patti Harrison & Emilia Jones, Monday, February 1, 10:30 a.m.–11:15am

• The Big Conversation #SundanceBigConversation – Friday, January 29–Monday, February 1, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m., individual slots TBA – The Big Conversation tackles science, art, culture, and the movements that are fueling the imaginations of today’s independent artists. A compelling selection of speakers discuss topics centered on the themes of this year’s program and explore broader trends in art and culture around the world. In considering how artists—through their practice and their work—make meaning of the world, we’re reminded that it’s the big conversation that connects us to the big ideas.
• Power of Story #PowerOfStory – Timing TBA – The Sundance Film Festival’s Power of Story looks to deepen public engagement with storytelling, delve into cinema culture, and celebrate artists whose work propels the form and reinvents storytelling as we know it. Sundance ’21 Goes Beyond Film
• Conjuring the Collective: Womxn at Sundance Speakeasy – Saturday, Jan 30, 2021, 8:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. Join Sundance for an evening of dynamic performance and energizing conversation. Continuing the tradition of gathering and celebrating the womxn in the Sundance Festival community, this year’s event will reclaim the idea of a coven as a source of magic, healing, and power. Guests include: Poet Apiorkor, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison (Ailey), , actor Rita Moreno (Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It),actor SOKO (Mayday, The Blazing World), and more TBA. Sundance ’21 Goes Beyond Film

• Awards Night – Tuesday, February 2, 6:00 p.m. – Tune in to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Night Ceremony to see which projects were selected for juried and audience awards. Free and open to all, the event will be live-streamed on our online screening platform—join us (and some very special presenters) to see who takes home top prizes in the Festival’s competition categories.
• It’s A Wrap #SundanceWrap – Wednesday, February 3, 9:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m. – Before feasting your eyes on the award-winning films from this season, finish off your Sundance Film Festival experience by looking back on the Festival that was. Festival director Tabitha Jackson leads a ceremonial end to this all-new Sundance experience by bringing audiences together for one last moment together in the virtual space. 

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute. 2021 Festival sponsors to date include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, Chase Sapphire, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Amazon Studios, AT&T, DoorDash, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, Southwest Airlines® , WarnerMedia; Sustaining Sponsors – AMC, Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, Documentary Plus, GEICO, IMDbPro, Stella Artois®, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health, White Claw Hard Seltzer, Zoom; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, The New York Times, Variety, Vulture, The Wall Street Journal. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. sundance.org/festival

Sundance Institute: As a champion and curator of independent stories for the stage and screen, Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive.

Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Co//ab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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