Catalyst
Catalyst
Catalyst is Sundance Institute’s film financing program. We aim to build a culture of partnership between independent investors and filmmakers; to unlock funding for ambitious new independent films; and to grow the community of indie-film supporters.
Catalyst’s year-round investor track serves new and experienced film funders through educational and cultural programming, highly curated financing opportunities, and ongoing engagement with the wider Sundance community. We offer new investors a guided entry into film financing, and we present our entire cohort with filmmaker and industry talks, social events, personalized support in developing partnerships with filmmakers, and access to exceptional projects through programs like Catalyst Forum, which features a curated slate of films seeking funds.
Catalyst’s filmmaker track offers tailored guidance on how to develop financing plans, build successful investor relationships, and effectively present projects for independent financing. We work with selected filmmakers through a rigorous, custom lab program as they prepare for Catalyst Forum, and we provide them with continued support throughout the lives of their projects.
The signature Catalyst Forum is where our investor and filmmaker tracks meet. Over three days at the Sundance Resort, filmmakers and investors connect through presentations, individual meetings, panels, and informal social moments.
Since its founding in 2013, more than $45 million has been raised to support over 100 films through Catalyst.
Applications & Timeline
Catalyst applications are solicited by invitation only. We vet films prior to inviting official submissions to ensure that applicants meet our eligibility requirements and have a path to the final program. Please note the following deadlines:
January–March 2022—Applicant recruitment & outreach
March 15–May 3, 2022—Application period
July 2022—Projects selected
July–September 2022—Filmmaker preparations
September 18-21, 2022催化剂论坛
询问该项目或share an eligible project with us, contactcatalyst@sundance.org.
Catalyst Forum Project Criteria
Catalyst Forum is an invitation-only opportunity for feature-length fiction and nonfiction film projects that meet the following criteria:
- Team Requirements
- Projects must have a strong producer with at least one feature credit attached. A producer and the director from each project must present together at Catalyst Forum.
- Projects with at least one member of the above-the-line team who is a Sundance Institute alumni will be given strong preference. Sundance alumni status includes having taken a project through a Sundance Institute lab, granting fund, or fellowship program, or having exhibited prior work at the Sundance Film Festival.
- We prefer projects that have at least one US-based member of the above-the-line team but will also consider international applicants.
- Budget/Financing Plan Requirements
- Project budgets must not exceed $3,000,000 USD, and budget gaps may not be smaller than $250,000 USD. Exceptions may be made on a limited and case-by-case basis.
- Projects must have a budget gap and be open to equity investments and/or granting contributions from multiple individual investors as part of their financing plan. Projects with partial financing in place are welcome and encouraged to apply.
- Catalyst investors must sitpari passuwith other investors on the film. Filmmakers will be asked to share detailed terms and waterfall structure with the Catalyst team before acceptance to the program to ensure that Catalyst investors are subject to the same or equal terms.
- Projects must have preliminary financing plans and be ready to actively engage with financiers. This includes having structures in place to accept funding by the time of the Catalyst Forum, such as a fiscal sponsor and/or LLC.
- Project Phase
- Fiction only:Projects must have a script in advanced development. Films that have tangible components in place, like a production start date or cast and crew attachments, tend to unlock more funding.
- Nonfiction only:Projects can be in any phase of production—including development, pre-production, production, and post-production—but must have sample footage to share.
- Additional Requirements
- Catalyst is open to feature-length films only, with an intended running time of 60 minutes or more.
- Projects must feature compelling, original subject matter and a distinctive directorial vision.
- Resubmissions are permitted if a major element has changed.
- Multiple submissions from the same team are discouraged.
Applications & Timeline
Catalyst applications are solicited by invitation only. We vet films prior to inviting official submissions to ensure that applicants meet our eligibility requirements and have a path to the final program. Please note the following deadlines:
January–March 2022—Applicant recruitment & outreach
March 15–May 3, 2022—Application period
July 2022—Projects selected
July–September 2022—Filmmaker preparations
September 18-21, 2022催化剂论坛
询问该项目或share an eligible project with us, contactcatalyst@sundance.org.
Application Overview
- Project Team
- Bios, contact information, past work samples
- Project Details
- Title, logline, synopsis(500-750 words), project status, timeline, director’s statement(500-750 words), producer’s statement(500-750 words)
- Nonfiction only: Summary of film topic (500-750 words)
- Project Budget & Financing Plan
- Total budget, gap, detailed breakdown of financing already raised, full line-item budget
- Short answer questions on budget level, financing strategy, and funder engagement (250 words each)
- Project Distribution Goals
- Short answer questions on intended audience and marketing and distribution strategy (250-500 words each)
- 非小说只有:宣传、教育和影响(500words)
- Key Creative Materials
- Nonfiction only: Footage from submitted project (~5 minutes, 1-2 scenes, not a trailer/sizzle)
- Fiction only: Full script PDF upload
- Optional Additional Assets
Filmmaker Deliverables
If selected, filmmakers will collaborate with the Catalyst team and advisors through a rigorous preparations process during the weeks leading up to Catalyst Forum in the following ways:
- Further developing a viable financing plan, including full project budget, recoupment waterfall, and crediting tiers.
- Preparing and rehearsing a live project presentation led by the director and producer that includes the project’s story, footage or still images(if applicable), budget and financing overview, and distribution and outreach plan.
- Creating a designed project deck to circulate to funders.
- Building a communications plan to engage with interested and committed investors and grantors post-forum. Catalyst is also an educational program for funders, who expect to engage with and learn from each film team that they support financially. Sharing ongoing updates and access to business and strategic decisions with Catalyst funders is an expectation of this program.
FAQs
Catalyst investors are individuals, foundations, and small companies who fund films philanthropically and through equity investments. Investors range from experienced entertainment professionals to individuals and entities who are new to film financing. All Catalyst investors are vetted by Sundance Institute. Our investors vary in funding capacity and often participate in projects as minority funders.
We’re unfortunately not able to facilitate introductions to Catalyst investors for filmmakers who haven’t participated in the program. The projects that we put forward to our community have been fully vetted by our team and also engage in a highly rigorous preparations process with us before connecting with Catalyst investors.
Nonfiction and fiction projects have historically unlocked a wide range of funding from the Catalyst community. Individual funder contributions range from smaller grants ($10,000-$25,000 USD) to larger grants ($50,000-$100,000) and equity investments (ranging from $25,000-$1,000,000 USD). Participating in Catalyst does not guarantee funding.
Projects with partial financing in place are welcome and encouraged to apply. Selected films must be able to offer equity terms pari passu with any committed funding to date in order to align with the Catalyst program and investor community.
Note that we don’t invite projects with budget gaps under $250,000 USD to apply to Catalyst. Participating films frequently accept funding from multiple partners, which is an intentional structure and promise to the investors. The program preparation is also quite time intensive in an effort to set up each film for success within this model—so having more money to raise makes it more worthwhile for the filmmakers who come through, too.
To a similar end, projects that have already done substantial fundraising from Catalyst investors are less compelling prospects for us as they have already gotten exposure within the community and may not have much left to unlock from this group.
We have a budget cap of $3,000,000 USD but invite higher budget films to apply on a case by case basis. We typically like to see partial financing in place for projects over $3,000,000 USD and also will want to very clearly understand why Catalyst is the best path forward for these projects. Projects with much higher budgets aren’t positioned to succeed in the program—it’s important for our investors to understand the impact and value of their contributions on projects.
Catalyst Forum will feature a slate of 10-12 total projects.
The director and lead producer from each project must present together at Catalyst Forum. Unfortunately, due to both space and budget limitations, we cannot accommodate additional key creative team members.
是的。188金宝搏bet下载圣丹斯协会提供空中旅行,ground transportation from the Salt Lake City airport to the Sundance Mountain Resort and back, lodging, and meals at Catalyst for selected fellows.
如果你的项目is selected, you are required to be present during the entire Catalyst Forum. The months of July and August will also require time-intensive work, including weekly one-hour phone calls and several additional hours of work per week on Catalyst Forum deliverables (i.e., project deck, financial plan, presentation script, other written materials). The preparations process will commence shortly after selections in mid-July.
The Catalyst preparations process is rigorous and highly collaborative. We assign each team an advisor who joins all weekly calls, and we offer extensive notes on project presentations, decks, budgets, business plans, and other written and visual materials. We additionally invite a pro bono lawyer to review each film’s financial materials and also offer guidance and resources on building successful investor relationships.
The Forum itself is a busy three days of film presentations, individually scheduled meetings, and informal social moments where funders and filmmakers connect to build partnerships and materially advance the projects.
We remain engaged with filmmakers who participate in Catalyst well beyond the Forum dates. We work closely with our active fellows as they turn Catalyst investor interest into commitment on the heels of the program but also support our alumnithroughout their progress to production and exhibition.
我们要求催化剂制片人报告所有乐趣ding sources, including any contributions to the project that come through the Catalyst investor community. We also ask that you share other key updates on your film such as entering production, festival and launch plans, and sales.
In addition, we will reach out for a formal written update on your project. This will be privately shared with the investor community as part of a comprehensive report on recent Catalyst projects. We may also ask you to reconfirm project details, including Catalyst investor contributions, and will request additional materials to supplement this update, such as links to press clippings.
Production legal is not required to apply, but selected projects must secure a lawyer shortly after acceptance into the program and must be ready to actively engage with financiers and enter into financing agreements by the time of Catalyst Forum. This includes having structures in place to accept funding (such as a fiscal sponsor or LLC) and having basic terms set.
Having a lawyer on board as you craft your financing plans during the Catalyst preparation process is extremely helpful, especially for less experienced filmmaking teams.
Before an official invitation to participate in the Catalyst Forum, filmmakers should be prepared to confirm clearances of subject’s participation, copyright/option agreement, director and producer agreements, LLC structure and decision-making rights for the project and all other rights questions tied to the project seeking funding.
Financing agreements are negotiated directly between filmmakers and investors, and no funding passes through the Institute. While Sundance Institute does not set deal terms or provide legal advice, the Catalyst team and external advisors may offer best practices and trends in investment and the market to help shape the filmmaking team’s direction here.
We provide Catalyst investors with a year-round curriculum that includes best practices in independent film financing. Additionally, in partnership with program advisors and a pro bono lawyer, we offer participating projects feedback on their financing plans and budgets through the Catalyst Forum preparation process.
After the Catalyst Forum, we support both Catalyst filmmakers and investors as they move from interest into contractual commitment, but the relationships and all negotiations are directly between filmmakers and investors from this point onwards.
Equity caps and backend structure are at the discretion of each filmmaking team. We work with selected films to increase the likelihood that their financial models both meet their own goals and will resonate with independent financiers.
Catalyst suggests the following approach for equity caps:Your film’s budget should account for all funding needs through delivery to a distributor—including equitable pay to both the director and producer. Your equity cap should be set at the portion of the budget that represents what the film team feels comfortable taking on as aninvestment, as informed by your distribution goals and the current market. It should also take into account what remaining portion of the budget must be raised in grants and if there are granting sources—both within and beyond Catalyst—to achieve this goal and close financing for the film.
Catalyst suggests the following approaches for backend split:While Catalyst prioritizes documentaries earlier on in their production and financing timelines, we occasionally accept a film with a smaller gap to close financing. When films have majority of funding in place as grants and are accepting investment at a late stage, we encourage filmmakers to structure the backend investor pool tied to full budget, rather than equity cap. When a film is going through Catalyst and seeking both investment and grants at an earlier stage, we encourage the traditional 50/50 backend split, which is respectful of the risk that independent investors bear in joining a film early on in its life and takes into account the high probability of film teams bringing on grantors through Catalyst.
Many Catalyst investors value official affiliations with the films that they fund in the form of credits, so building out appropriate crediting tiers is part of the Catalyst preparation process for selected films. Sundance Institute values the role of Producer and does not support financiers receiving Producer or Co-Producer credits, since these are earned working positions.
No. Participating in Catalyst does not increase your chances of screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Projects supported by Sundance Institute do not receive preferential treatment in the Festival selection process.
We do not announce Catalyst projects and also ask selected films to keep their participation confidential until after Catalyst Forum. We keep the Catalyst slate private so that we can build momentum and unlock the most from our investor community, ensuring that Catalyst funders get a first look at the Forum projects.
Upon completion of the Forum, filmmakers are welcome to share their participation publicly.
All applicants will be notified of their status by email. Catalyst program staff may reach out to ask additional questions during the application period.
Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unfortunately not able to provide individualized feedback.
We require the full team in place in order to apply to first assess basic eligibility and because we also want to avoid situations where directors and producers rush into working relationships in order to qualify for Catalyst. We are looking for teams with solid partnerships who have had the time and space to really get to know each other and collaborate.
The aim of the producer feature requirement is to make sure that someone on the project has strong business instincts so that the film is set up for success at Catalyst. As you can imagine, complex financing scenarios arise at the Forum given the variety of funders we engage: Catalyst investors range in experience, capacities, and preferred types of investment.
Independent film financing in a program like Catalyst is as much about the people behind the film or the funding as the work itself, so the people who make up the film team and how they work with one another is a crucial part of succeeding in this program.
Multiple submissions from the same team end up in competition with each other, as we would not program two films by the same producing team onto the final slate. Filmmakers should prioritize their most front-burner project that also has a clear case for why Catalyst could uniquely take the film to the next level.
Films with distribution are eligible to apply, but we prioritize films without distribution (including American broadcast) in our review. This is primarily due to the greater funding needs of projects without distribution partners in place and additionally because films with a clear path for potential recoupment against investment with rights available typically gain more traction with Catalyst investors.
Catalyst is open to international projects, but we prioritize US films due to the lack of domestic governmental funding. We prefer projects that have at least one US-based member of the above-the-line team. In evaluating international submissions, what’s essential to us is that there is a meaningful path forward for these films to successfully fundraise at Catalyst. Our investor community is largely composed of American independent financiers who need to be able to meaningfully participate in projects on equal terms with other committed funders. There needs to be a clear path towards potential recoupment for American equity in order to qualify for Catalyst.
No, only feature-length projects are eligible, with an intended running time of 60 minutes or more.
We are primarily seeking fiction projects on the cusp of production and prioritize films with shooting scripts and tangible elements in place like a production start date, cast attachments, or partial financing. We will consider inviting earlier phase fiction films but largely focus on films beyond the development stage.
我们是开放的纪录片在所有阶段,和the timing of projects that we invite will likely span development, production and post. Docs that are very early on in development should have a more experienced team in place that is able to cite a strong body of past work.
We require a visual sample from your current project as part of the Catalyst nonfiction application. We want to see footage that will give us a sense of what the film might feel like. It’s important to us that the sample conveys a sense of the film’s style and artistic vision as well as the level of access you have to your subjects and that the story/subject can sustain a compelling feature-length film.
For the above reasons, we prefer scenes over teasers and trailers. We also ask that the total sample runtime not exceed approximately 5 minutes, though this is not a hard cap.
We are looking for projects with strong artistic visions that have solid teams behind them. Producing experience levels may vary but an interest in independent financing and a plan to get the film through production and to distribution are key. Alignment of vision and a strong partnership between director and producer is a must. We’re evaluating the teams as much as we are the films since independent financing decisions are as much about the filmmaking teams as the work itself and the focus of Catalyst is the partnership between funder and filmmaker. We frequently invite first-time directors, but it’s important to us that the producers on Catalyst projects are capable of working with independent funding models, especially since the financing scenarios that result from the Forum may be composed of multiple minority funders seeking to participate in the same project. To this end, it’s also key that the film team wants to work with individual financiers and that an independent financing model serves the project. So the ‘why Catalyst’ components of each application need to be clear.
Catalyst has a unique opportunity to lift up artists and stories that come from outside of the mainstream that might not easily get funding from typical Hollywood sources. So while each team’s credentials will be key in assessing their applications, we also consider what kinds of films and filmmakers need an independent venue like Catalyst to materially advance. The Catalyst program invests in the careers of the filmmakers—introducing teams into the world of independent film financing—as much as it invests in the films themselves.
最终,我们希望我们的石板在主体范围,style, and perspective—both so that the films represent a sample of the year in independent film and also so that the projects we invite aren’t competing with each other at the Forum. We’re not looking for any specific genre or topic—we want a diversity of projects that each have unique sensibilities and points of view. We also want to preserve both a sense of discovery and exceptionalism at Catalyst, mixing emerging talent with the most compelling new projects from established independent filmmakers.
Past Catalyst Projects
Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock
DirectorCody Lucich
ProducersHeather Rae, Gingger Shankar
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
Standing Rock, 2016: the largest Native American occupation since Wounded Knee. Thousands of activists, environmentalists, and militarized police descend on the Dakota Access Pipeline in a standoff between oil corporations and a new generation of Native warriors. This chronicle captures the sweeping struggle, spirit, and havoc of a people’s uprising.
Always in Season
When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins, as the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.
Audrie & Daisy
DirectorBonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
ProducersRichard Berge, Bonni Cohen, Sara Dosa
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival
After two high-school girls in different towns are sexually assaulted by boys they consider friends, online bullying leads each girl to attempt suicide. Tragically, one dies. Assault in the social-media age is explored from the perspectives of the girls and boys involved, as well as their torn-apart communities.
The Bad Kids
DirectorKeith Fulton, Lou Pepe
ProducersKeith Fulton, Lou Pepe
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking
At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age story watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called “bad kids.”
Beach Rats
ProducersBrad Becker-Parton, Andrew Goldman, Drew P. Houpt, Paul Mezey
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Dramatic Directing Award
An aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn struggles to escape his bleak home life and navigate questions of self-identity, as he balances his time between his delinquent friends, a potential new girlfriend, and older men he meets online.
Before You Know It
DirectorHannah Pearl Utt
ProducersMallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler, James Brown
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
A long-kept family secret thrusts codependent, thirtysomething sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera. A journey that proves that you really can come of age, at any age.
Blowin' Up
DirectorStephanie Wang-Breal
ProducersCarrie Weprin
Premiere2018 Tribeca Film Festival
Blowin’ Up looks at sex work, prostitution, and human trafficking through the lens of our nation’s first human-trafficking intervention court in Queens, New York.
Bull
DirectorAnnie Silverstein
ProducersBert Marcus, Heather Rae, Audrey Rosenberg, Monique Walton, Ryan Zacarias
Premiere2019 Cannes Film Festival
In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor, an aging bullfighter who’s seen his best days in the arena; it’s a collision that will change them both.
Cartel Land
DirectorMatthew Heineman
ProducersMatthew Heineman, Tom Yellin
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival,U.S. Documentary Directing and Cinematography Awards
In this classic western set in the twenty-first century, vigilantes on both sides of the border fight the vicious Mexican drug cartels. With unprecedented access, this character-driven film provokes deep questions about lawlessness, the breakdown of order, and whether citizens should fight violence with violence.
Chasing Coral
DirectorJeff Orlowski
Producers杰夫Orlowski拉rissa Rhodes
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Audience Award
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers, and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
Crip Camp
DirectorNicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht
ProducersSara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival, Audience Award: U.S. Documentary
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.
Dark Money
DirectorKimberly Reed
ProducersBert Marcus, Heather RaeKimberly Reed, Katy Chevigny
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
Dark money contributions, made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, flood modern American elections—but Montana is showing Washington, DC, how to solve the problem of unlimited anonymous money in politics.
The Devil We Know
DirectorStephanie Soechtig
Co-directorJeremy Seifert
ProducersKristin Lazure, Stephanie Soechtig, Joshua Kunau, Carly Palmour
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical—now found in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans—into the local drinking water supply.
Farewell Amor
DirectorEkwa Msangi
ProducersHuriyyah Muhammad, Sam Bisbee, Josh Penn
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival
Reunited after a 17 year separation, Walter, an Angolan immigrant, is joined in the U.S. by his wife and teenage daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment, they discover a shared love of dance that may help overcome the emotional distance between them.
The Fight
DirectorElyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres
ProducersElyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres, Maya Seidler, Peggy Drexler, Kerry Washington
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking
Inside the ACLU, a team of scrappy lawyers battle Trump’s historic assault on civil liberties.
The Force
DirectorPeter Nicks
ProducersLinda Davis, Lawrence Lerew, Peter Nicks
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Directing Award, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking
This cinema vérité look at the long-troubled Oakland Police Department goes deep inside their struggles to confront federal demands for reform, a popular uprising following events in Ferguson, and an explosive scandal.
The 40-Year-Old-Version
DirectorRadha Blank
ProducersLena Waithe, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler, Rishi Rijani
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival
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.
The Great American Lie
DirectorJennifer Siebel Newsom
ProducersAmanda Mortimer, Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Premiere2019 San Francisco International Film Festival
The Great American Lieexamines how a U.S. value system built on the extreme masculine ideals of power, dominance, and control has glorified individualism, institutionalized inequality and under-mined the ability of most Americans to achieve the American Dream.
Hooligan Sparrow
DirectorNanfu Wang
ProducersNanfu Wang
Creative producerPeter Lucas
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival
Traversing Southern China, a group of activists led by Ye Haiyan, a.k.a. Hooligan Sparrow, protest a scandalous incident in which a school principal and a government official allegedly raped six students. Sparrow becomes an enemy of the state, but detentions, interrogations, and evictions can’t stop her protest from going viral.
The House of Tomorrow
DirectorPeter Livolsi
ProducersTarik Karam, Danielle Renfrew Behrens
PremiereSan Francisco Film Festival 2017
When a sheltered teen raised inside a geodesic dome meets a rebellious kid with a heart transplant, the two form a punk band to escape an oppressive grandmother, an overprotective father, and the looming legacy of renowned futurist Buckminster Fuller.
The Hunting Ground
DirectorKirby Dick
ProducersAmy Ziering
Premiere2015 Sundance Film Festival
From the makers ofThe Invisible Warcomes a startling exposé of rape crimes on U.S. campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and brutal social toll. Weaving together vérité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education and justice—despite harsh retaliation, harassment, and pushback.
I’m No Longer Here
DirectorFernando Frias de la Parra
ProducersGerry Kim, Alberto Muffelmann, Gerardo Gatica, Fernando Frias de la Parra
Premiere2019 Morelia Film Festival
Following the death of his older brother, a teenage Mexican boy is forced to migrate to New York City. When he arrives, he quickly realizes that the violence plaguing his home is no match for the feelings of alienation and loneliness he experiences in America.
Indian Point
DirectorIvy Meeropol
ProducersIvy Meeropol, Julie Goldman
Creative producerPeter Lucas
Premiere2015 Tribeca Film Festival
The Indian Point nuclear power plant looms just 35 miles from Times Square. With over 50 million people living in close proximity to the aging facility, its continued operation has the support of the plant’s operators and the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, yet has stoked a great deal of controversy in the surrounding community, including a vocal antinuclear contingent concerned that what happened at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant could happen here. In the brewing fight for clean energy and the catastrophic possibilities of government complacency, director Ivy Meeropol presents a balanced argument about the issues surrounding nuclear energy and offers a startling reality check for our uncertain nuclear future.
The Infiltrators
DirectorAlex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra
ProducersAlex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra, Darren Dean, Daniel J. Chalfen
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival, NEXT Innovator Prize & Audience Award: NEXT
A ragtag group of activist Dreamers deliberately get detained by border patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center.
Inventing Tomorrow
DirectorLaura Nix
ProducersDiane Becker, Melanie Miller, Laura Nix
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
Meet six brilliant high school students as they prepare for the world’s largest high school science competition: the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Inspired by the issues and problems they’ve witnessed in their own communities, these teens propose big ideas and ingenious solutions to the world’s environmental challenges.
Jacqueline (Argentine)
DirectorBernardo Britto
ProducersBen Cohen, Brett Potter
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival
A young French woman hires a man to document her self-imposed political asylum in Argentina after supposedly leaking highly confidential government secrets.
The Keepers
DirectorRyan White
ProducersJessica Hargrave
This docuseries examines the decades-old murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik and its suspected link to a priest accused of abuse.
The Kingmaker
DirectorLauren Greenfield
Producers弗兰克·埃弗斯
Premiere2019 Telluride Film Festival
Centered on the indomitable character of Imelda Marcos, The Kingmaker examines, with intimate access, the Marcos family’s improbable return to power in the Philippines. The film explores the disturbing legacy of the Marcos regime and chronicles Imelda’s present-day push to help her son, Bongbong, win the vice presidency.
Little Woods
DirectorNia DaCosta
ProducersRachael Fung, Tim Headington, Gabrielle Nadig
Premiere2018 Tribeca Film Festival
For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the struggling fellow residents of her North Dakota oil boomtown access Canadian health care and meds. When the authorities catch on, she plans to abandon her crusade, only to be dragged in even deeper after a desperate plea for help from her sister, Deb.
Mediterranea
DirectorJonas Carpignano
ProducersJason Michael Berman, Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Ryan Lough
Premiere2015 Cannes Film Festival
Ayiva recently left his home in Burkina Faso in search of a way to provide for his sister and his daughter. He takes advantage of his position in an illegal smuggling operation to get himself and his best friend, Abas, off the continent. Ayiva adapts to life in Italy, but when tensions with the local community rise, things become increasingly dangerous. Determined to make his new situation work, he attempts to weather the storm, but it has its costs.
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements
DirectorIrene Taylor Brodsky
ProducersIrene Taylor Brodsky, Tahria Sheather
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
A deeply personal portrait of three lives and the discoveries that lie beyond loss—a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata.
The Mustang
DirectorLaure de Clermont-Tonnerre
ProducersAlain Goldman
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
Newtown
DirectorKim A. Snyder
ProducersMaria Cuomo Cole, Kim A. Snyder
Premiere2016 Sundance Film Festival
After joining the ranks of a growing club no one wants to belong to, the people of Newtown, Connecticut, weave an intimate story of resilience. This film traces the aftermath of the worst mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history as the traumatized community finds a new sense of purpose.
Night Comes On
DirectorJordana Spiro
ProducersJonathan Montepare, Alvaro R. Valente, Danielle Renfrew Behrens
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival, NEXT Innovator Award
Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10-year-old sister that could destroy their future.
Patti Cake$
DirectorGeremy Jasper
ProducersChris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Noah Stahl, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Rodrigo Teixeira
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival
Straight out of Jersey comes Patricia Dombrowski, a.k.a. Killa P, a.k.a. Patti Cake$, an aspiring rapper fighting through a world of strip malls and strip clubs on an unlikely quest for glory.
The Price
DirectorAnthony Onah
ProducersJustin Begnaud, Anthony Onah, Kishori Rajan
Premiere2017 SXSW Film Festival
Seyi, a 24-year-old Nigerian American, works on Wall Street. Desperate to succeed because of his outsider status—due to class and race—he commits a crime, insider trading, which brings his entire world crashing down on him. Seyi’s troubled circumstances force him finally to confront his tumultuous relationship with his ailing father, his romantic relationship with his privileged white girlfriend, and his racial and immigrant backgrounds—with nothing less at stake for him than his soul.
Rich Hill
DirectorAndrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos
ProducersAndrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos
Premiere2014 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize
In a rural American town, kids face heartbreaking choices, find comfort in the most fragile of family bonds, and dream of a future of possibility.
Selah and the Spades
DirectorTayarisha Poe
ProducersLauren McBride, Drew Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Tayarisha Poe, Jill Ahrens
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
Five factions run the underground life of the prestigious Haldwell boarding school. At the head of the most powerful faction—the Spades—sits Selah Summers. By turns charming and callous, she chooses whom to keep close and whom to cut loose, walking the fine line between being feared and loved.
Shadow World
DirectorJohan Grimonprez
ProducersJoslyn Barnes, Anadil Hossain
Premiere2016 Tribeca Film Festival
Shadow Worldreveals the shocking realities of the global arms trade—the only business that counts its profits in billions and its losses in human lives.Based, in part, on Corruption Watch UK founder Andrew Feinstein’s globally acclaimed bookThe Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, the film reveals how the international trade in weapons—with the complicity of governments and intelligence agencies; investigative and prosecutorial bodies; and weapons manufacturers, dealers and agents—fosters corruption, determines economic and foreign policies, undermines democracy, and creates widespread suffering.
Solitary
DirectorKristi Jacobson
ProducersJulie Goldman, Kristi Jacobson, Katie Mitchell
Premiere2016 Tribeca Film Festival
Step inside a supermax prison in this unflinching exploration of life inside one of America’s most notorious prisons, where inmates live in eight-by-ten-foot cells, 23 hours per day for months, years, and sometimes decades. Featuring unprecedented access to Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, the film presents intimate interviews with inmates while capturing the daily life there.
Sorry To Bother You
DirectorBoots Riley
ProducersNina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Charles King, George Rush, Jonathan Duffy, Kelly Williams
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success—which propels him into a macabre universe.
Speed Sisters
DirectorAmber Fares
ProducersJessica Devaney, Amber Fares, Avi Goldstein
Premiere2015 Hot Docs
The Speed Sisters is the first all-women race-car-driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. Weaving together their lives on and off the track,Speed Sisterstakes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.
Strong Island
DirectorYance Ford
ProducersJoslyn Barnes, Yance Ford
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling
Examining the violent death of the filmmaker’s brother and the judicial system that allowed his killer to go free, this documentary interrogates murderous fear and racialized perception, and reimagines the wreckage in catastrophe’s wake, challenging us to change.
Swallow
DirectorCarlo Mirabella-Davis
ProducersMollye Asher, Mynette Louie, Carole Baraton, Fred Fiore
Premiere2019 Tribeca Film Festival
When a young, newly pregnant housewife develops the compulsion to consume inedible objects, she must elude her husband’s controlling family to uncover the cause of her obsession.
They Call Us Monsters
DirectorBenjamin Lear
ProducersSasha Alpert, Gabriel Cowan, Benjamin Lear
Premiere2016 LA Film Festival
They Call Us Monsterstakes us behind the walls of the Compound, where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile offenders. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults. To their victims, they’re monsters. This film asks us to decide for ourselves.
This Is Home
DirectorAlexandra Shiva
ProducersLindsey Megrue, Alexandra Shiva
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival, World Cinema Documentary Audience Award
This is an intimate portrait of four Syrian families arriving in Baltimore, Maryland, and struggling to find their footing. With eight months to become self-sufficient, they must forge ahead to rebuild their lives. When the travel ban adds further complications, their strength and resilience are put to the test.
A Thousand Cuts
DirectorRamona S. Diaz
ProducersRamona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman, Chris Clements, Carolyn Hepburn
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival
Nowhere is the worldwide erosion of democracy, fueled by social media disinformation campaigns, more starkly evident than in the authoritarian regime of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Journalist Maria Ressa places the tools of the free press—and her freedom—on the line in defense of truth and democracy.
To Dust
DirectorShawn Snyder
ProducersJosh Crook, Scott Floyd Lochmus, Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola, Ron Perlman
Premiere2018 Tribeca Film Festival
Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor distraught by his wife’s untimely death, struggles to find religious solace while secretly obsessing over how her body will decay. As a clandestine partnership develops with Albert, a community-college biology professor, the two embark on an increasingly literal undertaking into the underworld.
The Truffle Hunters
DirectorMichael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
ProducersMichael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival
In the secret forests of Northern Italy, a dwindling group of joyful old men and their faithful dogs search for the world’s most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle. Their stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten in time.
Unrest
DirectorJennifer Brea
Producers詹妮弗·布雷亚Patrici林赛•德莱顿a E. Gillespie, Alysa Nahmias
Premiere2017 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 years old by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s “all in her head.” Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families’ stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.
Us Kids
DirectorKim A. Snyder
ProducersKim A. Snyder, Maria Cuomo Cole, Lori Cheatle
Premiere2020 Sundance Film Festival
Determined to turn unfathomable tragedy into action, the teenage survivors of Parkland, Florida catalyze a powerful, unprecedented youth movement that spreads with lightning speed across the country, as a generation of mobilized youth take back democracy in this powerful coming-of-age story.
Where's My Roy Cohn?
DirectorMatt Tyrnauer
ProducersMatt Tyrnauer, Corey Reeser, Marie Brenner, Joyce Deep
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues—from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.
The Witch
DirectorRobert Eggers
ProducersDaniel Bekerman, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira, Jay Van Hoy
Premiere2015 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Dramatic Directing Award
In New England in the 1630s, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness. When their newborn son vanishes and crops fail, the family turns on one another. Beyond their worst fears, a supernatural evil lurks in the nearby wood.
The Wolf Hour
DirectorAlistair Banks Griffin
ProducersBrian Kavanaugh-Jones, Bailey Conway Anglewicz, Bradley Pilz
Premiere2019 Sundance Film Festival
Once a known counterculture figure, June E. Leigh now lives in self-imposed exile in her South Bronx apartment during the incendiary 1977 Summer of Sam. When an unseen tormentor begins exploiting June’s weaknesses, her insular universe begins to unravel.
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
DirectorMorgan Neville
ProducersCaryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma
Premiere2018 Sundance Film Festival
Fred Rogers used puppets and play to explore complex social issues—race, disability, equality, and tragedy—helping form the American concept of childhood. He spoke directly to children and they responded enthusiastically. Yet, today, his impact is unclear. Have we lived up to Fred’s ideal of good neighbors?
XY CHELSEA
DirectorTim Travers Hawkins
ProducersJulia Nottingham
Premiere2019 Tribeca Film Festival
Chelsea Manning—trans woman, former intelligence analyst, and prisoner—is appealing her 35-year sentence for leaking U.S. military and diplomatic documents. However, after she attempts suicide, her legal team, friends, and family realize this is a fight not just for her freedom but for her existence.
3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets
DirectorMarc Silver
ProducersCarolyn Hepburn, Minette Nelson
Premiere2015 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact
2012年11月23日,手无寸铁的17岁的乔丹Russell Davis was shot at a Jacksonville gas station by Michael David Dunn.3½ Minutes, Ten Bulletsexplores the aftermath of Jordan’s tragic death, the latent and often unseen effects of racism, and the contradictions of the American criminal justice system.
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