From the Archives: The History of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program

Robb Moss and Naziha Arebi at a lab 2017 Sundance Institute | Photo by Luke Hickerson

[Editor's Note: One of our favorite things about celebrating 20 years of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program is reflecting on the powerful leaders that the program has had at the helm. To start our final full week we're sharing former director Cara Mertes's knowledgeable look back at the first decade of the DFP. This piece was originally published on July 13, 2011.]

by Cara Mertes

This month, Sundance Institute is spotlighting the Documentary Film Program and its dedication to supporting contemporary-issue nonfiction storytelling. Keep an eye out for stories from the recently completed Doc Edit Lab and the Composer and Documentary Lab, as well as an inside look at the role of the editor in documentary filmmaking. Below, DFP Director Cara Mertes looks back at the Documentary Film Program over the last decade, and how it is evolving as a global resource for contemporary documentary filmmaking.

Robert Redford created Sundance Institute knowing that creativity, a fragile but fundamental impulse, can easily be sacrificed to the demands of power in all of its forms, whether market or military, government, community, faith, or family.

He wanted to conjure a space that was safe for experimentation, protected from purely profit-driven motives. Within that vision, it has long been Redford's consistent belief that documentary has a special role socially. It has the capacity to tell truths that are otherwise ignored, misunderstood or avoided, and it can do so in an entertaining and inspiring way.

This motivated him to make an early and unusual decision to platform documentary on an equal basis with independent narrative film when he started the Sundance Film Festival in the early 1980s. The Festival has been a pioneering force in popularizing independent contemporary documentary as an art form ever since, and in 2001, the opportunity came to build an artist's support program for documentary at the Institute, alongside the existing feature film, theatre, native, and composers labs, and it seemed a natural next step.

We need to know that our innate belief in individual rights, democracy, and freedom of expression will be respected by the political and business power brokers. And when that doesn't happen, we need to know why.

-Robert Redford

Part 1: The Soros Documentary FundThe Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program was born out of the Soros Documentary Fund, which Diane Weyermann spearheaded in the mid-1990s at Open Society Institute. Her vision of a fund focused on human rights and social justice topics was supported by human rights leader and OSI executive director Aryeh Neier.

They believed that nonfiction films could be effective at raising awareness and creating momentum around human rights issues. They were right, and this was a seminal moment for independent documentary. The Soros Documentary Fund became one of the first global funds for documentary focused solely on human rights, and it supported films that went to public television, cable, theatrical screening and were seen internationally.

In 2001, when Weyermann joined Sundance Institute to run international activities, the Soros Fund was moved to Sundance Institute, where Weyermann swiftly began laying the groundwork for what is now the newest creative support program at Sundance Institute, the Documentary Film Program.

Part 2: Cara Mertes Comes on BoardI joined Sundance Institute in 2006 as director of the DFP, with a passion for independent documentary's pivotal social role, and a long career dedicated to supporting independent films, filmmakers, and the field. At public television and as an independent producer and director, I worked to bring the margins to the mainstream, building a bridge between the experimentation of artists, and the interests of audiences by creating, curating, funding, and broadcasting independent film of all kinds, with a special focus on documentary as both an art form and an increasingly crucial democratic function.

Because Sundance Institute and public television have both been trailblazers in contemporary-issue storytelling in building several generations of audiences, exposing stories that otherwise would remain in the shadows, and nurturing talent, for me, the transition to Sundance Institute seemed rife with possibility.

Since 2006, much has changed, yet much has remained the same for indie doc makers. The world is more interconnected, networking capabilities, and digital technologies are revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, and the challenges we face globally are daunting. What has remained the same is the way that story connects all of us.

The combination of urgency, connectedness and inter-dependency that has marked the early days of the 21st century has resulted, broadly, in more people telling more stories about more realities than ever before, and nonfiction is a rising tide in this sea of stories. What hasn't kept pace is funding and distribution mechanisms that ensure that these films are made at their highest potential, and that audiences can reliably and consistently find them. These are the areas that define our work today.

The DFP has kept its original human rights DNA, while expanding to contemporary documentary more broadly, and we have prioritized three things in the past few years: the increasingly global scope of our work; the need to create effective and strategic collaborations and partnerships internationally which reinvent and redefine resources and infrastructure for documentary, and most importantly, continuing to deepen and expand the creative and financial support of documentary artists, as Robert Redford mandated 30 years ago.

Part 3: What's Happening NowDFP activities now include granting about $1.5 million annually

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/the-brave-new-worlds-of-documentary/...
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