Sean Wang, Julian Brave NoiseCat, and Emily Kassie to Receive Annual Vanguard Awards Presented by Acura Tables and Tickets Now on Sale: Annual Fundraiser Celebrates Forces in Independent Storytelling and Raises Funds for the Nonprofit's Year-Round Artist Programs
November 22, 2024, Park City, UT - The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival's gala fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute Presented by Google TV, which will take place on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The event will be an evening in celebration of Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of Artist Programs at Sundance Institute, for her longstanding commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs, where visionary artists convene to develop groundbreaking projects through an in-depth creative process, for the past four decades. The annual Vanguard Awards Presented by Acura will be awarded during the evening to Sean Wang, writer and director of D di ( ), and Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane, who premiered their films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The annual gala enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants, and public programming that nurture artists from all over the world. The 2025 event is made possible with the generous support of Google TV. The Festival will take place from January 23-February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with a selection of titles available online from January 30-February 2, 2025 for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling.
For over four decades Michelle has been devoted to truly championing independent storytellers, said Amanda Kelso, Acting CEO of Sundance Institute. She has encouraged artists to own their voice, learn their craft, become fierce leaders, and develop their resilience in our changing ecosystem. Her life-long commitment to supporting artists, especially in underrepresented communities, has helped produce some of the most bold and distinctive films that have engaged audiences globally and sustained their visionary work throughout their career. In addition this year, we are thrilled to recognize Sean Wang, Julian Brave NoiseCat, and Emily Kassie - inspiring filmmakers that represent the next generation of independent storytelling, who have each been supported by the Institute. We look forward to our guests joining us at the Celebrating Sundance Institute gala, allowing us to continue our nonprofit efforts of launching, transforming, and sustaining the work of artists and their immeasurable impact on the world.
Starting in 1981, Michelle Satter worked alongside Robert Redford who founded the Sundance Institute. Together with a committed team of leaders and collaborators, they developed impactful ways of mentoring emerging independent storytellers in a creative, rigorous, and safe space which launched with the annual June Filmmakers Lab. Satter has acted as an influential mentor to generations of award-winning filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Chlo Zhao, Dee Rees, John Cameron Mitchell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ryan Coogler, Miranda July, Kimberly Peirce, Darren Aronofsky, Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi, and many more. Over the years, Satter has built the Episodic Program, Producers Program, the Institute's global initiatives and oversees the Indigenous, Catalyst, and Documentary Film Programs. She also founded Sundance Collab - a global digital platform for storytelling, learning, and community, open to creators everywhere. Over the years, Satter's contributions to film and advocacy have been recognized with numerous awards including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar presented at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science's 2024 Governors Awards, the Women in Film Business Leadership Award, and the ACLU Bill of Rights Award.
Championing independent artists through the Sundance Institute has been the driving force of my career, Satter shared. I'm passionately invested in this work because I believe that art and storytelling can truly reshape the world, sparking empathy, bridging humanity, and fostering understanding for global audiences, all while engaging and inspiring them. Our Labs have grown into vital spaces for creativity, risk-taking, and community-building a model for artist support around the world. In today's fast-changing industry, the mission of Sundance and other forward-thinking organizations has never been more crucial, paving new paths for independent artists and elevating voices that deserve to be heard.
The annual Vanguard Awards Presented by Acura honor emerging artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence in both fiction and nonfiction. The Vanguard Award for Fiction will be presented to Sean Wang, writer-director of D di ( ), and the Vanguard Award for Nonfiction will go to Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane. Previous honorees include: Celine Song, Maite Alberdi, W. Kamau Bell, Nikyatu Jusu, Ryan Coogler, Si n Heder, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Radha Blank, Lulu Wang, Dee Rees, Damien Chazelle, Marielle Heller, Benh Zeitlin, Boots Riley, and many more.
Academy Award nominee Sean Wang gained recognition for his award-winning short, N i Nai & W i P . Wang and his first feature film D di ( ) represent how Sundance Institute as an organization works to uplift and foster independent storytellers and their projects across year-round programs. Sean and D di ( ) were supported by the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship, Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship, and the Institute's 2023 Directors and Screenwriters Labs.
