11 Independent Films to Make Digital Debut via Sundance Institute's Artist Services Biographical Documentaries, Films About Social Justice Make Up Slate of Releases
Films From Non-Profit Collaboration Partners IFP, Film Independent, San Francisco Film Society
Posted Jan 14, 2014
Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the 11 independent films now available through a variety of platforms and storefronts, via the Institute's Artist Services program, which provides artists supported by the Institute with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing for their work. For details visit sundance.org/nowplaying.
Titles will be available on a variety of platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, VUDU and YouTube.
The films making their digital premiere include the Emmy Award-nominated documentary following two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on his journey through war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (Reporter), as well as the story of world-renowned Italian performance artist Vanessa Beecroft as she strives to adopt orphaned Sudanese twins (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins).
Dear Mandela and Otelo Burning both focus on the South African diaspora, each shedding light on a group of friends struggling to find justice against the backdrop of brewing political turmoil.
Fresh off of participating in FILM FORWARD, an international tour that combines film screenings, workshops and discussions with filmmakers, The Light in Her Eyes offers an extraordinary portrait of a leader who challenges the women of her community to live according to Islam, without giving up their dreams.
Breakfast with Curtis will be released as part of a collaboration between Artist Services and non-profit partner organization Film Independent. Additionally, Happy Sad and Tall as the Baobab Tree will be released as part of a collaboration with San Francisco Film Society, and Otelo Burning through a partnership with Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP). These collaborations allow partner organizations to select films they have supported to receive access to the best-in-class digital distribution arrangements secured by Artist Services.
The Sundance Institute Artist Services program provides artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. The exclusive aggregation partner for distribution across all portals participating in the Artist Services program is Cinedigm. These deals were brokered via pro bono legal services generously provided by law firm O'Melveny & Myers, which has built the legal framework for the Artist Services program and participating filmmakers since its inception.
TITLES AVAILABLE JANUARY 14
The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins (Director: Pietra Brettkelly) Artist Vanessa Beecroft's obsession to save' orphaned twins raises questions of a contemporary white woman's right to adopt into the first world. Passion spills into her controversial art including photographs of herself breast-feeding the twins, and a Venice Biennale performance of black women doused in blood-red paint. (2008 Sundance Film Festival)
Breakfast With Curtis (Director and Screenwriter: Laura Colella) Syd, an eccentric bookseller with delusions of grandeur fueled by red wine, caused a rift five years ago between the freewheeling bohemian residents of his house and the family next door. He now drafts his young neighbor, Curtis, into a creative collaboration that sparks a season of change for all. (Released through Artist Services collaboration with Film Independent)
Dear Mandela (Directors: Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza) When their shantytowns are threatened with mass eviction, three young lions' of South Africa's born free generation rise from the shacks and take their government to the highest court in the land, putting the promises of democracy to the test. (2010 Documentary Composers Lab and Creative Producing Documentary Lab)
Happy Sad (Director: Rodney Evans) Two young couples in New York one black and gay, one white and heterosexual find their lives intertwined as they create new relationship norms, explore sexual identity, and redefine monogamy. (Released through Artist Services collaboration with San Francisco Film Society)
The Light in Her Eyes (Directors: Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix) Houda al-Habash, a conservative woman preacher in Damascus, Syria, calls girls to the practice of Islam, teaching them that pursuing their ambitions is a way of worshipping God. (FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue)
Otelo Burning (Director: Sara Blecher) Based on true events, Otelo Burning follows three teenage friends looking for an escape during the turmoil of South Africa's apartheid, who discover freedom through the joy of surfing. Forced to choose between pursuing their dreams and fighting for justice, Otelo Burning is a gripping tale of courage, love, betrayal, hope and finding your freedom. (Released through Artist Services collaboration with Independent Filmmaker Project)
Reporter (Director and Screenwriter: Eric Daniel Metzgar) Reporter is the Emmy-nominated documentary film about Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. The film tracks him on a harrowing reporting trip through the Democratic Republic of Congo. (2009 Sundance Film Festival)
The Talent Given Us (Director: Andrew Wagner) A retired New York City couple drive across the country to reconnect with their reclusive son, joined by their two unmarried daughters. (2005 Sundance Film Festival)
Tall as the Baobab Tree (Director: Jeremy Teicher) In a rural African village poised at the outer edge of the modern world, a teenage girl hatches a secret
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
11 Independent Films to Make Digital Debut via Sundance Institute's Artist Services Biographical Documentaries, Films About Social Justice Make Up Slate of Releases
