For me, the end of January has for many years meant a visit to Park City, Utah for the annual Sundance festival where Skoll has partnered in the Stories Of Change initiative bringing together social entrepreneurs with filmmakers to tell stories that illuminate social issues. The festival has always been a fascinating mashup of artists and activists, filmmakers and fans, all set against the striking backdrop of the Utah mountains.
Like every event in the last year, the pandemic forced the festival online. That creative spirit is still alive and well though—Sundance received as many film submissions as any regular COVID-free year, and the Skoll Foundation and our grantee partners will host several interesting events focused on the intersection of storytelling and equity. Though I won’t be trudging through the streets of Park City this year bundled against the cold, I’m excited to attend the events virtually. Here are some of the festival highlights and please visit festival.sundance.org to learn more.
Saturday, January 30th 1:00-2:00pm Mountain Time
A Place In The Sun: Decentering Whiteness In Public Imagination
This second session of the Skoll Foundation’s Racial Justice Town Hall series is a conversation grounded in the belief that authentic, representative storytelling is a pathway for increased racial justice and equity building for non-White communities. We’ll ask among other questions: What happens when historically underrepresented groups create space for their stories in the national narrative? What does it take to accomplish it? How can storytelling across media mitigate and heal racial trauma?.
The panel features Princess Daazhraii Johnson, one of the creative mind behind the highly successful “Molly of Denali” children’s show on PBS, as well as Ariana Curtis Ph.D, Director of Content: Race, Community and Our Shared Future at the Smithsonian Institution, and Charles D. King, CEO and Founder of MACRO – the production company behind Judas and the Black Messiah . Expect a fascinating discussion between our guests and hosts Jimmie Briggs and Pat Mitchell. Sign up here to attend.
Friday, January 29th 5:00-6:30pm Mountain Time
For Freedoms: Artists As Essential Workers
Curated by Skoll grantee For Freedoms and moderated by For Freedoms Co-Founder, Michelle Woo and Executive Director Claudia Pena, this conversation features artists and creative producers, Caran Hartsfield, PJ Raval, and Tanya Selvaratnam. We come together to ask the question: If art and culture are vital to society, health, and innovation, why aren’t artists considered essential workers in today’s economic and political climate?
Saturday, January 30th 11:00am-12:00pm Mountain Time
Joint House POC Filmmakers Panel
Skoll Grantees Illuminative and outreach partners Latinx House will come together to present a multi-ethnic, multi-racial panel highlighting the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s BIPOC directors. The panel will reflect on the importance of unity and authentic representation through a discussion of the directors’ Sundance films, the intersections between their projects, and each director’s journey to Sundance in this landmark age of pandemic and potential renewal. Moderated by Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Sundance Film Festival.
Monday, February 1st 7:00-8:00pm Mountain Time and Wednesday, February 3rd 4:00-8:00am Mountain Time
Judas And The Black Messiah
The first of two Participant films featured at Sundance this year. Fred Hampton’s cathartic words “I am a revolutionary” became a rallying call in 1969. As chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, Hampton demanded all power to the people and inspired a growing movement of solidarity, prompting the FBI to consider him a threat and to plant informant William O’Neal to infiltrate the party. Judas and the Black Messiah not only recounts Hampton’s legacy and the FBI’s conspiring, but also gives equal footing to the man who became infamous for his betrayal—highlighting the systems of inequality and oppression that fed both of their roles.
Sunday, January 31st 4:00-7:00pm Mountain Time and Tuesday, February 2nd 8:00-11:00am Mountain Time
My Name Is Pauli Murray
The second of two Participant films at Sundance highlights the relatively unknown story of Pauli Murray. As a lawyer, Black activist, feminist, poet, and priest, Murray questioned systems of oppression and conformity throughout the mid-twentieth century, with a radical vision consistently ahead of the times. Murray’s trailblazing legal foresight influenced landmark civil rights decisions and gender equality legislation that transformed our world.
Saturday, January 30th 7:00-10:00pm Mountain Time and Monday, February 1st 8:00-11:00am Mountain Time
Writing With Fire
Rintu Thomas is an award-winning director/producer and a fellow of the Skoll-supported Sundance Institute Stories of Change program. In their latest documentary directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh follow a fearless group of Dalit wonder women journalists—led by their chief reporter, Meera—as the team switches from print to digital in order to stay relevant. Armed with smartphones and the courage and conviction one must be born with, they investigate the incompetence of the local police force, listen to and stand by victims of caste and gender violence, and challenge long-standing, harmful practices that lead to injustice and intimidation. Thanks to the directors’ intimate yet respectful lens, we witness these rural reporters’ awe-inspiring efforts to dismantle patriarchy and redefine traditional notions of power. Writing With Fire is an electrifying reminder to never underestimate the strength of a woman who’s had enough.
Storytelling that unlocks the imagination and shines a light on solutions at the intersection of social issues and narrative change has always been core to our work at the Skoll Foundation. We hope you can join us for some of these exciting events and wish all the filmmakers, activists, and artists who make Sundance so special the very best of wishes in these trying times.
