Sundance Institute Announces Key Updates for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, UTAH – The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced initial details for the upcoming 2023 Sundance Film Festival, taking place from January 19-29, 2023. 

Designed with the priority of bringing the Sundance community back together in theaters to watch and experience next year’s culture-shaping stories, the Sundance Film Festival begins in person, in Utah in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, on January 19 and runs through the 29th. Beginning on Tuesday, January 24, the Festival expands, welcoming audiences across the country to view select films online. The digital offering showcases an on-demand, curated selection of feature films from the 2023 Festival, including all competition titles (U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, and NEXT), as well as exciting work across other sections of the feature film program, alongside episodic work and short films. The 2023 Festival culminates with weekend screenings of this year’s Sundance Award–winning films on January 28–29, both in person and online. 

Audiences globally can experience a regenerated edition of New Frontier that tunes to today’s times, emphasizing independent artistic practice and environmental engagement at the crossroads of film, art, and new media technology. New Frontier will feature a cutting-edge lineup of multimedia works and keynote discussions on a bespoke spatialized digital platform beginning January 24 when the online portion of the Festival kicks off. For the past two years, New Frontier has provided audiences with a gold-standard destination to experience the Festival together while physically apart. 

“We are excited to bring the Sundance community together for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, a celebration of independent filmmaking. After two years of being apart, our priority is reuniting in person, while still sharing bold new films with audiences across the country through online access,” said Joana Vicente, CEO of the Sundance Institute. “We’ve designed this year’s Festival based on our learnings from previous years — embracing the traditions that have been meaningful in the past, while also looking toward accessibility for audiences and expanding the platform we provide our storytellers.”

The health and safety of the Sundance Institute staff, artists, volunteers, and audiences remains of the utmost importance to the Institute. We are continuing to work with our COVID-19 safety team and are following all CDC guidelines. All staff and volunteers working the Festival will be required to mask and test weekly. We request that attendees wear masks in all Sundance Film Festival spaces to keep themselves and other Festival community members safe. We encourage all attendees to test before attending and during the Festival and to be up to date on all COVID-19 vaccinations.

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival will be led by Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente. The Festival is programmed by a year-round team headed by Director of Programming Kim Yutani, along with Senior Programmers: Shari Frilot (also Chief Curator of New Frontier), John Nein (also Director of Strategic Initiatives), Mike Plante (Shorts), Charlie Sextro, Basil Tsiokos, Heidi Zwicker; Programmers: Ash Hoyle, Adam Montgomery, Sudeep Sharma, Ana Souza, Ania Trzebiatowska, and Stephanie Owens, who joins the team. The shorts programming team includes Emily Doe, Lisa Ogdie, Adam Piron, Mike Plante, DaManuel Richardson, Saidah Russell, Amanda Salazar, Irene Suico Soriano, Landon Zakheim, and Heidi Zwicker. Coordinators supporting the team include Cameron Asharian, Kat Hazelton, and Kelly Young. The full programming team is supported by programming associates and screeners. 

“We can’t wait for our 2023 Festival to give a bold start to the year, with the help of our inspiring storytellers, ingenious creators, and engaged audiences,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “For 39 years, the Sundance Film Festival has been a stalwart in the independent film community, and we’re thrilled to continue to be such an exciting annual gathering for artists and audiences.”

Program Submissions are currently open. They close on the following dates: Feature film submissions close September 5 (official) and September 26 (late), 2022. Short film submissions close September 5 (late), 2022. New Frontier submissions close September 9 (late), 2022. Episodic content submissions close August 26 (official) and September 12 (late), 2022. Details on applications, including frequently asked questions, are available here.

Members of the professional community accredited through the Press and Industry offices will have access to the 2023 program in person and online through on-demand viewing windows. In-person attendance is being prioritized with a limited number of online P&I badges available.

Information on ticket packages and venues will be announced in late September. Stay up to date at festival.sundance.org, and visit lodging.sundance.org to help plan your stay at the Festival.

Sundance Institute

As a champion and curator of independent stories, the Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported and showcased such projects as Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), CODA, Flee, Passing, Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On the Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams, and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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