To kick off this meeting of minds, Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler held a series of workshops at the Sundance Film Festival this week. In the future -- beginning this spring -- the Sundance Institute will showcase alumni projects on Kickstarter.com (including films, shorts, plays, etc.), asking other alumni and film fans to kick in cash to fund said films. Sundance.org will also feature these projects, as well as interviews with the filmmakers.
Sundance Institute alumni are those who have participated in film, theatre and music programs run by the institute, which Robert Redford conceptualized in 1981.
“Technology now allows filmmakers to fund and make films in ways we could never have even conceived. Just as we did 30 years ago, the institute is responding to a need, with a responsibility to help the individual artist,” Redford says.
When we covered The Woods's inclusion in the Sundance Festival, we noted that filmmakers would soon have to find a way to distinguish themselves from the masses when it comes to attracting the Kickstarter audience's attention. Well, it seems as though Kickstarter and Sundance have devised a fitting method.
Additionally, the institute plans to build an online hub of resources giving users tips on distribution options, funding strategies and other areas. Facebook will also be participating in this program, helping alumni reach fans through the social networking site. In the past, Facebook has helped build out the pages for films like Waiting For Superman.
Photo by Calvin Knight