Sundance Institute Feature Film Program via YouTube

Recently, the Sundance Institute brought its New Frontier Flash Lab to South Florida to explore ways to cultivate stories at the convergence of art and technology. Related INFORMATION

Sundance, in partnership with Knight Foundation, is hosting ShortLabs in Philadelphia and Miami this month. Register here for Philadelphia, and here for Miami.

I knew that Sundance coming to town would be good for Miami, but ultimately I didn’t know what to expect.  What most surprised me was the generosity of the four presenters: Susan Bonds (CEO, 42 Entertainment), Scott Snibbe (Björk’s Biophila & Philip Glass’ Rework), Jonathan Harris (Cowbird & We Feel Fine) and Jigar Mehta (18 Days in Egypt).

Not only were they willing to share their stories with an audience of emerging artists, but their work was innately generous. While they are all quite different, the four artists seem to constantly challenge themselves for the sake of creating and sharing something beautiful, useful and inspiring.

The day was filled with amazing insights, but here are a few personal takeaways from the event, which was co-presented by the Miami Filmmakers Collaborative and sponsored by Knight Foundation.

Having worked on a community engagement campaign for my documentary, Monica & David, I found Mehta’s talk about his web-based project, 18 Days in Egypt, a collaborative documentary about the Egyptian revolution, very relatable.  He spoke about not being afraid to transfer ownership, particularly in online projects, and how holding things too precious can backfire. To launch his site, he provided fellowships to several young Egyptians who were already online telling their stories.  It turned out to be such a simple, smart way to have good content that he didn’t have to produce himself.  When I was building outreach for Monica & David I had this constant feeling that I needed to produce everything myself to maintain quality.  But having a platform where you set parameters and allow your audience to contribute seems far more sustainable.

Although it’s very different from my own work, I was deeply inspired by Harris’ talk.  He manages to make data look painterly and uses simple parameters to reveal profound human truths.  His willingness to be vulnerable and continuously challenge himself to try new methods was energizing. 

TODAY from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo by Jonathan Harris

We all came away from the Flash Lab feeling grateful and optimistic. When you need some inspiration, check out their websites.  You don’t need to be an artist, filmmaker or tech guru to be fueled by their collective innovation, beauty, and humanity.  In their hands, technology can bring us together rather then contribute to our isolation. 

Sundance will bring its ShortsLab to Miami on March 22, at an all day event at the Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables. Registration is now open.

Aymée Cruzalegui, David Fenster, Rhonda Mitrani, Juan Carlos Zaldívar and I co-founded the Miami Filmmakers Collective to build community amongst local filmmakers.  We were honored to partner with Sundance, incredibly excited to share the day with our peers, and hope to see homegrown projects make their way to the New Frontier program at Sundance in Utah.  

If you’d like to stay connected to the collective – our next event is April 3 at the Perez Art Museum Miami – follow us on Facebook or join our email list by sending a note to [email protected].

Alexandra Codina is a Miami-based documentary director/producer & co-founder of Miami Filmmakers Collective