In just a few days, film creators and purveyors from across the eight Knight resident communities will be in Park City, Utah, to showcase their work, connect with artists from around the world, and discover new voices in independent cinema.

We’re excited this year that Knight Foundation grantees will be well represented at the festival, with multiple entries from Miami’s own Borscht Corp. screening, including “The Sun Like a Big Dark Animal” by animation collective Bleeding Palm and “Papa Machete” by Jonathan David Kane and Jason Fitzroy Jeffers.

Independent cinemas, screening organizations and festivals from across Knight communities will be in Park City as well, scouting new films to bring back to eager audiences at home. Among them will be the Michigan Theater, Filmadelphia, the Nightlight, Coral Gables Art Cinema and O Cinema, which recently opened its third South Florida location.

2014 Knight Fellows participate in a panel at last year’s festival.

The annual festival has gone far beyond its reputation as the premiere independent film festival in the United States, to become a breeding ground for the next wave of filmmakers and artists, setting the tone for the future of independent cinema. With that, it fits perfectly into Knight’s efforts to build community through film, which we do in part by cultivating talent in the eight Knight resident communities.  In fact, among this year’s festivalgoers will be the next crop of Knight Fellows – four filmmakers selected by the institute to experience a crash course of all things Sundance. They include Miami film veteran Alexandra Codina, best known for her Emmy-nominated documentary “Monica & David”; Detroit-based filmmaker Erica Watson, co-founder of Hyphenation Nation Productions and a Creative Minds in Cannes fellow; Israel Vasquez, a Temple University MFA candidate and Sundance Screenwriting Intensive fellow; and Philadelphia-based sound artist Jen Mitlas, whose work explores the use of sound and music in film.

Each of the Knight Fellows will have the opportunity to experience the event, network with industry leaders, attend filmmaking seminars with seasoned veterans and connect with each other.

We’re looking forward to experiencing the festival through their eyes. You will be able to too, as some of the fellows will blog about their experiences at KnightArts.org.

Nicole Chipi is a program associate for Knight Foundation’s arts program.