Sundance Institute and Time Warner Announce New Four-Year Storytelling Advancement Fund

Sundance Institute and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) announce today the Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund. The Fund provides substantial support over four years to help fund Sundance Institute's development and celebration of independent artists across the Sundance Institute's core programs. Sundance Institute is an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent artists dedicated to the artistic development of filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, writers, playwrights and theatre artists. "We are fortunate to receive this generous commitment from Time Warner which recognizes the importance of this creative and financial support for independent artists at crucial moments in their work," said Ken Brecher, Executive Director, Sundance Institute. "Time and again, the most provocative and original artists who have found a home at Sundance have shown a dedication to pushing the boundaries of storytelling." "Sundance Institute is a leader in discovering and nurturing innovative artists and original storytellers,” said Lisa Quiroz, Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Time Warner. "So they were a natural partner for us in our commitment to support emerging and diverse artists. As a media and entertainment company, our success is rooted in compelling, vibrant storytelling. Through this partnership, we hope to help gifted artists bring to life stories that cross boundaries, communicate our shared experience and reflect the rich diversity of our society.” The new Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund is composed of two main components. The first is the establishment and specialized support of the Time Warner Storytelling Fellows, a talented group of Sundance film and theatre artists (up to 20 fellows over a four-year period) whose work uniquely positions and advances the concept of storytelling. Fellows will each receive a grant to enable them to focus specifically on the advancement of the narrative and voice in their projects. The second component is the piloting of activities to explore ideas in advancing storytelling throughout the broader arts landscape, including public readings and creative roundtables. Fellows are chosen for the uniqueness and diversity of the project's voice and narrative, and the particular timeliness of the story and its perspective. These artists will be developing projects which highlight the role and importance of storytelling in specific aspects of the creative process; in personal vision and perspective; and as a central component in embracing the diversity of our common experience. Sundance Institute and Time Warner are proud to announce the selection of filmmaker Patricia Benoit for her project HAITI CHERIE and playwright Tracey Scott Wilson for the project THE GOOD NEGRO as the inaugural Time Warner Storytelling Fellows. Benoit and Wilson participated in the 2007 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs and 2007 Sundance Theatre Lab respectively. Each will receive a $5,000 grant and will be given a combination of year-round guidance, residency support, mentoring, work presentation, professional development and ongoing investment. The 2007 Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund projects join a long history of Sundance Institute projects whose stories speak to the key issues and ideas that shape our common experience – dramatic films such as ALL THE REAL GIRLS, BOYS DON'T CRY, HOUSE OF SAND, LONGTIME COMPANION and SMOKE SIGNALS; and plays such as SPRING AWAKENING, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, I AM MY OWN WIFE and ANGELS IN AMERICA. The 2007 Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund Fellows Include: HAITI CHERIE / Patricia Benoit In HAITI CHERIE by Patricia Benoit, nothing is as simple as it seems. Through interconnected stories of exile, a young couple, two sisters and a father and son find that shedding the past is impossible when it is marred by torture and violence. Achingly real and timely, the film reveals the rich complexity of immigrant life in the United States and the powerful links between the personal and the political, the present and the past. Patricia Benoit was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and grew up in Queens, New York. Her family was forced into exile under the Duvalier dictatorship and moved to France before moving to the United States. Benoit’s documentary COURAGE AND PAIN (produced by Jonathan Demme), about victims of political torture in Haiti, was shown at the Walter Reade Theater in New York and the London Film Festival. TONBE/LEVE, her award-winning documentary about the struggle for democracy in Haiti after the end of the Duvaliers’ 30-year rule, screened at the New York Film Festival, The Havana Film Festival, The New York Human Rights Film Festival and the San Juan Film Festival. THE GOOD NEGRO / Tracey Scott Wilson THE GOOD NEGRO by Tracey Scott Wilson, directed by Liesl Tommy, is a new play that puts a very human face on the 1960’s American civil rights movement through personal and intimate stories that emerged from the political upheavals of the era. In a constantly shifting landscape, a trio of emerging black leaders must conquer their individual demons, the local KKK fights for its old way of life and everyday, black men and women must overcome their fears, all under the all watchful eye of the FBI. Tracey Scott Wilson's current work includes THE STORY, produced at the Public Theater/NYSF. Additional productions include ORDER MY STEPS for Cornerstone Theater’s Black Faith/AIDS project in Los Angeles; and EXHIBIT #9, which was produced in New York City by New Perspectives Theatre and Theatre Outrageous; and LEADER OF THE PEOPLE produced at New Georges Theatre. Tracey has had readings at the New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges Theatre, the Public Theater and Soho Theatre Writers Centre in London. She earned two Van Lier Fellowships from the New York Theatre Workshop, a residency at Sundance Ucross, and is the winner of the 2001 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, the 2003 AT&T Onstage Award, the 2004 Whiting Award and the 2004 Kesserling Prize. Ms. Wilson holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Temple University. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE Founded by Robert Redford in 1981 in the mountains of Sundance, Utah, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated year-round to the development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work. Since its inception, the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent artists through its Film Festival and artistic development programs for filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, writers, playwrights and theatre artists. The original values of independence, creative risk-taking and discovery continue to define and guide the work of Sundance Institute, both with US artists and, increasingly, with artists from other regions of the world. The programs of Sundance Institute include the annual Sundance Film Festival, held in Park City each January and considered the premier U.S. showcase for American and international independent film. The Institute supports nonfiction filmmakers through the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program by providing year-round support through the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and a series of programs that encourage the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling and promote the exhibition of documentary films to increasingly broader audiences. The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is a year-round program dedicated to supporting artist development and the advancement of distinctive, singular independent projects. Each year 20-25 emerging filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad participate in the program which includes the Screenwriters and Filmmakers Labs, ongoing creative and strategic advice, production and post-production resources and financial support through fellowship opportunities. The Sundance Institute Theatre Program is committed to invigorating the national theatre movement with original and creative work and to nurturing the diversity of artistic expression among theatre artists. The Sundance Institute Film Music Program is dedicated to supporting the development of emerging film composers, as well as impacting the ways in which independent filmmakers approach music in their films. The Institute also maintains The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a unique archive of independent film. TIME WARNER INC. Time Warner Inc. is a leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing.