What is the responsibility of programmers when it comes to discerning whether a film deserves the platform and profile of a major festival?
Archive for category: news

Sundance Institute Staffers Resign in Response to ‘Jihad Rehab’ Backlash — Exclusive
The two Sundance Institute staffers who resigned expressed concerns about the film ahead of this year’s festival. Two senior staffers at the Sundance Institute have...

Islamophobia and the Tyranny of Empathy: The Case of ‘Jihad Rehab
This past weekend I got cozy on my living room couch and attended my first screening of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival— the premiere of Meg Smaker’s Jihad Rehab. The film’s hapless title manages to be both inaccurate and offensive—“rehab” refers to an incarceration facility in Saudi Arabia and the casual equation of the word “jihad” with terrorism is offensive to Muslims—and foreshadows the next 108 minutes of the film.

Smithsonian Museum To Roll Out Community Filmmaking Showcase ‘Futures We Dream’
The Smithsonian Museum has commissioned a series of eight forward-looking shorts exploring social justice issues facing diverse communities across the U.S.

New Smithsonian Film Project “Futures We Dream” To Showcase Uplifting Visions of Eight Communities Across the U.S.
Debuting this November in the Smithsonian’s groundbreaking ‘FUTURES’ exhibition at the historic Arts and Industries Building...

New Report Released on the Economic Impact of the Arts and Cultural Sector
Reposted from NEA Washington, DC—After more than a year enduring the pandemic, the arts and cultural industries remain among the hardest hit by the economic...

What Can Museums and Art Orgs Do to Counter Anti-Asian Hate?
by Hakim Bishari | republished from Hyperallergic In the wake of the horrific shootings in Atlanta, Georgia last week, which claimed the lives of eight...

How Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Echo Hollywood’s Failings
By Elaine Low, Rebecca Davis | Republished from Variety In trying to explain why 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long would walk into three Atlanta-area massage spas...

National Endowment for Arts Announces Second Round of Fiscal Year 2020 Funding
The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture’s Arts2Work is the first federally-registered national apprenticeship program in media arts and creative technologies. Saki Bowman, pictured above,...

Tribeca Film Institute’s Closure Should Worry All American Independent Filmmakers
As those of us involved in independent film know well, the ecosystem for creating this work is tenuous at best.