In addition, more than a dozen community events have been organized to further link Sundance’s mission with Chicago’s bustling independent film and arts culture. This includes panels on sustainable innovation in independent filmmaking, roundtables on film distribution, and independent cinema’s ties to Black liberation.
Most notably, RogerEbert.com Publisher Chaz Ebert will be featured on the panel “Lights, Camera, Collaboration! The Art of Filmmaker and Funder Partnerships,” which runs July 28th from 12pm-3pm. There, Ebert will join Alex Thompson, Eddie Linker, Haroula Rose, Mark Glasgow, and Whitney Spencer to discuss the importance of filmmaker-investor partnerships. (This will be followed by a book signing for Chaz Ebert’s new book, It’s Time to Give a FECK.) You can get tickets here.
More than a Midwestern supplement to one of the world’s foremost international film fests, Sundance x Chicago may well serve as a kind of test run for where the fest might go next. In April, The Sundance Institute announced that they were considering leaving Park City, Utah, its home since Robert Redford founded the fest in 1981, and finding a new host city beginning in 2027. A strong showing for this Chicago extension might make a compelling case for the city to become Sundance’s new home.
You can find more programming details and tickets to public events at SundanceInstitudexChicago.com.