Sundance Institute is bringing the Sundance Film Festival to Asia, launching an Asia edition of the 2021 festival abroad in partnership with XRM Media.
The first edition of Sundance Film Festival: Asia will take place late this summer in Jakarta, Indonesia, and it will showcase a selection of films that played at this year’s virtual film festival. It will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the independent film community within Asia.
2021’s edition will take place in Jakarta with support from IDN Media, Indonesia’s leading media platform company. Other Asian cities will be explored for future editions.
No specific films were included just yet, but travel and public health permitting, the festival will travel with a delegation of filmmakers and make available new Sundance Lab initiatives for Asian talent in collaboration with XRM Media, as well as Sundance Co//ab experiences designed specifically for the territory.
“We have long wanted to deepen our connection to the bold and vibrant energy of Asian independent filmmaking. The opportunity to work more closely with the community of filmmakers and audiences in Indonesia through a collaboration with XRM Media makes this first year of Sundance Film Festival: Asia a very exciting prospect,”‘ Tabitha Jackson, director of the Sundance Film Festival said in a statement.
“Indonesia is an emerging film market, and we are committed to bring the strength of the Institute to help develop and showcase Asian talent to the indie community,” Michael Y. Chow, co-founder of XRM Media, said in a statement.
“We are very excited to bring the 2021 Sundance Film Festival: Asia for the first time to Indonesia. We truly believe that this historic festival would be an important momentum for the film industry in Asia, especially for filmmakers and film enthusiasts in Indonesia, to connect and collaborate with filmmakers around the world,” Winston Utomo, CEO IDN Media, said in a statement.
News of an international Sundance comes after Sundance for the first time broke out of Park City, Utah and hosted events in numerous cities across the U.S., including drive-in screenings and other events while the main festival remained virtual for 2021. Sundance as a result clocked 600,000 viewers across all of its online screenings and in-person events, a record for the festival.
Leave a Reply