Sundance Institute Sets Talent Development Pact With UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
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- UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television and the Sundance Institute have signed a five-year collaboration agreement targeting emerging filmmakers and storytellers, set to begin in September.
- The pact combines UCLA's academic resources with Sundance Collab's international community of more than 130,000 artists across 177 countries, per Michelle Satter, founding senior director of Sundance Institute artist programs.
- A Digital Hub will launch the collaboration first and is expected to go UCLA-wide by 2027, providing TFT students and staff with resources to address what the partnership calls the "hidden curriculum of film education."
- Three additional programs are in development — an annual Summer Summit at UCLA, the UCLA Bridge Intensive featuring a Sundance Film Festival Experience for TFT students in Boulder, Colorado, and a co-developed program on new technology, creativity, justice and equity — all expected to launch throughout 2028.
- Celine Parreñas Shimizu, dean of TFT, framed the deal as the premier independent film institution meeting the premier public film school, with TFT positioned as the place "where those voices are forged — in craft, in method, in authorship."
Why it matters: UCLA TFT students gain direct pipeline access to Sundance Collab's existing network of 130,000-plus artists across 177 countries, plugging academic training into a working independent film ecosystem. The explicit framing around the "hidden curriculum of film education" suggests the partnership targets professional norms and industry access gaps that traditional coursework doesn't reach.
