The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s gala fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute, which will take place on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The event will be an evening in celebration of Michelle Satter, founding sr. director of artist programs at Sundance Institute, for her longstanding commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs, where visionary artists convene to develop groundbreaking projects through an in-depth creative process, for the past four decades. The annual Vanguard Awards will be presented during the evening to Sean Wang, writer and director of Dìdi, and Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane, who premiered their films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The annual gala enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants, and public programming that nurture artists from all over the world. The 2025 event is made possible with the generous support of Google TV. The Festival will take place from January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online from January 30–February 2, 2025 for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling.
“For over four decades Michelle has been devoted to truly championing independent storytellers,” said Amanda Kelso, acting CEO of Sundance Institute. “She has encouraged artists to own their voice, learn their craft, become fierce leaders, and develop their resilience in our changing ecosystem. Her life-long commitment to supporting artists, especially in underrepresented communities, has helped produce some of the most bold and distinctive films that have engaged audiences globally and sustained their visionary work throughout their career. In addition this year, we are thrilled to recognize Sean Wang, Julian Brave NoiseCat, and Emily Kassie — inspiring filmmakers that represent the next generation of independent storytelling, who have each been supported by the Institute. We look forward to our guests joining us at the Celebrating Sundance Institute gala, allowing us to continue our nonprofit efforts of launching, transforming, and sustaining the work of artists and their immeasurable impact on the world.”
Starting in 1981, Satter worked alongside Robert Redford who founded the Sundance Institute. Together with a committed team of leaders and collaborators, they developed impactful ways of mentoring emerging independent storytellers in a creative, rigorous, and safe space which launched with the annual June Filmmakers Lab. Satter has acted as an influential mentor to generations of award-winning filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Chloé Zhao, Dee Rees, John Cameron Mitchell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ryan Coogler, Miranda July, Kimberly Peirce, Darren Aronofsky, Sterlin Harjo, and Taika Waititi. Over the years, Satter has built the Episodic Program, Producers Program, the Institute’s global initiatives and oversees the Indigenous, Catalyst, and Documentary Film Programs. She also founded Sundance Collab — a global digital platform for storytelling, learning, and community, open to creators everywhere. Over the years, Satter’s contributions to film and advocacy have been recognized with numerous awards including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar presented at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s 2024 Governors Awards, the Women in Film Business Leadership Award, and the ACLU Bill of Rights Award.
“Championing independent artists through the Sundance Institute has been the driving force of my career,” Satter shared. “I’m passionately invested in this work because I believe that art and storytelling can truly reshape the world, sparking empathy, bridging humanity, and fostering understanding for global audiences, all while engaging and inspiring them. Our Labs have grown into vital spaces for creativity, risk-taking, and community—building a model for artist support around the world. In today’s fast-changing industry, the mission of Sundance and other forward-thinking organizations has never been more crucial, paving new paths for independent artists and elevating voices that deserve to be heard.”
The annual Vanguard Awards honor emerging artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence in both fiction and nonfiction. The Vanguard Award for Fiction will be presented to Sean Wang, writer-director of Dìdi, and the Vanguard Award for Nonfiction will go to Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane. Previous honorees include: Celine Song, Maite Alberdi, W. Kamau Bell, Nikyatu Jusu, Ryan Coogler, Siân Heder, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Radha Blank, Lulu Wang, Dee Rees, Damien Chazelle, Marielle Heller, Benh Zeitlin, and Boots Riley.
Academy Award® nominee Wang gained recognition for his award-winning short, Nai Nai & Wài Pó. Wang and his first feature film Dìdi represent how Sundance Institute as an organization works to uplift and foster independent storytellers and their projects across year-round programs. Wang and Dìdi were supported by the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship, Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship, and the Institute’s 2023 Directors and Screenwriters Labs. Dìdi went on to premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast, and was acquired by Focus Features for a summer 2024 theatrical release where it received critical praise and was a notable box office success. Following the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January, Dìdi had premieres globally as the opening night film at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia in Taipei in August and the closing night film for the Sundance Film Festival: London 2024 in June.
“For over a decade, Sundance has been my north star, symbolizing artistic excellence and bold, distinct voices,” said Wang. “It has since also become a community of artists, an unwavering support system, and a creative home for both myself and my first feature, Dìdi. As the recipient of several Sundance Institute artist development programs — Ignite, TAAF, and the Screenwriters and Directors Labs — I know firsthand how deeply transformative that support can be for emerging storytellers. I’ll especially never forget the experience of being at the Sundance Labs, just months before shooting my movie, and how reinvigorated and inspired I felt. It is a feeling that is too special to not nourish and carry forward for others. I truly wouldn’t be the filmmaker I am today without Sundance. I’m so grateful to receive this award and I’m excited to see the future of independent cinema continue to flourish under Michelle Satter’s steadfast vision and commitment to supporting new artists.”
Co-directors NoiseCat and Kassie premiered their film Sugarcane at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, which went on to win the U.S. Documentary Directing Award. Writer and director NoiseCat is a member of the Canim Lake Band and descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie. His first book “We Survived the Night” will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2025 and translated into French and German. Kassie is an Emmy and Peabody-nominated filmmaker and investigative journalist. Her work for The New York Times, PBS, and Netflix includes the Taliban’s crackdown on women, sexual abuse in America’s immigrant detention system, drug and weapons trafficking in the Saharan desert, and child labor in Turkey.
“We are deeply honored to receive the Vanguard Award for Sugarcane,” shared NoiseCat and Kassie in a joint statement, “Sundance gave us and our film a place to learn and grow through the generosity of mentors, peers, and fellow artists. We will never forget that special afternoon at the Library Center Theatre when the room went dark and we held hands — and our breath — with anticipation. It meant the world to us and our participants, who so bravely shared their lives on screen, for this long ignored but essential history to be recognized by the preeminent home for independent cinema. Sundance helped bring the reckoning our film follows to a global audience at a pivotal moment, not just for the First People of North America but for all people who call this continent home. Thank you for letting us be part of this extraordinary legacy and for celebrating the film — and community — of Sugarcane.”
