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Go behind the scenes to learn from Sundance Advisors in our new Conversations from the Labs series. This collection of videos will deepen your understanding of all the creative disciplines that are supported through our Labs including Feature Film Directing and Writing, TV Writing, Emerging Media, Documentary, Producing, Film Music, and Theatre. with many of our Lab advisors.

Music and sound are an integral part of how documentary filmmakers create a sense of discovery for audiences experiencing their films. In this video from the 2020 Film Music and Sound Design Lab, Director Thomas Allen Harris (Through a Lens Darkly, Family Pictures USA) and Composer Miriam Cutler (RBG, The Hunting Ground) discuss the partnership between composers and filmmakers, how to develop a creative workflow, using music to build the emotional arc of the story and embracing the changes in a project as it continues to evolve. This conversation is moderated by Peter Golub, Director of Film Music at Sundance Institute.

More conversations in this series include actor/director Ed Harris, writer/director Karyn Kusama, writer/director Rick Famuyiwa, editor Dylan Tichenor and others.

Panelist
Thomas Allen Harris uses film, video, photography, and performance to explore family and identity in a participatory model of filmmaking that he has been pioneering since 1990. His deeply personal films have received acclaim at international film/art festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, FESPACO, Outfest, and Melbourne Art Festival; have broadcast on PBS, AfroPOP, Sundance Channel, ARTE, CBC, SBN and NZT; exhibited at MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art's 1995 Biennial, Corcoran Gallery, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and Qwangju Biennale. more...
Panelist
Miriam Cutler is a three time Emmy nominated composer, she is passionate about documentaries. Her work includes HBO, CNN, PBS, Sundance, Emmy, and Oscar nominated films: RBG, Love Gilda, Dark Money, The Hunting Ground, Ethel, Lost in La Mancha, Thin, Poster Girl, Vito, Kings Point, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, A Plastic Ocean, and more. Co-Produced and Scored Dark Money and One Luckey Elephant. Advisor/ Sundance Documentary Composers Lab, doc juror for Sundance FF, Spirit Awards, AFI, and more. AMPAS Documentary Branch member, Film Expert/USC Cinema/US State Department's American Film Showcase. Current TV Academy Music Branch Exec committee member, Long-time former SCL Board Member and Co-Founder of Alliance for Women Film Composers, Co-produced live jazz albums including Joe Williams, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn, Marlena Shaw. more...

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