Mark Rosenberg Wins 2014 Sundance Institute/NHK Award

Park City, UT — Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have announced Mark Rosenberg, director of the upcoming film, Ad Inexplorata, as winner of the 2014 Sundance Institute/NHK Award. The award was presented at a private ceremony at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Created in 1996 to celebrate 100 years of cinema, the annual award recognizes and supports a visionary filmmaker on his or her next film. Sundance Institute staff work closely with the winner throughout the year, providing creative and strategic support through the development, financing and production of their films. Films previously supported by this award include Beasts of the Southern Wild, by Benh Zeitlin, and May in the Summer, by Cherien Dabis, which had its world premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Rosenberg is a filmmaker and the Founder and Artistic Director of Rooftop Films, a New York-based non-profit organization. He has produced and directed numerous short films and recently co-produced and co-directed Orbit(Film), an omnibus movie about our solar system. He is also developing a screenplay about a man who suddenly realizes he has the power of telekinesis. He has participated in the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program June Screenwriters Lab and Creative Producing Lab and is the recipient of the Institute’s Creative Producing and Indian Paintbrush grants.

Ad Inexplorata is a multi-media fictional story about Captain William D. Stanaforth, an astronaut alone on a one-way mission toward the unknown. Mark Strong is attached to star in the lead role.

The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Since 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (FFP) has supported more than 500 independent filmmakers whose distinctive, singular work has engaged audiences worldwide. The program’s approach to the discovery and development of independent artists has become a model for creative development programs internationally. Program staff fully embrace the unique vision of each filmmaker, encouraging a rigorous creative process with a focus on original and deeply personal storytelling. Each year, up to 30 emerging artists from the U.S. and around the world participate in a year-round continuum of support which can include the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Creative Producing Fellowship and Lab, Music and Sound Design Lab, Creative Producing Summit, ongoing creative and strategic advice, significant production and postproduction resources, a Rough-Cut Screening Initiative, a Screenplay Reading Series, and direct financial support through project-specific grants and artist fellowships. In many cases, the Institute has helped the Program’s fellows attach producers and talent, secure financing, and assemble other significant resources to move their projects toward production and presentation. In addition, the FFP is providing strategic resources to completed Lab films in distribution and marketing across all platforms to support and expand their connection to audiences worldwide.

FFT Webmaster

The FFT Webmaster use displays whenever an article has multiple authors. It also pops up on articles from old versions of Film Festival Today. The original author byline might be missing! In that case, if you are the author of such an article and see this bio instead of your own, please send us an email. Some of our contributors that might be missing bylines are: Brad Balfour, Laura Blum, and Sandy Mandelberger, among others.