OREANDA-NEWS. March 22, 2011. In celebration and support of diversity and innovation in independent filmmaking, the Sundance Institute and Honda have formed The Honda Power of Dreams Lab Fellowship to recognize an outstanding filmmaker participating in the Institute's renowned Feature Film Program Directors Lab. Selected by Institute staff and Honda executives, The Honda Power of Dreams Lab Fellow will receive a stipend from Honda in addition to the Lab experience and year-round guidance and mentorship provided by the non-profit Institute.

Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Sundance Institute Directors Lab provides an opportunity for directors to rehearse, shoot, and edit selected scenes from their screenplays in a workshop environment free from the commercial pressures of mainstream filmmaking and under the guidance of world-renowned Creative Advisors. Past Lab Fellows include Debra Granik (Down to the Bone), Dee Rees (Pariah), Elgin James (Little Birds), Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre), Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Sherman Alexie and Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry).

"The Honda Power of Dreams Lab Fellowship is a natural extension of our Feature Film Program's commitment to discovering diverse voices from underrepresented communities," said Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute. "We applaud Honda for assisting artists in such a committed way and are grateful also for their continued support of the Sundance Film Festival."

"The Honda Power of Dreams Directors Lab Fellowship is a win-win for the filmmaker, the film industry, and for corporate marketers," said Barbara Ponce, Manager of Corporate and Diversity Advertising for Honda.  "The filmmaker receives a career-enhancing opportunity to work with accomplished advisors, while the film industry and corporations like Honda benefit from greater diversity and fresh perspectives from the director's chair in film and marketing content."

The 2011 Honda Power of Dreams Fellow will be named on April 14. The Sundance Institute June Directors Lab runs May 30 through June 23 in Sundance, Utah.

Honda has been a supporter of the Sundance Institute and an official sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival for the past three years. In 2010 and 2011 Honda sponsored video vignettes which screened before films in competition at the Festival highlighting the work of the Sundance Institute Labs. The vignettes also ran on Sundance Channel, online and via Video on Demand. Honda also premiered its latest film, The Undying Dream, as part of a series of eight short-film documentaries the brand has produced.  Directed by Sundance Institute alumna and Grand Jury Prize Winner Ondi Timoner, the film features big wave professional surfer Laird Hamilton, motorcycle racers and Honda associates sharing their dreams and their paths to accomplishing them.  All eight of Honda's films in the DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE Documentary Series were produced by Sundance Film Festival alumni, including Joe Berlinger, Derek Cianfrance and Ondi Timoner.