Stanley Hotel to host Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab

ESTES PARK – The Stanley Hotel will host the Sundance Institute’s signature Directors Lab in 2024, according to the institute and the hotel.

The Directors Lab, the nonprofit global arts organization’s signature event, nurtures diverse, original voices through an immersive filmmaking experience over two to three weeks every summer, creating a safe, inclusive space for first-time feature directors to rehearse, shoot and edit scenes that will build their skills working with actors, exploring text and finding the visual language and aesthetic for their films.

For more than 40 years, the Directors Lab has taken place at the Sundance Resort in Utan, the institute’s founding location. It’s being moved to Estes Park next summer while construction takes place at the resort.

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The event was brought to Colorado with support from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to bring the Directors Lab to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado,” said Michelle Satter, founding senior director of artist programs at the Sundance Institute, in a prepared statement. “In identifying a host for our Directors Lab, it was essential to find a space that was surrounded by nature for artists to create, had multiple environments for shooting, and could be an environment where artists could leave behind the distractions of everyday life and immerse themselves in their projects.”

The institute’s labs for emerging artists take place throughout the year at locations across the country. In addition to the Directors Lab at the Stanley Hotel, its plans for 2024 include the January Screenwriters Lab and Episodic Lab at the Sundance Resort, the Native Lab in New Mexico, the Ignite Lab in Massachusetts and the Producers Lab at the UCross Foundation in Wyoming.

““We are pleased to welcome the Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab to Colorado in 2024. The Stanley Hotel and Estes Park will provide inspiring backdrops for this prestigious workshop and showcase the many resources our state offers the film industry, including the unparalleled natural beauty of filming locations,” said Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman.

A grant from OEDIT is fueling the Stanley’s drive to feed off its haunted history – including its role in the novel and subsequent 1980 film “The Shining” – by opening a $40 million film center that highlights the horror-movie genre as well as other movie-making subjects.

“The Stanley is very pleased to continue its long tradition of supporting the arts and honored to have Sundance and all of their creative partners here,” said John Cullen, owner of the iconic hotel since 1996. “I look forward to hosting and seeing what happens when hundreds of such talented people come together to the Colorado mountains to share their skills and experiences in such a collaborative environment.”