One of the great benefits of Sundance Film Festival is that it provides a forum for independent film producers to gather and not only share war stories, but celebrate each other and offer support for the films presented. On Sunday, January 26, Sundance Producers Celebration was held for this exact purpose, with the 2025 Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Awards, which are distributed for producers of films as the premiere at this year’s festival. “Babygirl” producer David Hinojosa Also delivered the main address.
Joe Pirro got Amazon Studios Fiction Producers Award for his work with Remake by The “wedding banquet” In the lead role Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone, while Danielle Varga received Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award for the documentary “Seeds.” Both will receive a contribution of $ 10,000 as part of this price. IndieWire shares the key of Hinojosa exclusively below.
David Hinojosa: This is really a place that allows you to be exactly Who you are. I went all the way here in this outfit completely uncontested!
I really wanted to look like a pop star today. When I got the conversation I thought, Wow – I’ve never done a half -time show performance before! And then Shira clarified, “It’s the producers Brunch Keynote.”
For someone who does not like physical touch, I have been embraced by Sundance. Thanks to Michelle, Shira and Kristin for inviting me to talk to you all today.
It comes as no surprise to anyone in this room who knows me … and looks, I know many of you … that I am a child on the internet. “Enthusiast” puts it mildly. Since childhood, the entire cerebral cortex has been connected directly to the web. In the 90s, the sweet pitch on the AOL call modem warned everything I was connected to the immediate Messenger Holding Court and, unlike today, dozens of dozens juggled at once.
Now I do not have the numbers on this, but I strongly doubt that I was the only millennial who could log endless hours that ties up the family house that browses the internet. But what it was for me, a child from Indiana, was a window to the world and a tool to persecute my emerging preference for rabbit holes. I was always looking for something. Determined to find an answer. Not sure what it would result in or if the said results can even be applied to literally anything. But I had to know.
Of course, my other great obsession were movies. But it was my mom who unlocked this early preference for making movies. So I was one of the children who always had a new, bright idea for what I wanted to “do when I grow up.” I can actually recite some ideas with a time stamp: December 1991: Pirate. (Obviously.) July 1994: International Spy. May 1996: Rare weather events Storm Chaser. Also May 1996: Back to international spy. I think you see what happens here … These dates and obliged career goals adapt to the fact that I first see “hook”, “true lies”, “twister” and “mission impossible.” My mom coo’d: “SUH-Weetie, I think you are reacting to The movie …“
Unlocked.
In the spring of 2001, I put on my biggest rabbit hole yet. Like every regular boy out there, I was obsessed with Elizabeth Taylor. Oooh I loved Liz. I had just acquired “Cleopatra: Five Star Collection” 3 disc. The content, in all their majesty, included a two -hour divine documentary about the tormented production. A significant player in that story was Darryl F. Zanuck. Yes, he lay down with Joseph L. Mankiewicz, but I loved he had Chutzpah. He made things happen. He had a point of view.
Now I was in my Zanuck rabbit hole eraand I came on this anecdot: In a previous collaboration with Mankiewicz, the novel A letter to five wives, The director and Zanuck struggled strongly to bring down the high page number and later uncommon Runtime. “My dear man, it’s simple.” Zanuck gnawed, “You have to cut two of the wives!” And the recent title “A Letter to Three Wives” would continue to win an Oscar Prize. What a job. And what a breakthrough I had. Maybe I can be the one who makes it happen. And besides, I was finally able to merge my useless internet addiction with the passion for creative. I finally had the answer to the questions I was looking for.
So when I found out what filmmaking was – (tick off as a checklist) Do mini-dv cam videos about dog, read script anyway i could find them, listen to each DVD directory comments, write college essay on Paul Thomas Anderson and finally go to the film school – I could go on to sort out what producing was. And the boy I had some fantastic guides on the road: Anne Carey, Ted Hope, Pam Koffler and Christine Vachon, just to name a few. These people were total heroes to me. Reading Christine Vachon’s book and then working with Pam and her literally changed the course in my professional life.
It is an extraordinary way to spend your career and we have had some great things. Sure, Zanuck. Robert Evans. Jerry Bruckheimer. Lynda Obst. Mary Parent. Some iconic partnerships like Frank Marshall & Kathleen Kennedy. Yes, Christine & Pam. Wink.
But from periods of heyday and excellence we are now somewhere else. The role of the producer has been developed and often not for the better. I have the declining feeling that this is a profession during siege. The rules have changed. There are hardly rules! The opportunities dry. Structural mentoring is too rare. Bureaucratic stress and the risk of personal financial ruin have been particularly increased on independent producers. The producing credit itself has been sliced and teded and watered down. It can be a gimmick, a carrot and a bandaid. This is our livelihood and our passion. But it has decreased, which often leaves us with all responsibility but little authority.
So what I know for sure is this. We have to push our own Self -renewal. No one will fix it for us. As a textbook definition of “doors”, it is exactly that we have to activate. And we are So happy That we have a job that rewards creative entrepreneurship. But I also know for sure – we have to trust the people in this room. We must gather our talents, famous impossible to define or fit in a job description. We have to take advantage of everything.
In a world where power dynamics are constantly changing, it is crucial to remember the unique position we have. Our power lies not only in our ability to make films, but in our ability to inspire, to challenge, and, you can say, to bring people to our cause. Drive Is a word that I have thought of a lot because this week has developed.
Which plum spot in January that Sundance is embedded. This time of year represents recovery, restart and regeneration. Filmmakers reveal their work, launch their award campaigns and begin new friendships. (Sharp) But it is also around this time that there is a change in Washington.Power.
I am proud that this festival often shows work that challenges, confirms or breaks the larger American history. And this year … we have be One of these stories. I see some faces from producers united in the room. A group of people who are often busy against each other go instead of solving a really big problem. By dealing with inequalities that affect producers of all kinds, including initial wages and health care, we take control of our destiny and ensure sustainability in this career path. This collective effort, supported by the producer branch at the academy, PGA and the producer program at the Sundance Institute, also shows the power of unit in our society. So – will we act on that power? The moment is ours to do it.
Don’t let anyone say this is not an exciting time to make movies. You and the people standing next to you are the ones who will crack this. We will have another heyday with really nice creative producers – you are already creating the work. This year’s selection is undeniable evidence. Just a few days in and we have already had countless exciting common moments in these theaters. And I think of my younger self – what if I had had online access to these types of groundbreaking films that did not come to a local theater.
In many ways, I am still the same internet-loving children from Indiana-Sassy, talkative and cards. But now I have this outlet and this canvas. A place to put cocktail of random skills, open computer tabs and compulsion to work. And best of all, a creative society that works together and builds coalition. We have to look for each other. And thus we will not only adapt to the changing industry but also form Its future, to ensure that the art of producing remains as important and influencing as ever.
