The Hersholt Award is given annually to someone whose “humanitarian efforts have made a difference” in the entertainment industry. For countless new artists (many of whom have become celebrities), Sutter has been a guide and sounding board, guiding them through the most precarious moments of their careers and teaching them not just how to make their films better. , advised on the best way to proceed. To put it out in front of the audience. She may not be as famous as Sundance founder Robert Redford or former indie film impresario Harvey Weinstein. But she's a rare presence in Hollywood, a powerful behind-the-scenes figure who is both respected and loved.
That sentiment was evident at the Academy's glittering Governor's Awards ceremony in January, despite unimaginable sadness. A few weeks earlier, Mr. Sutter's 33-year-old son, Michael Rutt, had been shot and killed by an intruder in his home. Los Angeles.
“You are the mother of so many people sitting in this room,” Chloe Zhao said as she tearfully introduced Sutter with Ryan Coogler. Both directors benefited from her guidance in making her first films, Songs My Brothers Treat Me and Fruitvale Station.
“I know there's nothing I can say to take away the pain,” Zhao said. “But we want to say this to you, and we want to say this: We are all your children.”
The next day, it was clear that Mr. Sutter had taken Mr. Chao's words to heart. “I've spent 42 years being the mother of many artists,” she said. Ms. Sutter wore her cozy sweater at a bustling Starbucks in Pacific Palisades with her husband, TV producer and author David Rutt (the couple's eldest son, Franklin, is co-head of CAA's film talent department). It was near the house where I live. . She is petite and wears her heavy black-rimmed glasses, which are her signature. Sutter reflected on the night before, speaking softly and exuding calm as he navigated moments of joy and accomplishment accompanied by an indescribable sense of loss. “I learned a lot from him,” she says of Michael. Michael worked in the marketing of social impact films (Fruitvale Station was his first project) and named his company Lead with Love. “It comes from our family,” she continues. “It was key for him to focus on artists of color, because it was key for me as well. The key is to focus on leveraging storytelling for change. And lead with love. Lead with love and generosity.”
Love and generosity have been watchwords throughout Sutter's career at the Sundance Institute, during which she became known for her insight, nurturing temperament, and incisive, free-spirited way of delivering feedback. Ta. Sutter, the daughter of the late sculptor and painter Warren Sutter (whose mother Helen, a Holocaust survivor, recently celebrated her 100th birthday), created events for arts nonprofits in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in 1981. I was producing. At the first Filmmaker Lab at the Sundance Resort, she was invited by a friend of hers to attend a summit on professional film marketing, distribution, and exhibition. Redford, who named the property after a character from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” began buying land in Utah's Wasatch Mountains in the early 1960s. In addition to preserving the purity of his surroundings, he began dreaming of a retreat where first-time filmmakers could receive instruction from prominent screenwriters, directors, and actors.
She recalls the first time Sutter arrived at Sundance. The “Star Wars” series has recently achieved its second big hit. The studio world was changing in terms of the types of movies they wanted to make. It was less about personal fantasy stories and more about epic, world-building stories and living within fantasy and different genres. '' Redford always had an ambivalent relationship with Hollywood, but he wanted to be less constrained by the corporate imperatives of budget and deadlines and create space for more experimentation. “It was Bob and a small staff and a lot of volunteers,” Sutter recalls of the early days. “I always talk about it as inspired chaos.”
At the end of the first lab, Sutter asked Redford for five minutes, during which she encouraged Redford to open a Sundance office in Los Angeles on the Warner Bros. property where his production company was already located. Mr. Redford said, “Yeah, call me when you get there,'' and Mr. Sutter has been with the institute ever since, expanding the artist program from one-month sessions to year-round labs, fellowships, grants, and more. and contributed to the growth of the program of research activities. Intensive care with a global presence including India, Istanbul, Brazil and Mexico. “we, [also] “From the beginning, we were committed to supporting artists from underrepresented communities,” Sutter said, adding that projects by indigenous filmmakers in the U.S. and around the world are “in line with our earliest work. It forms a large part of the work that continues to this day, he added. Waititi (Next Goal Wins), Chris Eyre (Dark Winds), Starlin Harjo (Reservations) (Dog) are all Sundance alumni.
The Sundance Film Festival, held each January in Park City, is the institute's most public institution and is now known as much for its branding opportunities and celebrity sightings as for its groundbreaking films. . But the institute has gleaned the wisdom of its permanent advisors, including actor Ed Harris, actress and director Joan Darling, and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury, to help promising young artists create their own work in a spectacular natural setting. remained true to Redford's original vision of a place where people could hone their skills. (Tarantino, Kathryn He also serves as an advisor to Bigelow, Anderson, Kasi and his Lemons.)
In 1997, Gina Prince-Bythewood was about to give up on a role in the coming-of-age romantic comedy Love & Basketball when she received a call from Sundance inviting her to meet Sutter. “Before I walked into the room, I was completely freaked out,” Prince-Bythewood recalls. “I was new to meetings and the magnitude of such an occasion,” but within minutes, she says, she felt at ease thanks to her Sutter. “I was able to talk about why I wrote the screenplay and what was important about what I was trying to say. After being told by so many people that the story, characters, and voices were worthless, I realized that I felt like my voice was being heard and that my voice was important.”
Prince-Bythewood was eventually invited to attend both a one-week Writers Lab in January and a two-week Directors and Writers Lab the following June. She made her feature writing and directing debut two years later with Love & Basketball. “The environment is magical,” she says. “Not just the environment, but the energy. Because it's these filmmakers, screenwriters, directors, producers that you admire, and you've seen their work – and now… They talk about the script and what I want to say. And it all starts with Michelle finding and amplifying the voices that aren't being heard.”
Sutter didn't start life as a movie geek. She observes that her upbringing in an arts-filled household gave her a strong aesthetic sensibility, as well as her love of reading and dancing. “I know a good story,” she says. “I know a good idea. And I know a complex, vivid character. I also know if the writing has a pop, a feeling that makes me feel connected to myself. ” She recalls reading an early version of the script, “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” in 2008. “It was a mess in terms of structure,” she says. “But, well, that was an interesting story, wasn't it? And there's that character. [the film’s 6-year-old protagonist, Hushpuppy] The relationship between father and daughter, and the world they created, comes to life in an instant. I know what it is. '' Sutter eventually invited co-screenwriters Ben Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar to the 2009 Screenwriters Lab. Beasts of the Southern Wild premiered at his 2012 Sundance and became one of his biggest arthouse hits of that year.
When it comes to feedback, Sutter's philosophy is simple. No “memo” required. It's the dreaded Hollywood ritual in which executives, agents, investors, and interns down the hall consider what would make a script “better” (this concept is often confused with “”). It's more commercial”). “I'm not a note-taker,” Sutter admits. “I ask a lot of questions. My starting point when giving feedback is intent. Tell me what you're trying to say and where you are, what you need and what you're struggling with. Please. And from there, it's a conversation.”
Lulu Wang attended a second-time filmmaker lab just before leaving for China to prepare for “The Farewell” (she later became a Sundance board member) . Working with Tewkesbury, she recalls: Then she asks, “Does my script dig as deep as some of the work I'm doing in these exercises?” During production, I kept asking the same questions over and over again about how I could dig deeper. ”
Sutter has been around Sundance long enough to see it become shorthand for diametrically opposed values. Marketing and paparazzi are another. For some observers, the last three years' Best Picture winners, Chao (“Nomadland''), Sian Heder (“CODA''), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) — That everyone started at Sundance is a source of pride, but also a source of caution. As these filmmakers eagerly join Marvel movies and Star Wars blockbusters, the Governors Awards audience will be excited about the pipeline of talent Sundance has created for the series and her stalwart idols. One wonders if the destruction was applauded as much as it was.
Sutter chose to view the moment through a less binary lens. After all, didn't Redford have a cameo in Avengers: Endgame?
“For me, what was so important about this film was really recognizing the future of filmmaking and the importance of supporting the artistry of filmmaking,” she says. “[W]The hat that Bob made speaks loudest to me of our culture of generosity and how we can all use our privilege and talents to give back in some way. ”