Michelle Satter, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, has been called “the fairy godmother of independent cinema.” In 1981, she went to work for Robert Redford as the founding director of the Sundance Institute, the labs of which have, in the words of the Associated Press, “helped to launch the first films of many of Hollywood’s top filmmakers,” and, as the Los Angeles Times put it, served as “the premier incubator of indie talent.” She, meanwhile, has been described by our own publication as “a uniquely nurturing presence in an industry that more often than not mocks creativity and trivializes risk-taking.” And Interview magazine declared, “As a film fan, you might not know her name, but if you’re a filmmaker, you certainly do.”
To that point, consider what some alumni of the Sundance labs have said about her…
Paul Thomas Anderson: “She changed the course of my life and I don’t know where I’d be without her” … she was “the first person I met in the film business who gave me confidence and support.”
Darren Aronofsky: “Her early encouragements made me feel invincible.”
Debra Granik: “She is a tireless champion of storytelling diversity and has labored for years through the Institute to pry this space open, which in turn, has allowed filmmakers not previously represented in American movie making to contribute their work.”
Lisa Cholodenko: She was “one of my earliest champions.”
And the list goes on.
Last Tuesday night, Satter was presented, by Ryan Coogler and Chloe Zhao, on behalf of the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which is awarded, on occasion, to an “individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” Satter was only its 43rd recipient, and just its 10th female recipient.
A day before the presentation, the 71-year-old and I sat down at the Loews Hollywood Hotel to discuss how she first heard about a new venture being organized by Redford out in Utah, and talked her way into a gig there; what the Sundance labs are, how they have evolved and how they served a number of filmmakers who are now widely known; why, in her view, independent films are worth fighting for, now as much as ever; plus much more.
