More than 40 years ago, Michelles Satter, a recent college grad who had co-founded a performing arts organization in Boston, answered a call from a close friend that would forever change her life. “Would I consider coming to the Sundance Institute in Utah for the first monthlong filmmakers lab that Redford was starting up? How can you say no to that?” Satter recalled from a ballroom stage inside the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley during the Celebrating Sundance Institute gala. “There was an immediate yes.”
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Satter is seen as influential mentor to generations of auteurs like Tarantino, Chloé Zhao, Dee Rees, John Cameron Mitchell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ryan Coogler, Miranda July, Kimberly Peirce, Darren Aronofsky, Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
The majority of names just received Oscar nominations last week, and while all their tributes and speeches were impressive, the gala transformed into the Michelle Satter show. She was feted by three separate presenters, Glenn Close, filmmaker and lab veteran Marielle Heller and Bob’s daughter, Amy Redford, who read her father’s letter.
When she accepted the trophy, Satter, whose speech was bookended by standing ovations, had the room in awe; her powerful words matched with resilient spirit in the wake of tragedy. Satter and writer-producer husband, David Latt, lost their home in the Palisades Fire, a blow that came a year after the tragic murder of the couple’s son, Michael Latt.
More on both later, but back to Bob’s letter. “You have survived these four decades of changing administrations, pandemics and pandemonium, not only because of what you do, but who you are. The world has changed so much in these four decades, but in the midst of all of this change, one thing has remained steadfast. You, Michelle, through every challenge, every triumph, every cultural twisted turn, you are the lighthouse,” Redford said in his prepared remarks, which brought his daughter Amy to tears. “Yet it has never been about you as you’ve always been laser focused on the craft, the artist, and their needs, to encourage them to keep digging or maybe back off, maybe give them a hug or maybe little kick in the butt.”
The vet actress said Satter may not look the part of strong and powerful, but she is that and more. “Michelle has a soft voice, a diminutive woman. But Michelle, you are giant, explorer, visionary, magician, warrior, provocateur, mentor without fear, and on top of all that you are a wife and a mother, which basically says it all.”
In accepting her trophy, Satter talked a lot about family, both at the Institute and her own. A child of a Holocaust survivor mother (who is about to turn 102, and remains “one of the great bridge players”) and an artist father, Satter learned early on about the power of art to transform one’s life. “I grew up in a house surrounded by my father’s art and was immersed in a world where creativity knew no bounds. His work was everywhere, serving as a constant reminder of how art can bring beauty and truth into a dark world,” she said.
Satter was moved to tears while detailing the tragic fire that claimed her home. She escaped with only 10 minutes to collect personal items. Thinking that it was just evacuation and that she might soon be able to return home, she only grabbed a few things and lost a life’s worth of possessions and artwork. “It’s a deeply devastating time for us and many others. A moment that calls for all of us coming together to support our bigger community. As a friend recently noted, “Take a deep breath. We lost our village. At the end of the day, we are the village.”
She then thanked the village of filmmakers, artists and Sundance colleagues that share in “Bob’s change-making vision.” She expressed gratitude to husband David Latt and gave a special shout out to their son, Franklin Latt, a power agent at CAA who serves as co-head of the agency’s picture talent department. “That’s a big job,” she noted of his repping a long list of A-list stars. “He has worked hard to ensure that artists can thrive in our industry and find opportunities to do great work.”
She mentioned in her speech her late son, Michael Latt, “a social justice leader” who was tragically murdered by mentally ill homeless woman. Latt’s final film, the short “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams,” is screening at Sundance this week. “He would want to say to all of you, ‘Leading with love, building and fostering equity and cultural change through art and storytelling, it is our essential way forward.'”
Other highlights of the evening included Erivo accepting award from Oscar winner Olivia Colman, who wore Elphaba-coded tiara to do the honors.
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Mangold was being feted by both Edward Norton (on video) and Joel Edgerton (in person), Sara Bareilles performing two songs to close out the evening including a world premiere performance of “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet.” The track is featured in Ryan White’s Sundance doc Come See Me in the Good Light, and she wrote it with Andrea Gibson and Brandi Carlile.
Mangold, riding high off the 8 Oscar nominations for his Searchlight film A Complete Unknown, praised Satter and Sundance. The fest has always been a beacon for him when he was starting out, “a far-off place I read about and saw on TV.”
His first film, Heavy, was invited to the festival and it won him a director’s prize.
He visited first as fan and later attended the Sundance Lab to develop his 1997 feature Cop Land.
As Mangold’s career skyrocketed, he never forgot his roots by staying close to Sundance while serving as advisor and mentor to other filmmakers. “It really is a two-way street for us anyway, through all these years. It’s been a place where I made lifelong friends, and among them Redford and Satter,” he noted. “It’s immeasurable how deeply these two people have shaped not just Sundance, but filmmaking worldwide from the late 20th century until now with kind and gentle and firm and loving support of new voices.”
Mangold said that Redford’s hiring of Satter “has to be the single most significant and impactful decision” that Redford has made over many decades. The most pointed part of his acceptance speech came when he offered a call to action to all the storytellers in the ballroom and beyond.
“In this time of irony and snark and internet nightmares, we need sincerity and earnestness more than ever. That doesn’t mean every film has to be a history lesson or depressing, or weepy or political or provocative or wear its issues on its sleeve. It just means that we shouldn’t be embarrassed to feel shit and show it. We can battle the sleepwalking of our culture, not only with issue-oriented films, but also as Michelle said, entertaining ones that feel, and feel earnest and vital and emotional and true. Anyway, that’s how, in some small way, I hope some of my work is remembered, and I’m sure that’s how the work of Sundance will be remembered.”