Like so many great stories, Michelle Satter’s Sundance backstory started with a phone call and ended with the boldest of propositions. More than 40 years ago, Satter, a recent college graduate ...

Sundance: Michelle Satter Brings Tears To Festival’s Gala With Words Of Family & Loss; Cynthia Erivo & James Mangold Accept Visionary & Trailblazer Awards By Anthony D'Alessandro, Dominic Patten ...

Sundance Institute gave awards to "Wicked" star Cynthia Erivo and "A Complete Unknown" director James Mangold — but the most talk was in praise of Sundance's founding lab director, Michelle Satter.

Satter was recognized for her decades-long commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs. As many in the room knew and as Satter mentioned, she and her ...

(L-R) Michelle Satter and Amy Redford attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Gala Fundraiser during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Grand Hyatt Deer Valley on January 24, 2025 in Park City, Utah.

Michelle Satter, the Institute's founding senior director, has been by Redford's side since 1981. "We'll get 3,000 scripts; we'll select 12," she said. "That's a tiny number.

“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 Robert Redford and Michelle Satter,” he noted.

The evening's festivities also included a tribute to Michelle Satter, the founder of the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab of the Sundance Film Festival.

THR caught up with the Glenn Close at the Celebrating Sundance Institute gala fundraiser in Park City where Close feted good friend Michelle Satter.