Sundance 2016: Support pours in for independent filmmakers of colour and women

The Sundance film festival has begun at Utah and movie lovers are flocking to Salt Lake City to watch the independent movies that have been selected for screening after scouring through thousands of entries.

This is the biggest film festival in the US and some of the chosen movies often make their way to the Golden Globe and the Oscars. This year, Brooklyn is nominated for best picture and Saoirse Ronan for best actress.

As the platform offers a great amount of scope for movie creators, Array and Indiegogo have collaborated to extend their support for independent films by content creators of colour and women filmmakers.

An event, the Array Soiree was organised at the Sundance, where fifty influencers from both the creative and business sides of the entertainment industry brainstormed on ideas and goals to promote the filmmakers' interests.

"We started Indiegogo because we believe every idea deserves a chance at success and every person deserves the opportunity to fund what matters to them — whether that's a story that's never been told or a film from a voice that's never been heard," Danae Ringelmann, the co-founder and chief development officer of Indiegogo told IBTimes UK. "We're so excited to start working with Array in our mutual mission to empower all aspiring filmmakers get a chance to bring their ideas to the screen."

"Indiegogo has proven to be the perfect, like-minded partner in this experiential endeavour at Sundance to assert the importance and beauty of filmmakers of colour and women filmmakers," Array founder Ava DuVernay explained.

The 2016 Sundance Film Festival features Indiegogo alumni Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead and Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Almendras' Aquí no ha pasado nada – Much Ado About Nothing among several others.

Most of the movies that are showcased at the Sundance event receive critical acclaim. However, only a handful of these become commercial successes.

The 10-day long independent film festival began on 21 January and will conclude on 31 January.