Sundance Institute Honors Roger Ebert, Ryan Coogler at LA Benefit Tonight

The third annual Celebrate Sundance Institute Los Angeles Benefit, celebrating artistry and visionary leadership in independent film. This year, the benefit will honor the life and work of beloved journalist and film critic Roger Ebert with the Vanguard Leadership Award in Memoriam, in recognition of his advocacy of independent cinema. The award will be presented by Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford and accepted by Ebert's wife, Chaz Ebert. Kerry Washington will present Ryan Coogler with the Vanguard Award, Presented by Tiffany & Co. Coogler is a director and alum of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, was selected for Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab and went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

In attendance will be: Sundance Institute President & Founder as well as Vanguard Leadership Award presenter, Robert Redford; Chaz Ebert (Accepting the Vanguard Leadership Award on behalf of her late husband Roger Ebert); Vanguard Award recipient, Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) and presenter, Kerry Washington (Scandal); Sundance Institute Executive Director, Keri Putnam; event chairs and Institute Trustees Lyn Lear and Cindy Horn and their husbands, Norman Lear and Alan Horn; plus additional attendees including: Chris Milk (3 Dreams of Black), Chris Smith (The Pool), David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints), Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), Gingger Shankar (Himalaya Song), Greg Barker (Manhunt), Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking), Jay Duplass (Jeff, Who Lives at Home),Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Don Jon), Julie Delpy (Before Midnight), Katie Aselton (Black Rock), Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles), Miguel Arteta (Cedar Rapids), Mike White (Enlightened), Nicholas Jarecki(Arbitrage), Scott Z. Burns (An Inconvenient Truth), Steve James (The Interrupters), Stuart Zicherman (A.C.O.D.), and more to be announced.

The evening will also feature Sundance Institute-supported artists at each table, where they will discuss their creative journeys and the invaluable role the Institute has played in bringing their stories to life. The benefit, co-chaired by Institute Trustee Lyn Lear and her husband, Norman, and Institute Trustee Cindy Horn and her husband Alan, will raise crucial funds to offset the Institute's year-round programs for artists, including Labs, grants and the Sundance Film Festival.

Host Committee members: Wallis Annenberg; The Honorable Nicole Avant and Ted Sarandos; Sean and Charmaine Bailey; Susanna Felleman and Erik Feig; Miranda and Bruno Heller; David and Suzanne Johnson; Ross and Nicole Levinsohn; Heather Rae; Nadineand Fredric Rosen; Thomas E. Rothman; Carolyn Strauss; Sheila and Wally Weisman; and Jamie Wolf.

For information on benefit event tickets and tables or sponsorship opportunities, visit the events site at http://www.sundance.org/labenefit.

The benefit will take place tonight, June 5, 2013 from 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. at The Lot, 1041 N. Formosa Ave., West Hollywood, Calif.

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Sin Nombre, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, An Inconvenient Truth,Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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