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# Beyond the Red Carpets: Why We Show Up at Sundance
- URL: https://www.inthewake.tv/beyond-the-red-carpets-why-we-show-up-at-sundance/
- Published: 2026-10-17T09:54:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-17T09:54:53.000Z
- Description: We curate these spaces because these stories affect real people, and ensuring our community sees themselves reflected on screen—now or years in the future—is a pursuit we will not abandon.
- Author: IN THE WAKE TV 
- Tags: sundance

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Three years ago, IN THE WAKE TV launched just three days before the start of the Sundance Film Festival. It was a leap of faith rooted in our core purpose: to document Black life in all its complexity and to put people before institutions. Over the years, our team—and our founder, Jamara Wakefield—has sat with the heavy decision of whether to return to Sundance or walk away entirely.

The reality of modern film festivals is complicated. We watch multi-million-dollar studio productions claim the label of "independent," while Hollywood stars backed by high-powered publicists skip to the front of the line. We have also wrestled with a very real editorial dilemma: dedicating our time and resources to reporting on incredible films that may never see the light of day, or that our audiences might not have access to until years from now. Festivals can launch stories into the cultural stratosphere, but they can also be places where vital, independent cinema goes to die without distribution.

  
Yet, we keep returning because we believe in the original intentions of Sundance, and we build upon them by fiercely centering the stories that exist outside the white gaze. We show up to ensure that Black life, Queer voices, and Indigenous stories are not just screened, but documented and championed. Our presence is a commitment to our platform covering one interconnected community that happens to live in many places. When we write about these films, even the ones without distribution deals, we create a living archive that these artists and their visions exist

  
For us, Sundance has yielded profound cultural connections. It is where Jamara had the privilege of interviewing Tamar-kali in connection with Lisa Cortés’s film *Little Richard: I Am Everything*. It is where we discovered films like *Soul Patrol*, *How to Build a Library*, *Seeds*, and *Ricky*—stories that we continue to follow and champion long after the festival lights dim.  
  
Last year, we stood in Salt Lake City for Sundance’s final chapter in Utah reporting in collaboration with WHCR 90.3 The Voice of Harlem, focusing on the people and the art rather than the hype. If approved, we will continue our journey as the festival transitions to Boulder, Colorado, remaining steadfast in our mission to locate the center of Blackness wherever we go.