MCLEAN, VA.—Hilton Worldwide announced new support for Sundance Institute, a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences in film and theater. Hilton HHonors, the loyalty program for Hilton Worldwide’s 10 distinct brands, and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, a part of the Hilton Worldwide luxury portfolio, have been named the official hotel sponsors of the Sundance Film Festival through 2014. In addition, in partnership with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP), the company will launch the Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Fund & Award. LightStay is Hilton Worldwide’s proprietary system for sustainability performance and a core foundation of the company’s global sustainability strategy. The fund and award will go towards supporting the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, as well as annually recognizing and awarding grants to up to five documentary film projects focusing on sustainability issues.
“LightStay represents Hilton Worldwide’s overarching commitment to integrating sustainability into every guest experience, which is critical to the long term success of our business,” said Paul Brown, president, brands and commercial services, Hilton Worldwide. “LightStay has allowed us to mandate measurement and drive performance across our entire portfolio of hotels. Our partnership with Sundance Institute expands our focus beyond measurement, leveraging the medium of film as a powerful tool to create awareness, elevate dialogue, and inspire solutions around the challenges of living in a resource constrained world.”
Entries for the Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Fund & Award will be judged from up to 1,500 feature film submissions received through the Sundance Institute DFP’s bi-annual call for proposals, as well as from the more than 5,000 short film entries received for the Sundance Film Festival. The focus for selection will center on those films which best showcase the issues, interconnections, challenges and opportunities around sustainability and resource challenges in a global context. Awardees will be announced at the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Five Awards to be Presented
The awards include: one $25,000 grant to a feature-length project that is still in production, one $25,000 award for a completed feature-length film to support creative marketing and audience-building efforts for the filmmakers, and three $5,000 awards for short films exemplifying the issues in films less than 50 minutes in length.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage stories that can amplify awareness and catalyze change around a critical global challenge that concerns us all,” said Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. “This initiative gives us the much-needed resources to support filmmakers and to introduce their work to audiences around the world.”
The winning films have the opportunity to be showcased on Hilton Worldwide’s in-room channels and websites at its more than 3,800 hotels in 88 countries, potentially reaching an audience of the more than 250 million guests per year who pass through the company’s hotels.
For additional information on submission guidelines and entry criteria for the Hilton Worldwide Sustainability Fund & Award, visit www.sundance.org/hilton.
