Ebs Burnough, Award-Winning Filmmaker and Board Chair of the Sundance Institute

In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan Caruso sits down with Ebs Burnough, award-winning filmmaker, producer, and Chair of the Board of the Sundance Institute, for a wide-ranging conversation on storytelling, cultural impact, and the future of independent film.As Sundance prepares for its final year in Park City and its historic move to Boulder, Ebs reflects on the Institute’s mission, Robert Redford’s founding principles, and why nurturing artists rather than chasing commercial outcomes has always been at the heart of Sundance. Drawing on his experience as a documentary filmmaker, former White House communications leader during the Obama administration, and longtime cultural strategist, Ebs shares how storytelling shapes politics, technology, and community alike.They explore Sundance’s artist labs, the power of convening creators in physical spaces, and why human connection matters more than ever in a post-COVID, AI-accelerated world. Ebs also weighs in on how artificial intelligence is transforming creative work, both the promise and the risk, and why better storytelling around new technology is essential to avoid fear-driven outcomes.The conversation touches on legacy, community-building, the evolving role of festivals, and why Boulder and Colorado more broadly offer a rare opportunity to reimagine what Sundance can be for the next 40 years.Learn more about the Sundance Institute: https://www.sundance.org/Order Dan’s Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/bookListen to Dan's Song Stretch: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dancaruso/stretchCheck out music by Jason Mendelson (Jace Allen): https://www.youtube.com/@jaceallen To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com