Cooper has been a member of the Sundance Film Festival programming staff since 1989. In the early years, he created the short film program at the festival but soon transitioned into programming documentaries and feature films. He moved from programmer to senior programmer to eventually Director of Programming before being named Director in 2010. He has also worked extensively with the Sundance Institute’s online projects and garnered 2 Webby awards. He lead content production for a number of years to broaden reach of Sundance programs and for three years co-produced the live broadcast of the Sundance Festival Awards show with Sundance Channel. He originated a partnership with UCLA Film and Television Archive to help preserve independent works and orphan films and most recently created the Sundance Ignite Program to better serve film enthusiasts between the ages of 18-25.
Other work includes guest curator and juror at major festivals around the world. From 1995-1998 Cooper served as programming director of Outfest held annually in Los Angeles in July and until 2002 served on the Outfest Board of Directors. In 2019 he was added to the Variety 500 of The Most Powerful People Working In The Global Media Business Today. He has won multiple awards for his work supporting diversity in the film community from Outfest, Blackhouse Foundation and the Human Rights Campaign. In 2020 he was accepted into the Academy of Motion Pictures. He is currently co hosting and producing a podcast The Film That Blew My Mind to launch September 2023.
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