Today, the Slamdance Film Festival announces its 2023 feature lineup, including programming for the Narrative Features Competition, Documentary Features Competition, Breakouts, Unstoppable, and Spotlight Screenings. The 29th annual edition of the festival will adhere to a hybrid model, with events taking place in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah from January 20-26 and online via the Slamdance Channel from January 23-29. “From the streets of Seattle to the psychedelic skies of a unicorn-run dystopia, our filmmakers are transporting audiences to new dimensions with stories that explore the nuance of disability, immigration and gender,” said Festival Manager Lily Yasuda in […]
by Natalia Keogan on Dec 5, 2022Set in 2017, Christina Kallas‘s Slamdance-premiering latest feature, <i>Paris is in Harlem</i> takes place the night before New York’s infamous Cabaret Law was repealed. In a historic Harlem jazz bar, a shooting alters the lives of several strangers who have gathered for the final night of “no dancing.” The filmmaker has provided Filmmaker an exclusive clip, which you can watch above. XYZ Films is handling North American sales on the film.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 28, 2022One of the highlights of this year’s forthcoming Slamdance, Frederic Da’s feature debut Teenage Emotions was shot during lunch breaks at the high school Da works at as a film teacher. Even with production was cut short by COVID, the results are lively, extremely of-the-moment, immersive and funny. We’ll be publishing an interview with Da on Friday, but for now here’s the trailer.
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 10, 2021The Slamdance Film Festival announced today the 132 features, shorts and episodic programs that will comprise its hybrid 2021 edition. Running February 12-25, the festival is billing the program “its most accessible festival ever,” and with good reason. All films, Q&A’s and panels will be available on Slamdance.com, AppleTV, Roku, Firestick and YouTube; “early adopter” passes will be free until December 31; and regular passes are only $10. Additionally, there’s a new section, Unstoppable, showcasing creators with disabilities. The festival’s live component will consist of a two-night drive-in presentation in Joshua Tree open to the public on February 13th and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2020“In a way, I see the festival as run like a punk rock label — a successful one!” says filmmaker and Slamdance “co-conspirator” Paul Rachman. With its award ceremony and final screenings, the Slamdance Film Festival concluded its 25th year last night (read the full list of winners here) — an astonishing fact of longevity that none of its founders could have predicted when they launched the outsider event in Park City back in 1995. “We were a wild bunch of filmmakers who got together to do something different,” says co-founder Peter Baxter. “And we’re realizing now how naive we […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2019In celebrating 25 years of Slamdance, I’m reflecting on the journey of first-time filmmakers. Many have passed through the hallways and screening rooms of Slamdance’s long-standing headquarters at Treasure Mountain Inn, through Sundance’s theaters, and many other new festivals over the past couple of decades. Yet from Stanley Kubrick’s coming of age as a filmmaker in the 1950s to the new digital technologies of today, it’s been an endeavor “against all odds,” through hurdles of financing, casting, scheduling, production and distribution. I have always been fascinated by Stanley Kubrick’s early career, specifically his first three feature films: Fear and Desire, […]
by Paul Rachman on Jan 24, 2019“In the province of the mind what one believes to be true, either is true or becomes true within certain limits.” – John C. Lilly “I don’t believe anything, but I have many suspicions.” – Robert Anton Wilson “Reality used to be a friend of mine.” – P.M. Dawn My name is Matthew Lessner. I have been making films for the past decade, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d never seen any of them. Several of my films have screened at big-name festivals, but none of them have been exactly championed or widely released. I’ve never been mentioned in […]
by Matthew Lessner on Jan 17, 2017Self-explanatory: here are this year’s Slamdance award winners, with descriptions provided by the festival and the respective juries for each category. Slamdance certainly wins some kind of prize for pragmatism in its awards; surely many films and filmmakers would love to receive $3,500 worth of legal services. AUDIENCE AWARDS Audience Award for Narrative Feature: Across the Sea, dir. by Nisan Dağ & Esra Saydam Damla is a Turkish immigrant estranged from her homeland; she lives in New York City with her husband, Kevin, and they’re expecting their first child. But Damla is still haunted by memories of her first love and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 30, 2015The initial lineups for the 21st edition of the Slamdance Film Festival are here via Variety‘s Dave McNary. This year’s edition sports 13 world premieres, two North American premieres and three US premieres; their statuses are noted below. For trailers and links to more information as available, turn to Fandor’s David Hudson. NARRATIVE FEATURES PROGRAM Across the Sea. Directors & Screenwriters: Nisan Dağ, Esra Saydam. (Turkey/USA). North American Premiere. Young, beautiful and pregnant, Damla has to confront her first love in a Turkish summer town before she can fully embrace her new life in New York. Cast: Damla Sönmez, Jacob Fishel, Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, Hakan […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Dec 1, 2014Feeling self-satisfied and/or congested from your annual Sundance winter camp? I’ve got news for you: Hollywood doesn’t care about another head-scratching indie with pigs in it, or an over-hyped VOD deal from a company you’ve never heard of for a film no one will ever see. Nope. Hollywood counts success in dollars, rubles and yuans. The films in Park City may not spin the world’s turnstyles, but the filmmakers who make them most definitely will. At the Slamdance Film Festival, a snowball’s throw across the street from Sundance, we’ve been saying for 20 years that our focus is on discovering […]
by Dan Mirvish on Feb 8, 2014