[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 27  6:30 pm –Eccles Theatre, Park City] There are so many reasons why we chose film as our medium to tell stories.   The fact is we’re children of our culture (how could we not be?) a culture of the mash up: of so many forms of expression constantly mixing and intertwining in all of our daily lives.  Well, film is the only medium where you get to combine so many of these forms of expression simultaneously: literature, music, photography, visual art and theater, all in your own unique way to create a singular vision that can …

Goats might be Chrisopher Neil’s first feature as director, but he’s worked for years as an acting coach and rehearsal adviser on projects as wide ranging as Adaptation, The Virgin Suicides, and Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith.  And it’s clear that Neil has accrued quite a stellar reputation among actors, as evidenced by Goats’ impressive ensemble (which includes David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, and relative newcomer Graham Phillips.)  Based on the quirky debut novel by Mark Jude Proirier (who also wrote the film’s screenplay), Goats is an odd but bittersweet coming of age story. Filmmaker: How did …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 6:00 pm –Yarrow Hotel Theatre My parents aren’t big moviegoers. In their nearly 40 years in America, they can probably count the number of times they’ve gone to a theater on one hand. So, when I was 8 years old, I was surprised when they decided to take the family out to the movies for the first time. But while other kids got to see Aladdin or Home Alone 2, my parents sat us down to watch Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. In one of the many scenes that stuck with me, Malcolm is able to …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 8:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] I’m a third generation of filmmakers. When I was a boy I used to visit the sets of my father and grandfather. I worked as an extra, in production, in location scouting, in direction. I cannot say exactly why I do it. I only know that I enjoy it and I don’t see myself doing anything else. I believe that cinema, being a combination of most of the other arts, if it is well executed, it is without a doubt the art that goes deeper and mobilizes more …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 5:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] As a documentary-maker you could wait a lifetime to happen upon a story as extraordinary as this one. From the moment I heard about it it sounded like something that could hardly have taken place in the real world – a Frenchman successfully steals the identity of a missing Texan boy and begins a new life within the boy’s family posing as their child? If it were a work of fiction it would seem far-fetched. And from this sparked the need to find out more – about the …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 12:15 pm –Eccles Theatre, Park City] My mother insisted I pursue a career as a lawyer so, when the opportunity to study filmmaking arose and I could put some distance between us – physically and philosophically – I leapt at it.  In later years, my mother joined an extras casting agency and became a recognized face, and ironically, we discovered we had a common passion.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1866249/

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 9:00 pm –Egyptian Theatre] People want evidence. They want the truth. If it is a dream  they want, then they want a dream; if it is a nightmare, then they ask for a nightmare. If it is a face they want, they insist on seeing one. In my opinion; you can only achieve this up to a limited point via other forms of art. Film is real! Film is an evidence! It’s the most terrific, and at the same time the most beautiful, secret that could be offered to someone. Whilst telling the story of …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 8:30 pm –Library Center Theatre, Park City] Film is the most powerful art form an artist can work with.  It takes the strengths of different mediums and puts them together, resulting in a piece where the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.  It leverages the power of photography, music, sounds, silence, words, portraiture, and most of all, time.  When creating a photo book or painting, you never know what the viewer will look at, or for how long.  But with film, it’s a medium where the viewer makes a commitment to …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, Noon – Egyptian Theatre, Park City] Growing up I had planned on being a comic book artist, but at some point decided it’d be a little lonely spending all day in front of a drawing board by myself while filmmaking seemed like going on an adventure with a crazy group of friends. But years later I found myself working on this film alone in front of the computer for weeks on end, so joke’s on me. Of course THIS story, about how one film has managed to inspire so much speculation and become so important …

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 5:30 pm –Library Center Theatre, park City] I’m drawn to be an artist because when I watch successful art- whether it’s stand up comedy or plays or movies- it makes me feel a little bit less alone. And the idea that I could do that for someone else seems worthwhile. Sleepwalk With Me is a based on a true story that actually HAS been expressed in different media: it was a story on This American Life. It was a book, and it was a one-man play of the same name. But the reason I decided …