The Sundance Institute announced today the the films that will screen in eight different cities nationwide on Jan. 28th for their inaugural Sundance Film Festival USA series. The filmmakers will be dispatched from Park City to cities across America, where they will introduce and screen their films and engage in Q&As with local audiences. The films are: Cyrus — Ann Arbor, MI — Michigan Theater Directors and screenwriters: Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass –A recently divorced guy meets a new lady. Then he meets her son who is, well…interesting. Cast: John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener. World […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 9, 2009“A dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception.” That’s a line given in the beginning of Louie Psihoyos’s gripping documentary, The Cove. And the man who says it, Ric O’Barry, is one of the most intriguing subjects in a doc you’ll see this year. Ric O’Barry captured and trained the five female dolphins that played Flipper in the 1960s TV series. He lived twenty steps from them for close to ten years. But everything changed when Cathy, the lead Flipper, committed suicide in O’Barry’s arms. The next day he was arrested for trying to free a dolphin from a marina and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 8, 2009The Sundance Institute announced today the slate of shorts which will be screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. I’m Here, directed by Spike Jonze; The Fence, directed by Rory Kennedy; Logorama, directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, and Ludovic Houplain; and Seeds of the Fall, directed Patrik Eklund will premiere the first Thursday to kick off the start of the competition screenings. The Sundance Film Festival will run January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The full list of shorts are below. U.S. DRAMATIC SHORTS Charlie and the Rabbit (Directors: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 7, 2009So what’s your favorite film of the decade — Lost in Translation or There Will Be Blood? Who’s your favorite director — the Coen brothers or Steven Soderbergh? We want to hear what our readers feel was the best in American independent and specialty films in the 2000’s. Take our survey and the results will be printed in our upcoming Winter issue. And by taking the survey you’ll receive a discount code to half-off a print subscription. UPDATE: After you’ve done your survey, head over to our Forums where we created a Best of 2000’s section. Discuss the your favorites […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 4, 2009The Sundance Institute has announced the titles that will be in the non-competition categories for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Notables going to Park City in January include Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, Nicole Holofcener, the Duplass bros, Michael Winterbottom (with two films), the Safdie bros, Gaspar Noé and Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s directorial debut. Also announced are the films taking part in the newly created NEXT series, where films and their filmmakers will travel the country showing their films in theaters during the fest. The Sundance Film Festival will runs January 21-31 in Park City, SaltLake City, Ogden and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 3, 2009The Sundance Institute announced today the films that will be in competition for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Sundance also announced that there will be no opening night film this year. “By moving away from one opening night to a ‘night of Competition,’ we bring the focus back to our core,” says the director of the festival, John Cooper, in the announcemnt. Some of the familiar faces showing up to Park City for ’10 include Alex Gibney wih his doc on Jack Abramoff, Jeffrey Blitz examines what happens when people hit the lottery, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman look at […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 2, 2009Film Independent announced the nominations for this year’s Spirit Awards. The award will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year when the ceremony takes place on Friday, March 5. Precious and The Last Station lead in nominations with five each, including Best Feature and Best Director. Full list of nominations below. BEST FEATURE (500) Days Of SummerAmreekaPrecious Sin Nombre The Last Station BEST DIRECTOREthan Coen, Joel Coen, A Serious ManLee Daniels, PreciousCary Joji Fukunaga, Sin NombreJames Gray, Two LoversMichael Hoffman, The Last Station BEST FIRST FEATURE A Single Man Crazy Heart Easier With Practice Paranormal Activity The Messenger Awards Guide […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2009Kathryn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker won Best Ensemble Performance and Best Feature at IFP’s Gotham Independent Film Awards, which was held last night in downtown Manhattan at Cipriani Wall Street. Bigelow was also given one of the evening’s Tribute awards. Also receiving Tributes were Natalie Portman, Stanley Tucci and Working Title Films’ Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Other winners include Ry Russo-Young‘s You Wont Miss Me, which received the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award (which is chosen by Filmmaker Magazine); Robert Siegel, director of Big Fan, won Breakthrough Director and Robert Kenner‘s Food, Inc. won […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2009As the search for a new IFP executive director continues, indie film producer Joana Vicente (who with her husband Jason Kliot have made independent movies with their labels, Open City Films, Blow Up Pictures and HDNet Films) has been named the interim head of the non-profit organization according to a release sent out today. Vicente, who is a member of the committee looking for a new head of the IFP, will join IFP next week to work on the transition with Michelle Byrd, who has lead the organization for the last 12 years and announced her departure back in June. […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 24, 2009For his debut feature Tom Quinn took the hours of footage he shot of family and friends talking about dealing with divorce for a psych class as inspiration to create a touching story that meshes domestic issues with the culture of his native South Philadelphia. After placing 13th in Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade, which is held every New Year’s Day where local clubs in elaborate costumes compete for prizes and bragging rights, the South Philadelphia String Band are stuck in a rut as their losing ways have gone on for decades now. For Mike (Andrew Conway) and his son Jack (Greg […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 23, 2009