Sundance
-
“Don’t Eat the Clam Chowder on Main Street” and Nine Other Sundance Mistakes to Avoid
In 2015, there were about 2,300 dramatic features, 1,800 documentary features and around 8000 short films submitted for Sundance for a total of 184 slots (79 for features, 45 for docs, and 60 for shorts). Getting into Sundance is an achievement in itself, but then what? How do you ride that wave and make the most of the experience for your project and also for your career? We interviewed Sundance filmmakers and industry insiders and got their honest and unfiltered opinions about how to make the most of the film business’s most anticipated festival. Struggling to articulate what your film […]
-
The Sundance Insider’s Guide to Park City Eating
During the Sundance Film Festival the Park City population goes up from 8,000 to 50,000, so how on earth does one navigate the food scene? “Open Table! Definitely make reservations in advance!” says an established film producer who chose to be anonymous. “The lines can get kinda nuts, so even go during the off hours, but remember that this isn’t like New York City where restaurants stay open late. Go early, it’s healthier for you anyway!” One thing to note is that meals are not inexpensive and even if you are sharing entrees in a group, you will often be […]
-
Mike Nichols Documentary and Dazed and Confused Event Added to Sundance 2016 Lineup
With just a little more than a month to go until The Sundance Film Festival, the festival has announced additions to the lineup, including the premiere of Douglas McGrath’s documentary Becoming Mike Nichols and three “From the Collection” archival screenings. Becoming Mike Nichols is slated to air on HBO on Feb. 22. Also on the program is a new Special Event featuring Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused along with live commentary from the filmmaker and his pal Jason Reitman. The archival screenings include John Sayles’ City of Hope, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass and Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking. The festival runs January 21-31, 2016. Below are the […]
-
Sundance Announces its 2016 Festival Short Film Selections
Sundance today announced the 72 short films that will play in its various short film sections at the 2016 festivals. Spanning narrative and documentary, animation and experimental, the films include plenty of 25 New Faces filmmakers (Darius Clark Monroe, Eva Vives, Calvin Lee Reeder, Terrence Nance, Eddie Alcazar, Kim Sherman, Sebastian Silva, Jack Dunphy, to name just a few) as well as the usual assortment of discoveries that will undoubtedly place on our list in the coming year. In a press release, Mike Plante, Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “Our longstanding showcase of short films has become […]
-
Sundance Announces 2016 Festival Premieres, Spotlight, Kids and Special Events
The internet dreaming of itself via the images of Werner Herzog; Kenneth Lonergan’s follow-up to one of the best films of the decade, Margaret; the directorial debut of longtime independent producer, screenwriter, and former studio head, James Schamus — these are just three highlights unveiled today by the Sundance Film Festival as it announces the final selections of the 2016 edition. Among other films I took immediate note of: new pictures by Filmmaker favorites Ira Sachs, Joshua Marston, Kelly Reichardt, Jeremy Saulnier, Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, and Todd Solondz — the latter a sequel to one of the most […]
-
Benson Lee on Returning to His Independent Roots with the Sundance Comedy, Seoul Searching
Korean-American filmmaker Benson Lee won the Jury Prize at Sundance with his Competition Drama, Miss Monday, in 1998. A decade later he returned with Planet B-Boy, a critically-acclaimed, commercially-successful doc about breakdancing crews competing in an international competition. Lee’s success with Planet B-Boy led to both a studio deal and a career setback. Battle of the Year, a Sony production based on B-Boy, was as critically derided as the doc was praised, and it was a commercial failure to boot. This year, Lee returned to the site of his Miss Monday success — the Sundance Film Festival — with an […]
-
Quyen Tran on Shooting Frankie Shaw’s Sundance-Winning SMILF
Frankie Shaw’s short film SMILF won the Short Film Jury Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It’s a funny and revealing comedy about a young mom struggling to connect to her old sexual self while being homebound caring for her young son. L.A.-based cinematographer Quyen Tran shot the film, and below she discusses shooting coverage with only one actor, working with one light and filming while nearly nine months pregnant. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? […]
-
Cinematographers Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk on Shooting the Sundance-Winning Doc, Meru
Over a period of years, three climbers — Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk — make repeated efforts to scale a 21,000 foot peak in Northern India, Mount Meru. Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s Meru is the chronicle of that quest, a story of not just mountain-climbing athleticism but also friendship and camaraderie. The winner of the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Meru, strikingly, was lensed by two of the film’s three climbers, with one of them suffering severe injuries on the climb — an accident that is part of the film’s story. Below, […]
-
Cinematographer Catherine Lutes on Shooting the Pop-Up Porno Series
An unlikely combination of elements — the children’s pop-up book and X-rated adult relationship stories — collide in one of the more unusual series of shorts at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: Pop-Up Porno. Toronto-based director Stephen Dunn was inspired by friends’ tales of online dating, and he worked with various graphic designers to come up with actual book illustrations. The resulting three films premiered in Park City, where the books were also exhibited. Bringing the turning pages to life is cinematographer Catherine Lutes, who below talks about the Canon C300, realizing the film on a tiny budget and accenting […]
-
Six Women Directors Discuss Filmmaking, Their Countries and Their Sundance Premieres
In and out of movie theaters, buses, cafes, after-parties, and the crowds of Main Street, the conversations at Sundance Film Festival are exclusively about movies. The fact that the cinematographer of the film you are trash-talking is probably standing behind you is negligible. There is an unrestrained and unforgiving buzz of reviews in Park City, Utah. It’s less that everyone is acting like a critic and more that everyone is just obsessed with talking about film. If you’ve been to theater camp, that’s the vibe. It’s not that I wasn’t excited to see movies and flaunt my personal ratings like […]
