Sundance
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Pandora’s Promise | Director Robert Stone
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 18, 2:30pm — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] Any sacrifice here has been borne entirely by my wife and kids for tolerating my long hours and frequent absences. I think anybody who’s fortunate enough to get to make a movie, let alone get that movie into Sundance, would be hard pressed to frame that as a sacrifice — unless of course someone was harmed in the process. Sundance Responses 2013
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The Summit | Producer/Director Nick Ryan
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 18, 9:00am — Egyptian Theatre, Park City] It is sometimes all too easy to forget the reality when you spend so long examining the facts and details of a story. We can become immune to the horrific truth of the events. So it is important to remember that in telling this story, 11 people died, leaving behind families and friends, and perhaps that is the greatest sacrifice in telling this complex and compelling narrative. For those who had to relive the memories of the traumatic events, there is a huge element of sacrifice, in giving their […]
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The Sundance Question: What Did You Sacrifice to Make Your Film?
Each year, Filmmaker asks the Sundance Film Festival feature directors a question about their filmmaking process. We then compile any and all of the directors’ feedback and bring it to our readers courtesy of our “Sundance Responses.” This year we asked: “What did you sacrifice to make your film? Or, did your film itself have to make a significant sacrifice in order to be produced? And, looking back, how do you value that sacrifice now?” We’ll upload the responses individually, the day of each film’s premiere. So, as the festival progresses, click the links below. The Sundance Film Festival is being […]
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Focus Forward – Short Films, Big Ideas Announces Jury Prize Winners
GE and cinelan today announced the five Jury Prize winners of its $200,000 FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition: Callum Cooper (Mine Kafon), Kim Munsamy (Bones Don’t Lie And Don’t Forget”, Paul Lazarus (Slingshot), Jared P. Scott & Kelly Nyks (The Artificial Leaf), and Rafel Duran Torrent (Cyborg Foundation). The Grand Jury Prize of $100,000 will be announced at a live Awards Ceremony on January 22 during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The jury for the Competition includes Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, actress Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill), and award-winning filmmakers Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA), José Padilha (Elite Squad), Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost), Floyd Webb (Daughters of the Dust), and Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent). The winning films are live and available to view for free on the FOCUS FORWARD website, along with the 15 other Filmmaker […]
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Sundance Institute Announces Selections for the Feature Film Program 2013 Screenwriters Lab
Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for its 2013 January Screenwriters Lab, an immersive, five-day (January 11-16) writers’ workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Participating independent screenwriters will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers including Marcos Bernstein, D.V. DeVincentis, Michael Goldenberg and Erin Cressida Wilson. The 2013 Lab is dedicated to the memory of Frank Pierson (1925-2012), a founding creative advisor of the Feature Film Program. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Across all Sundance Institute Labs, which include offerings for various forms of artistic expression, […]
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Festival Cinematography Notes: Of Sundance, Berlin and the Canon 5D
Blogging from last year’s Sundance I wrote that “if I could give an award to the camera delivering the most impact on screen at Sundance 2011, it would go to RED One.” That was then. In the 12 months since, ARRI’s Alexa has all but conquered TV series production in the U.S., and now you can add a dozen low-budget indie films at Sundance too, like the bittersweet romcom Celeste and Jesse Forever, starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg and photographed by David Lanzenberg. Sony’s new budget-friendly F3 made a splash at Sundance as well, responsible for Spike Lee’s Red […]
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VIDEO: “ARBITRAGE” DIRECTOR NICHOLAS JARECKI
Stephen and Patrick from the National Film Society are back with one last Sundance interview. And they’re going in style, sitting down with Nicholas Jarecki, director of the hedge-fund thriller Arbitrage, for what Jarecki refers to as “without a doubt the weirdest interview I’ve ever done.” One of the big hits of this year’s festival, Arbitrage sold to Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for a deal reportedly in the $2.5 million range. Video Highlight: Jarecki hilariously describing some unexpected sexual tension during his first meeting with actor Richard Gere. Watch that, and more, below:
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VIDEO: TERENCE NANCE AND NAMIK MINTER OF “AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY”
Sundance 2012 is in the wind, but Stephen and Patrick from the National Film Society are back with another interview they filmed during the festival. This time out, the duo sit down with director Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) and actress Namik Minter. Minter and Nance, who spent over half a decade readying Oversimplification, are good sports, answering Stephen and Patrick’s questions about their favorite part of being in love, their least favorite part of being in love, and how to get into Sundance parties. Watch the interview:
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Lady Vengeance: Interview with Sundance Filmmaker Eve Sussman
Although Sundance is predominantly known for indie dramas and social issue documentaries, the New Frontiers section provides a loving home for particularly odd ducks. Unlike many projects in New Frontiers, which are presented as installations or other new media formats, Eve Sussman’s whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir was screened in a conventional theater. However, the film’s text, 300 bits of voiceover, 150 pieces of music, and 3,000 images are live-edited by an algorithmic computer dubbed the Serendipity Machine that creates a randomized sequence, meaning each screening is entirely unique. Not only does Sussman’s piece turn the idea of the mystery genre on its ear, […]
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Five Questions with I Am Not a Hipster Director Destin Daniel Cretton
A dubious term to be sure, it seems that one of the pre-reqs for hipster certification is denying that you actually are one. Based on this criterion, Brook, the main character in Destin Daniel Cretton’s feature debut, definitely qualifies. But I Am Not a Hipster is not so much concerned with labels as it is with crafting an intimate, small-scale character portrait. Adrift in San Diego’s music scene, Brook’s lackadaisical lifestyle is interrupted when his family visits with the intention of spreading his late mother’s ashes. Cretton, who made a splash at Sundance in 2009 with his Grand Jury Prize […]
