Sundance
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“THE WORDS” | directors Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal
[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 […]
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“WELCOME TO PINE HILL,” “NO ASHES NO PHOENIX” TAKE HOME TOP HONORS AT SLAMDANCE AWARDS
During a ceremony held tonight at Park City’s Treasure Mountain Inn, prize winners were announced for the 18th annual Slamdance Film Festival. Taking home the Narrative Grand Jury Prize was Welcome to Pine Hill, Keith Miller’s vérité portrait of a reformed Brooklyn drug dealer undergoing a crisis of mortality. Meanwhile, Jens Pfeifer’s basketball documentary No Ashes, No Phoenix was awarded the Documentary Grand Jury Prize, while Caskey Ebeling’s Getting Up and Andrew Edison’s Bindlestiffs took home the Audience Awards for documentary and narrative, respectively. The full list of winners, per The Hollywood Reporter: AUDIENCE AWARDS Audience Award for Feature Documentary: […]
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SUNDANCE VIDEO: “SAVE THE DATE” DIRECTOR MICHAEL MOHAN AND ACTOR MARTIN STARR
Stephen and Patrick from the National Film Society are back with another Sundance interview, this time sitting down with Save the Date director Michael Mohan and star Martin Starr (Advenureland, Freaks and Geeks.) Stephen and Patrick have been inching towards perfecting their strange and unique interview style all week. This time out, they quiz Martin Starr about his love-life, ask Mohan how to make a movie, and invite both guys to join their society. Watch the full interview below.
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MEETING ROBERT REDFORD: THE “DURING SUNDANCE” BLOG
I’ve been considering many cold opening quotes to this “During Sundance” blog ranging from, “Bagels again?” to, “Marina Abramovic is in the next bathroom stall!” I’ll let Robert Redford start it with, “There’s Sundance here,” as he points towards the floor at the Directors Brunch “And then there’s Park City,” he indicates down the mountain. “Park City is not Sundance.” We directors nod. Bob understands. We won’t buy into the machine of the market place. Our film is already the gold and Bob is warning us to stay grounded. We then instantly bum rush him as soon as his speech […]
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PHOTO STREAM: MORE SUNDANCE PHOTOS AND EVENTS
Producer Nekisa Cooper (Pariah) and the IFP’s deputy director Amy Dotson joined Chicken & Egg Pictures in Park City to honor WMM‘s Debra Zimmerman with the 2012 Good Egg Award. Director Josh Radnor spoke about his film Liberal Arts, his experiences at Kenyon College, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Sarah Barnett, the EVP of the Sundance Channel, and Nancy Klasky Gribler, the EVP of Marketing for Sundance Cinemas, caught up at the Sundance Channel’s party. The cast of the new Sundance Channel television show, Push Girls. The director (Leslye Headland, far left) and cast of Bachelorette in one of the more raucous […]
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Five Questions with The Surrogate Director Ben Lewin
Strictly speaking figures, The Surrogate has been the big Sundance winner thus far. Scooped up by Fox Searchlight for a massive $6 million, the film is already reportedly being groomed for next year’s Oscar race. The first narrative feature from filmmaker Ben Lewin since 1994’s Paperback Romance, The Surrogate tells the true story of journalist Mark O’Brien, a polio stricken man who, after living most of his life in an iron lung, decides to try to lose his virginity. Starring John Hawkes as O’Brien, The Surrogate received a standing ovation at it’s premiere, and it’s already being praised by critics […]
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SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES JURY PRIZES IN SHORT FILMMAKING
At a ceremony last night, Sundance announced this year’s short film prize winners. The 2012 shorts jury, which included Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge, Pariah director Dee Rees, and TIFF public program director Shane Smith, narrowed down the sixty-four shorts currently playing at the festival to six winners. The big winner was Cutter Hodierne’s fictional Somali pirate expose Fishing Without Nets, which took home the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking. Meanwhile, Ben and Josh Sadie’s (Daddy Longlegs) The Black Balloon was awarded the US Fiction Prize while Kosovo filmmaker Blerta Zeqiri’s The Return (Kthimi) won the International Fiction Prize. The […]
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Five Questions with Goats Director Christopher Neil
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 […]
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PHOTO STREAM: SUNDANCE DIRECTORS, CAST, AND CREW
Celeste and Jesse Forever‘s Question & Answer Portion: Andy Samberg joked that it was finally nice to be acting in something where he “wasn’t rapping or wearing a bird suit.” Director Lee Toland Krieger. Elijah Wood’s co-stars cleared the stage, leaving him alone to answer a question regarding his influences for his gay character. Wood answered that most of the inspiration came from costume designer Julia Caston’s impeccable wardrobe choices. The End of Love‘s Question & Answer Portion: Director Mark Webber spoke about the process of making a film with his own son as the protagonist. The End of Love‘s […]
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Watch Ten Sundance Shorts Online, Including New Works By Jeremiah Zagar and Todd Sklar
Jeremiah Zagar, the prolific documentary filmmaker behind 2008’s In a Dream is back with Heart Stop Beating: A Body Without A Pulse, a new short screening before Escape Fire this week at Sundance. Heart Stop Beating is a brief, fascinating look at Billy Cohn & Bud Frazier, two doctors who successfully replaced a dying man’s heart with a mechanical device this past March, proving that human physiology can be supported without a pulse. Over its four minute run-time, the documentary features glimpses into the operating room, as well as interviews with Cohn and Frazer. Watch it above. Also available to […]
