Sundance
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Very Good Girls | Director Naomi Foner
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6:15pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] Time is not on my side. I came late to directing, although I’ve been writing screenplays for most of my life, so I am in a hurry. In my case, it was, grandma directs a movie. And that meant literally, limiting the time I got to spend with my favorite people on earth, my grand daughter Ramona, and her new sister, Gloria who arrived weeks before we began to shoot. That was a big trade off, but I am hoping that they will get to see this film, and […]
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Family and Sacrifice in A River Changes Course
The challenges I’ve encountered in making this film – my struggles to support myself financially, the physical hardships of filming in extremely hot and humid conditions, getting sick in the middle of production, and the strain of being away from loved ones for extended periods of time – were all difficult. But I never considered any of the challenges as acts of sacrifice. At worst, they were inconveniences. At best, they were experiences that emboldened and strengthened me. On the other hand, the sacrifices made daily by Sari, Khieu, and Sav Samourn for their families are of a depth and nature […]
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Five Questions with Pit Stop Director Yen Tan
It’s been five years since Yen Tan’s mournful, romantic drama debut Ciao, and the Texas-based filmmaker now returns with Pit Stop. If the early buzz surrounding the film is any indication, Pit Stop shares the emotional intimacy of its predecessor, this time tracking the relationship of two gay men in a blue collar small Texas town. The film premieres today in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section. Filmmaker: Where did the inspiration for Pit Stop come from? Can you speak a bit about Gabe and Ernesto’s characters, and how you developed each? Tan: Pit Stop came about during my road trips between the […]
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Five Questions with The Rambler Director Calvin Lee Reeder
Over the past half-decade, Calvin Reeder has carved out a filmmaking niche all his own. His debut feature, The Oregonian (which premiered at Sundance two years ago), as well as his much-praised early short films, are a strange mix of psychological horror, high-minded surrealism, camp, and a soundtrack and filmic texture that hint at both nostalgia and discomfort. His second feature, The Rambler, is an adaptation of his 2008 short film of the same name, and follows a man (Dermot Mulroney) recently released from jail who embarks on a journey to reconnect with his long-lost brother. It premieres today in […]
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A Young Producer’s Sundance Photo Diary, Day Three
Day Three was a bit of whirlwind and I’ll admit I wasn’t as quick on my camera skills as I should have been. But, then again, it’s sort of awkward to photograph “meetings” that take place on shuttles in between a screening and a dinner, and while running from event to event. But I have two more days to perfect the casual “can-I-take-your-photo” question when running into industry friends and acquaintances on Main Street. Still reporting sunny skies for Day Three, a bit more hostility over seat saving in Eccles, but generally the energy remains high.
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Five Questions with Computer Chess Director Andrew Bujalski
After taking a few years off from filmmaking to form a family and take on adult responsibilities (such as buying a house), Andrew Bujalski premieres his newest film Computer Chess in Park City today. Using an interesting combination of non-professional and professional actors, this crowdsourced movie centers around a tournament of chess players and computer programmers in the 1980s. Though Computer Chess is indeed a period piece, its interest in humans’ relationship with technology remains entirely pertinent as our culture, more than three decades later, finds itself hinged to computers but unable to answer some of the same questions the […]
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The Rambler | Director Calvin Lee Reeder
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 11:45pm — Library Center Theatre, Park City] I was really lucky and didn’t have to sacrifice too much creatively at all. However, for the first time in my career I was unable to shoot film! It was also the first time I found myself with enough money to have a real crew and pay actors and feed people and blah blah blah, but somehow when it was all run through the budget there was just no room for processing and transfer. I’m still a little baffled by this. I went ahead and shot on the […]
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Ass Backwards | Director Chris Nelson
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 11:59pm — Egyptian Theatre, Park City] Ass Backwards is a film that celebrates a certain type of delusion. Its central characters, Kate & Chloe, have created their own brand of reality that’s pretty much disconnected from everyone and everything else. And they’re actually having a great time because of it. I think filmmakers may be similar types of asses. We sacrifice our connection to reality for the mad ride of making a film. There was a point during production where the rest of the world seemed to actually drop away. People who weren’t involved with […]
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Afternoon Delight | Director Jill Soloway
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 9:45pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] I sacrificed the idea of the director’s chair. And all of the other imagery that goes with being in charge. The baseball cap, the megaphone. We shot our film in August of 2012 and I’d say that from mid-May on, I began to feel that I was riding a wave and had almost no control. It’s funny, I interviewed Diablo Cody about Juno for a magazine and when I asked if she was surprised about the success of that film, she said not really—that it immediately had this thing […]
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When I Walk | Director Jason DaSilva
[PREMIERE SCREENING:Monday, Jan. 21, 3:00pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] Other than the sacrifices that you typically expect from an obsessive filmmaker (lack of sleep from creative insomnia, poor eating habits and coffee addiction, loss of friendships due to staying at the editing table for months on end), my biggest sacrifice was this: My privacy. Basically, I opened up my life to the world with my film. I had a hunch that my world was going to get really crazy and I wanted to catch it on film. The problem with that was I was in the film and that led to my […]
