Sundance
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“FAMILY PORTRAIT IN BLACK AND WHITE” | writer-director, Julia Ivanova
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 9:00 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV] My film is about 17 biracial Ukrainian orphans, mostly teenagers, and the woman who has been their foster mother for years despite all the hardships, be they financial or caused by the racist society that surrounds them. Before going on the first shoot, I had no doubts that Olga, the foster mother, can only be a saint. Unfortunately the biggest surprise was the realization that her need for power and control is really the foundation of the family and the motivation for her to become a legal guardian […]
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“AN AFRICAN ELECTION” | co-writer-director, Jarreth Merz
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 6:00 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV] The biggest puzzle to me was that the majority of Black Africa was celebrating 50 years of independence when we had the idea for the film An African Election and that nobody saw the potential of looking into where Africa stood after 50 years of its rebirth. The project was brushed aside as being interesting but unrealistic. Meanwhile people were talking about the silver bullet and all the failures associated with the Dark Continent. Nobody wanted to invest, and even cultural institutions whose mission statements were to preserve […]
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“SEPTIEN” DIRECTOR MICHAEL TULLY
Michael Tully began his career with a flurry, getting selected for Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2006 on the back of his debut feature Cocaine Angel, and then following it up the next year with Silver Jew, a documentary about Silver Jews frontman David Berman. In the years since, Tully has stayed active, shooting Mary Bronstein’s Yeast, acting in a handful of movies by fellow Generation DIY peers, including Aaron Katz’s Quiet City and Ry Russo-Young’s You Won’t Miss Me, and editing the indie film website Hammer to Nail. But, in terms of new films, he has […]
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“LITTLE BIRDS” | writer-director, Elgin James
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 8:45 pm — Library Center Theatre] I thought the hardest part, at least emotionally, would be bleeding it all out on paper when I wrote the script. Little did I know the truly raw part hadn’t even begun. Working with actors is like falling head over heels in love — a dizzying rush to learn everything there is about each other. Just a little window of time to build enough trust to take a gigantic leap of faith. Before making Little Birds I’d always thought it was an actor’s job to show up, turn on […]
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“BECOMING CHAZ” | co-director, Fenton Bailey
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 8:30 pm — Prospector Square Theatre] Chaz [Bono] showed us that changing one’s gender is an extraordinary thing to do in the true sense of the word; it takes tremendous bravery and courage and a willingness to lose everything. If only we all possessed these qualities the world could be such a different place.
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“PAGE ONE: A YEAR INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES” | co-writer-director, Andrew Rossi
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 6:00 pm — Temple Theatre] In April, I went to the newsroom at the Times with my camera, ready to film. This had been my routine for the past few months–I’d show up, not sure what story the reporters on the Media Desk would be covering that day, and attempt to be a fly on the wall. When I arrived, “a former hacker with a whistleblower website” –whom we now know as Julian Assange of WikiLeaks–had posted a [chilling] video of a U.S. military helicopter shooting down two journalists and several Iraqi civilians. Reuters had […]
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“RED STATE” | writer-director, Kevin Smith
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 6:30 pm — Eccles Theatre] When we unmasked the Bog Monster and it turned out to be old man Whithers, we were literally dumbfounded. Why? Because he OWNS the allegedly haunted amusement park. We should’ve seen it.
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Uncle Kent Director Joe Swanberg
Since Joe Swanberg’s first feature film, Kissing on the Mouth, premiered at SXSW in 2005, he’s managed to make at least a feature a year, multiple web-series, and found regular launch-pads at SXSW and IFC Films. When Swanberg directs a film, he really functions as a craftsman of the entire work: while he eschews screenplays in favor of improvisation, he works as cinematographer, editor, and usually acts in the film. As the nexus of a low-budget film movement stressing honesty, stories chronicling the lives of people in their twenties, and improvisation (this movement begins with an “M,” ends with “core,” […]
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“HOW TO DIE IN OREGON” | director, Peter D. Richardson
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 12:00 pm — Temple Theatre] How to Die in Oregon tells the stories of terminally ill Oregonians as they decide when, and whether, to end their lives at the time and circumstance of their own choosing under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. What inspired me to make the film was the desire to explore the profound choices an individual would have to make in order to take the life-ending medication. I knew that telling this story was going to be difficult because it would require extraordinary access and a willingness to participate in the film, […]
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“HOMEWORK” | writer-director, Gavin Wiesen
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 11:30 am — Library Center Theatre] The biggest surprise for me as I made this movie was how satisfying an experience it was working with my cast. I was very happy about who we had cast, but I didn’t know them beyond their previous work, and in some cases a meeting or two. As the production started coming together I was comfortable with how most aspects of the movie were shaping up: I knew what the challenges were going to be, and I had a firm grasp of what I was going for. The great […]
