Sundance
-
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 […]
-
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:
-
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:
-
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, […]
-
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 […]
-
“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 […]
-
“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: […]
-
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.
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
