Documentary

“THE QUEEN AND I” director, Nahid Persson Sarvestani

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 17, 6:15 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City] As a documentary filmmaker I am always telling a story, painting a picture of a reality that to some may be disturbing, to others offensive, but hopefully always eye-opening and informative. As such it will always be the content, the core and the soul of the film that is the driving force behind my creative process. The technological aspects and various formats are secondary. My latest doc The Queen and I is a simple story marked by extraordinary events. Whether my films are screened on iPods, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 17, 2009
“OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY” director, Michael O. Scott

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 17, 3:00 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] Over the Hills and Far Away is a piece of true magical realism. A family struggles to cope with their son’s autism. In an act of inspiration and desperation combined, they travel to Mongolia and journey through the country on horseback in search of mysterious shamans who they believe can heal their son. It’s hard to believe that this is a documentary and not a dramatic narrative. It’s a filmmaker’s dream to be able to work with such material. So for me it wasn’t a question of finding […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 17, 2009
CROSSING OVER AT SUNDANCE: MELISSA AUF DER MAUR By Alicia Van Couvering

“I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.” — Mark Rothko Doesn’t it make sense that every professional artist would have ideas in between mediums, would collaborate across categorical boundaries and make new and different work as their vision expands over their lifetime? It would seem to make perfect sense, but it doesn’t happen as often as it could. This year at Sundance, though, there are several artists who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves “filmmakers” on their tax returns, and who are […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2009
“NO IMPACT MAN” producer, Eden H. Wurmfeld

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 11:30 am — Library Center Theatre, Park City] As filmmakers interested in creating character-driven films about social issues, we saw the story of No Impact Man as a great opportunity. An intimate, cinema vérité look at a family trying to find their place in our culture of consumption and the affect that has on the environment. The idea of No Impact Man was that Colin Beavan, his wife and their daughter would remove themselves to the greatest extent possible from the various aspects of life that cause negative environmental impact while also increasing their positive […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 16, 2009
“DADA’S DANCE” director, Zhang Yuan

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 6:00 pm — Tower Theatre, Salt Lake City] A year of significance for China is 1989 — a significant year for many Chinese of my age. It is the year when the Tiananmen Square incident shook the world. In that same year, I concluded my four years of study at Beijing Film Academy and made my debut film Mama. The making of Mama ended up not only holding significant meaning for me but for Chinese cinema in the broader context. Prior to 1989, Chinese film rigidly followed the ways of the Soviet big brother — […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 16, 2009
“ART & COPY” director, Doug Pray

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 5:30 pm — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] Art & Copy is a movie about advertising, creativity, and the innate human urge we have to communicate – whether it’s painting on cave walls or selling canned spaghetti. What makes this documentary a reflection of its times may be simply that people are finding my characters to be inspirational, at a time when many documentaries– for a lot of very good reasons– are depressing, and losing their audiences a result. Maybe times are changing, and people are ready to be less cynical. (Even about advertising…?)
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 16, 2009
SUNDANCE SHORTS FREE ON iTUNES

Once again Sundance has teamed with iTunes to showcase a collection of shorts during the fest for free. From January 15 through January 25, visit www.itunes.com/sundance to view 10 shorts from this year’s festival representing a variety of countries, styles, genres, and stories. They include: Acting for the Camera (Director: Justin Nowell; Screenwriter: ThomasNowell)-An acting class. Today’s scene: the orgasm from ‘When Harry MetSally.’ Countertransference (Director: Madeleine Olnek; Screenwriters: MadeleineOlnek and Cast)-A comedy about an awkward woman with assertivenessproblems who seeks the questionable help of a therapist. HUG (Director: Khary Jones)-Drew is a musician with a contract ready tosign. When […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2009
QUICK READS ON SOME SUNDANCE FILMS

I tend to be a check-in, sit on my hotel or condo bed and go through the catalog kind of person. I don’t really plan my schedule way in advance. This year I’ve taken a longer look at the catalog than usual and jotted down a few thoughts on some films I want to see and a couple that we know a little bit more about. Consider these the equivalent of notebook scribblings and reminders-to-self — more coherent (and substantive) writing on many of these films will follow later. Dramatic Competition Amreeka: I saw the first 18 minutes of this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2009
SEARCHING FOR THE SUNDANCE SHORTS

On this blog we’ve posted the line-ups of the various Sundance sections, but we forgot to include the shorts. So, to make up, Max Friend in the Filmmaker office has compiled this exhaustive post listing not only all the shorts but also hyperlinks taking you to info on the films, the filmmakers and sometimes the films themselves. Enjoy. U.S. Dramatic Shorts Abbie Cancelled (Directors: Dumb Bunny) — Two couples who have never met find themselves engaged in an awkward dinner after their mutual friends cancel at the last second. Acting for the Camera (Director: Justin Nowell; Screenwriter: Thomas Nowell) — […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2009
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE KEVIN LEE/YOUTUBE SITUATION

Let me weigh in quickly on the imbroglio surrounding the deletion of Kevin Lee’s YouTube account. On the account Lee had posted his series of critical video essays on a number of recent and classic films, and in the course of arguing the aesthetic merits of each picture the videos included clips from the movies themselves. Apparently, YouTube received a complaint from the copyright holder of one of the clips and deleted his entire account. Matt Zoller Seitz has the complete story along with a comments thread that is also a must read, and Karina Longworth originally covered the story […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2009

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