Documentary

Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash, Sweet Grass

An observational documentary that utterly transports you to a forgotten corner of the American West, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash’s Sweetgrass is billed as a glimpse at the final sheep drive the state of Montana ever hosted. Shot in muddy, early aughts DV, this often funny, occasionally terrifying and almost always beautifully composed film follows a pair of modern shepherds who travel mostly on foot with three thousand sheep over a two hundred mile Montana expanse that cuts across the seemingly unending Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains. Without the use of voiceover narration or title cards, the film allows you to soak in […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 6, 2010
Viewing Zeitgeists and the Best U.S. Indies of the Decade

To try to recall your favorite films from an entire decade (and then to limit them to only ten titles) is to immediately set yourself up for uncertainty and ridicule: first off because it’s hard enough to remember what you saw ten days ago, much less ten years ago, and secondly because to limit the list to ten is to leave hundreds of excellent films out, titles that you’ll undoubtedly get bludgeoned to death with through later feedback (“You blithering idiot~pretentious snob~Hollywood tool! How could you leave out Judd Apatow~Jean-Luc Godard~Abbas Kiarostami~McG,” read the heated responses to already posted lists). […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 31, 2009
A LETTER FROM THE IFP

I am reprinting below a letter I received from Joana Vicente, Acting Director of the IFP, which publishes this magazine. Please consider joining the IFP and taking part in its activities over the coming year. It has been a time of many changes in the independent film scene; both scary and exciting. Through it all, independent filmmakers of all stripes keep pushing forward, making great work that moves, inspires, and amuses countless people around the world. It has been a year of changes at IFP as well. After 12 years at IFP’s helm, Executive Director, Michelle Byrd, stepped down to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 23, 2009
SUNDANCE USA SLATE REVEALED

The Sundance Institute announced today the the films that will screen in eight different cities nationwide on Jan. 28th for their inaugural Sundance Film Festival USA series. The filmmakers will be dispatched from Park City to cities across America, where they will introduce and screen their films and engage in Q&As with local audiences. The films are: Cyrus — Ann Arbor, MI — Michigan Theater Directors and screenwriters: Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass –A recently divorced guy meets a new lady. Then he meets her son who is, well…interesting. Cast: John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener. World […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 9, 2009
“THE COVE”

“A dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception.” That’s a line given in the beginning of Louie Psihoyos’s gripping documentary, The Cove. And the man who says it, Ric O’Barry, is one of the most intriguing subjects in a doc you’ll see this year. Ric O’Barry captured and trained the five female dolphins that played Flipper in the 1960s TV series. He lived twenty steps from them for close to ten years. But everything changed when Cathy, the lead Flipper, committed suicide in O’Barry’s arms. The next day he was arrested for trying to free a dolphin from a marina and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 8, 2009
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES SHORTS FOR 2010

The Sundance Institute announced today the slate of shorts which will be screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. I’m Here, directed by Spike Jonze; The Fence, directed by Rory Kennedy; Logorama, directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, and Ludovic Houplain; and Seeds of the Fall, directed Patrik Eklund will premiere the first Thursday to kick off the start of the competition screenings. The Sundance Film Festival will run January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The full list of shorts are below. U.S. DRAMATIC SHORTS Charlie and the Rabbit (Directors: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 7, 2009
FIRST-HAND SUNDANCE ADVICE FROM A FESTIVAL VET

Paul Rachman, whose feature documentary American Hardcore, premiered at Sundance in 2006 and then was sold to Sony Classics, penned a 17-page chapter of Chris Gore’s Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. Here are some of the tips listed in the chapter: – Your festival preparation starts the day you find out you have been accepted. If you are not working nonstop from that moment until your World Premiere, then you are most likely leaving important things undone. – The most important thing about your major festival world premiere is to keep it that way—a premiere. Do not start sending the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2009
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES 2010 PREMIERES, SPOTLIGHTS, NEW FRONTIER, MIDNIGHT & NEXT TITLES

The Sundance Institute has announced the titles that will be in the non-competition categories for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Notables going to Park City in January include Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, Nicole Holofcener, the Duplass bros, Michael Winterbottom (with two films), the Safdie bros, Gaspar Noé and Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s directorial debut. Also announced are the films taking part in the newly created NEXT series, where films and their filmmakers will travel the country showing their films in theaters during the fest. The Sundance Film Festival will runs January 21-31 in Park City, SaltLake City, Ogden and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 3, 2009
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES 2010 COMPETITION LINEUP

The Sundance Institute announced today the films that will be in competition for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Sundance also announced that there will be no opening night film this year. “By moving away from one opening night to a ‘night of Competition,’ we bring the focus back to our core,” says the director of the festival, John Cooper, in the announcemnt. Some of the familiar faces showing up to Park City for ’10 include Alex Gibney wih his doc on Jack Abramoff, Jeffrey Blitz examines what happens when people hit the lottery, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman look at […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 2, 2009
PRECIOUS & THE LAST STATION LEAD SPIRIT NOMINATIONS

Film Independent announced the nominations for this year’s Spirit Awards. The award will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year when the ceremony takes place on Friday, March 5. Precious and The Last Station lead in nominations with five each, including Best Feature and Best Director. Full list of nominations below. BEST FEATURE (500) Days Of SummerAmreekaPrecious Sin Nombre The Last Station BEST DIRECTOREthan Coen, Joel Coen, A Serious ManLee Daniels, PreciousCary Joji Fukunaga, Sin NombreJames Gray, Two LoversMichael Hoffman, The Last Station BEST FIRST FEATURE A Single Man Crazy Heart Easier With Practice Paranormal Activity The Messenger Awards Guide […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2009

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