Escape from Tomorrow
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All Clear
“What surprised me more than anything when we got to Sundance,” says John Sloss about Randy Moore’s Escape from Tomorrow, “was this sort of tacit acceptance that this film will never see the light of day. Everyone kept saying, ‘See it here because Disney won’t allow this to be [commercially] released,’ as if Disney by itself has that power. That kind of compliant response awakened something in me.” Sloss, whose Cinetic Media was selling the film, may have been surprised at the industry’s dismall of its commercial prospects at Sundance, but I was not. A confession: After seeing the first […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
The Happiest Place on Earth
The memories of our childhood are owned, their copyrights controlled by giant multinational corporations. Whereas the fantasy figures of the 20th century hail from centuries-old sources — the Brothers Grimm, Greek and Norse mythology — their contemporary incarnations, found on T-shirts, lunchboxes, mugs, iPhones and in video games, constitute precious intellectual treasure, their value diligently upheld by World Trade Organization rulings. Or, to phrase things a bit differently: If you’re an independent filmmaker, make sure your lead actor isn’t wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt you haven’t cleared! Despite the forces aligned against pop culture-deploying media artists in our mash-up, remix […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
Trailer Watch: Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow
To my mind, the quality of a really great trailer is that it makes you want to watch the film right then — even if you’ve already seen it. I saw Randy Moore’s Disneyland-shot excursion into the bizarre, Escape from Tomorrow, at Sundance earlier this year — admittedly under less than ideal circumstances — but this incredible and joyously subversive trailer makes me excited all over again about the movie. Though declared unreleasable at Sundance because Moore filmed at Disneyland without permission, Escape From Tomorrow will be having a day-and-date release through PDA (the distribution arm of the film’s sales […]
by Nick Dawson on Sep 11, 2013 -
Sundance Film Festival 2013
Last year, when I wrote about the Sundance Film Festival, I did so through the prism of its New Frontier section, using artists’ dialogue with mainstream filmmaking as a way to work my way into a broader discussion of the films found at the rest of the festival. Another year, I used the “revolution” theme of Sundance’s pre-film bumpers to discuss evolving changes in the festival’s self-definition. This year, when I interviewed festival director John Cooper before the 2013 edition, I asked him if there were any themes running through the curation, and he mentioned a “fearless” quality among the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 23, 2013 -
Sundance: Death by Twitter, Computers vs. Brains
You are at the premiere of your own film. The screening is packed. The credits begin to roll…and 500 glowing screens appear in the darkness. You sit there, watching the phones, helpless as strangers and bloggers decide your fate 140 characters at a time. Perhaps the Variety critic delivers the first blow: a decisive mediocre. The indieWIRE stringer declares the audience underwhelmed, #sundance. At a party that night, people tell each other that they heard the movie was “only OK.” In the olden days, crowds of press and industry would gather outside the theatre to discuss their thoughts and settle on […]
by Alicia Van Couvering on Jan 23, 2013 -
The Outlaw Pleasures of Escape from Tomorrow
Children have no conception of copyright. The words “intellectual property” mean nothing to them. There is just the world, the people and places and things in front of them, and the imprint these things make on their young minds. But as adults, we realize that we don’t own these things that have imprinted themselves on our brains. That’s okay, though. When it comes to the totems of childhood fantasy, we can pay to experience them again — or, more accurately, pay to experience them vicariously through our children. The Walt Disney Corporation has made such a cross-generational feedback loop into […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2013 -
Five Questions with Escape from Tomorrow Director Randy Moore
There’s something the Sundance Film Guide didn’t tell you about Escape from Tomorrow, the first narrative feature from director Randy Moore – the film was shot guerilla style, on location, at Disney World. Seriously. A debut for the ages, Escape from Tomorrow takes viewers on a surreal journey into the mind of family man Jim Walsh on the last day of his vacation at the park. After finding out that he has been unexpectedly laid off from work, Jim’s day derails until he’s bordering on a complete mental break. This is deranged, imaginative, destabilizing filmmaking – a magical film about […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 19, 2013 -
Escape From Tomorrow | Director Randy Moore
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 18, 5:30pm — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] Being a first time filmmaker is a strange labor. You don’t know anything, but you need to act like you do. In order for this to work, you really have to sacrifice that rational part of your thinking and lie, like Demi Moore’s character in the movie Indecent Proposal. You might even say, “It’s just my body… it’s not my mind,” but you know that that’s not true! The whole world thinks you’re completely insane, and it’s nearly impossible to convince them otherwise. After our first preview screening, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 17, 2013
