Sundance Film Festival 2011
-
ROBERT REDFORD AND KENNETH COLE DISCUSS VOLUNTEERISM AT SUNDANCE 2011
Last week from the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker ran a series of videos sponsored by Kenneth Cole highlighting the work of volunteers at the festival. Each year, 1,600 volunteers descend on Park City and help make the festival a good experience for both filmmakers and audiences. And each year Cole, a Sundance Institute board member, designs and donates a sleeveless down vest to the volunteers. This year those vests are for sale at Kenneth Cole stores and at Sundance’s online festival store. A percentage of the net profits from the sale is donated to the Sundance Institute. Below, in this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2011 -
“POSITION AMONG THE STARS” DIRECTOR LEONARD RETEL HELMRICH
Position Among the Stars Winning both the IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) and Sundance for the same film isn’t anything new for director Leonard Retel Helmrich. Both Position Among the Stars (which received a Special Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this past Saturday) and Shape of the Moon — his previous documentary about three generations of the Shamsuddin family of inner city Jakarta — have won top awards at the festivals. These two documentaries, along with 2001’s Eye of the Day, combine as a trilogy to tell a moving story about religion, politics, and economics, all through the lens […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 31, 2011 -
FACES FROM SUNDANCE ’11
Here we highlight the stills Jamie Stuart took while shooting interviews for the site. Check out his videos from Sundance here.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 31, 2011 -
SUNDANCE 2011: THE WORDS OF 10 FILMMAKERS
At the 30th Sundance Awards Ceremony last night, I walked around the hall and asked filmmakers a simple question, and requested a short response. My question was: “What does Sundance mean to you?” Their answers were incredibly diverse — in fact none were identical. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Out of varied thoughts are born unique visions that can become great films. Of course not great films for everyone, but great for someone, or for a group of someones. For an audience taken on a journey where they have never been, or have not been for a long time, films […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Jan 30, 2011 -
SUNDANCE ’11 WINNERS ANNOUNCED: “LIKE CRAZY” & “HOW TO DIE IN OREGON” TOP LIST
The Sundance Film Festival announced its jury prize winners this evening with Drake Doremus‘ examination of a long-distance relationship, Like Crazy, taking home the Grand Jury Prize. The film’s lead actress, Felicity Jones, also won a Special Jury acting prize. Other top winners include Peter D. Richardson‘s documentary, How to Die in Oregon for Grand Jury doc prize; Circumstance won the dramatic Audience Award while Buck won the audience award for documentary. Sean Durkin won the narrative best directing prize for Martha Marcy May Marlene and best doc directing went to Jon Foy for Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 29, 2011 -
THE ENVIRONMENT, THE WHITE HOUSE, GENOCIDE: THREE SUNDANCE DOCS
Remember the Earth Liberation Front? In the 1990s a collection of separate anonymous cells without any central leadership that carried out acts of sabotage and arson — burning lumber companies, torching a parking lot of SUVs, destroying a research laboratory. The clandestine group’s goal was to halt the destruction of our environment. If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front gives us the larger context of the environmental movement and the more radical Earth Liberation Front, and then focuses on one cell in Oregon and on the activist Daniel McGowan. It is an intriguing and important film […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Jan 29, 2011 -
“THE SON OF NO ONE” | writer-director, Dito Montiel
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 28, 6:15 pm — Eccles Theatre] So we’re filming in the Queensbridge Projects — the place I spent a million teenage days rehearsing with my hardcore band in Johnny Waste’s apartment (actually Ravenswood Projects). Back then it was the murder capital of New York. Still pretty rough though. I’m standing next to Al Pacino and we’re getting ready for a scene where he’ll talk with a little boy about two murders. He takes a minute to look at all the kids out playing in the big center playground. (We had a lot of extras all dressed […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2011 -
“MAGIC TRIP” | director, Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 28, 3:00 pm — Temple Theatre] We initially thought that the film would be more conventional — the usual talking heads reflecting on the past. However, there was something so magical about the footage that cutting away from it to interviews of distant memories seemed wrong. Better, we discovered, to create a kind of archival immersion experience in which the footage would either live on its own or be commented upon by audio-tape recordings of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters themselves. Many of these recordings were made closer to the time of the actual bus […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2011 -
“I MELT WITH YOU” | director, Mark Pellington
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Wednesday, Jan. 26, 9:30 pm — Eccles Theatre] The biggest surprise was that I could pull it off, spend some of my own cash, raise the rest and fucking do it — under a million, 18 days, no compromise. I’ve never been happier.
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 26, 2011 -
“THE OFF HOURS” DIRECTOR MEGAN GRIFFITHS
Good things come to those who wait, as writer-director Megan Griffiths will attest. The debut feature from the Seattle-based filmmaker, The Off-Hours, was seven years in the making before it finally went into production last spring. Inspired by Griffiths’ own experiences working the night shift, this moody, atmospheric indie captures the lives of the people who frequent a diner in a nowhere truckstop town, including pretty young waitress Francine (Amy Seimetz), her foster brother Corey (Scoot McNairy), soft-spoken truck driver Oliver (Ross Partridge), and alcoholic diner owner Stu (Tony Doupe). There are also cameos from fellow directors Lynn Shelton (whose […]
by Nick Dawson on Jan 26, 2011
