Sundance Film Festival
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“Know Your Beat”: (T)ERROR Director Lyric Cabral Offers Advice on Documentary Pitching on the She Does Podcast
This week on the show, we interviewed photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, Lyric Cabral. She, along with her co-director David Felix Sutcliffe, is premiering her feature-length film (T)ERROR at Sundance this year in the U.S. Documentary category. (T)ERROR is billed as “the first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting,” but the documentary has been in the works for over a decade. Lyric came across the film’s subject, an FBI informant, when she was only 19, but knew she was too young to tackle the story then. Lyric talks about the uncomfortable situations she’s found herself in as a […]
by Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg on Jan 21, 2015 -
Learning from The Interview at the 2015 Art House Convergence: Sundance’s Keri Putnam Calls For New Distribution System
This year’s Art House Convergence (AHC), the organization’s 10th annual event, drew 500 delegates from art house cinemas, film festivals, and film distributors to Midway, UT to discuss the state of independent film exhibition in the United States. Over the course of the organization’s first decade, the AHC has grown from a small gathering of two dozen non-profit cinemas seeking new ways to support independent film while building sustainable business models for their theaters into something of a full-blown trade organization. Now it represents the interests of hundreds of theaters (and helps incubate the development of a similar organization for […]
by Tom Hall on Jan 21, 2015 -
The Sundance Question: What Fear Did You Confront in the Making of Your Movie?
Each year Filmmaker asks all the incoming feature directors at Sundance one question. This year, our question revolves around fear. Specifically, what fear — whether it’s personal, or one related to the development, financing, production or distribution of your film — did you have to confront and conquer in the making of your movie? (To see past years’ questions and responses, click here.) We’ll upload the responses individually over the course of the festival. So, as the festival progresses, click the links below. The Sundance Film Festival is being held in Park City, Utah from January 22nd to February 1st. “The People Behind the Crimes”: Directors Frida […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2015 -
Seven Tips for Directors and Producers with Films at Sundance
Over the years, Filmmaker has run several “Sundance Survival Guide” pieces. (One from 2012 we continue to recommend is Alicia Van Couvering’s “Mistakes Were Made.” ) Here, fresh for 2015, is new one from Mynette Louie, President of Gamechanger Films and producer of Land Ho! (Sundance 2014), California Solo (Sundance 2012), and Children of Invention (Sundance 2009). Check back tomorrow for a grab-bag of advice — including several tips we’ve never run before in any form — from several recent Sundance veterans. 1. Empower your crew to promote the film, and show them your thanks. Sundance is not just about […]
by Mynette Louie on Jan 20, 2015 -
Director Diane Bell on What You Should Do if Your Film is in Sundance
Following this week’s Sundance announcements, I linked in my newsletter to two articles I wrote back in 2009: “So You Didn’t Get into Sundance” and “Letter from the Future.” This first is a consoling “what to do next” kind of piece, and the second is an only partly tongue-in-cheek riff on alternative ways to approach festival distribution. The latter owes a lot of Jon Reiss, who in articles written for Filmmaker and elsewhere has advocated for making your festival premiere your premiere and to make a DIY distribution your plan A, not some hastily considered fallback plan when a big […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 7, 2014 -
Kumiko, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Warpaint Highlight Sundance Next Festival
It’s rare that I can recommend nearly every program at a film festival, but that’s the case with this weekend’s Sundance Next Festival in Los Angeles. With events taking place tonight at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and then this weekend at the theater at the Ace Hotel, the Next Festival is intimate, very cool and with a strong multidisciplinary bent. Alongside several artistic feature highlights from this year’s Sundance Film Festival are shorts, panels and bands, making each program something of an event. Check out the complete line-up at the festival’s site, and here are a few picks of mine: […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 7, 2014 -
Infographic of Sundance Sales from 2011 to 2013
The Sundance sale. The turning point of the festival for more than just the expected filmmakers and distributors can, at times, be an inscrutable transaction. Is X the best fit for Y? Is X really worth Z amount? Does X’s release in W mean Y’s jockeying for awards season? And so on and so forth. In honor of the inaugural issue of their magazine, Bright Ideas, Seed&Spark teamed with Accurat to present a data visualization of Sundance sales from 2011 to 2013. The exhaustive infographic demonstrates, above all, that there are no guarantees in translating Sundance buzz to the box […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 20, 2014 -
Sundance Day Two: Keep Going
Is anyone else already exhausted? Day Two was about keeping energy up. Despite a late Friday night, a less than peaceful rest over at the crew condo, and once again forgetting to drink enough water, on Saturday we had to keep moving. It’s pretty incredible how quickly the hours disappear. Waking up at 7A to realize it is quickly 6P and you have no idea how that could have happened. Where did the day go? Day Two went to supporting fellow filmmakers, an extremely successful radio show, pouring over press breaks, and a long drive back and forth to Salt […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 20, 2014 -
Watch the Michael Cera-Starring Sundance Short Gregory Go Boom Online
With the instant gratification and popularity that can accompany a YouTube upload, filmmakers are questioning whether the internet or the traditionally prestige festival circuit is the ideal forum to premiere a short. As Ryan Koo suggested back at the IFP/DCTV “Short Takes” panel last summer, why choose? Indeed, while some festivals rule out previously seen shorts, others welcome online buzz with open arms. One of those festivals, it so happens, is Sundance. Three shorts that will screen in Park City within the coming days were all originally available on YouTube, including Janicza Bravo’s Gregory Go Boom, a black comedy starring a […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 15, 2014 -
What’s Ego Got to Do With It? At Sundance’s Arthouse Convergence, Ira Deutchman Imagines the Future of Specialty Exhibition
Just delivered in Utah at Sundance’s pre-festival 2014 Arthouse Convergence — where specialty exhibitors gather to discuss and debate trends, developments and threats to their collective business model — Ira Deutchman’s keynote is a witty and forward-thinking speech that looks to the past to consider reshaping the future. In his opening, Deutchman cites two truths he learned early on in his career: First, I learned that Business is dominated by people who are driven, sometimes myopic, and willing to do almost anything to succeed. The second thing I learned is that the Film Business, specifically, is driven more by ego […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2014
