Sundance Film Festival
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“GYPSY DAVY” | director, Rachel Leah Jones
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Tuesday, January 24, 3:00 pm –Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City] I’m not an independent filmmaker; so-called independent filmmakers—all the more so documentarians—are some of the most dependent people around. We depend on funders and characters, on permission-givers and gatekeepers, on our own (free) will, determination and hubris—not to mention on the weather. A film teacher I once had gave me the one really truly valuable lesson in all my MFA: “You want to make a movie?” she asked us. Yes, we nodded. “Then go out and tell everyone you know that you’re going to make a movie.” Otherwise, she […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2012 -
“SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME” | director, Sam Pollard
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 Noon –Temple Theatre, Park City] I am a filmmaker because as a young man much of my time was spent watching a television show titled The Million Dollar Movie. It was broadcast on the local station WOR Channel 9. They happen to own the RKO Pictures film catalogue and they would show a film all week. The one film that I saw many times that had a tremendous impression on me was Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. So watching that show every week and seeing that film and others such as Gunga Din, Fort Apache, His […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
“JOHN DIES AT THE END” | director, Don Coscarell
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 Midnight –Egyptian Theatre, Park City] Us guys from the “horror ghetto” don’t usually get the “A” word attached to our work, but thank you. I’m flattered. When I was younger, I was dazzled by the work of the greats such as Fritz Lang, James Whale and Alfred Hitchcock. Their work taught me that film could be used to travel to the dark reaches of the subconscious. These were places that other mediums such as novels and paintings were just not as effective in my opinion. They have a hard time competing with a huge moving […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
“PUTIN’S KISS” | director, Lise Birk Pedersen
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 2:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] I decided that I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker on a travel I had to China in 1995. I was there on my own for three month and I had a fantastic time being an observer in a country who was in the beginning of such a life changing development. There was obviously many great stories, interesting contrasts and characters and I had my sketchbook with me and was drawing the people and situations that I met. But the silent portrays didn´t really seem enough to me […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
“GRABBERS” | director, Joe Wright
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 11:45 pm –Library Center Theatre, Park City] Grabbers is a monster movie, first and foremost, and so much of the experience is visceral, for your eyes and ears… Whether it’s a monster roar vibrating your innards or the orchestra rising to mark a poignant look from our leading lady. You simply couldn’t have that experience reading a book, or watching a play. It isn’t possible. There’s something about the combination of pictures, and sound, plus time, that is utterly absorbing and compelling – when it’s done well. I enjoy a story told in a great film […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
Kid-Thing | Writer/Director David Zellner
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 2:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] Nathan and I have always wanted to study and work in film. To me it’s the ultimate art form, in that it has infinite possibilities and the unique ability to encompass and incorporate all other art forms. Even if all art is derivative, it’s that challenge: attempt to make something new in film that’s exciting to us. This was made clear to us as teenagers in the late ’80s when we were the personal videographers for Chuck Berry. Although known first and foremost as a rock-and-roll legend, he […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
“L” | co-writer-director Babis Makridis
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23, 6:30 pm –Egyptian Theatre, Park City] Because of audiovisual. A bicycle
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2012 -
“MOSTQUITA Y MARI” | writer-director, Aurora Guerrero
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, January 22 9:00 pm — Egyptian Theatre] Being a filmmaker just feels right to me. It flows without forcing it. It feels like the tool I was born to use to express myself. I once explained it as feeling like that first pair of Puma shoes, you know, like they were meant especially for you to sport around town. There’s so much about film that I respect. It’s a medium that demands the talents of others and I love collaborating. Film requires patience, persistence, and passion. These are all qualities I have developed through my experiences as […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2012 -
“V/H/S”| Filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: For our segment of V/H/S (“10/31/98”), we spent an entire night searching for a train. After hours of driving around, we still couldn’t get what we needed, so we decided to park near some tracks and wait. It was a little after midnight on a Tuesday and there we were: four friends, grown men sitting in a parked car with lights off, down a dark alley somewhere in South Los Angeles, dressed up as a pirate, a Marine, a life-sized teddy bear & the Unabomber. A woman walking by caught a glimpse of us and quickly picked up her pace–and I’m sure our awkward attempts […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2012 -
Safety Not Guaranteed | Director Colin Trevorrow
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, January 22 5:30 pm –Library Center Theatre, Park City] First of all, thanks for referring to me as an artist. It made me feel good. With Safety Not Guaranteed, Derek Connolly and I had the goals you might associate with art—to make something soulful, something that breaks rules, engages the heart. But beneath it all was a sincere want to entertain in a way that only movies can. There’s an element of showmanship in cinema that most other mediums don’t share. Yes, the characters in our film are honest and the emotions are true—good entertainment doesn’t have to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2012
