Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance Film Festival
The majestic chords of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet blasted through the doors of the New Frontiers exhibition space at Sundance this year, beckoning viewers into a dark room with a wall-size screen and, in a bin, those staples of the modern multiplex, 3D glasses. Donning the glasses, you were confronted with a looped, three-minute mash-up of history as seen through the lens of Hollywood cinema. Composited across the 3D canvas, like some kind of American Museum of Natural History diorama on acid, were the great characters who, by our repeated viewing, resonate as deeply in our consciousness as real historical […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Sundance Announces New Artists Services Distribution Partners
Four additional distribution outlets — Microsoft Xbox, SnagFilms, Sony’s Video Unlimited Service and VUDU — have joined the Sundance Institute’s Artists Services program, Sundance Executive Director Keri Putnam announced today. “Audiences are accessing independent films via a range of platforms and storefronts, which speaks to the need for filmmakers to make their work available in a variety of ways,” Putnam said in a statement. “Beyond that, the more options we’re able to offer our filmmakers, the better able they are to customize their self-distribution programs and work towards individual goals for their films.” Artists Services is a program helping Sundance […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 12, 2012 -
ALESIA WESTON NAMED NEW HEAD OF JERUSALEM FILM CENTER
Alesia Weston, who many filmmakers know from her work as Associate Director of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, has been named the new Executive Director of the Jerusalem Film Center. She will begin her new job mid-June and will oversee all of the center’s artistic and educational programs, including the upcoming Jerusalem International Film Festival, the organization wrote in a press release. From the press release: “I am thrilled to be associated with this great team, especially Lia van Leer, and I am looking forward to expanding the vision she set in motion as founding director. The vibrant Israeli […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 9, 2012 -
SUNDANCE ANIMATORS IN ACTION
The third in Mike Plante’s Home Movie Show is ten minutes of calm as three animators just draw. With Brent Green (Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then), Julia Pott (Belly), Kataneh Vahdani (Avocados).
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 9, 2012 -
“BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD” TOPS SUNDANCE AWARD WINNERS
With Sundance wrapping up tomorrow, this year’s award winners were announced at a ceremony tonight in Park City. Perhaps unsurprising considering the amount of critical acclaim it’s been garnering this past week, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild took home the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. Meanwhile, Eugene Jarecki’s War on Drugs critique The House I Live In won this year’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize, and Mark O’Brien’s crowd-pleasing drama The Surrogate took home the Dramatic Audience Award. The full list of winners: Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: Beasts of the Southern Wild Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: The House I Live […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 29, 2012 -
Lady Vengeance: Interview with Sundance Filmmaker Eve Sussman
Although Sundance is predominantly known for indie dramas and social issue documentaries, the New Frontiers section provides a loving home for particularly odd ducks. Unlike many projects in New Frontiers, which are presented as installations or other new media formats, Eve Sussman’s whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir was screened in a conventional theater. However, the film’s text, 300 bits of voiceover, 150 pieces of music, and 3,000 images are live-edited by an algorithmic computer dubbed the Serendipity Machine that creates a randomized sequence, meaning each screening is entirely unique. Not only does Sussman’s piece turn the idea of the mystery genre on its ear, […]
by Farihah Zaman on Jan 27, 2012 -
“PRICE CHECK” | director, Michael Walker
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Wednesday, January 25 6:30 pm –Eccles Theatre, Park City] When you are in the film business, someone, let’s say your dentist, will inevitably tell you a story that they think is a great idea for a movie. But they don’t know how to write a script, they just know how to clean teeth, so they want you to write it for them. If I had an idea that I thought would make a good novel, I would tell it to the poor guy who made the mistake of telling me that he was a novelist, because I don’t […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2012 -
“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
