Sundance Film Festival
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“ABOUT FACE” | director, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, January 22 2:30 pm –The MARC, Park City] Over thirty years ago, I graduated from AFI with a degree in film and shortly thereafter, became a photographer. I wanted the work I created to be mine and found filmmaking too collaborative. Two decades later, I returned to filmmaking with my doc, “Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart”, managing, somehow, to make the film with a tiny crew. It mostly felt like my work.. and I got used to relying on others to make it sing. About Face is my seventh film and counting, since the Lou doc. […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2012 -
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Today is the day. I’ve been working to finish this movie since 2006. There were moments in the six years since putting pen to page during which I couldn’t make this day out in my future. Not that I considered quitting, that isn’t my style, but I did at times feel like the journey of making this film would stretch into eternity. This is not unprecedented, check out Ellison’s second book or Wendell B. Harris’ second movie. To avoid that fate I had to take an extreme measure and commit myself to working 12 hours a day 7 days a week until the movie was finished. This […]
by Terence Nance on Jan 22, 2012 -
Five Questions with Arbitrage Director Nicholas Jarecki
Currently best known for his documentary The Outsider, Nicholas Jarecki is poised for reevaluation with Arbitrage, his narrative directorial debut. Jarecki spent a long time ruminating over what kind of story he wanted to tell, ultimately deciding on a thriller set within a world he knew quite a bit about. The film has already garnered attention thanks to its A-List ensemble, but Jarecki hopes his script will force audiences to continue thinking even after the credits finish rolling. Arbitrage, which is set amidst today’s tumultuous economic terrain and considers the ethics of a hedge-fund mogul, screens today in Park City. — Filmmaker: […]
by Alexandra Byer on Jan 21, 2012 -
“AN OVERSIMPLICATION OF HER BEAUTY” | writer-director, Terence Nance
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, January 21 9:00 pm –Egyptian Theatre, Park City] I come from a studio art background and consider myself an artist who made a film. I make music, murals and performances as well, so I hesitate to call myself a filmmaker. That said, I’ve been thinking lately that outside of the “burden of branding,” it doesn’t really matter what I call myself; my work will name me at the end of the day, and I’m interested to hear what that name will be after a few years of making work. So I guess if I am indeed named […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
“BLACK ROCK” | director, Katie Aselton
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, January 21 11:45 pm –Library Center Theatre, Park City] For me, there is nothing like the experience of walking into a theater and escaping with a movie for couple of hours. The smell of popcorn, your feet sticking to the floor, the shared experience with those around you… that can’t be duplicated at home on your t.v., your computer, your iPad, whatever. Going to a movie theater is truly special. To be a part of that experience and be able take people on that two hour journey is exciting. It’s an honor for me to do so.
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
Detropia | Directors/Producers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, January 21, Noon –Temple Theatre, Park City] Rachel Grady: I’m a documentary filmmaker because it’s basically like going to an amazing graduate school with each new project. And getting paid to do it. It gives you an excuse to learn, explore, hypothesize, get it wrong, change your mind, discover new ideas and then share your results with complete strangers. That’s extremely fun to me. Heidi Ewing: In our view, there is no other medium that is better suited for Detroit than the medium of documentary film. The slew of popular picture books about the city and its […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
“TWENTY-EIGHT HOTELS ROOMS” | writer-director, Matt Ross
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, January 21 5:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] The most truthful answer I can come up with as to why my story is told as a film (and not a novel or a play) is this: the most profound narrative experiences I have had have been in a dark movie theatre. One of the first films I can remember seeing was Jaws. I must have been about five. The experience was seared into my brain. It was horrifying, primal. Even now, as an adult, so many years later, every time I swim or surf in the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
“ME AT THE ZOO” | directors, Chris Moukarbel & Valerie Veatch
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday , January 21 9:00 pm – Temple Theatre, Park City] Our film Me @ The Zoo began in another form entirely. We were making a long form art video for the NYC-based arts organization Rhizome. The artwork was about exploring the ways that technology mediates our lives as a generation comes of age watching reality television and using social media. It seemed like what is considered to be performance has shifted and “acting” was losing ground as a popular medium. Video technology enables us to turn the content of our lives into a kind of show. If you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
“MY BEST DAY” | Writer-director, Erin Greenwell
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, January 21 6:00 pm –Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City] I can trace back wanting to make movies to my father and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Once in grade school, I had a history presentation due. While watching the above mentioned movie with homework-is-due dread, I was struck with inspiration. I asked my dad “Is this true?”. “Yeah” he remarked. My fact checking was pretty dodgy. Pulse racing, I made my father point out the name in the Encyclopedia Britannica and then based the rest of my research off the movie. The next day at school, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2012 -
Keep the Lights On | Co-writer/Director, Ira Sachs
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20 8:30 pm –Library Center Theatre, Park City] It’s not for nothing that we watch films in dark rooms, without the lights on. It’s the most intimate of artistic mediums. When a film works, we feel a nearly physical connection to the actors we are watching, as if they are playing out our own lives on screen. I like films that are messy and imperfect, that are unable to fully contain all the life going on within them. Filmmakers like Cassavetes and Loach, Fassbinder and Pialat. The plot never rules the character. The actor might at […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012
