Sundance Film Festival
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You Have no Business Being In This Business
I have been thinking about Kevin Smith quite a bit lately. Beyond the obvious happenings with his film Red State and his decision to follow in my footsteps (wink) by embracing the Topspin platform to go about his business of building a media empire, I’ve been a bit in awe of how this guy from New Jersey, who began his journey with a $27,000 ’90s Sundance hit that many in the artistic film world passed off as garbage, has weathered many a storm, some arguably manufactured, to be quite possibly the last man standing and perhaps most forward thinking in […]
by Gregorybayne on Aug 2, 2011 -
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES NEW ONLINE DISTRIBUTION INITIATIVE
At a Los Angeles press conference today, Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam announced an expansion of the organization’s Artist Services Initiative that will bring independent films to digital platforms. Exclusively partnering with aggregator New Video, Sundance is offering its festival and lab films distribution opportunities on iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and SundanceNOW. Filmmakers will retain ownership and control of their titles, will be free to publicize and market them, and Sundance will conduct its own marketing efforts as well as leverage the potency of its brand to gain the films wider audiences. Commented Putnam, “By acting as a conduit […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 27, 2011 -
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard
You’ve seen it all before. Amidst a sea of police corruption, one last honest, wisecracking cop and an improbable sidekick unravel a series of criminal entanglements.They’re an unlikely pair and one of them is surely way out of his natural element. There will be chases, usually with cars, although likely on foot too, and gunplay, half quotable one-liners, and maybe a dash of suspense, although it’s highly unlikely either of our leads will meet an untimely demise. How could anyone possible make a tired scenario like this fresh? Just ask John Michael McDonagh, brother of Martin, the lauded Irish playwright […]
by Brandon Harris on Jul 27, 2011 -
HIGH OCTANE
by Michael Tully on Jul 19, 2011
For Evan Glodell, surviving a bad breakup by making a movie wasn’t enough — he also built the camera it was shot on and the car featured in its story. Dubbed the mad scientist of this year’s Sundance, he takes Septien director Michael tully through the apocalyptic fever dream that is BELLFLOWER. Photograph by Henny Garfunkel -
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES THIS YEAR’S CREATIVE PRODUCING INITIATIVES
The Sundance Institute announced today the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, which will take place in Sundance, Utah starting July 18. From the 18-22, ten projects will participate in the Labs (five narrative, four documentaries) and receive ongoing support throughout the year. Following the Labs, from the 22-24, leaders in the independent film community will partake in the Summit that will include case study sessions, panels, roundtable discussions, one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions. Summit panelists include Josh Braun (Submarine Entertainment), Victoria Cook (Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz), Liesl Copland (William Morris Endeavor), Eric d’Arbeloff […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 12, 2011 -
Dark Days — A Hammer to Nail Review
(The 10th anniversary of Dark Days will be re-released through Oscilloscope Laboratories beginning Friday.) Things keep happening that make me feel old. No I don’t have any major age-related illnesses. I haven’t been getting copies of AARP magazine in the mail. “Are you even 30 yet?” is still a legitimate question to ask me upon any encounter. For the record, I’m not (yet) 30, but still I can’t help getting the creeping sense that, in the words of LCD Soundsystem, “I’m losing my edge.” Upon learning that the Cinema Village was going to open British documentarian Marc Singer’s seminal 2000 […]
by Brandon Harris on Jun 30, 2011 -
MIA TRACHINGER, “REVERSION”
Three years ago Sundance played host to Mia Trachinger’s weird, beguiling take on the low-fi, sci-fi dystopia genre, Reversion. Odd, playful, melancholy and ultimately riveting, it bounced around the fest circuit for the past couple of years without finding a home with specialty distributors, perhaps a sign of just how ahead of its time it was. A couple of years later Sundance began its NEXT section, a category for films just like Reversion; adventurous, low budget mindbenders, genre deconstructions and idiosyncratic visions that SXSW would normally be the target destination for. Trachinger, whose Bunny was a success of the festival […]
by Brandon Harris on Jun 8, 2011 -
“3 BACKYARDS”: THE DARK SPACES BETWEEN EVERYDAY LIVES
(Distributed by Screen Media, 3 Backyards opens theatrically in NYC at the IFC Center on Friday, March 11, 2011. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) What do you want from a film experience? If I am going to schlep into Manhattan and pay money for a ticket I want the large-screen experience to be something specifically cinematic. I don’t need any William Castle-like “transmedia” gimmicks or 3D to prod me into the seat. I just need to know that I will be in the hands of a director who understands that narrative cinema can operate in a space […]
by Mike S. Ryan on Mar 10, 2011 -
DAVID MICHOD, “ANIMAL KINGDOM”
Originally posted online on August 11, 2010. Animal Kingdom is nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver). Like his stunning short films Netherland Dwarf and Crossbow, David Michod’s terrific and terrifying feature debut, the 2010 Sundance World Dramatic Competition winner Animal Kingdom, is a smoothly photographed, moodily scored tale of a trapped, dim and docile young man who suffers at the hands of a careless and, in this case, criminal family. As in his previous work, Michod relies on an insistent voiceover to provide biting interiority while the unrelentingly grim working-class Melbourne milieu is strikingly depicted in slow-motion shots and […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 26, 2011 -
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, “RABBIT HOLE”
Originally posted online on December 16, 2010. Rabbit Hole is nominated for Best Actress (Nicole Kidman). David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Rabbit Hole might seem like an odd choice for helmer John Cameron Mitchell, a director whose reputation wasn’t gained built on tasteful, upper-middle-class family dramas. Perhaps he’s mellowed, and given the results, why not? The film’s story of parental grief, that of a Westchester County couple (Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman) who, eight months later still lack the emotional wherewithal to deal with the accidental death of their young son, may seem like the stuff of so many […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 22, 2011
