Sundance Film Festival
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Ex-Sex Director Michael Mohan
2010 was a big year for Michael Mohan. His first feature, One Too Many Mornings, premiered at Sundance (and can now be watched – in its entirety – on Hulu). He directed a music video for Fitz and the Tantrums that was blogged about by Justin Timberlake (no, really). And one year later he returns to Park City with a short film, Ex-Sex. Mohan’s short about ex’s hooking up is gorgeous to look at, totally relatable, and so pitch-perfect in its bitter-sweetness that the only logical question would be: Couldn’t you make it as a feature? Please? Characters […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 26, 2011 -
SUNDANCE VOLUNTEER KNAR KITABJIAN
As part of our spotlight on volunteerism with Kenneth Cole, here we profile Knar Kitabjian, who is volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival this year at the Music Cafe.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 25, 2011 -
Trolls Vs. Lou Reed at Sundance
Quintessential Sundance experience: I arrived in Park City earlier today. Got my badge. Went to The Troll Hunter because, well, I like monster movies. And trolls? I love trolls! The Troll Hunter is kind of like Troll 2, except with, you know – good special effects, decent actors, a coherent story…that being said, I’m a die-hard Troll 2 fan and will continue to sing its praises. But I digress. After The Troll Hunter, I saw a film that will probably go down as the worst of the festival. Tons of walkouts. Awkward laughter. Not really a “so-bad-it’s-good” movie. Just awful. […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 25, 2011 -
SUNDANCE VOLUNTEER JEFF AGUIRRE
When first-time Sundance filmmakers ask me for advice on attending the festival, I always tell them, “Get to know the volunteers.” Park City can be a difficult place to navigate. Seasoned vets already know the tricks for making their way around, and sage guidance from the volunteers can be the only for newcomers to level the playing field. But there’s another reason I recommend people get to know the volunteers. And that’s because they’re really interesting people. While a lot of festivals rely on recently graduated local students whose ranks turn over every year, Sundance has a cadre of volunteers, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2011 -
Culture Hacker: A Storytelling Pandemic
by Lance Weiler on Jan 24, 2011
A storytelling pandemic. By Lance Weiler. -
Uncle Kent Director Joe Swanberg
Since Joe Swanberg’s first feature film, Kissing on the Mouth, premiered at SXSW in 2005, he’s managed to make at least a feature a year, multiple web-series, and found regular launch-pads at SXSW and IFC Films. When Swanberg directs a film, he really functions as a craftsman of the entire work: while he eschews screenplays in favor of improvisation, he works as cinematographer, editor, and usually acts in the film. As the nexus of a low-budget film movement stressing honesty, stories chronicling the lives of people in their twenties, and improvisation (this movement begins with an “M,” ends with “core,” […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 23, 2011 -
The Future Director Miranda July
Known as a West coast performance and video artist in the decade before her 2005 award-winning debut feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July seems to jump effortlessly from one medium to another. Her collection of short stories — No One Belongs Here More Than You — won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award in 2007, and more recently she designed an interactive sculpture garden that was on view in the 2009 Venice Biennale before moving to Union Square this past summer. At this point, there are very few career moves for Miranda July that would […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 22, 2011 -
CULT COINCIDENCE? OR SUNDANCE TRUTH REVEALED
There are four films at Sundance that venture, at least nominally, into the world of cults. Cult recovery (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE), cult membership (HIGHER GROUND), cult discovery (THE SOUND OF MY VOICE), and cult leadership (RED STATE.) But as the crowds swell in Park City, as bus load after bus load of excited devotees alight, something is clear: there are an awful lot of identical grey sweaters, blue lanyards, knit hats and striped scarves. Together but alone, the committed stand in line for days, freezing cold, blind with hope.
by Alicia Van Couvering on Jan 21, 2011 -
PROGRAMMER INTERVIEW: NEW LANDSCAPE FOR NEW FRONTIERS
Sundance programmer Shari Frilot watches all kinds of films for the festival each year, but she spends much of the her time smoking out the best, strangest, most relevant work for the New Frontiers section. Call it new media or transmedia or video-internet-3D film art; the best work in the section is indescribable. Until this year, New Frontiers was packed into a cavernous space inside the lower level of a shopping mall on Main Street. This year, they’re moving to the Miners Hospital, across from the Library. “Every year people would say, ‘Wait, where was New Frontiers?’ I missed that!’ […]
by Alicia Van Couvering on Jan 20, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation : Films Too Small To Fail
I first met Zak Mulligan through my DP Sean Donnelly a few years back. After a bit of back and forth on the merits of Kickstarter, I helped him with a little production design on his first feature, and we became fast friends and supporters of each others work. Zak and his directing partner Rodrigo Lopresti were recent participants of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs with their first feature film I’m not me. Zak also won the Best Cinematography award at Sundance last year for his work on the film Obselidia. He’s here to talk a bit about the advantages of […]
by John Yost on Jan 18, 2011
