Of note among the 2007 Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Competition – Documentary entries are Uli Gaulke's Comrades in Dreams, which follows different film-loving individuals trying to spread the cinematic gospel in different parts of the world; Shimon Dotan's Hot House, about how brutality and repression — in this case inside Israel's prison walls — breeds the sort of mindset that leads to terrorism; and Bruno Ulmer's Welcome Europa, which depicts the uneasy lives of immigrants in the European Union.
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18-28, 2007, in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah.
WORLD CINEMA COMPETITION: DOCUMENTARY
ACIDENTE / Brazil (Director: Cao Guimarães and Pablo Lobato)—Experimental in form, this lush cinematic poem weaves together stories and images from twenty different cities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, to reveal the fundamental role the accidental and the unpredictable play in everyday human life. North American Premiere.
BAJO JUAREZ, THE CITY DEVOURING ITS DAUGHTERS / Mexico (Director: Alejandra Sánchez, José Antonio Cordero)—In an industrial town in Mexico near the US border, hundreds of women have been sexually abused and murdered. As the body count continues to rise, a web of corruption unfolds that reaches the highest levels of Mexican society. U.S. Premiere.
COCALERO / Bolivia (Director: Alejandro Landes)—Set against the backdrop of the Bolivian government's attempted eradication of the coca crop and oppression of the indigenous groups that cultivate it and the American war on drugs, an Aymara Indian named Evo Morales travels through the Andes and the Amazon in jeans and sneakers, leading a historic campaign to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia. World Premiere.
© Flying Moon Filmproduktion and Axel Schneppat
COMRADES IN DREAMS / Germany (Director: Uli Gaulke)—From the far ends of the globe, four lives that could not be more different are united by a single passion—their unconditional love of cinema and their quest to bring the magic of the silver screen to everyday lives to those who need it most. North American Premiere.
CROSSING THE LINE / UK (Director: Daniel Gordon)—CROSSING THE LINE reveals the clandestine life of Joseph Dresnok who, at the height of the Cold War was one of the few Americans who defected to North Korea, one of the least understood countries in the world. North American Premiere.
ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS (VORES LYKKES FJENDER) / Denmark (Director: Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem )—Malalai Joya, a 28-year-old Afghani woman, redefines the role of women and elected officials in her county with her historic 2005 victory in Afghanistan's first democratic parliamentary election in over 30 years. North American Premiere.
THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN / Ireland/UK ( Director: Julien Temple)—An invitation from Joe Strummer, the Punk Rock Warlord himself, to journey beyond the myth to the heart and voice of a generation. His life, our times, his music. World Premiere.
HOT HOUSE/ Israel (Director: Shimon Dotan)—At once chilling and humanizing, HOT HOUSE provides an unprecedented look at how Israeli prisons have become the breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well as the birth place of future terrorist threats. North American Premiere.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON / UK (Director: David Sington)—One of the defining passages of American history, the Apollo Space Program literally brought the aspirations of a nation to another world. Awe-inspiring footage and candid interviews with the astronauts who visited the moon provide an unparalleled perspective on the precious state of our planet. World Premiere.
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES / Canada (Director: Jennifer Baichwal)—This stunningly visual work provides the unique perspective of photographer Edward Burtynsky, who chronicles the transforming landscape of the world due to industrial work and manufacturing. U.S. Premiere.
THE MONASTERY: MR. VIG AND THE NUN / Denmark ( Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær)— Worlds collide, tempers flare and dreams are realized when Mr. Vig, an 82-year-old virgin from Denmark and Sister Ambrosija, a headstrong Russian nun, join forces to transform Mr. Vig's run-down castle into an Orthodox Russian monastery. North American Premiere.
ON A TIGHTROPE / Norway, Canada (Director: Petr Lom)—The daily lives of four children living in an orphanage who are learning the ancient art of tightrope walking becomes a metaphor for the struggle of the Uighur's, China's largest Muslim minority, who are torn between religion and the teachings of communism. North American Premiere.
THREE COMRADES (DRIE KAMERADEN) / Netherlands (Director: Masha Novikova)—In this intimate film we witness the lives of three lifelong friends whose worlds are torn apart by war in Chechnya's bloody struggle for independence. North American Premiere.
A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER / UK (Director: Donal MacIntyre)—Given his many contradictions, Dominic Noonan, head of one of Britain's biggest crime families, is a man who defies stereotypes. This close up look at his life, from gun trials to the murder of his brother on the streets of Manchester, reveals a community struggling with poverty, violence and drugs. World Premiere.
VHS—KAHLOUCHA/ Tunisia (Director: Nejib Belkadhi)—In a poor district of Tunisia, self-made auteur, Moncef Kahloucha, a guerilla filmmaker in the purest sense, demonstrates that it takes a village to make fun movies as he brings the power of cinema to the people. North American Premiere.
WELCOME EUROPA / France (Director: Bruno Ulmer)—Kurdish, Moroccan and Romanian young men migrate to Europe [it may come as a shock to some, but Romania is also located in Europe] for a better life only to face the harsh realities and the laws of survival on the streets of a foreign land. North American Premiere.
Sundance Film Festival 2007 – World Cinema Competition: Dramatic
Sundance Film Festival 2007 – Independent Film Competition: Dramatic
Sundance Film Festival 2007 – Independent Film Competition: Documentary