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2009 Sundance Winners

Among the top winners at Sundance 2009 were Grand Jury and Audience: U.S. Dramatic winner Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire (as opposed to the upcoming sci-fi thriller Push, starring Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans). Directed by Lee Daniels and adapted by Damien Pearl, Push follows an overweight, pregnant teenager living in Harlem who must struggle to find her place in the world. Mo’Nique, as the young woman’s ruthless mother, received a special acting award.

Directed by Ondi Timoner (above), Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary winner We Live in Public depicts the impact the Internet has had on human interactions by focusing on web artist Josh Harris‘ experimental public art projects.

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic winner [...]

Sundance Awards 2009

2009 Sundance Film Festival Awards
2009 Sundance Film Festival: January 15-25, 2009
 

Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic:
Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, directed by Lee Daniels

Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary:
We Live in Public, directed by Ondi Timoner

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic:
The Maid (La Nana), directed by Sebastián Silva
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary:
Rough Aunties, directed by Kim Longinotto

Directing Award: U.S. Documentary:
Natalia Almada, El General
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic:
Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre
World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary:
Havana Marking, Afghan Star
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic:
Oliver Hirschbiegel, Five Minutes of Heaven
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award:
Nicholas Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi, Paper Heart
World Cinema Screenwriting Award:
Oliver Hirschbiegel, Five Minutes of Heaven
U.S. Documentary Editing Award:
Karen Schmeer, Sergio, directed by Greg Barker
World Cinema Documentary Editing [...]

Sundance 2009: I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere

Damon Wise in the London Times:
"Written by the team responsible for the similarly dark Bad Santa and based on a true story, I Love You Phillip Morris is an extraordinary film that serves as a reminder of just how good [Jim] Carrey [above, with Ewan McGregor] can be when he’s not tied into a generic Hollywood crowd-pleaser. His comic timing remains as exquisite as ever, but this is not a loveable rubber-faced rogue. One could argue that, like The Truman Show, this is another film about a lost naif, but when it plays its final hand, I Love You Phillip Morris is really much, much stranger."
***

Steven Zeitchik in The Hollywood Reporter:
"One [...]

Sundance 2009: Gay Themes

Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor in I Love You, Phillip Morris

Gay boycott or no, Sundance 2009 has several films dealing — at least to some extent — with gay characters.
The most publicized gay-focused film at Sundance is I Love You, Phillip Morris, about a scary-looking ex-cop (Jim Carrey) who becomes a criminal and is arrested. While in jail, he falls for a fellow inmate (Ewan McGregor). Based on a book by Steve McVicker, I Love You, Phillip Morris was written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, whose writing credits include Bad Santa and Bad News Bears.

Peter Bratt’s La Mission portrays the difficult relationship between a San Francisco gay teen (Jeremy Ray [...]

Sundance 2009 Buzz

Peter Travers in Rolling Stones:
"It begins again. Here I am in Park Cty [sic], Utah, where Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary by trying to bust through the gloom of a nation’s economic crisis and the growing pissy impatience among audiences for any movies that don’t have cute dogs or horror scenes in 3D. What does that mean for indie films of mind and heart? That’s yet to be determined."
Travers follows his introduction with the five movies he’s most eager to watch: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Tyson, Paper Heart, I Love You Phillip Morris (above, with Jim Carrey), and Big Fan.
***

Jeff Vice in Deseret News:
"But for the second straight night, [...]

Sundance 2009: Ten Shorts on itunes

James by Connor Clements

The following Sundance 2009 short films are available for viewing/downloading — free of charge — via itunes stores in the US, UK, and Canada. They’ll remain available until Jan. 25. Go to www.iTunes.com/sundance.
The available films are (synopses from the Sundance Festival’s press release):
Acting for the Camera (Director: Justin Nowell; Screenwriter: Thomas Nowell) — An acting class. Today’s scene: the orgasm from When Harry Met Sally.
Countertransference (Director: Madeleine Olnek) — A comedy about an awkward woman with assertiveness problems who seeks the questionable help of a therapist.
HUG (Director: Khary Jones) — Drew is a musician with a contract ready to sign. When Asa, his friend and manager, realizes Drew is off his meds [...]

Sundance 2009: Frontier

Sundance 2009: Frontier

Where Is Where by Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Artist Spotlight: The Works of Maria Marshall / U.S. (Director: Maria Marshall)
Maria Marshall’s disturbing and gorgeously composed video projections provoke the psychological dimensions of cinema. Often violent and always visually charming, Marshall often uses her two sons in the main roles of her films. Her work tackles fundamental subjects of motherhood, socialization and life experience and takes us back to the world of childhood as a pretext in order to evoke the anxiety of adults.
Lunch Break/Exit / U.S. (Director: Sharon Lockhart)
"Lunch Break" and "Exit" yield from Sharon Lockhart’s timely new film and photographic series about the bleak state of U.S. labor. "Lunch Break," a single tracking shot through a long corridor where [...]

Sundance 2009: Park City at Midnight

Sundance 2009: Park City at Midnight

Dead Snow by Tommy Wirkola
 
Black Dynamite / U.S. (Director: Scott Sanders; screenwriters: Michael Jai White, Scott Sanders, Byron Minns)
When "The Man" murders his brother, pumps heroin into local orphanages and floods the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor, 1970s African-American action legend Black Dynamite is the one hero willing to take him on. Cast: Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Byron Minns, James McManus. World premiere
The Carter / U.S. (Director: Adam Bhala Lough)
An in-depth, intimate look at Dwayne "Lil Wayne" Carter Jr., proclaimed by many as the "greatest rapper alive." Cast: Lil Wayne, Brian Williams, Cortez Bryant. World premiere
Død Snø (Dead Snow) / Norway (Director: Tommy Wirkola; screenwriters: Tommy Wirkola, Stig Frode Henriksen)
A [...]

Sundance 2009: Spectrum – Documentary Films

Sundance 2009: Spectrum

The Yes Men Fix the World by Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr

Documentary Films:
It Might Get Loud / U.S. (Director: Davis Guggenheim)
The history of the electric guitar from the point of view of three legendary rock musicians. Cast: The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White. U.S. premiere
No Impact Man / U.S. (Directors: Laura Gabbert, Justin Schein)
The film follows the Beavan family as they abandon their high-consumption Fifth Avenue lifestyle in an attempt to make a no-net environmental impact for the course of one year. Cast: Michelle Conlin, Colin Beavan. World premiere
Passing Strange / U.S. (Director: Spike Lee; lyrics: Stew; music: Stew, Heidi Rodewald)
A musical [...]

Sundance 2009: Spectrum – Dramatic Films

Sundance 2009: Spectrum

Johnny Mad Dog by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire

Dramatic Films:
Against the Current / U.S. (Director-screenwriter: Peter Callahan)
Facing the anniversary of his pregnant wife’s tragic death, 35-year-old Paul Thompson enlists the help of two friends to help him swim the length of the Hudson River. Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Tyler Moore, Michelle Trachtenberg. World premiere
The Anarchist’s Wife (La Mujer del Anarquista) / Germany and Spain (Directors: Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr; screenwriters: Marie Noelle and Ray Loriga)
During the Spanish Civil War, an idealistic young lawyer combating Franco’s Fascist troops is separated from his wife and children. Cast: Maria Valverde, Juan Diego Botto, Nina [...]

Sundance 2009: Premieres

Sundance 2009: Premieres

Mary and Max by Adam Elliot

Adventureland / U.S. (Director-screenwriter: Greg Mottola)
In 1987, a recent college graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers the job is perfect preparation for the real world. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader. World premiere
Brooklyn’s Finest / U.S. (Director: Antoine Fuqua; screenwriter: Michael C. Martin)
After enduring vastly different career paths, three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location. Cast: Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, Ellen Barkin. World premiere
Earth Days / U.S. (Director: Robert Stone)
The history of our environmental undoing through the eyes of nine Americans whose [...]

Sundance 2009

Jeff Daniels, Lou Taylor Pucci in The Dream of Romans (top); Emma Thompson, Carey Mulligan in An Education (bottom)

Perhaps it’s just my impression, but the 25th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 15-25, 2009, in Park City, Utah, seems to be focused on more commercial fare. If so, that’s understandable considering that for the most part Sundance films have been flopping left and right at the US box office. That is, when they find distribution.
This year, there are quite a few films — many of which seem to be about romantic endeavors — featuring name talent: Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan in Shana Feste’s family drama The Greatest; Michael Cera as (a version of) himself [...]

Sundance 2009: World Cinema Documentary Competition

Sundance 2009: World Cinema Documentary Competition
 

Afghan Star (above) / Afghanistan and U.K. (Director: Havana Marking)
After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, "Pop Idol" has come to television in Afghanistan — and millions are watching and voting for their favorite singer. This film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk their lives to sing. North American premiere
Big River Man / U.S. (Director: John Maringouin)
An overweight, wine-swilling Slovenian world record-holding endurance swimmer resolves to brave the mighty Amazon — in nothing but a Speedo. World premiere
Burma VJ / Denmark (Director: Anders Oestergaard)
In September 2007, Burmese journalists risking life imprisonment to report from inside their sealed-off country are suddenly thrown onto the global stage as their pocket-camera images of [...]

Sundance 2009: World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Sundance 2009: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
 

Nathalie Baye in A French Gigolo
 
Before Tomorrow (Le Jour Avant Lendemain) / Canada (Directors: Madeline Piujuq, Marie-Helene Cousineau)
A wise old woman fights to survive impossible circumstances with her young grandson in the Canadian Arctic. Cast: Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Paul-Dylan Ivalu, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, Mary Qulitalik, Tumasie Sivuarapik. U.S. premiere
Bronson / U.K. (Director: Nicolas Winding Refn; screenwriter: Brock Norman Brock)
Traces the transformation of Mickey Peterson into Britain’s most notorious, dangerous and charismatic prisoner, Charles Bronson. Cast: Tom Hardy. North American premiere
Carmo, Hit the Road / Spain (Director-screenwriter: Murilo Pasta)
A lonely, handicapped smuggler and a beautiful girl embark on a reckless ride through [...]

Sundance 2009: US Documentary Competition

Sundance 2009: US Documentary Competition
 

The General by Natalia Almada
 
Art & Copy (Director: Doug Pray; screenwriter: Timothy J. Sexton)
Rare interviews with the most influential advertising creative minds of our age illustrate the wide-reaching effect advertising and creativity have on modern culture.
Boy Interrupted (Director: Dana Perry)
An intimate look at the life, mental illness and death of a young man told from the point of view of the filmmaker: his mother.
Chasing the Flame (Director: Greg Barker)
Examines the role of the United Nations and the international community through the life and experiences of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, including interviews with those who knew and worked with him over the course of his extraordinary career.
The Cove (Director: Louie [...]

Sundance 2009: US Dramatic Competition

Sundance 2009: US Dramatic Competition
 

Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon in The Greatest
 
Adam (Director-screenwriter: Max Mayer)
A strange and lyrical love story between a somewhat socially dysfunctional young man and the woman of his dreams. Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison.
Amreeka (Director-screenwriter: Cherien Dabis)
When a divorced Palestinian woman and her teenage son move to rural Illinois at the outset of the Iraq war, they find their new lives replete with challenges. Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat.
Big Fan (Director-screenwriter: Robert Siegel)
The world of a parking garage attendant who happens to be the New York Giants’ biggest fan is turned upside down after [...]

Sundance 2009: To Boycott or Not to Boycott

 
David Poland at Movie City News:
"Movie City News will spend a lot of money in Park City to cover Sundance this year. I will be happy to pledge, right now, that we will not spend a dime that money in businesses that were financial supporters of California’s Prop 8.
"So… activists… make that list. Make it honestly. Don’t tell me all Mormons are evil or that the entire state is off limits. But if a local gas station company is owned by a Prop 8 funder… we will fill up elsewhere. If a local restaurant or grocery or ski shop or taxi service… anything like that… if the owner sent money to California [...]

Sundance 2008 Winners

Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River, a thriller about two economically strapped women (Melissa Leo and Misty Upham, above) who turn to immigrant-smuggling at the US-Canada border, was chosen best American narrative feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. (In the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan calls Leo and Upham "magnificent," adding that Frozen River is a "powerful story that makes strong emotional connections.")
Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water, which depicts the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, was the best US documentary. In Trouble the Water, New Orleans residents are forced to rely on themselves as the government that is supposed to represent them duly ignores their plight.
James Marsh’s Man on Wire won both the jury and the audience awards [...]

Sundance 2008 Awards

2008 Sundance Film Festival Awards
2008 Sundance Film Festival: January 17-27, 2008
Sundance 2008 Winners
 

Grand Jury Prize Dramatic: FROZEN RIVER, directed by Courtney Hunt

Grand Jury Prize Documentary: TROUBLE THE WATER, directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

World Cinema Jury Prize Dramatic: KING OF PING PONG (PING PONGKINGEN) – Sweden, directed by Jens Jonsson

World Cinema Jury Prize Documentary: MAN ON WIRE – United Kingdom, directed by James Marsh

The Directing Award – Documentary: Nanette Burstein for AMERICAN TEEN

The Directing Award – Dramatic: Lance Hammer for BALLAST

The World Cinema Directing Award – Documentary: Nino Kirtadze, for DURAKOVO: VILLAGE OF FOOLS (DURAKOVO: LE VILLAGE DES FOUS) – France

The World Cinema Directing Award – Dramatic: Anna Melikyan for MERMAID [...]

Sundance 2008: HENRY POOLE IS HERE, HAMLET 2

David M. Halbfinger in the New York Times:
"After a weekend marked by too many downbeat dramas and comedies in name only, the Sundance Film Festival’s flock of film buyers finally began taking in movies they could send to the multiplexes — and it was a religious experience.
"As Monday night bled into Tuesday, Henry Poole Is Here, Mark Pellington’s lighthearted tale [written by Alberto Torres] of a terminally ill man (Luke Wilson), his troubled neighbors and a stain on his stucco wall that might resemble the face of Jesus, sold to Overture Films, one of the new movie distributors clamoring for attention and pictures.
***

According to Halbfinger, the U.S. rights to the dramatic comedy Henry Poole Is Here sold for US$3.5 million, [...]

Sundance 2008: Roman Polanski, Eduardo Noriega, Gay Zombies

Variety’s Justin Chang on The Great Buck Howard:
"A smoothly turned-out entertainment centered around an Amazing Kreskin-style mentalist comes down with an unfortunate case of the warm-and-fuzzies in The Great Buck Howard. Behind-the-curtains comedy reps an amusing showcase for John Malkovich’s diva-like theatrics in the title role, but writer-director Sean McGinly’s decision to frame the story as a relationship movie, as Buck’s impressionable young assistant deals with some very familiar life issues, tilts the comic seesaw toward sentiment over satire."
Also in the cast are Colin Hanks (co-producer’s Tom Hanks‘ son), Emily Blunt, and Steve Zahn.
***

Mary Milliken on Marina Zenovich’s Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired in Reuters/The Vancouver Sun:
"Zenovich told Reuters her documentary does not apologize for the French-Polish director, but [...]

Sundance 2008: IN BRUGES, DIMINISHED CAPACITY

Liam Lacey on Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges at the Toronto Globe and Mail:
"Colin Farrell [above] and Brendan Gleason [sic] appear to draw on the model of the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, with Farrell as the anxious, not-so-bright apprentice and Gleeson as his composed, epicurean partner, as they await orders from their irascible overseer (Ralph Fiennes). McDonagh’s dialogue is consistently clever, though his pacing is a problem, as is his weakness for corny surrealism: Peter Dinklage appears as a snide dwarf American movie actor; doing a knock-off version of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Back [sic] in a set designed to look like a Hieronymus Bosch painting."
***

At indieWIRE, actor and theater director Terry Kinney, whose feature-film debut, the dramatic comedy [...]

Sundance 2008: World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Sundance 2008: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
 

Just Another Love Story by Ole Bornedal

Film information from the Sundance Film Festival press release
ABSURDISTAN/ Germany/Azerbaijan (Director: Veit Helmer; Screenwriters: Veit Helmer, Zaza Buadze, Gordan Mihic, Ahmet Golbol)— This inventive and allegorical comedy centers on two childhood sweethearts who seem destined for one another until the women of their isolated village, angered by male indifference toward the water shortage, go on a sex strike that threatens the young couple’s first night of love. Cast: Maximilian Mauff, Kristýna Malérova. World Premiere
BLUE EYELIDS (PÁRPADOS AZULES)/ Mexico (Director: Ernesto Contreras; Screenwriter: Carlos Contreras)– When Marina wins a beach getaway trip for two, her desperate search for someone to take with her leads to a complicated relationship and the [...]

Sundance 2008: World Cinema Documentary Competition

Sundance 2008: World Cinema Documentary Competition
 

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures by Chris Waitt

Film information from the Sundance Film Festival press release
ALONE IN FOUR WALLS (ALLEIN IN VIER WÄNDEN)/ Germany (Director and Screenwriter: Alexandra Westmeier)—Adolescent boys struggle to grow up in a home for delinquents in rural Russia where life behind bars may be better than the release to freedom. North American Premiere
THE ART STAR AND THE SUDANESE TWINS/ New Zealand (Director and Screenwriter: Pietra Brettkelly)— Vanessa Beecroft is obsessively determined to adopt Sudanese twin orphans. Her consuming passion drives her marriage to a breaking point and fuels her controversial art, raising troubling questions about exploitation, culture clash, and the imposition of the West on Africa. World [...]

Sundance 2008: Documentary Competition

Sundance 2008: Documentary Competition
 

I.O.U.S.A. by Patrick Creadon

Film information from the Sundance Film Festival press release
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER (Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg)—Uncle Sam really wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. World Premiere
AMERICAN TEEN (Director and Screenwriter: Nanette Burstein)— This irreverent cinema vérité chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. World Premiere
BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER (Director: Christopher Bell; Screenwriters: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady)—A filmmaker explores America’s win-at-all-cost culture by examining his two brothers’ steroids use…and his own. World Premiere
FIELDS OF FUEL [...]

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