Tuesday, January 16-----As one of the world’s most cutting-edge film festivals, Sundance has been a welcoming environment for gay and lesbian filmmakers and their unique perspectives. Whether immersed in gay subject matter, or adding a particular gay spin to a genre film (hard to describe, but you know it when you see it), there is a definite gay edge at Sundance, evidenced by films with GLBT interest (that’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender for you sexual innocents) and a slew of in...
Monday, January 15----Mike White, whose off-kilter humor and perceptive writing made such films as CHUCK AND BUCK and THE GOOD GIRL major Sundance discoveries of the past few years, is back in Park City with an auspicious directorial debut, YEAR OF THE DOG. In this richly crafted tale of self-discovery, White invests his characters and their comedic confusion with a poignant and compassionate touch that has pundits dubbing the film as next season's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.
Not only has White c...
2007 Sundance Film Festival Logo
...
Friday, January 12----What do you do when you have won every acting accolade there is, including the coveted Oscar for an iconic role (that people will still be talking about 100 years from now)....direct an independent feature, of course. That is the decision made by Anthony Hopkins, whose Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, is the stuff of legend. After more than 100 feature and television films in a 40 year career, Hopkins (at the ripe young a...
Thursday, January 11-----One of the highlights of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival (at least for me) is the opportunity to see the latest film from Hal Hartley, who really put independent film on the map back in the day when it was still a small community of individual risktakers. With such films as THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH (1989), TRUST (1990), SIMPLE MEN (1992) and AMATEUR (1992), Hartley stood at the nexus of European film artistry and American independent virtuosity. His last few films h...
Wednesday, January 10----Narrative films from the European continent are among the most anticipated in the World Cinema Competition: Drama competition at the Sundance Film Festival, which opens next week. Of the sixteen films to be presented in the program section, eight are European productions or co-productions with other nations. The strong presence of European films, and the introduction of new film talents, will have industry executives keeping a watchful eye on Europe during the 10 day ...
XDance the innovative action sports film festival comes back for its 7th year in Park City, Utah. Held during the media fest of Sundance XDance has grown to be the largest actions sports film festival to date. With a diverse array of adrenaline filled cinema of all genres. First started in 2001, XDance highlights the films, filmmakers of encompasses surfing, snowboarding, free skiing, BMX, skateboarding and other action sports.
This year XDance has joined forces with LAT34 to present the 2007...
Tuesday, January 9----Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas takes on one of the quirkiest roles of his long career in the highly anticipated KING OF CALIFORNIA, which screens in the Sundance Film Festival's prestigious Premieres Section. The film is the directorial debut of writer/director Mike Cahill.
Joining Douglas (who won a Best Actor Oscar for his 1980s "greed is good" zeitgeist performance as an amoral stock trader in Oliver Stone's WALL STREET) is rising star Evan Rachel Wood. The accla...
Monday, January 8----The Sundance Film Festival will keep alive the bizarre spirit of the “midnight movie” with its series PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT. The program contains eight films that are likely to shock the bleary-eyed viewer and offer a lively last stop in the nightly film-going circuit. This year’s midnight madness continues a tradition that saw the breakout of such recent landmark films as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, SAW, OLD BOY, and AMERICAN HARDCORE. Cultists, you have found your Su...
Sundance Film Festival announced details for the panel discussions and events celebrating and exploring the importance of music in filmmaking, as well as the artists performing at the Music Café, Music on Main, and at other Festival events in Park City. The music-focused events are part of the Festival’s continuing commitment to bringing musicians and filmmakers together in a creative environment where they can inspire each other and share their passion for creativity. The 2007 Sundance Film ...
Friday, January 5----Pity the poor independent filmmaker who is trying to go to the Sundance Film Festival on the cheap. The Festival has become an industry must, so film distributors, production executives, talent agents and other professionals (all with expense accounts) tend to gobble up almost all the available hotel and condo space, the best tables at restaurants, and the other amenities that exist in crowded Park City.
Filmmakers on a budget need to be creative, and this year, official ...
Thursday, January 4----The Sundance Film Festival, which opens two weeks from today with the world premiere of the documentary-cum-animation film CHICAGO 10, has announced that the film LIFE SUPPORT, written and directed by Nelson George, will be its Closing Night gala on Friday, January 26th.
The film, which is a world premiere, is a fictionalized account of the true story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and AIDS activist in the black communi...
Wednesday, January 3-----With a little more than two weeks to go until the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, excitement is already building for the prestigious Premieres Section of the event, which includes some of the Festival’s most stellar films. This year, the Festival will present fourteen films in the Premieres section, all world premieres.
Sundance Premieres Section:
AN AMERICAN CRIME
Director: Tommy O’Haver; Screenwriters: Tommy O’Haver, Irene Turner
A fictionalized account of the t...
Tuesday, January 2-----One of the highlights of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival is the annual Salt Lake City Gala, to be held on Friday, January 19th. This year, the Festival will present the US Premiere of AWAY FROM HER, the directorial debut of Canadian actress Sarah Polley.
Polley, best known for her work in such recent films as THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), THE LAW OF ENCLOSURES (2000) and her Genie Award-winning performance in MY LIFE WITHOUT ME (2003), co-wrote the screenplay with n...
Thursday, December 28----With documentary films experiencing a commercial and critical peak, the stakes have never been higher (and the rewards greater) for the sixteen American Independent documentary features competing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Considering the box office clout of such films as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS in the past year, one can expect some of the most ferocious bidding wars will be unleashed for distribution rights to many of these fil...
Tuesday, December 26----The Sundance Film Festival will see sixteen World Premieres compete in the Festival's prestigious Independent Dramatic Feature Film Competition. It is further evidence of the Festival's critical role as a festival of discovery that all the films in this sixteen-film competition are world premieres, unseen by all but a few close associates and the Festival's programming committee. The anticipation is high, as are the stakes for film distributors in the weeks leading up to...
Thursday, December 21----If another indication of the growing influence of non-fiction film was needed, the prestigious Sundance Film Festival has decided to open its ten-day celebration of indie and international cinema with a documentary film. CHICAGO 10, a factual and fanciful look at the infamous trial of organizers of the demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in the summer of 1968, a turning point in America’s evaluation of the Vietnam War, will open the Festiv...
Winners to be Unveiled at the Slamdance Film Festivali in Park City, January 18-27
Slamdance, an organization always looking to foster new and innovative ways to assist emerging artists and writers, has established the Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition. This contest is a natural extension of Slamdance’s stated mission to nurture, support and showcase truly independent works and will be held concurrently with the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, January 18-27, 2007.
A gam...
COMRADES IN DREAMS by Uli Gaulke (producer: Flying Moon Filmproduktion/Potsdam) can be seen in the World Cinema Competition - Documentaries section at the most important North American festival for the independent scene, the Sundance International Film Festival. In addition, two more German-international co-productions will be screened in the World Cinema Competition - Dramatic section, the German-Belgian co-production KHADAK by Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens (German co-producer: MA.JA.DE/L...
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival announced today that the Opening Night Film for the upcoming Festival is the world premiere of CHICAGO 10, written and directed by Brett Morgen. CHICAGO 10 is an innovative documentary that combines historical storytelling, archival footage, animation and music to tell the story about the 1968 anti-war protests around the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that resulted in the famous Chicago Conspiracy Trial in 1969. The 2007 Sundance Film Festival runs Jan...
