Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections NEXT (<=>), Spotlight, New Frontier, Park City at Midnight, as well as a new Native Showcase. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming said, “The Sundance Film Festival is uniquely a festival of discovery and we are once again privileged to showcase the work of talented new artists, including a special section devoted to Native filmmakers. But it’s also exciting to see returning directors honing their skills and emerging with dazzling new films. And the NEXT section highlights visionary work that shows aesthetic creativity is not limited by budget. All of this speaks to the vibrancy of independent film.”
NEXT (<=>)
Eight American films selected for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking. Each is a world premiere.
Bellflower / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Evan Glodell) – A ballad for every person who has ever loved and lost – with enough violence, weapons, action and sex to tell a love story with apocalyptic stakes. Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson, Rebekah Brandes.
The Lie / U.S.A. (Director: Joshua Leonard; Screenwriters: Jeff Feuerzeig, Joshua Leonard, Mark Webber and Jess Weixler, based on the short story by T. Coraghessan Boyle) – A man overwhelmed and disappointed with life tells a lie to avoid going to work… what could possibly go wrong? Cast: Joshua Leonard, Jess Weixler, Mark Webber, Alia Shawkat, Jane Adams and Kelli Garner.
Lord Byron / U.S.A. (Director: Zack Godshall; Screenwriters: Zack Godshall and Ross Brupbacher) – When he’s not pursuing women, Byron is smoking weed and loafing around. But he’s grown restless in his middle-age and feels the need to escape – he just doesn’t know where to go. Cast: Paul Batiste, Gwendolyn Spradling, Kayla Lemaire.
The Off Hours / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Megan Griffiths) – A passing truck driver brings an unfamiliar sense of optimism to a woman working the night shift at a quiet diner, reminding her it’s never too late to become the person you always wanted to be. Cast: Amy Seimetz, Ross Partridge, Scoot McNairy, Lynn Shelton, Bret Roberts, Tony Doupe.
Prairie Love / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Dusty Bias) – When a mysterious vagrant living out of his car among the snowy plains discovers a nearly-frozen local with a pen-pal girlfriend, he sees an opportunity to change his lonely existence. Cast: Jeremy Clark, Holly Lynn Ellis, Garth Blomberg.
Restless City / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Dosunmu; Screenwriter: Eugene M. Gussenhoven) – An African immigrant survives on the fringes of New York City. Music is his passion, life is a hustle and falling in love is his greatest risk. Cast: Danai Gurira, Anthony Okungbowa, Babs Olusanmokun.
sound of my voice / U.S.A. (Director: Zal Batmanglij; Screenwriters: Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling) – A young couple infiltrates a cult that meets in a basement in the San Fernando Valley. Cast: Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, Brit Marling.
to.get.her / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Erica Dunton) – Five girls come together for one fateful night where anything goes. They all had secrets, but their friendship was the only thing they knew to be true. Cast: Jazzy De Lisser, Chelsea Logan, Adwoa Aboah, Jami Eaton, Audrey Speicher.
NATIVE SHOWCASE
Following President and Founder Robert Redford’s original vision, Sundance Institute has remained committed to supporting indigenous filmmaking. This showcase highlights new work that contributes to a worldwide understanding of and appreciation for these artists.
GRAB / U.S.A. (Director: Billy Luther) – Three families in the Laguna Pueblo tribe prepare for Grab Day, when they throw groceries from a rooftop to the community waiting below – an annual community-wide prayer of abundance, thanks and renewal. Documentary, narrated by Parker Posey. World Premiere.
INDIGENOUS SHORTS- a program of short films from around the world by Native American and indigenous filmmakers. The seven short films that will be presented together as part of the Native Showcase will be announced on December 6.
SPOTLIGHT
Cinema we love.
Attenberg / Greece (Director and screenwriter: Athina Rachel Tsangari)- Marina, a young woman living with her father in a decaying, seaside factory town, acquires a new perspective on the mysteries of human nature after she meets a stranger. Cast: Ariane Labed, Yorgos Lanthimos, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randou. U.S. Premiere
Elite Squad 2 (Tropa de Elite 2) / Brazil (Director: José Padilha; Screenwrtiers: Bráulio Mantovani, José Padilha and Rodrigo Pimentel) – Captain Nascimento of Rio de Janeiro’s special operations police unit has a new enemy: widespread corruption within the city. Cast: Wagner Moura, Seu Jorge, Tainá Müller, André Ramiro, Milhem Cortaz. International Premiere
I Saw the Devil (Akma-reul bo-attda) / South Korea (Director and screenwriter: Kim Jee-woon) –
A young secret agent tracks a brutal serial killer who murdered his fiancée. Cast: Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi. U.S. Premiere
In a Better World (Hævnen) / Denmark(Director: Susanne Bier; Story: Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen, Screenplay: Anders Thomas Jensen) – The lives of two Danish families become intertwined as an extraordinary but risky friendship develops. Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Markus Rygaard and William Jøhnk Nielsen. U.S. Premiere
Incendies / Canada, France (Director: Denis Villeneuve, Screenwriters: Denis Villeneuve with the collaboration of Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, based on a stage play Incendies by: Wajdi Mouawad) – A mother’s last wish sends Jeanne and Simon, twins living in Canada, on a journey to the Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Cast: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard.
Kaboom / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Gregg Araki) – A science fiction story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students. Cast: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida, Juno Temple. U.S. Premiere
Letters From the Big Man / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christopher Munch) – An artist and government hydrologist surveying a remote part of southwestern Oregon befriends a sasquatch man and must take bold steps to protect his privacy, as well as her own. Cast: Lily Rabe, Jason Butler Harner, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Jim Cody Williams, Fiona Dourif. World Premiere
Meek’s Cutoff / U.S.A. (Director: Kelly Reichardt; Screenwriter: Jon Raymond) – In 1845, three families who have hired mountaineer Stephen Meek to guide their wagons over the Cascade Mountains get lost and face hunger, thirst and a lack of faith in their instincts for survival. Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Zoe Kaza, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson.
Old Cats (Gatos Viejos) / Chile (Directors and screenwriters: Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Silva) – An old woman who realizes that her mind is quickly deteriorating desperately tries to hide this condition from her daughter, who waits keenly for any sign of senility in order to take her apartment. Cast: Bélgica Castro, Claudia Celedón, Catalina Saavedra, Alejandro Sieveking.
Submarine / United Kingdom (Director: Richard Ayoade; Screenwriter: Richard Ayoade from the novel by Joe Dunthorne) – Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate has two big ambitions: to save his parents’ marriage and to lose his virginity before his next birthday. Cast: Craig Roberts, Paddy Considine,Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins, Yasmin Paige. U.S. Premiere
Uncle Kent / U.S.A. (Director: Joe Swanberg; Screenwriters: Joe Swanberg and Kent Osborne) – A pothead cartoonist in Los Angeles spends a weekend trying to sleep with his visiting house guest – a woman from New York he met on Chatroulette. Cast: Kent Osborne. World Premiere
PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT
Home to horror films and extreme comedies, Black Dynamite, The Blair Witch Project and Saw are among the films that have screened here.
The Catechism Cataclysm / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Todd Rohal) – After becoming disinterested with the church, a priest tracks down his old classmate, a former metalhead whom he idolized in high school. When the two embark on a canoeing trip together, all hell breaks loose. Cast:Steve Little, Robert Longstreet, Walter Dalton, Miki Ann Maddox, Koko Lanham. World Premiere
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Madeleine Olnek) – A shy greeting card store employee unknowingly falls for a lesbian space alien while two government agents closely track their romance. Cast: Lisa Haas, Susan Ziegler, Jackie Monahan, Cynthia Kaplan, Dennis Davis, Alex Karpovsky, Rae C Wright. World Premiere
Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel / U.S.A. (Director: Alex Stapleton) – Tracks the triumphant rise of Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director-producer, the true godfather of independent filmmaking. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, James Cameron, Roger Corman. World Premiere
Hobo with A Shotgun / Canada (Director: Jason Eisener; Screenwriter: Johnathan Davies) – A hobo hops from a train with dreams of a fresh life in a new city, but instead finds himself trapped in an urban hell. When he witnesses a brutal robbery, he realizes the only way to deliver justice is with a shotgun in his hands and two shells in the chamber. Cast: Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth, Gregory Smith, Brian Downey. World Premiere
The Oregonian / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder) – After surviving a brutal car accident, a simple farm woman limps down the road into the nightmarish unknown. Cast: Lindsay Pulsipher, Robert Longstreet, Matt Olsen, Lynne Compton, Barlow Jacobs, Chadwick Brown, Jed Maheu, Roger M. Mayer. World Premiere
Septien / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Tully) – A reclusive sports hustler returns home to his family farm after years of absence to reunite with his two eccentric, unhinged and emotionally damaged brothers. Cast: Robert Longstreet, Onur Tukel, Michael Tully, Rachel Korine, Mark Robinson, John Maringouin. World Premiere
Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren) / Norway (Director: Andre Ovredal) – A group of student filmmakers get more than they bargained for when tangling with a man tasked with protecting Norway from giant trolls. Cast: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Hans Morten Hansen, Johanna Mørch, Tomas Alf Larsen. International Premiere
The Woman / U.S.A. (Director: Lucky McKee; Screenwriters: Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee) – When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to “civilize” the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy. Cast: Pollyanna McIntosh, Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis, Lauren Ashley Carter, Zach Rand. World Premiere
NEW FRONTIER
Works that push the limits of traditional cinema aesthetics and the narrative structures of filmmaking.
Jess + Moss / U.S.A. (Director: Clay Jeter; Screenwriters: Clay Jeter and Debra Jeter) – Without immediate families that they can relate to, and lacking friends their own age, second cousins Jess and Moss only have each other. A series of visceral vignettes conjure memories of companionship and sexual awakening during a summer shared together on their Kentucky farm. Cast: Sarah Hagan, Austin Vickers. World Premiere.
The Mill & the Cross / Poland, Sweden (Director: Lech Majewski; Screenwriters: Michael Francis Gibson and Lech Majewski) – A visually vibrant and masterful work that seamlessly fortifies rich painterly compositions with digital effects, bringing Peter Brugel’s 1564 painting, The Way to Calvary, to real life. Cast: Rutger Hauer, Michael York, Charlotte Rampling, Joanna Litwin. World Premiere
The Nine Muses / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: John Akomfrah) – An allegorical fable divided into overlapping musical chapters, this film retells the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. North American Premiere
!Women Art Revolution / U.S.A. (Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson) – One part of a transmedia project that includes the interactive video installation RAW WAR presented at New Frontier, this seminal documentary depicts the history of women artists who have used art as an activist practice to fight oppression and protest gender and racial exclusion – creating what many historians feel is the most significant art movement of the late-20th century. U.S. Premiere
The Woods / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Lessner) – A satirical nod to ethnographic film fashions a critique on media technology dependence, when eight young Americans move deep into to the woods to start their own utopia. Cast: Justin Phillips, Toby David, Adam Mortemore, Nicola Persky, Chris Edley. World Premiere.
FROM THE COLLECTION
A selection from The Sundance Collection at UCLA to preserve and restore independent films.
Slacker / USA 1991 (Director and screenwriter: Richard Linklater) – Praising the film in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1991, Roger Ebert wrote, Slacker is “a movie with an appeal almost impossible to describe, although the method of the director, Richard Linklater, is as clear as day.” Cast: Richard Linklater, Marc James, Stella Weir, John Slater, Louis Mackey.