The Slamdance Film Festival taking place from January 17th to 23rd, 2014 in Park City, Utah, announced their Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs for its 20th Festival season. From over 5,000 submissions, the lineup includes 10 narrative and 8 documentary films, including 11 World Premieres, 4 North American, and 1 US Premiere. All competition films are feature film directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million and without US distribution.
NARRATIVE FEATURES PROGRAM
Copenhagen – Director & Screenwriter: Mark Raso
(USA, Canada, Denmark) World Premiere
A charming scoundrel visiting the city of his father’s birth, William is drawn to his impromptu guide Effy – wise, spontaneous, and half his age.
Cast: Gethin Anthony, Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Sebastian Armesto, Tamzin Merchant
Goldberg & Eisenberg – Director & Screenwriter: Oren Carmi
(Israel)
A lonely computer programmer finds his life disrupted by a boorish thug who becomes dangerously obsessed in this darkly absurd drama.
Cast: Yitzhak Laor, Yahav Gal, Roni Dotan
I Play With The Phrase Each Other – Director & Screenwriter: Jay Alvarez
(USA) North American Premiere
Young city dwellers with lyrical musings and a sliding sense of entitlement hold court in this film comprised entirely of cell phone conversations.
Cast: Jay Alvarez, Will Hand, Megan Kopp, Alexander Fraser
I Put A Hit On You – Directors & Screenwriters: Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart
(Canada) World Premiere
A broken-hearted woman teams up with her ex-boyfriend to try and stop the hitman she accidentally hired to kill him.
Cast: Aaron Ashmore, Sara Canning
My Blind Heart – Director & Screenwriter: Peter Brunner
(Austria) North American Premiere
Suffering from an incurable disease, a young man rebels against his body and the expectations forced upon him in this black and white expressionist film.
Cast: Christos Haas, Jana McKinnon, Susanne Lothar, Robert Schmiedt, Georg Friedrich
The Republic of Rick – Director: Mario Kyprianou; Screenwriters: Mario Kyprianou, Becky Leigh
(USA) World Premiere
In this politic satire, a self-proclaimed President of the Republic of Texas rallies to lead a paranoid militia for Texas’s independence in the late 1990s.
Cast: Dave Abed, Angie Gregory, Lori Jean Wilson
Rezeta – Director & Screenwriter: Fernando Frias de la Parra
(Mexico) US Premiere
A jet-setting model leads a freewheeling and spontaneous life in Mexico City that starts to change when she falls in love with an unexpected young artist.
Cast: Rezeta Veliu, Roger Mendoza, Paulina Davila, Sebastian Cordova
Rover – Director & Screenwriter: Tony Blahd
(USA) World Premiere
A dispirited cult awaits the sign to off themselves when their leader fakes a prophecy instructing them to make a movie and share their story with the world.
Cast: Liam Torres, Jonathan Randell Silver, Steve Siddell, Natalie Thomas
The Sublime and Beautiful – Director & Screenwriter: Blake Robbins
(USA) World Premiere
David and Kelly descend into a complicated hell of grief but they take very different paths to make things right after losing their children to a drunk driver.
Cast: Blake Robbins, Laura Kirk, Matthew Del Negro, Armin Shimerman
Wizard’s Way – Director & Screenwriter: Metal Man
(UK) North American Premiere
A champion online fantasy video game player, his encouraging best friend, and two ambitious would-be filmmakers who decide to capture it all for posterity.
Cast: Chris Killen, Joe Stretch, Kristian Scott, Socrates Adams-Florou, Sadie Frost
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES PROGRAM
Elliot – Directors & Screenwriters: Matthew Bauckman, Jaret Belliveau
(Canada) World Premiere
The bizarre story of Elliot Scott, his supportive partner Linda Lum, and their cast and crew of outrageous dreamers all striving to achieve success.
Cast: Elliot Scott, Blake Zwicker, Linda Lum
Glena – Director & Screenwriter: Allan Luebke
(USA) World Premiere
Glena Avila is a single mother in her 30′s who is fighting to become a professional Mixed Martial Artist.
Cast: Glena Avila, Stormy Back, Ron Andersen
Huntington’s Dance – Director: Chris Furbee
(USA) World Premiere
Told through 20 years of home movie footage, Huntington’s Dance is a personal and devastatingly raw look at how hereditary disease can shatter a family and a future. Cast: Chris Furbee, Rosemary Shockey, Gene Furbee
Kidnapped For Christ – Director: Kate S. Logan; Screenwriters: Yada Zamora, Kate S. Logan (USA, Dominican Republic) World Premiere
The personal stories of American teenagers who are taken from their homes and sent to an Evangelical Christian reform school located in The Dominican Republic.
Cast: David Wernsman, Tai Matheiu, Elizabeth Engle
Little Hope Was Arson – Director: Theo Love
(USA)
January 2010: In the buckle of the Bible Belt, 10 churches burn to the ground igniting the largest criminal investigation in East Texas history.
Skanks – Director: David McMahon
(USA) World Premiere
A community theatre in Birmingham, Alabama mounts a gender-bending new musical titled “Skanks In A One Horse Town.”
Sometimes I Dream I’m Flying – Director & Screenwriter: Aneta Popiel-Machnicka (Poland) North American Premiere
The poignant story of a young dancer preparing to perform at the Berlin Opera and the serious injury that threatens her lifelong dream.
Cast: Weronika Frodyma, Anna Linnik, Sergey Basalayev
Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe à la Hache – Director & Screenwriter: Nailah Jefferson
(USA) World Premiere
In Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana, the residents of this ruined fishing community continue dealing with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in US history.
Cast: Byron Encalade, Stanley Encalde, Kenneth Feinberg
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