NAME OF FESTIVAL: Sundance Film Festival
SINCE: 1978
WHERE: Park City, Utah, USA
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The annual Sundance Film Festival, held in and around Park City, Utah, each January is widely considered the premier platform for American and international independent film. The Festival has introduced audiences to some of the most original stories of the last three decades including Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Splendor, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Cove.
Sundance Film Festival
Jim Mickle’s COLD IN JULY which World Premiere this week in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival will be released in Summer 2014 by IFC Film. The film, with a screenplay by Jim Mickle and Nick Damici, stars Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, Sam Shepard, Vinessa Shaw, Nick Damici, and Wyatt Russell.
John Slattery’s directorial debut film, GOD’S POCKET, which made its world premiere this at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section, has been acquired by IFC Films for release in the U.S. GOD’S POCKET stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, and John Turturro.
Craig Johnson’s drama THE SKELETON TWINS which premiered this week in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival has been jointly acquired by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for release in the U.S. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions are planning a theatrical release for the feature film in late summer 2014. Co-written by Johnson and Mark Heyman, the film stars Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell.
The comedic horror film COOTIES, which premiered to a sold-out audience at midnight this past Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, has been acquired by Lionsgate for release in U.S. COOTIES marks the feature film directorial debut for directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion. In COOTIES, a substitute teacher at a new school experiences the worst first day imaginable when he discovers that an outbreak of a mysterious virus is transforming the students into rampaging tykes.
Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s bawdy road trip comedy LAND HO!, which premiered on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival was snapped up by Sony Pictures Classics for release. SPC plans to release the film nationwide in 2014. Starring Paul Eenhoorn (THIS IS MARTIN BONNER) and newcomer Earl Lynn Nelson, LAND HO! follows a pair of retirees who set off to Iceland in an attempt to reclaim their youth through Reykjavik nightclubs, trendy spas, and rugged campsites.
OF GOD AND DOGS
The jury prizes and honorable mentions in short filmmaking at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival were presented at a ceremony in Park City, Utah on Tuesday night. This year’s Short Film program is comprised of 66 short films selected from a record 8,161 submissions. The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to the Syrian film OF GOD AND DOGS. The 2014 Sundance Film Festival runs through January 26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
I ORIGINS, directed and written by Mike Cahill, has been awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and will receive a $20,000 cash award by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. I ORIGINS which premiered on Saturday at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival has been acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for release in the U.S. The film is scheduled to be released in 2014.
The ‘blackly comedic’ Irish drama CALVARY which screened Sunday in the Premieres section of the Sundance Film Festival was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures and scheduled to be released in the U.S. in 2014 . Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, CALVARY’s ensemble cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wilmot, Pat Shortt, Gary Lydon, Killian Scott, Orla O’Rourke, Owen Sharpe and David McSavage. CALVARY was recently added to the lineup for the Berlin International Film Festival and is the opening night film for the 2014 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.
Gillian Robespierre’s debut comedy OBVIOUS CHILD which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday has been snapped up by A24 for a planned 2014 theatrical release. OBVIOUS CHILD is described as an honest comedy about what happens when Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern gets dumped, fired, and pregnant just in time for the best/worst Valentine’s Day of her life.
The ‘existential drama’ I ORIGINS which premiered on Saturday at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival has been acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for release in the U.S. The film is scheduled to be released in 2014. Directed and written by Mike Cahill, I ORIGINS is his second feature following ANOTHER EARTH which Fox Searchlight acquired at Sundance in 2011. The film stars Michael Pitt, Brit Marling, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Steven Yeun and Archie Panjabi.
Zach Braff’s comedy film WISH I WAS HERE, was quickly acquired by Focus Features after its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival over the weekend. WISH I WAS HERE is Braff’s follow-up to his indie breakout hit GARDEN STATE. WISH I WAS HERE was directed by Zach Braff from a screenplay he wrote with his brother, Adam; and stars Zach Braff along with Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, Joey King, Pierce Gagnon and the late James Avery. Braff made headlines when he announced that WISH I WAS HERE would be funded by the crowd-funding site Kickstarter.
Lynn Shelton’s LAGGIES starring Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Sam Rockwell which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, was acquired by A24 for U.S. release. A24 is planning a summer theatrical release for the film.