After winning the top prize at the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the world’s most prestigious showcase for non-fiction film, the Canadian/UK co-production LAST TRAIN HOME is making a splash at its International Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Now the clear favorite for awards recognition in the World Cinema Documentary competition here, the film seems poised for a distribution deal.
LAST TRAIN HOME by director Lixin Fan is a beautif...
Actor Mark Ruffalo, a genial leading man who has been one of the most consistent (and unheralded) actors in significant films over the past decade, has made his directorial debut here at the Sundance Film Festival. His sturdy direction offers a quirky spin to SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS, a comedy drama bout a diabled disk jockey who wakes up one day with the power to heal. The DJ, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair, is winning played by Christopher Thornton, who also wro...
Rumors flew around Sundance that Harvey Weinstein attended a Sundance screening of Holy Rollers, directed by Kevin Asch, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor, Danny Abeckaser and Q-tip. While the screening attendance may have been a rumor, there are photos on wireimage.com of the famous distributor on the red carpet of the film's celebration dinner at the "House of Hype&
.............WELCOME TO OUR NEWSLETTER N° 450: January 27, 2010
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by Marc Halperin
The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers. Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital stra...
The Global Film Village by Marc Halperin The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers. Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital str...
The recent tragic events in Haiti have given an unexpected resonance to a new documentary on child sponsoring that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past weekend. A SMALL ACT by Jennifer Arnold looks at the modern day phenomenon of Westerners sponsorship and adoption of third world children.
With the Haitian crisis generating hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from almost every nation of the world, often by exploiting images of ...
The Slamdance Film Festival, the scruffy cousin of the Sundance Film Festival, which is also happening in Park City this week, relishes its reputation as a truly independent festival that is less focused on glamour and more on the cutting edge expression of its filmmakers.
Further expanding its reach, the Festival has announced a worldwide video content collaboration with Microsoft to offer a four-film package as video-on-demand premieres. Zune Video Marketplace will make the sele...
With the Sundance Film Festival in almost its third decade, it is no surprise that there are certain filmmakers who have become Park City regulars and veterans of the American indie scene. One of the most successful of the women directors that Sundance has nurtured is Nicole Holofcener, who is back at the Festival with her latest film PLEASE GIVE. The writer/director was first at Sundance with her 1996 romantic drama WALKING AND TALKING.
Like that earlier film, PLEASE GIVE also...
When you have already won an Oscar, have your own theater stage company and are one of the go-to acting talents in the business, there is a need for new horizons to keep oneself fresh. Such is the case for actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an Oscar winner for his role in the biopic CAPOTE, who debuted as a feature film director this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival with his film JACK GOES BOATING. Hoffman was born in Rochester, New York on July 23, 1967. After becoming involved in hig...
When you have already won an Oscar, have your own theater stage company and are one of the go-to acting talents in the business, there is a need for new horizons to keep oneself fresh. Such is the case for actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an Oscar winner for his role in the biopic CAPOTE, who debuted as a feature film director this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival with his film JACK GOES BOATING.
Hoffman was born in Rochester, New York on July 23, 1967. After becoming inv...
As further commitment to expanding audiences for independent films, Sundance Institute today announced a collaboration with YouTube to make available for rent three world-premiere films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Beginning today, films will be spotlighted on the YouTube homepage, after which they will also be available until January 31 at YouTube Movies. Two audience favorites from the 2009 Festival will also be ...
SwaggMedia has partnered with The Music 4 Peace Tour, (www.music4peacetour.com) Associated Press at the Gibson Guitar Lodge to host a gifting and networking lounge that will be streamed live on SwaggMedia.com. The partners have formed a coalition named, Music 4 Peace Tour initiative which is comprised of four non profit organizations that will benefit from the awareness raised by the event and live stream. The collaborating charities include; Hip Hop Summit/Action network, Tribes of the World...
Acclaimed filmmaker Spike Jonze premieres his latest work - I'm Here, a 30-minute short film - today at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the first-ever Opening Night's Shorts Program at the festival. The film is a collaboration with ABSOLUT VODKA, and the partnership acknowledges the brand's position as a pioneering and culture-shaping brand. ABSOLUT has always stood out in the marketplace as a groundbreaking company that has been supporting artists for decades. Previous collaborations incl...
Acclaimed filmmaker Spike Jonze premieres his latest work - I'm Here, a 30-minute short film - today at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the first-ever Opening Night's Shorts Program at the festival. The film is a collaboration with ABSOLUT VODKA, and the partnership acknowledges the brand's position as a pioneering and culture-shaping brand. ABSOLUT has always stood out in the marketplace as a groundbreaking company that has been supporting artists for decades. Previous collaborations incl...
In our ever-evolving digital world, filmmakers push distribution farther by using the outlet that reaches the widest audience possible: the Internet.
In October, it wasn't uncommon that Sundance Film Festival Shorts Programmer Jon Korn added an extra hour of screening time to his routine 12-hour block. However, instead of picking up another title from the pile of literally thousands of unwatched films, he turned his focus to the online ether. Labeling it 'the only type of multitasking I c...
The 2010 lineup of short films is an adrenaline surge to one of today's hottest modes of storytelling.
If anyone has any doubt as to the 'health' of filmmaking, this year's abundance of short film submissions can certainly provide ample evidence to the contrary. With 6,092 short film submissions to the Sundance Film Festival this year, it's quite clear we're living in a video culture, and men, women, children, not to mention monkeys (see Fiddlestix by the Zellner Bros.), are all part of the v...
A group of very lucky Russian filmmakers will have the double opportunity of impressing North American audiences and industry professionals via a unique program sponsored by CEC ArtsLink. The not-for-profit organization has partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to co-host a group of four independent Russian filmmakers in the US from January 20 to February 2. Their award-winning short films will have a North American premiere screening in New York. The filmmakers will then continu...
As the world's film business converges on Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Channel is bringing "The Festival" to Europe and Asia. The six-part mockumentary-a hilarious and all-too-realistic spoof of the film industry-will premiere on the globally distributed channel on January 21 as part of an exclusive week-long lineup celebrating all things Sundance.
"The Festival" stars Nicholas Wright (The Business) as Rufus Marquez, a wide-eyed, yo...
It is often said that everyone in New York, no matter what your religion or ethnicity, is just a little bit Jewish. The Jewish influence in culture, art, politics and in every stratum of society gives all New Yorkers a kind of common bond that no other group quite inspires. If you can recite the lines from a Woody Allen film, if you cannot imagine breakfast without a bagel, if you find yourself uttering the words "oy vey" with a heartfelt sigh, you are Jewish, if you are a Ca...
When you’ve made it to Park City, you’re ready to zip up your fleece, watch some films, sample some restaurants, and get the whole show going. Whether you’ve flown from across the country or are a Park City local, you want to hit the ground with all the info you need to quickly move from point A to point B. This guide will help you navigate the Festival, and make the most of your trip. This year, your favorite accessory will be the Sundance Film Festival iPhone application, which lets...
In the 81 year history of the Academy Awards, nearly 500 films have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Up until now, not a single film that was directed by a black filmmaker has been included on that list. However, this year, with the critical and popular success of the urban indie drama PRECIOUS, that ignoble record could be history.
PRECIOUS, directed by Lee Daniels, has undergone a fascinating journey to become the "it" film of the indie film season.....a jo...
Oscar, meet Precious........the Academy Awards have just gotten their first blast of ghetto love with the rising tide surrounding the urban drama PRECIOUS: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire by producer-turned-director Lee Daniels. The film, a major hit out of Sundance and screened to great acclaim in Cannes, Toronto and New York, opened theatrically in the United States this past weekend…..and broke box office records for its per-screen performance. Logging in an astonishing $100,00...
By Marla Lewin 9 PROJECTS FOR 2009 PRODUCERS LAB FILMMAKERS ALSO SELECTED BY FILM INDEPENDENT LOS ANGELES (October 12, 2009) — Last night at a special reception concluding the 2009 edition of Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum, Josh Welsh, Film Independent’s Director of Talent Development, awarded Jenny Deller and Kristin Fairweather its 3rd annual Sloan Producers Grant for their feature film project Future Weather. Deller and Fairweather will receive a $25,000 production grant, and p...
Eminent Chinese director, screenwriter and producer, Huang Jianxin, will head the International Jury for the third annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA). He will be joined by Australian playwright and screenwriter David Williamson, Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milāni, Indian playwright, screenwriter and director Feroz Abbas Khan and Korean writer/director Gina Kim. The International Jury will determine winners in the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be announced in a ceremony on Australia'...
