Friday, January 26---On the eve of the Festival's closing weekend, several impressive distribution deals have been announced, which have made this one of the more active Festivals in recent years. In light of the box office and awards bonanza of the little-film-that-could LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (a Sundance pick-up last year for Fox Searchlight), acquisition execs have been aggressive in snatching up films with equal potential. Of course, whether these were wise decisions that will pay off hands...
Friday, January 26----The Sundance Film Festival is a busy event for the hundreds of US and international film festival programmers, promoters and administrators who must spend many hours in the dark sampling films in all the different Sundance categories. Not only is there pressure to view as many films as possible over the course of a hectic 10-day period, but the Festival is a golden opportunity to promote their event, network with distributors and filmmakers, and create a footprint of visi...
Thursday, January 25---The stars were out tonight for the world premiere screening of THE GOOD NIGHT at the Sundance Film Festival. Among the attendees were Danny DeVito, Steven Spielberg and Gwyneth Paltrow, pictured above at the Eccles Center.
Paltrow and DeVito co-star in the film, which is the writing and directing debut of Gwyneth's brother, Jake Paltrow. The film, one of the high profile projects coming to Sundance without a US theatrical deal, also stars Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz, M...
Thursday, January 25----Deals are coming fast and furious as the Sundance Film Festival enters its final weekend. While some acquisition execs will be waiting to see what American and international titles win jury and audience awards, the activity has been brisk with more deals announced in the past 48 hours of various films that have world premiered at the Festival.
ONCE, a tender Irish romantic musical comedy by John Carney, has sold worldwide rights to sales company Summit Entertainment. O...
Thursday, January 25----As the Sundance Film Festival moves into its final days (and the announcement of its competition awards on Saturday evening), the first of several awards announcements was made today. The Sundance Institute and NHK/Japan Broadcasting Corporation announced the winners of the 2007 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The four winners were selected from among 12 finalists by members of an international jury which included: Guillermo Arriaga, Carlos Diegues, Toshio...
Thursday, January 25-- The Catholic League has gone as far as calling for a federal investigation of Sundance film, HOUNDDOG which stars Dakota Fanning (CHARLOTTE'S WEB, HIDE AND SEEK) and Robin Write Penn (WHITE OLEANDER, MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE).
The League believes that it has potential of being child pornography and has requested Laura Bush's assistance in asking the Department of Justice to investigate. In HOUNDDOG, Fanning portrays a 12 year-old girl who is raped by an older boy. Although...
Wednesday, January 24----SWEET MUD, the sole dramatic film from Israel in the Sundance World Cinema Drama Competition, debuted this evening at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. The film is the second feature by Israeli director Dror Shaul. Set in a kibbutz (collective farm) during the 1970s, the film is a powerful, courageous critique of kibbutzniks who ostracize a psychologically unstable young mother. It also shows the effect of their well-meaning prejudice on her youngest son, who stands p...
Wednesday, January 24----Spotting celebrities is the favorite sport of Sundancers, with both jaded veterans and giggly novices delighting in catching sight of the famous in and around the Sundance Film Festival.
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IKLIPZ Sundance Film Festival Video Coverage: IKLIPZ
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Wednesday, January 24-----Jared Leto is the thinking man's Orlando Bloom. Possessed of a handsome face, a lithe body, piercingly deep eyes and an infectious smile, Leto is one of the few in Young Hollywood who shows no vanity in his screen performances. This is more than evidenced in his starring role as the chubby and erratic Mark David Chapman, the young man who, on a cold December night in 1980 in New York City, pointed his gun at music legend John Lennon and robbed the world of a man know...
Tuesday, January 23----A slew of acquisition pick-ups have accelerated as the Sundance Film Festival heads into its final days before the announcement of its awards on Saturday evening. Talks of bidding wars, all night negotiation sessions and aggressive kibitzing have generated alot of buzz in indie circles, with more announcements expected in the coming days.
Among the prominent deals announced, Paramount Vantage, the newly formed specialty arm of Hollywood major Paramount Pictures, has pi...
Tuesday, January 23---The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) used the high profile media attention of the Sundance Film Festival to announce its nominees for the 18th GLAAD Media Awards, which honor film and television programs that have reinforced a position image of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Hosting one of the liveliest events of the week at the Side Car Bar, the crowded festivities was the place to see and be seen for the many gay and gay-frie...
Sunday, January 21-- I applaud the Slamdance documentary programmers for selecting the fascinating film RED WITHOUT BLUE, directed by Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills, and Todd Sills. After several screenings at the Sundance Film Festival Sunday, I walked up Main Street to the screening rooms of Slamdance and into the World Premiere of RED WITHOUT BLUE. At this point I vaguely remembered why I wrote this movie down on my screening grid. I actually wasn't even quite sure what it was about. However,...
Friday, January 19-- With over 3,500 films submitted, the 13th annual Slamdance Film Festival opened with the World Premiere of WEIRDSVILLE directed by Allan Moyle and starring Scott Speedman (FELICITY), Wes Bentley (AMERICAN BEAUTY), and Taryn Manning (HUSTLE AND FLOW, 8 MILE).
In attendance from WEIRDSVILLE: Scott Speedman, Wes Bently, and Allan Moyle.
In addition, Slamdance President/Co-Founder, Peter Baxter attended the Red Carpet Arrivals.
WEIRDSVILLE revolves around one crazy n...
Monday, January 22----Despite my earlier declaration to "Fuck The Parties", I fell victim to party fever as much as the next guy yesterday, but all were very pleasant affairs that were great networking opportunities and a chance to see old friends and colleagues. Things began at 11am at the Cafe Brilliant on Main Street, where the International Film Festival Summit held an informal get-together to introduce Sundance attendees to the plans to hold the first International Film Festival Summit i...
Monday, January 22----In one of the few deals announced here for a fiction feature (documentaries have been getting all the action so far), The Weinstein Company has announced its acquisition of worldwide rights to GRACE IS GONE, screening in the US Dramatic Film Competition here. The film, directed by James C. Strouse, stars John Cusack in a departure from his useful laconic screen self, as a father who is overwhelmed when he gets news that his wife has been killed in the Iraq War. The film ...
Monday, January 22----European Film Promotion, the pan-European organization that represents all the individual film promotion agencies in Europe, is lending financial and marketing support for eleven European films that are screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Film Sales Support (FSS), the European Film Promotion sales support initiative, is backing the promotion of 8 European feature films and 3 documentaries screening here this week. Begun in 2004, FSS is funded by the MEDIA Programme ...
Sunday, January 21-- This afternoon the Queer Lounge hosted a panel called Online & Original- Filmed Content on the Web. The panal discussed how the explosion of online social networking platforms such as YouTube and MySpace has created new opportunities for LGBT filmmakers to find wide audiences. Although self-distribution and producing creative content for the web can help bring LGBT content to the masses, the major concern is, can you make any money? With the Internet becoming saturated...
Sunday, January 21-- What could possibly lead human beings to such unspeakable acts? That was the question AN AMERICAN CRIME director Tommy O'Haver (BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS, ELLA ENCHANTED) asked himself after the incident occurred involving Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski in his hometown of Indianapolis. In 1965, 16-year old girl, Sylvia, was found starved and tortured in the basement of a suburban home. Her beatings were done by her caretaker, Gertrude, and Gertrude's children...
Sunday, January 21----Actor Kevin Bacon and his actress wife Kyra Sedgwick (who just won a Golden Globe Award last week for her role in the television drama THE CLOSER) were in Park City to launch their charitable website sixdegrees.org, a charitable community in which celebrities and regular folks alike share their favorite charity.
When someone donates to someone’s charity through sixdegrees.org, a “badge” from the person whose charity is supported is shown on your Web site or blog....
Sunday, January 21----One of the more anticipated big-name films that has its world premiere later this week is KING OF CALIFORNIA, a comedy drama about the often flinty relationship between a father and a daughter. The film stars Michael Douglas in one of the quirkiest performances of his long career, and Evan Rachel Wood, a fast rising star who made her mark a few years ago with the Sundance sleeper THIREEN (directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who is serving as a juror this year).
KING OF C...
Saturday, January 20-- The 8th annual PlantOut Short Movie Awards were celebrated with a brunch at Cicero's this morning with thanks to presenting sponsor Scion. Jenny Stewart opened the morning with an intro followed by Robert Gant and Chad Allen. PlanetOut still remains the largest LGBT short film competition. In addition to the $15K in cash prizes, independent filmmakers are provided with an online audience of 5 million, and a special screening at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival...
Saturday, January 20----CRAZY LOVE, a documentary feature competing in the US Documentary Film Competition ,is one of the first to be close to a distribution deal, according to trade website IndieWire. Magnolia Pictures, a division of 2929 Entertainment, is set to pick up distribution rights to the film, which had its world premiere here on Friday night.
The film by Dan Klores, a film publicist-turned-director, documents the long romance between a New York socialite and a shark-like lawyer, ...
Saturday, January 20----It borders on heresy, but after spending the last two evenings attempting to attend parties TO WHICH I WAS OFFICIALLY INVITED, I am loudly proclaiming for all to hear: "Fuck the parties!". Of course, trying to crash parties is one of the key Sundance sports, along with ticket scalping and Redford spotting. The fever begins in the early part of the day, as information on the night's soirees heat up cel phones and email connections. What's on? Where is it? How do I get a...
The scene on Main Street, Park City:
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