sundance

IT MIGHT BE LOUD: No “Might” About It

This afternoon’s screening of IT MIGHT GET LOUD embodied just about everything I love and hate about going to the movies. For starters, the Library Center Theater was arctic cold before the screening began—not because the heat was off, but because the air conditioning was on full blast. No, I’m not joking. I asked a [...]

TYSON: Less Bitey, More Talky

In this documentary about the troubled (and that’s putting it kindly) former boxing champ, he remains defiant.

Sitting on a living room couch in a blue button-down, Tyson admits to “extracurricular activities” during his marriage with Robin Givens, but then seems only to regret it because he lacked the “skullduggery”—a word he used, to my surprise, appropriately—to avoid getting caught. More after the jump…

Meet Greg Barker director of SERGIO

Meet Greg Barker director of SERGIO, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. SERGIO DIRECTOR: Greg Barker U.S.A., 2008, 94 min., color Based on the biography Chasing the Flame by Samantha Power, Sergio is the story of the United Nation’s go-to guy. A cross between James Bond and Bobby [...]

Meet Natalia Almada director of EL GENERAL

Meet Natalia Almada director of EL GENERAL, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Festival Updates Interview: Festival Programmers

Host Faith Salie speaks to festival programmers John Cooper, Caroline Libresco, Trevor Groth, Shari Frilot, and David Courier in the Sundance Channel Studio for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Presented by Honda, The Power of Dreams.

Festival Updates My Premiere: MARY AND MAX

Follow director Adam Elliot’s film MARY AND MAX to the opening night of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Watch the video after the jump…

Festival Updates: AFGHAN STAR

Faith Salie interviews AFGHAN STAR director Havana Marking and host of ‘Pop Idol’ in Afghanistan Daoud Seddiqi. INTERVIEW is presented by Honda, the Power of Dreams.

Festival Update: New Frontiers

Senior festival programmer Shari Frilot speaks about new and emerging technologies that will bring storytelling to unprecedented levels.

Real Madmen Make Even Reagan Look Good

ART & COPY is a slick documentary about the genuis ad men and women who created such iconic campaigns as “Got Milk?”, “Think Different” (Apple), and Nike’s “Just Do It.” “Sundance gets a lot of grief about getting too commercial and selling out,” director Doug Pray said in introducing the film. “I just want to warn you guys–there’s ads in my movie.”

Meet John Requa & Glenn Ficarra directors of I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS

Meet John Requa & Glenn Ficarra directors of I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, an official selection in the Premiers Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

A night with BROOKLYN’S FINEST, sort of

Richard Gere in Brooklyn’s Finest Getting to, and into, the BROOKLYN’S FINEST premiere last night was an even bigger ordeal than I’d expected. My boss and I left the office at the bottom of Main Street at 5:45 p.m., giving us a half-hour to make it to the Eccles Theatre. Cutting it a little close, [...]

Judd Apatow and Mike Leigh Had a Baby, Her Name is HUMPDAY

Humpday HUMPDAY turns out to be what I’d hoped–funny and a bit more. For me, anyway, this buddy film about two straight guys who decide (almost inexplicably) to star in their own gay porn film was kind of a small version of Judd Apatow and Mike Leigh having a baby. This film by Lynn Shelton [...]

Meet Pamela Yates director of THE RECKONING

Meet Pamela Yates, director of THE RECKONING, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. THE RECKONING DIRECTOR: Pamela Yates U.S.A., 2009, 100 min., color Spanish/French/Swahili/ Acholi/Lingalla with English subtitles Late in the twentieth century, in response to horrific atrocities igniting increasingly around the world, more than 60 countries united [...]

Meet R.J. Cutler director of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

Meet R.J. Cutler director of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Senate Votes ‘Yes’ on Public Lands Protection Package

WASHINGTON, DC, January 15, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. Senate today passed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act with a bipartisan vote of 73-21, ending a year-long standoff between the Democratic majority and a small group of lawmakers who blocked the conservation measures. The package of more than 160 bills now moves to the House [...]

BROOKLYN’S FINEST: “best film ever made”?

Question and answer sessions at Sundance are, in theory, a great idea. In practice, not so much—especially those that follow “big” films like BROOKLYN’S FINEST, director Antoine Fuqua’s latest foray into the world of conflicted cops (after TRAINING DAY). Consider what the first questioner said to Fuqua once he took the stage: “First of all [...]

Menstrual Humor from the Stars of SPRING BREAKDOWN

Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch and Parker Posey at the Sundance Channel Studio Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch, director Ryan Shiraki, Parker Posey, Jane Lynch and Missi Pyle squeezed onto the Sundance Channel studio’s couch this afternoon, ostensibly to discuss their movie SPRING BREAKDOWN, but instead it became a game of comedic one-upmanship. [...]

B-Side to distribute indies

Dade Hayes reports today that B-Side has a bunch of money to distribute films: B-Side Entertainment, a 4-year-old tech company with a sizable profile in the film festival world, has landed $4.25 million in new financing and plans to enter the feature distribution biz. The Austin, Texas-based company, which runs websites that handle ticketing and mine [...]

BOTTLE SHOCK Helmer Randy Miller Forms New Company

Adding to the dwindling lists of distribs, Consolidated Pictures Group has planted a flag at Sundance. The new company was formed by BOTTLE SHOCK helmer Randy Miller, producer Jody Savin, and Leonidas Films’ Timothy Cavanaugh and James Mancuso. With equity in place, the group plans to produce and acquire films, with Sundance being the first [...]

Meet Louie Psihoyos director of THE COVE

Meet Louie Psihoyos director of THE COVE, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Without Delay: Congress to Fast-Track Climate Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC, January 15, 2009 (ENS) – The heads of some of America’s largest corporations together with the leaders of five of the country’s largest environmental groups today presented a joint plan to Congress for climate protection legislation. Congressional Democrats met their call for immediate action with assurances that they agree – there is no [...]

Who You Calling Wack?

The honchos at Sony Pictures Classics may not be the most popular guys at Sundance. Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are not known for whipping out bulging wallets to buy and when they do make a deal, some say they don’t send movies into the world with a big enough push. But if some at Sundance have issues with Bernard, he has some issues with Sundance.

What Not to Do at Night

Yesterday, I wrote that Main Street on Thursday night was sure to be “vitalized.” My bad. It was … not dead exactly, but probably would have passed for an average weekend night here during spring break.

James Schamus on Hamlet 2: So What?

Focusfeatures CEO James Schamus is a tad late to the Festival this year due to a bug. But what’s really bugging him is the amount of prognosticating about sales and the state of film financing that goes on in advance of the event. “We have layered over the possibility of any new experience we might have with this ongoing discourse,” he laments.

Meet Cary Joji Fukunaga director of SIN NOMBRE

Meet Cary Joji Fukunaga director of SIN NOMBRE, an official selection in the Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. SIN NOMBRE DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER: Cary Joji Fukunaga U.S.A./Mexico, 2008, 96 min., color Spanish with English subtitles It’s almost impossible to believe that SIN NOMBRE is Cary Joji Fukunaga’s feature debut; its storytelling is so [...]