State-sponsored Sex and Stab Wounds
The opening-night premiere of claymation film Mary and Max made it clear that the Festival decided to throw a curveball for its opening pitch.
Read More »San Antonio Opens CNG Fueling Station for Garbage Trucks
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, January 15, 2009 (ENS) – Garbage trucks on the streets of San Antonio are moving away from the puffs of black diesel smoke often spewed into the air by old-fashioned trucks. The city is on the road to fueling an increasing number of its refuse trucks with cleaner burning natural gas. The [...]
Read More »Shell to Pay $1 Million for Water Pollution in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, January 15, 2009 (ENS) – For discharging pollutants into a creek that flows to the Caribbean Sea, a Shell petrochemical company in Puerto Rico has agreed to pay a $1,025,000 penalty and spend at least $273,800 enhancing its pollution controls and monitoring to remedy the Clean Water Act violations. The agreement [...]
Read More »Meet Max Mayer director of ADAM
Meet Max Mayer director of ADAM, an official selection in the Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ADAM DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER: Max Mayer U.S.A., 2009, 95 min., color In movies, when two twentysomethings serendipitously wind up under the same Manhattan roof, witty repartee usually transpires, then sparks fly, and eventually they fall into bed. [...]
Read More »China Faces Water Crisis
BEIJING, China, January 15, 2009 (ENS) – Eight water conservation and control projects along China’s longest river, the Yangtze, will be underway by 2011 to improve water use and protect the environment, a water conservation official said Tuesday. Cai Qihua, director of the Yangtze Water Resources Commission, announced the projects during the commission’s annual work [...]
Read More »New Frontiers: The Future of Filmmaking?
One of thousands of digital snapshots that make up “We Feel Fine,” an installation at New Frontiers’ headquarters With Sundance billing this year as its 25th anniversary, Robert Redford today was asked the expected questions about the festival’s past vs. present, but he resisted nostalgia and instead focused on the festival’s future. Sundance hasn’t changed [...]
Read More »Meet Joe Berlinger director of CRUDE
Meet Joe Berlinger director of CRUDE, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Read More »Cinetic Gives The Skinny On Sundance 2009
There are many reasons for people to be nervous at Sundance, especially in this difficult economy. But those on the guest list for the big Cinetic party can relax on one account: The notoriously aggressive sellers (who brought NAPOLEOAN DYNAMITE and many other hits to Sundance) have nailed down their biggest sponsor for their fabled [...]
Read More »Meet John Hindman director of ARLEN FABER
Meet John Hindman director of ARLEN FABER, an official selection in the Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Read More »Robert Redford, Spiked Lemonade and Bush-bashing
The High West Distillery was serving lemonade spiked with rye whiskey in the lobby of the Egyptian Theater before Robert Redford turned up to address the press about what may or may not be the Festival’s 25th anniversary.
Read More »Getting Attention vs. Vying For It
Flying in to Salt Lake City, those snow-covered peaks are a majestic sight. The drive up to Park City is an easy jog on I-80. It’s sunny and clear and the madness is about to begin. I’ve read and talked and talked and read. Which movies are likely to emerge from the pack? I’ve checked [...]
Read More »Sundance Film Festival and Brita Filter For Good
Thanks to Brita and Nalgene, the 2009 Sundance Film Festival will reduce the need for 50,000 bottles* of water. Drinking water is a known remedy to altitude sickness, so at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, you can support a green cause by hydrating yourself with Brita filtered water.
Read More »EPA Nominee Jackson Promises Science Will Trump Politics
WASHINGTON, DC, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – Scientific integrity and the rule of law will be the “two core values” guiding decisions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the incoming Obama administration, the president elect’s nominee to head the agency vowed today at her confirmation hearing. The promises of nominee Lisa Jackson were met [...]
Read More »Engineers Give Georgia Infrastructure a Grade of ‘C’
ATLANTA, Georgia, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – The 2009 Georgia Infrastructure Report Card, released on Tuesday by the Georgia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, gave the state’s infrastructure a cumulative grade of ‘C.’ The engineers concluded that Georgia’s infrastructure requires an investment of more than $150 billion over the next 30 years [...]
Read More »The 25 Biggest Sundance One-Hit Wonders
The indie cinema Cinderella story goes like this: Your film gets into Sundance, and not just in — it gets noticed. Before it’s even had its premiere, it’s being talked about. And then it does play, and everyone loves it: endless applause, great reviews, and standing in line for coffee you overhear the people saying [...]
Read More »Agriculture Nominee Vilsack Splits the Organic Community
WASHINGTON, DC, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – Agriculture Secretary nominee Tom Vilsack had no problem winning over both Democrat and Republican members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee during his confirmation hearing today, but he has not done as well with the growers and consumers of organic foods. A trial lawyer and two-term [...]
Read More »Americans Eager to Save Energy If Actions are Affordable
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – Many Americans want to save energy at home and when they travel, if they can afford to do so, Yale University said today, releasing the results of a new public opinion poll. Based on a nationally representative survey of more than 2,100 Americans conducted in September and [...]
Read More »Texas Approves Nation’s Largest Low-Level Radioactive Waste Site
AUSTIN, Texas, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, voted 2-0 Tuesday to grant a double license for Waste Control Specialists to dispose of up to 28 million cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste from Texas, Vermont and the federal government in Andrews County. Commissioner Larry Soward abstained from the vote. [...]
Read More »25 Biggest Sundance One-Hit Wonders, #16-20
20. THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND Director: Matthew Ryan Hoge World premiere: Sundance 2003 Matthew Ryan Hoge seemed to have that specific brand of Sundance alchemy working overtime in his second feature, “The United States of Leland.” Kevin Spacey was a producer and star, indie zygote Ryan Gosling was the lead, and the ensemble cast [...]
Read More »25 Biggest Sundance One-Hit Wonders, #6-10
10. SCOTLAND, PA Director: Billy Morrissette World premiere: Sundance 2001 Long before “Hamlet 2″ mixed Shakespeare and suburban American quirkiness, there was “Scotland, PA,” a very loose retelling of “Macbeth” set amidst Pennsylvania’s fast food industry that generated copious positive press upon its arrival at Sundance. Thanks to a hip indie cast — including festival [...]
Read More »Festival Kickoff: Movies to Watch Out For
Each January, as the Sundance Film Festival approaches, there’s a mad scramble among journalists and critics to pinpoint something, anything new to differentiate their articles from the ones they wrote last year—and usually they turn to the documentaries for their hook. One year it’s LGBT issues, another year it’s Iraq. This year, the festival’s 25th anniversary (well, since the Sundance Institute took over its management anyway), the popular “news hook” is the environment. By way of evidence, writers point to the number of environmental docs in competition this year: 5 out of 32 total. But I just looked at last year’s film guide and counted three environmental docs. From 3 to 5—not such a dramatic increase, is it?
Read More »Global Warming Forecast to Leave Half the World Hungry by 2100
SEATTLE, Washington, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – Climate change will desiccate crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century, leaving half the world’s population facing a food crisis unless methods of adaptation are found quickly, new research shows. The area at risk stretches from the southern United States to northern [...]
Read More »Salt Lake City Named Fittest City in America
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, January 14, 2009 (ENS) – Salt Lake City has been named the “Fittest City in America,” by “Men’s Fitness” magazine in its annual ranking of the fittest and fattest cities in the country. Salt Lake City earned the “Fittest City” distinction due to its abundance of park space, athletically motivated residents [...]
Read More »PUSH: Suicide and Incest at Sundance
PUSH, starring Lenny Kravitz and Mo’Nique Lee Daniels is anxious but not anxious. He’s been to the Festival before, as producer of the 2004 film THE WOODSMAN, the Kevin Bacon film about a pedophile that is what they call in the industry “a tough sell.” This year he’s got PUSH, another harrowing story about an [...]
Read More »Texas Approved for Coastal Impact Assistance Grants
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, January 13, 2009 (ENS) – Texas coastal protection and restoration projects in 18 shoreline counties will soon receive an infusion of cash from the federal government. Minerals Management Service Director Randall Luthi Monday signed the Texas Coastal Impact Assistance Program Plan, CIAP, making available more than $48 million through federal grants. This [...]
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