sundance

Dramatic and Documentary Competition Films Announced for Sundance Film Festival 2012

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.

Robert Redford, Founder and President of Sundance Institute remarked, “We are, and always have been, a festival about the filmmakers. So what are they doing? What are they saying? They are making statements about the changing world we are living in. Some are straight-forward, some novel and some offbeat but always interesting. One can never predict. We know only at the end, and I love that.”

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In these challenging economic times, filmmakers have had to be more resourceful and truly independent in their approaches to filmmaking. Looking at this year’s submissions, the result is more fully realized visions and stronger stories; we are proud to see the Festival emerging as a key indicator of the health and creativity of our filmmaking community. The overall quality of the films in the 2012 Competition section will make for an exciting Festival and a remarkable year ahead for independent film audiences everywhere.”

For the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, 110 feature-length films were selected, representing 31 countries and 46 first-time filmmakers, including 26 in competition. These films were selected from 4,042 feature-length film submissions composed of 2,059 U.S. and 1,983 international feature-length films. 88 films at the Festival will be world premieres.

Design Dish: Moleskine logo winners & Prague’s floating bathtub

Moleskinerie Logo Competition: This week, Moleskine and Designboom unveiled a shortlist of 117 designs that were submitted for the notebook company’s logo competition. The winning design by French artist Sylvain Bouyer offered a poetic definition for a “Moleskinerie,” the name of the company’s new blog: “A small graphic digression illustrating the idea that the greatest dreams often arise from just small things.”

SHAME is not the first promiscuity epic

In Steve McQueen’s much buzzed about SHAME, Michael Fassbender is a New York professional who’s focused on scoring more than on sharing, and who will hook up with almost any dame he sees, as long as he doesn’t get to know her first.

But this is hardly the first screen treatise on the hollowness of sexual anonymity…

Jeff Nichols’ TAKE SHELTER

Jeff Nichols’ award-winning TAKE SHELTER takes place in rural Ohio, which is where I live, and involves a lot of rain, which describes the weather here as well. In fact, it’s been raining steadily in Southern Ohio since Sunday, so my ability to relate to the drama of precipitation was quite keen as I squirmed my way through this terrifying and ultimately moving film. As I’m smack in the middle of the same culture, where people actually go to church regularly and frequently needlepoint pillows, like young wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) does in the film, I really felt like I was there. Except that I don’t see what her husband Curtis (Michael Shannon) sees, which is much more than a steady drizzle: it’s apocalyptic storms with multiple twisters, raging birds in beautifully violent flight patterns and living room furniture that suddenly propels itself from the floor…

Erik Kessels’ 24 hours of Flickr

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration Foam, a photography museum in Amsterdam, is hosting “What’s Next? The Future of the Photography Museum” an exhibition that investigates the direction of the physicality of photography in public spaces (as opposed to viewing it online). I’m especially impressed with Erik Kessels’ contribution to the exhibit, which tackles the idea of “photography in abundance,” and which (as you can see pictured above) might give a neat freak a heart attack. For his installation, Kessels printed out every single image posted on Flickr in a 24-hour period and then randomly distributed the million+ images throughout the museum space for a completely visually arresting experience (except for the person who has to clean all this up)…

Miranda July’s “It Chooses You”

Even though Miranda July‘s new nonfiction book It Chooses You isn’t inextricable from her latest film, THE FUTURE, the two could easily be called companion pieces in that having some knowledge of one only adds to your experience of the other. And it makes sense that July, who’s a writer, performance artist and filmmaker wouldn’t just make a film when she makes a film – she creates a whole world that manifests itself in the various mediums in which she works. There’s performance art in the film, there’s pieces of the book in the film and there’s the story of making the film in the book. That’s what this book really is, the story of how July finished her film, an unexpected and arduous task that took her on a journey all over Southern California.

When she was close to finishing the screenplay for THE FUTURE, July was hit by a major case of writer’s block. As any writer knows, sitting at your computer and Googling stuff related to your work instead of actually writing it is a completely normal and acceptable form of procrastination. But ravenously reading the Pennysaver and calling the people who placed the ads not to buy what they were selling but to interview them about their lives, their hopes and dreams, is another form of distraction altogether. But to July it wasn’t a distraction, at least not entirely; It was a vision quest.

In It Chooses You, July weaves her interviews with the Pennysaver people into her own personal narrative about her struggle to finish writing her film in a voice that’s so honest and humble, so yearning and without pretense that I think even her detractors would get sucked into the power of her story. From the outside what she’s doing is such a small and seemingly trivial thing, but from the inside of it, it’s absolutely everything. It becomes grand in scale and importance. Everything hinges on July’s ability to not only make it through the Pennysaver obstacle course she’s set up for herself, but to make sense of it at the end…

Occupy Durban: Addressing global warming for the 99%

Back when I was a full-time academic, I swear we held meetings simply for the purpose of scheduling more meetings. That seems to be what’s happening with international climate change negotiations: each round of talks since Bali in 2007 seems to degenerate into a punting of major issues to the next round. This week, delegates have gathered in Durban, South Africa to discuss a global response to climate change, and some representatives of smaller countries most affected by global warming think it’s time for new tactics. In short, they’re talking about an “occupation” of the meetings.

Get Mortified with Ed Helms, Mo’Nique & Will Forte

What do Ed Helms and Mo’Nique have in common? OK, yes…they were in two of the biggest films of 2009, but there’s more to it than that. They’ve both got amazingly embarrassing childhood photos. And better yet? They’re ready to share them with you on THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS.

Open Casting Call for Sundance Channel’s Original Series GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS!

Being there for your GBF: Abuse is never OK

brightcove.createExperiences(); We definitely got more than our USDA recommended dose of drama last Friday, but there is always room to dig deeper. Brent filled us in on getting out of an abusive relationship. And Olivia, like any good bestie, was there. Check out what she’s got to say about helping Brent through the physical abuse. [...]

What you didn’t know about the Muppets

It seems like all my friends saw THE MUPPETS this past weekend, and the fact that these are friends whose ages range from 24 – 35 is a testament to the broad and timeless appeal of Jim Henson’s legacy. I’m slightly cursing him though because I’ve had the song “Mahna Mahna” stuck on repeat in my head (and now it’s stuck in yours). I didn’t know until recently that the original song, written by Piero Umiliania, first debuted in the decidedly kid unfriendly Italian film SWEDEN: HEAVEN AND HELL. I also didn’t know that Oscar the Grouch was originally orange before the color of his fur was changed to green in the second season. The explanation given was that Oscar “went on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy and turned green overnight,” which is subversively disturbing if you think about it. Was that a toxic swamp filled with mutated frogs as a result of illegal chemical dumping by an evil corporation? These are the kind of hard hitting questions that Big Bird needs to be asking on Sesame Street…

Art Buzz: Hugo Boss Prize finalists & a musical shantytown in New Orleans

Hugo Boss Prize Finalists Announced: Six finalists including Danh Vo, Qiu Zhijie and Monika Sosnowska have been announced for this year’s Huge Boss prize, which awards a $100,000 grant as well as a dedicated exhibit at the Guggeinheim to innovators in the contemporary art scene. A winner won’t be announced until next fall, but the nomination alone is sure to launch the young artists into the spotlight, at least for the next twelve months.

MARGIN CALL is one long, tense night

The most elegant quality of J.C. Chandor’s indie hit MARGIN CALL is the way in which time unfolds. It works in that hyper-dramatic way that critical life events do, burning into your memory with hours slowing into what seem like days and minutes stretching forward almost interminably. It’s practically the only cinematic tool Chandor has to play with because, speaking of play, his film – about the last 24 hours in the life of an investment firm peddling bad mortgage bonds in 2008 – feels like one. Thankfully his singular touch on the experience of time unfolding saves a film without costumes, locations or interesting lighting (it’s a lot of fluorescents inside a very drab office). We’re left with the script and the performances, which is fine, but raises the question – why not throw this on a stage and be done with it?

Dam graffiti in Ventura County

I was blown away when I first saw this photo. I thought the clever imagery was absolutely brilliant, but I suspected it was probably too good to be true and Photoshop had to be involved. It turns out some things that are too good to be true can actually be true. An anonymous group of guerrilla artists rappelled down the wall back in September to paint this environmentally conscious, large-scale mark on the 200 foot Matilija Dam in Ventura County.

BAG IT: when plastics get personal

Bag It Intro from Suzan Beraza on Vimeo.

After watching the trailer above, you may well have already characterized BAG IT as another activist documentary that does that Micheal Moore thing of setting an “everyman” out on a journey of exploration, learning and that final “ah ha” moment. And to some degree, you’d be right. Jeb Berrier (the face of the film) describes himself as an “average American,” one who doesn’t give a lot of thought to the impact of his consumption choices. You may think “Okay, I know where this is going,” and again, you’d be half right.

While director Suzan Beraza does follow in Berrier’s footsteps much like a Moore or a Morgan Spurlock follow in their own, she allows room for the journey to take whatever twists and turns come up…

Naked news: why normal looking porn stars are a threat

• Why porn that women actually like (i.e. with normal looking guys like James Dean, above) makes men so uncomfortable.
  
  
• Does success as an artist bring you more sexual conquests? Yes and no, say researchers.
  
  

Nashville: Where God and gay collide

Perhaps you’re not expecting a show called GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS to be a hotbed of religious talk, let alone evangelical fervor. But the second season of the Sundance Channel original series is set in Nashville; and with its 700-some churches the city is said to have the highest number of per-capita places of worship of any major U.S. city. So, if you think that the church and gay communities don’t have much effect on one another in a place like this…well, you probably live on a coast.

Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito star in THE BIG KAHUNA

Watch THE BIG KAHUNA on Thursday, Deceber 1st at 9pm. It may seem like pretty tame dramatic fodder at first, but salesman have always made for great theater and, once adapted, great film. Take “Death of a Salesman,” written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller and later adapted for the Golden Globe-winning TV 1985 show [...]

Tori Amos’ ‘Night of Hunters’ music video premiere

On September 20th, platinum-selling singer-songwriter Tori Amos made her classical label debut with Night of Hunters (Deutsche Grammophon), a 21st century song cycle that draws on themes from Satie, Granados, Chopin and other great composers from the last 400 years. It’s her twelfth studio album, and her first exclusively involving acoustic instruments. The songs are arranged for string quartet and flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon and contrabassoon in various formations…

A holiday gift guide for your gay best friend

Gays have great taste, and to this day we’re not really sure why. Call it an appreciation for detail—or a cunning desire for the best. We like our clothes, toys, and accessories to reflect a sophistication our best lady friends have come to rely on. So what does one get a Gay with impeccable taste? Here are a few suggestions to keep your men in a rarefied class of their own.

Top ten Hollywood dream couples

Okay, most of the people in this article are not couples, let alone gay. A girl, however, can dream and fantasize because the imagination is a wonderful thing where everybody is gay and nothing hurts. I’m no matchmaker, but I personally think these couples would be absolutely fabulous together, and perhaps just putting it out there to the cosmos will get a few of these fellas moving on up to the other side. I’m kidding. I’m the best matchmaker–me and Paul Rudd are perfect for each other!

Joe Zee gives Adam Lambert a style upgrade

Joe Zee is back and on this season of ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE he’s not only helping struggling designers. He’s also helping celebs looking for a style upgrade. American Idol alum, and bonafide pop superstar, Adam Lambert knew it was time to bring his wardrobe from trashy-tacky to fashion forward.

Raleigh Baptist church holds out for gay marriage in North Carolina

A few years back we went on a cross country road trip to promote our first book, The Big Bang. We knew that we’d find dirty minds (i.e. eager book buyers) in places like San Francisco and Portland, but we couldn’t believe how kinky things got in Raleigh, NC! One guy asked us to spank him with his copy of our book after signing it, and someone else asked us to inscribe a book to their partner who was “tied up” at home (quite literally, it turned out). Later, at the bar (and this was a chic cheese and wine spot, mind you) someone grabbed his partner’s boob right in front of us, and a long time reader gifted us with one of his company’s gorgeous glass dildoes. All of us which is to say, we were thrilled but not entirely shocked to read recently that a Baptist church in Raleigh just announced that they will not perform any legal wedding ceremonies until North Carolina accepts same-sex marriage…

Love Lust & Breakfast

Watch Love Lust: Breakfast, Monday, November 28th at 8pm.

When I think of a rich, savory, mouth-wateringly decadent breakfast I think of cheesy, buttery quickes, creamy grits with shrimp and bacon or huevos rancheros with freshly made corn tortillas, but as our resident food writers Zach and Diana both seem to crave the sweet stuff, I’m going to defer to them on this one. It’s not as if Zach’s pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes topped with melted butter don’t sound incredible, or that I’m not totally envious of Diana’s donut vision quest, but seriously, who can ever finish an entire plate of pancakes? It’s like Mitch Hedberg said about pancakes – they’re all exciting at first but by the end you’re just sick of them…

Best of Kickstarter, 11/28

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week’s best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup.

TECH

Portals:  Sure, we all feel pretty modern and fancy about our touchscreen technology (last week, I played Fruit Ninja for two uninterrupted hours in a turkey stuffing-induced daze), but the future isn’t about what you do on the screen – it’s what you do underneath or inside it. Using green screen technology, grad student Jayne Vidheechar designed a set of “portals” that allow users to interact with different objects in a myriad of environments and settings.

Twine: Feel like everyone is text-addicted? Soon, even your laundry machine will be sending you text messages. If you don’t believe me, check out ”Twine,” a clever new gizmo produced by freaky MIT geniuses that enables you to receive notifications from pretty much any object in your house…