This year’s Sundance Film Festival is a crucial bellwether for the independent film business. Even as end-of-year hits such as Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, The Reader and Milk pack theatres across North America, the domestic acquisitions business has been sluggish to say the least.
Very rarely, these days, do distributors thrash it out through the night for a film - Hamlet 2 and The Wrestlerwere last year’s chief big-money examples at Sundance and Toronto respectively - and most wait for better terms in later weeks or months. And of course this Sundance, Warner Independent Pictures, Picturehouse and ThinkFilm are out of the game, Paramount Vantage is restructuring into a genre company, Bob Yari’s releasing division has filed for bankruptcy and former acquisitions giant The Weinstein Company is cash-strapped.
High-profile films from Venice and Toronto remain unsold or at least in play four months after their world premieres - The Burning Plain, The Other Man, Fifty Dead Men Walking, The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond, Is There Anybody There’, Me And Orson Welles - while producers Ehud Bleiberg and Arthur Cohn decided to self-release their films Adam Resurrected and The Yellow Handkerchiefrespectively for Oscar-qualifying runs in the absence of distribution deals. To say it is a bleak time in the business is an understatement.
That said, the glut of films produced as a result of too much equity is coming to an end and perhaps a new era of indie sobriety is on the horizon. Film-makers and sellers will also have new offers on the table from online, digital or video-on-demand platforms which might be the alternative to the increasingly expensive theatrical distribution route.
The Sundance programmers have lined up 89 world premieres, including new work from some of the most intriguing film-makers in the US and Europe, such as Pete Travis, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Lone Scherfig, Oskar Roehler, Greg Mottola, the Polish brothers, Oren Moverman, David Mackenzie and Sandra Nettelbeck.
If the deals at Park City do not come with the same urgency as before, there are still buyers enough to guarantee a steady flow of deals. After all, there is always a demand for good product, isn’t there’
DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT
Shana Feste - The Greatest
American Film Institute graduate Shana Feste was savvy enough to know what she had to do to get her directorial debut off the ground. “I used to work as an agent’s assistant (at CAA) and I knew as a first-time director, I’d need to write parts actors would be attracted to.”
She succeeded in signing Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon as leads in The Greatest, her drama about a family dealing with the aftermath of their son’s death, which was inspired by her love of dramas such as Ordinary People and Kramer Vs Kramer, and the films of Hal Ashby.
Feste says she has become attached to her characters. “The easier story would have been to show this marriage falling apart. But I had spent so long with these characters and I’d put them into this bad situation, I felt I had to give them a little hope.”
Wendy Mitchell
SUNDANCE 2009: WORLD PREMIERES
DOCUMENTARY
Art & Copy (US)
Dir: Doug Pray
Scr: Timothy J Sexton
Prods: Jimmy Greenway, Michael Nadeau
Advertising gurus discuss the wide-reaching effect of advertising and creativity on modern culture.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
Boy Interrupted (US)
Dir/prod: Dana Perry
A mother’s look at the psychiatric illness and death of her son.
Sales contact: Dana Perry, (1) 212 989 2880
The Cove (US)
Dir: Louie Psihoyos
Scr: Mark Monroe
Prods: Fisher Stevens, Paula DuPre Pesmen
Activists confront the horrors of dolphin hunting in Japan in a film that also takes a wider look at sea-life environmental issues.
Sales contact, US: William Morris Independent, (1) 310 859 4310, Submarine Entertainment, (1) 917 957 1400; int’l: WMI, (1) 310 859 4310
Crude (US)
Dir: Joe Berlinger
Prods: Joe Berlinger, Michael Bonfiglio, JR DeLeon, Richard Stratton
Ecuadoran tribes take on Chevron over the dumping of toxic oil waste in the Amazon.
Sales contact: Joe Berlinger, (1) 914 420 2830
Dirt! The Movie (US)
Dirs: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow
Prods: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow, Eleonore Dailly
A humorous look at man’s relationship with soil and how humans are taking for granted the earth’s last natural resource.
Sales contact: Gene Rosow, (1) 310 487 6371
El General (Mex-US)
Dir: Natalia Almada
Prods: Daniela Alatorre, Natalia Almada
An intimate portrait of the Mexican people.
Sales contact: Louise Rosen Ltd, LrosenLtd@aol.com
DIRECTOR PROFILES
NICHOLAS JASENOVEC - PAPER HEART
Nicholas Jasenovec’s debut feature is nothing if not ambitious. “It was pretty low budget but we shot in three countries, 16 cities, during an eight -week shoot,” the Los Angeles-based director explains.
Paper Heart is a narrative/documentary hybrid about performance artist/actress Charlyne Yi’s sceptical search for the true meaning of love. Michael Cera and Yi play fictionalised version of themselves, an actor plays Jasenovec, and ordinary people and experts are interviewed.
“There are a few different realities going on,” he says. “It’s all captured from the same cameras and crew so there’s no disconnect between the scripted parts and documentary sections.”
The director, who has made about a dozen shorts, says he is proud and surprised at the sweet nature of his first feature. “Going in we thought we had the opportunity to make a romantic movie that people our age can believe in.”
Wendy Mitchell
CARY JOJI FUKUNAGA - SIN NOMBRE
Cary Joji Fukunaga did not take the easy route when making his debut feature Sin Nombre. “I’m glad I didn’t realise how hard it was going to be because there were moments when I would curse myself for not writing a movie about two people talking about their emotions in one small room,” Fukunaga explains. “Instead it was an ensemble piece spanning a couple of thousand miles, with 3,000 extras.”
Sin Nombre is about immigrants riding on top of trains to cross into the US, facing Mexican gangs along the way. Fukunaga’s research included visiting gang members in jail and interviewing immigrants. Even riskier, he took the top-of-train journey himself (where gangsters attacked his train and killed a passenger). “Nothing could have driven home the sensation of fear and impotence more than what I had felt first hand,” he says.
His producer Amy Kaufman, who he met at the Sundance Labs, brought the project to Focus Features. He has since worked with Focus to adapt Beasts Of No Nation, the fictional story of a child soldier.
Wendy Mitchell
ROSS KATZ - TAKING CHANCE
Ross Katz was doing well as the Oscar-nominated producer of such films as Lost In Translation and In The Bedroom. “I love producing - but the movies I’ve produced weren’t stories I needed to tell as a director, they were stories I could facilitate,” he explains.
The story that inspired him to take up directing was Taking Chance, an HBO Films project based on the journals of former Marine Lt Col Michael Strobl, about a man who escorts home a soldier’s remains to his family.
The story reminded Katz of what he had felt some years earlier, watching news of a bomb blast in Baghdad. “I went outside and looked around and thought, ‘Why is everything normal” I just thought the world should stop for a moment in recognition.”
Katz wrote the script with Strobl, who he regards as “an artist, a really great writer”. He quickly took off his producing hat when it was time to direct. “I did all these things against my producing instincts - like for the lead I had a list of one, Kevin Bacon.”
Wendy Mitchell
SUNDANCE 2009: WORLD PREMIERES
Good Hair (US)
Dir: Jeff Stilson
Scrs: Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther, Chuck Sklar
Prods: Chris Rock, Kevin O’Donnell, Jenny Hunter
Chris Rock examines the culture of African-American hair and hairstyles.
Sales contact: ICM, (1) 310 550 4440
The Reckoning (US)
Dir: Pamela Yates
Prod: Paco de Onis
International criminal court prosecutor Luis Moreno- Ocampo tries to bring justice to perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
Sales contact, worldwide broadcast rights: Films Transit, (1) 514 844 3358; all other rights: Paco de Onis, (1) 212 947 5333
Reporter (US)
Dir: Eric Daniel Metzgar
Prods: Mikaela Beardsley, Steven Cantor
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Nicholas D Kristof journeys through the Congo in the summer of 2007 to report on the conflict.
Sales contact, worldwide except US broadcast first window: Films Transit, (1) 514 844 3358
The September Issue (US)
Dir: RJ Cutler
Prods: RJ Cutler, Eliza Hindmarch, Sadia Shepard
A look at US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her team preparing the September 2007 issue of the fashion magazine.
Sales contact: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000
Sergio (US)
Dir: Greg Barker
Prods: John Battsek, Julie Goldman
The role of the United Nations is explored through the extraordinary life and career of Sergio Vieira de Mello, killed by a bomb in Baghdad in 2003.
Sales contact: John Battsek, (1) 646 248 2605; Julie Goldman, (1) 917 744 1355
Shouting Fire: Stories From The Edge Of Free Speech (US)
Dir: Liz Garbus
Prods: Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy, Jed Rothstein
An exploration of free speech in the US.
Sales contact: HBO, (1) 212 512 1000
We Live In Public (US)
Dir: Ondi Timoner
Prods: Ondi Timoner, Keirda Bahruth
Web pioneer Josh Harris pushes the envelope with a Big Brother-style art project to broadcast life’s every moment on the internet.
Sales contact: Interloper Films, (1) 626 296 0068
When You’re Strange (US)
Dir/scr: Tom DiCillo
Prods: Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski, John Beug, Jeff Jampol
Documentary about influential band The Doors, using original footage shot between 1966 and 1971.
Sales contact: Submarine, (1) 917 957 1400
William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe (US)
Dirs: Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler
Prods: Jesse Moss, Susan Korda
The daughters of famed civil rights attorney William Kunstler look at his career, representing clients including Martin Luther King Jr and the Chicago Eight.
Sales contact: Submarine, (1) 917 957 1400
DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Adam (US)
Dir/scr: Max Mayer
Prods: Leslie Urdang, Miranda De Pencier, Dean Vanech
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne
A love story about a dysfunctional man and his new neighbour, the woman of his dreams.
Sales contact: The Film Sales Company, (1) 212 481 5020
Amreeka (US-Can-Kuw)
Dir/scr: Cherien Dabis
Prods: Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin
Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda
A divorced Palestinian woman and her teenage son face new challenges when they move to rural Illinois.
Sales contact, US: WMI, (1) 310 859 4310; int’l: EOne Films International, Charlotte Mickie, (1) 416 931 8463
Arlen Faber (US)
Dir/scr: John Hindman
Prods: Kevin Messick, Jana Edelbaum
Cast: Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci
A reclusive author of a popular spiritual book faces new truths when he meets two strangers.
Sales contact, US: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000; ICM, (1) 310 550 4440
Big Fan (US)
Dir/scr: Robert Siegel
Prods: Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin
Cast: Patton Oswalt, Michael Rapaport, Kevin Corrigan
A car park attendant has a violent confrontation with his favourite New York Giants player.
Sales contact: Andrew Hurwitz, (1) 646 220 2359
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (US)
Dir/scr: John Krasinski
Prods: Eva Kolodner, Yael Melamed, John Krasinski, James Suskin
Cast: Julianne Nicholson, John Krasinski, Bobby Cannavale, Dominic Cooper
After being dumped by a boyfriend, an anthropology student interviews men about their behaviour.
Sales contact: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000
Cold Souls (US)
Dir/scr: Sophie Barthes
Prods: Dan Carey, Elizabeth Giamatti, Paul Mezey, Andrij Parekh, Jeremy Kipp Walker
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, David Strathairn
A famous actor suffering from an existential crisis explores soul extraction.
Sales contact, US: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979; int’l: EOne, Charlotte Mickie, (1) 416 931 8463.
DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Dare (US)
Dir: Adam Salky
Scr: David Brind
Prods: Mary Jane Skalski, Jason Orans
Cast: Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer
Three teenagers shake things up during their last semester of high school.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
Don’t Let Me Drown (US)
Dir: Cruz Angeles
Scrs: Maria Topete, Cruz Angeles
Prods: Maria Topete, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, James Lawler, Ben Howe
Cast: EJ Bonilla, Gleendilys Inoa, Damian Alcazar
Two Latino teens find friendship and budding romance in post-9/11 New York.
Sales contact: Craig Emanuel, Loeb & Loeb, (1) 310 282 2262
Humpday (US)
Dir/scr: Lynn Shelton
Prod: Lynn Shelton
Cast: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore
A comedy about straight male bonding that goes too far, when two old college buddies enter an amateur porn contest.
Sales contact: Submarine, (1) 917 957 1400
Paper Heart (US)
Dir: Nicholas Jasenovec
Scrs: Nicholas Jasenovec, Charlyne Yi
Prods: Elise Salomon, Sandra Murillo
Cast: Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera
Charlyne Yi goes on a journey to find the true nature of love, striking up an unusual relationship with Michael Cera.
Sales contact: UTA, (1) 310 228 3842
Peter And Vandy (US)
Dir/scr: Jay DiPietro
Prods: Peter Sterling, Austin Stark, Benji Kohn, Bingo Gubelmann
Cast: Jess Weixler, Jason Ritter
A love story told backwards, juxtaposing a couple’s romantic early relationship with their bickering and manipulations in later years.
Sales contact, worldwide: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126
Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire (US)
Dir: Lee Daniels
Scr: Damien Paul
Prods: Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey
The big-screen adaptation of Sapphire’s bestselling novel about a young girl in Harlem overcoming life’s traumas - including being pregnant with her father’s child.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
Sin Nombre (US-Mex)
Dir/scr: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Prod: Amy Kaufman
Cast: Edgar Flores, Paulina Gaitan, Kristyan Ferrer
As Central American migrants try to cross the border into the US, a teenage gang member looks to outrun his violent past.
Sales contact, US: Focus Features, (1) 818 777 7373
Taking Chance (US)
Dir: Ross Katz
Scrs: Michael R Strobl, Ross Katz
Prod: Lori Keith Douglas
A volunteer military escort officer accompanies the body of a 19-year-old Marine to his home town.
Cast: Kevin Bacon
Sales contact, int’l: HBO Enterprises, (1) 212 512 5315
Toe To Toe (US)
Dir/scr: Emily Abt
Prods: Emily Abt, Susan Leber
Cast: Sonequa Martin, Louisa Krause, Silvestre Rasuk
An inter-racial friendship is put to the test at a competitive Washington DC prep school.
Sales contact, worldwide: WMI, (1) 310 859 4310
MIDNIGHT
Black Dynamite (US)
Dir: Scott Sanders
Scrs: Michael Jai White, Scott Sanders, Byron Minns
Prods: Ars Nova
Cast: Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield
1970s action legend Black Dynamite fights The Man in this spoof.
Sales contact: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126
The Carter (US)
Dir: Adam Bhala Lough
Prod: Adam Bhala Lough, Josh Krause
An intimate portrait of rapper Dwayne ‘Lil’ Wayne’ Carter Jr.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
Grace (US)
Dir/scr: Paul Solet
Prods: Ingo Vollkammer, Cory Neal, Adam Green, Kevin DeWalt
Cast: Jordan Ladd, Samantha Ferris, Gabrielle Rose
A stillborn baby comes to life with a thirst for human blood.
Sales contact, int’l: Lightning, (1) 310 255 7999, (1) 310 770 7472; Canada: Leomaxe, (1) 323 785 3000.
The Killing Room (US)
Dir: Jonathan Liebesman
Scrs: Gus Krieger, Ann Peacock
Prods: Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Ross M Dinerstein, Bobby Schwartz
Cast: Chloe Sevigny, Peter Stormare, Clea DuVall, Timothy Hutton
Four people sign up for a psychological research study that turns out to be part of a classified government programme.
Sales contact, US: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000; int’l: ContentFilm, (1) 310 576 1059
Mystery Team (US)
Dir: Dan Eckman
Scrs: Dominic Dierkes, Donald Glover, DC Pierson
Prod: Meggie McFadden
Cast: Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson, Donald Glover
High school kids The Mystery Team try to solve a double murder.
Sales contact: Submarine, (1) 917 957 1400
Spring Breakdown (US)
Dir: Ryan Shiraki
Scr: Ryan Shiraki, Rachel Dratch
Prods: Rick Berg, Larry Kennar
Cast: Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Parker Posey
Three thirtysomething women vacation at a popular spring break destination for college students.
Sales contact: Warner Bros, (1) 818 954 6000
White Lightnin’ (UK)
Dir: Dominic Murphy
Scrs: Shane Smith, Eddy Moretti
Prods: Mike Downey, Sam Taylor
Cast: Edward Hogg, Carrie Fisher, Muse Watson
A stylized portrait of the ‘dancing outlaw’, Jesco White.
Sales contact: Salt, (44) 7710 394080
PREMIERES
500 Days Of Summer (US)
Dir: Marc Webb
Scrs: Scott Neustadter, Michael Weber
Prods: Jessica Tuchinsky, Mary Waters, Steven Wolfe, Mason Novick
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
A greeting-card copywriter looks back on a failed relationship, trying to work out where things went wrong.
Sales contact: Fox Searchlight, (1) 310 369 4432
Adventureland (US)
Dir/scr: Greg Mottola
Prods: Anne Carey, Ted Hope, Sidney Kimmel
In 1987, a college graduate takes a job at a local amusement park.
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart
Sales contact: Miramax (excl Australia), (1) 212 941 3800
Brooklyn’s Finest (US)
Dir: Antoine Fuqua
Scrs: Michael C Martin, Brad Caleb Kane
Prods: Basil Iwanyk, John Langley, Elie Cohn, John Thompson
Cast: Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle
Three different cops on the same Brooklyn housing project take the law into their own hands.
Sales contact, US: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000, WMI, (1) 310 859 4310; int’l: Nu Image, (1) 310 388 6900
Earth Days (US) Closing night film
Dir/prod: Robert Stone
The environmental crisis as seen through nine diverse people who launched the modern environmental movement.
Sales contact: Wgbh, (1) 617 300 5400
Endgame (UK)
Dir: Pete Travis
Scr: Paula Milne
Prods: David Aukin, Hal Vogel
Cast: William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofor
A businessman tries to find a peaceful solution to the Apartheid regime by initiating secret discussion between the African National Congress and white intellectuals.
Sales contact, US: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126, Penny Wolf, (1) 561 676 4171; int’l: Penny Wolf, (1) 561 676 4171
I Love You Phillip Morris (US)
Dirs/scrs: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Prods: Andrew Lazar, Far Shariat
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor
A small-town Texas cop becomes a conman. Caught and jailed, he falls in love with a fellow inmate.
Sales contact, US: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000, Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126, EuropaCorp, (33) 1 53 83 03 03; int’l: EuropaCorp, (33) 1 53 83 03 03
The Informers (US)
Dir: Gregor Jordan
Scrs: Bret Easton Ellis, Nicholas Jarecki
Prod: Marco Weber
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke
Adapted from Bret Easton Ellis’ novel about decadent 1980s Los Angelenos.
Sales contact: Essential Entertainment, (1) 310 550 9100
In the Loop (UK)
Dir: Armando Iannucci
Scrs: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong
Prods: Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy
Cast: Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini
A political comedy about the UK and US governments working together in the lead-up to a fictional war.
Sales contact: Protagonist, (44) 20 7306 5155
Manure (US)
Dir: Michael Polish
Scrs: Mark Polish, Michael Polish
Prods: Jonathan Sheldon, Michael Polish, Mark Polish
Cast: Tea Leoni, Billy Bob Thornton
Comedy about 1960s manure salesmen.
Sales contact: Prohibition Pictures, (1) 323 893 6292
Mary And Max (Australia) Opening night film
Dir/scr: Adam Elliot
Prod: Melanie Coombs
Voice cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Barry Humphries
A lonely eight-year-old girl in Australia finds an unlikely pen pal in an obese 40-year-old New Yorker, in this claymation project.
Sales contact, US: Icon, (1) 310 434 7300; int’l: Icon Entertainment International, (44) 20 8492 6300
The Messenger (US)
Dir: Oren Moverman
Scrs: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman
Prods: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller
Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone
Two soldiers from different generations form a bond in the Army’s casualty notification department.
Sales contact, US: UTA, (1) 310 228 3842; int’l: ContentFilm, (1) 310 576 1059
Moon (UK)
Dir: Duncan Jones
Scr: Nathan Parker
Prods: Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Things go very wrong for an astronaut who has spent the past three years in space.
Sales contact: Independent, (44) 20 7257 8734
Motherhood (US)
Dir/scr: Katherine Dieckmann
Prods: Jana Edelbaum, Rachel Cohen, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Cast: Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver
A mother of two from Manhattan has a very bad day.
Sales contact, US: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126; int’l: Kimmel International, (1) 212 431 5550
Rudo Y Cursi (Mex)
Dir/scr: Carlos Cuaron
Prods: Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Guillermo del Toro, Frida Torresblanco, Tita Lombardo
Cast: Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal
Two rival footballing brothers battle their personal demons.
Sales contact: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000, WMI, (1) 310 859 4310
Shrink (US)
Dir: Jonas Pate
Scrs: Thomas Moffett
Prods: Michael Burns, Braxton Pope, Dana Brunetti
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Keke Palmer
A personal tragedy sees a celebrity psychiatrist question his ability to help his patients.
Sales contact, US: WMI, (1) 310 859 4310; int’l: Mandate, (1) 310 360 1441
Spread (US)
Dir: David Mackenzie
Scr: Jason Dean Hall
Prods: Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, Peter Morgan
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche
A young man seduces wealthy older women in Los Angeles.
Sales contact, US: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126, CAA, (1) 424 288 2000; int’l: Voltage, (1) 323 464 8351
The Winning Season (US)
Dir/scr: James Strouse
Prods: Kara Baker, Gia Walsh, Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Emma Roberts
A misfit signs up to coach a high school’s female basketball team.
Sales contact: ContentFilm, (1) 310 576 1059
DIRECTOR PROFILES
The Greatest (US)
Dir/scr: Shana Feste
Prods: Lynette Howell, Beau St Clair
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan
A family struggles with added pressures as they mourn their teenage son.
Sales contact, US: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000, Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126; int’l: Kimmel International, (1) 212 431 5550
SOPHIE BARTHES - COLD SOULS
Writer-director Sophie Barthes found her inspiration for Cold Souls in a dream: “(I dreamt) Woody Allen and myself were waiting in line, carrying our extracted souls in a box. When Woody’s turn comes … his soul is a little chickpea. I think, ‘If Woody Allen’s soul is a chickpea, what’s mine going to look like””
Sundance Labs veteran Barthes considered writing the script for Allen but changed her mind when she saw Paul Giamatti in American Splendor. They met at the Nantucket Film Festival in 2006. “I like to write with a specific actor in mind, good actors are an infinite source of inspiration.” The “metaphysical tragicomedy” stars Giamatti as a troubled actor whose soul is stolen by a soul trafficker.
Wendy Mitchell
DOMINIC MURPHY - WHITE LIGHTNIN’
“I’ve always liked movies about delinquents. Films like Alan Clarke’s Made In Britain or Truffaut’s The 400 Blows,” says UK film-maker Dominic Murphy. He brings a new kind of delinquent to the big screen with his debut feature White Lightnin’, based on hillbilly dancer-turned-criminal Jesco White.
“It’s not a conventional biopic. We’re seeing from inside the mind of this character,” he says. After working on award-winning commercials for more than a decade, Murphy says he relished the feature format and the chance to do more work with his actors including Edward Hogg and Carrie Fisher. “A lot of what I’m interested in is character and performance, and with a feature I could develop that more in depth.”
Wendy Mitchell
OSKAR ROEHLER - LULU AND JIM
The new film from festival favourite Oskar Roehler is a modern fairytale with a cruel twist. Lulu and Jim are star-crossed lovers - she is a rich German girl, he is a cash-strapped black man - battling racial bigotry in Germany during the 1950s Economic Miracle. The film stars rising French actress Jennifer Decker and renowned UK TV actor Ray Fearon.
Roehler set the story to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack, giving the film a pop-art feel and has dedicated it to David Lynch. “Lynch knows, in a way that is both humourous and sexy, how to tell a story about two people who let rip unconditionally,” says Roehler, “who go to the barricades to be able to live their love without any ifs and buts.”
Martin Blaney
DUNCAN JONES - MOON
Duncan Jones’ debut feature Moon is, its director believes, a sci-fi film in the vein of Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running or Ridley Scott’s Alien: a thoughtful, visually inventive yarn with soul as well as special effects.
“What we’ve captured aesthetically is something that pays homage to the science-fiction films of the 1970s but still feels fresh because we’ve blended in the live-action photography with more modern special effects,” says Jones. The film follows a man (Sam Rockwell) isolated on a moon base, who is “lonely but not alone”. Jones (formerly known as Zowie Bowie, son of rock star David Bowie) describes Moon as “an indie sci-fi but also quite thoughtful and romantic.”
Geoffrey Macnab
SPECTRUM
Against The Current (US)
Dir/scr: Peter Callahan
Prods: Joshua Zeman, Mary Jane Skalski
Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Tyler Moore
A man copes with the death of his wife by enlisting friends to help him swim the Hudson River.
Sales contact, international: Fortissimo, (31) 20 627 32 15
Barking Water (US)
Dir/scr: Sterlin Harjo
Prod: Chad Burris
Cast: Richard Ray Whitman, Casey Camp-Horinek
An elderly couple have had a tumultuous 40-year relationship but Irene agrees to take Frankie home from the hospital one last time.
Sales contact: Chad Burris, chad@indionfilm.com
Children Of Invention (US)
Dir/scr: Tze Chun
Prods: Mynette Louie, Trevor Sagan
Cast: Cindy Cheung, Michael Chen, Crystal Chiu
After their mother is arrested, two young immigrant children live illegally in a model apartment outside Boston.
Sales contact: Circus Road Films, (1) 310 386 5196
Everything Strange And New (US)
Dir/scr: Frazer Bradshaw
Prods: Laura Techera Francia, AD Liano
Cast: Jerry McDaniel, Beth Lisick, Rigo Chacon Jr, Luis Saguar
A man has to navigate his complicated life of family, sexuality and drug addiction.
Sales contact: George Rush, (1) 415 867 3965
Helen (Can-Ger)
Dir/scr: Sandra Nettelbeck
Prods: Judy Tossell, Christine Haebler
Cast: Ashley Judd, Goran Visnjic
A successful music professor fights clinical depression.
Sales contact: The Little Film Company, (1) 818 762 6999
The Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle (US)
Dir/scr: David Russo
Prods: Peggy Case, Michael Seiwerath
Cast: Marshall Allman, Natasha Lyonne
An executive takes a job as a night janitor, where he finds he is the subject of a strange experiment.
Sales contact: Visit Films, (1) 718 312 8210
La Mission (US)
Dir/scr: Peter Bratt
Prods: Alpita Patel, Benjamin Bratt, Peter Bratt
Cast: Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander, Jeremy Ray Valdez
A traditional Latino father in San Francisco’s Mission District comes to terms with his teenage son’s homosexuality.
Sales contact: Alpita Patel, alpita@apm-la.com
Once More With Feeling (US)
Dir: Jeff Lipsky
Scr: Gina O’Brien
Prods: Paul Jarrett, Nick Huston
Cast: Chazz Palminteri, Drea De Matteo, Linda Fiorentino
A psychiatrist in the midst of a midlife crisis pursues his singing ambitions through karaoke.
Sales contact: The Film Sales Company, (1) 212 481 5020
The Only Good Indian (US)
Dir: Kevin Willmott
Scr: Thomas Carmody
Prods: Thomas Carmody, Rick Cowan, Matt Cullen, Greg Hurd, Scott Richardson, Kevin Willmott
Cast: Wes Studi, Winter Fox Frank, J Kenneth Campbell
In early 1900s Kansas, a teenage Native American boy is taken from his family and forced to assimilate into white society.
Sales contact: Matt Cullen, (1) 785 550 9377
The Vicious Kind (US)
Dir/scr: Lee Toland Krieger
Prods: Tim Harms, Lindsay Lanzillotta, Lee Toland Krieger
Cast: Brittany Snow, Adam Scott, JK Simmons, Alex Frost
An insomniac brings his brother and his college girlfriend home to their estranged father’s house for Thanksgiving.
Sales contact: ICM, (1) 310 550 4440
World’s Greatest Dad (US)
Dir/scr: Bobcat Goldthwait
Prods: Tim Perell, Howard Gertler, Sean McKittrick, Richard Kelly
Cast: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore
A comedy about a high school poetry teacher who writes a successful journal which he passes off as being written by his dead son.
Sales contact: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000, Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
SPECTRUM DOC
No Impact Man (US)
Dirs: Laura Gabbert, Justin Schein
Prods: Laura Gabbert, Eden Wurmfeld
A wealthy family tries to spend one year abandoning their high-consumption lifestyle and become environmentally friendly.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
Passing Strange (US)
Dir: Spike Lee
Prods: Spike Lee, Steve Klein
Cast: De’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Stew
A documentary, based on the musical by Stew, about a young black man trying to find “the real” by leaving Los Angeles.
Sales contact: Endeavor, (1) 310 246 3126
Why We Laugh: Black Comedians On Black Comedy (US)
Dir: Robert Townsend
Scr: Quincy Newell, John Long
A mix of archival clips and provocative new interviews with the likes of Chris Rock and Bill Cosby, exploring the cultural influence of black comedy.
Sales contact, US: WMI, (1) 310 859 4310
Wounded Knee (US)
Dir: Stanley Nelson
Scr: Marcia Smith
Prod: Stanley Nelson
Depicts the 1973 siege when Native American groups took over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to draw attention to the 1890 massacre.
Sales contact: Wgbh, (1) 617 300 5400
The Yes Men Fix The World (Fr-US)
Dirs/scrs: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
Prod: Doro Bachrach, Ruth Charny
The prankster activists expose scandals such as profiteering after Hurricane Katrina and the environmental disaster in Bhopal.
Sales contact: Cinetic, (1) 212 204 7979
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY
211: Anna (It)
Dirs/scr: Paolo Serbandini, Giovanna Massimetti
Prod: Stefano Alpini
The late Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya risked her life to report on the war in Chechnya and president Vladimir Putin.
Sales contact: Stefano.alpini@gmail.com
Big River Man (US-UK)
Dir: John Maringouin
Prods: Maria Florio, Molly Lynch, John Maringouin, Kevin Ragsdale, Molly Hassell
An eccentric Slovenian tries to swim the Amazon to raise awareness of pollution.
Sales contact: Salt, (44) 7710 394080
The End Of The Line (UK)
Dir: Rupert Murray
Scr: Charles Clover
Prod: Claire Lewis, George Duffield
A look at the devastating global effects of overfishing, which could wipe out seafood by 2048.
Sales contact: Submarine, (1) 917 957 1400
Kimjongilia (Fr-US-S Kor)
Dir: NC Heikin
Prods: NC Heikin, David Novack
Defectors from North Korea speak out about their lives - and escapes.
Sales contact: ncheikin@mac.com
Let’s Make Money (Austria)
Dir: Erwin Wagenhofer
Prod: Helmut Grasser
The shocking reality of global moneyflow, from the factories of India to massive housing developments in Spain and offshore banks in Jersey.
Sales contact, worldwide excluding German-speaking territories: Celluloid Dreams, (33) 1 4970 0370
Prom Night In Mississippi (Can)
Dir: Paul Saltzman
Prods: Paul Saltzman, Patricia Aquino
Emotions run high when a small-town Mississippi high school resolves to hold its first racially integrated senior prom.
Sales contact: Emerging Pictures, Ira Deutchman, (1) 646 831 2909
The Queen And I (Swe)
Dir/prod: Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Sweden-based film-maker Sarvestani - exiled from Iran - confronts her own ideas about the Shah’s regime when she meets his widow.
Sales contact: Sara Vahabi, (1) 310 993 5458
Quest For Honoor (Kurd-US)
Dir: Mary Ann Smothers Bruni
Prods: Larry Taub, Frances Farenthold, Philip Knox
A former teacher and activist works with locals to stop honour killings in tribal Kurdistan.
Sales contact: Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, masbruni@mac.com
Tibet In Song (Tib)
Dir: Ngawang Choephel
Prod: Ngawang Choephel
Told through Tibetan music, a look at the efforts of Tibetan residents and exiles to preserve their cultural identity.
Sales contact: nchoephel@gmail.com
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
An Education (UK)
Dir: Lone Scherfig
Scr: Nick Hornby
Prods: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan
In 1960s England, a bright 16-year-old is sidetracked when she meets a handsome older man.
Sales contact: CAA, (1) 424 288 2000
Five Minutes Of Heaven (UK-Ire)
Dir: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Scr: Guy Hibbert
Prod: Eoin O’Callaghan
Cast: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca
Two men from the same town but different backgrounds come to terms with the past IRA conflict.
Sales contact: UTA, (1) 310 228 3842, Pathe Pictures International, (44) 20 7323 5151
Lulu And Jim (Ger)
Dir/scr: Oskar Roehler
Prods: Gabriela Sperl, Uwe Schott
Cast: Jennifer Decker, Ray Fearon, Katrin Sass, Udo Kier
A musically infused romantic road movie about lovers fleeing bigoted society in 1950s Germany.
Sales contact: Beta Cinema, (49) 89 67 34 69 80
One Day In A Life (It)
Dir: Stefano Tummolini
Scrs: Stefano Tummolini, Antonio Merone
Prod: Angelo Draicchio
Cast: Antonio Merone, Lucia Mascino
A man who wants a peaceful day at the beach becomes involved in the dramas of nearby sunbathers.
Sales contact: Ken Sparrow, k.sparrow@ripleysfilm.it, (39) 0678 441 401
Unmade Beds (UK)
Dir/scr: Alexis Dos Santos
Prods: Soledad Gatti-Pascual, Peter Ettedgui
Cast: Deborah Francois, Fernando Tielve
A Spanish man and a Belgian woman fall in love in London’s East End.
Sales contact: Protagonist, (44) 20 7306 5155
Victoria Day (Can)
Dir/scr: David Bezmozgis
Prods: Judy Holm, Michael McNamara
Cast: Mark Rendall, Sergiy Kotelenets, Nataliya Alyexeyenko, Holly Deveaux
A week in the life of a teenager in 1988 Toronto, following the search for a missing hockey teammate, a budding romance and a pivotal rock concert.
Sales contact: EOne, (1) 416 931 8463
Zion And His Brother (Fr-Isr)
Dir/scr: Eran Merav
Prods: Assaf Amir, Yoav Roeh
Cast: Reuven Badalov, Ronit Elkabetz, Tzahi Grad
In working-class Tel Aviv, two teenage brothers grow apart after events including the disappearance of a young boy.
Sales contact: MK2, (33) 1 44 67 30 55
DIRECTOR PROFILES
ARMANDO IANNUCCI - IN THE LOOP
Armando Iannucci is the latest in a long list of UK television comedians to make the transition to the big screen. “It’s always been an ambition of mine to make a funny film,” he says. “Having seen other people in the UK go from television to film, I’ve become aware of what not to do - which is to repeat what you’ve done before.”
In The Loop is a political satire that puts the UK/US ‘special relationship’ under the microscope. Tom Hollander stars as a UK politician desperately trying to reverse the march to war. How does the writer-director believe the film will play with Sundance audiences unfamiliar with Iannucci’s cult BBC TV series, the political satire The Thick Of It’
“It’s a new set of characters (to The Thick Of It). The only character from The Thick Of It is Malcolm Tucker (played by Peter Capaldi),” the director says. “The film is very self-contained. It doesn’t require any knowledge of the TV series.”
Iannucci had been talking to The Sopranos star James Gandolfini about another project, but decided the actor would be perfect for the role of the Pentagon General “who talks the talk but in the end, doesn’t really walk the walk”.
Geoffrey Macnab
ALEXIS DOS SANTOS - UNMADE BEDS
It is no surprise Argentina-born, UK-based film-maker Alexis Dos Santos wanted a very international story for his second feature, Unmade Beds. “I started with the idea I wanted to shoot a film that I haven’t seen in London,” says Dos Santos during post-production. “It feels very contemporary, but also portrays a whole bunch of foreigners.”
The film, which shot in English, Spanish and French, follows a Spanish man and a Belgian woman who meet in multicultural east London. Dos Santos knows the immigrant experience - he studied film in Buenos Aires and Barcelona before moving to London to study at the National Film And Television School.
He was developing Unmade Beds several years ago when he recharged his creative batteries by shooting a quick, loose film, Glue, about small-town teens in Argentina. Shot for just $28,000, it became a festival favourite and a calling-card for the Latin American New Wave that established Dos Santos as a film-maker to watch.
Wendy Mitchell and Danny Plunkett
RJ CUTLER - THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
RJ Cutler goes where no film crew has gone before - behind the trademark sunglasses of Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. “It’s remarkable she would allow a film in and that she agreed to give me final cut and had no editorial control,” Cutler says of his famous subject, who had always been protective of her privacy.
Cutler documented Wintour, creative director Grace Coddington, and other Vogue staffers for eight stressful months as they prepared the monumental September 2007 issue of the fashion bible. It became the largest issue of any magazine ever published.
He compares the experience to producing groundbreaking 1993 political campaigning doc The War Room. “(At Vogue), you are dealing with people who are media savvy. It’s the same with The War Room. If the material in our camera had been leaked to news outlets or political enemies, it would have been devastating to them. It’s about earning your subject’s trust.”
Cutler says: “The film is from the perspective not of an insider, but the rest of us. But it is an inside view of this world in a way never shown before.” Non-Vogue readers can appreciate the larger themes: “Workplace dynamics, art vs commerce, and our achievements in the context of expectations.”
Wendy Mitchell
The Missing Person (US)
Dir/scr: Noah Buschel
Prods: Jesse Scolaro, Allen Bain, Lois Drabkin, Alex Estes
Cast: Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan, Frank Wood
A private detective is hired to track down a man who was presumed dead in the 9/11 attacks.
Sales contact: Visit Films, (1) 718 312 8210.
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