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From human rights to popular
culture, these 16 films
confront the subjects that
define our time. Stylistic
diversity and rigorous
filmmaking distinguish these
new American documentaries.
Fromcultconfdefidivfilnew
12
12th & Delaware DIRECTORS: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing U.S.A., 2009, 90 min., color
On an unassuming corner in Fort Pierce, Florida, it’s easy to miss the insidious war that’s raging. But on each side of 12th and Delaware, soldiers stand locked in a passionate battle. On one side of the street sits an abortion clinic. On the other, a pro-life outfit often mistaken for the clinic it seeks to shut down.
Using skillful cinema-vérité observation that allows us to draw our own conclusions, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, the directors of Jesus Camp, expose the molten core of America’s most intractable conflict. As the pro-life volunteers paint a terrifying portrait of abortion to their clients, across the street, the staff members at the clinic fear for their doctors’ lives and fiercely protect the right of their clients to choose. Shot in the year when abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his church, the film makes these fears palpable. Meanwhile, women in need become pawns in a vicious ideological war with no end in sight.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Sheila Nevins AsP: Christina Gonzalez, Craig Atkinson Ci: Katherine Patterson Ed: Enat Sidi Mu: David Darling SuP: Sara Bernstein
Sunday, January 24, noon - 12DEL24TDTemple Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, noon - 12DEL27YD Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 p.m. - 12DEL27BN Broadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - 12DEL28YN Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:30 a.m. - 12DEL292MHoliday Village Cinema II, Park City
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Bhutto DIRECTORS: Jessica Hernández, Johnny O’Hara SCREENWRITER: Johnny O’Hara U.S.A., 2009, 86 min., colorUrdu/English with English subtitles
As the first woman to lead an Islamic nation, former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto’s life story unfolds like a tale of Shakespearean dimensions. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Bhutto evolved from pampered princess to polarizing politician battling tradition and terrorism in the most dangerous country on earth. Her father, the first democratically elected president of Pakistan, chose Benazir over his eldest son to carry his political mantle. Accused of rampant corruption, imprisoned, then exiled abroad, Bhutto was called back in 2007 as her country’s only hope for democracy. When she was struck down by an assassin, her untimely death sent shock waves throughout the world, transforming Bhutto from political messiah to a martyr in the eyes of the common people. With exclusive interviews from the Bhutto family and never-before-seen footage, filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara have crafted a sweeping epic of a transcendent, yet polarizing, figure whose legacy will be debated for years to come.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Glenn Aveni Pr: Duane Baughman, Arleen Sorkin, Mark Siegel CoP: Pamela Green, Jarik Van Sluijs
Saturday, January 23, 9:00 p.m. - BHUTT23TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 11:30 a.m. - BHUTT24LD Library Center Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - BHUTT26SNScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Wednesday, January 27, 3:00 p.m. - BHUTT27TATemple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 10:30 p.m. - BHUTT29BN Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Saturday, January 30, noon - BHUTT30PD Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
CASINO JACK and the United States of Money DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Alex Gibney U.S.A., 2009, 120 min., color
This portrait of Washington super lobbyist Jack Abramoff—from his early years as a gung-ho member of the GOP political machine to his final reckoning as a disgraced, imprisoned pariah—confirms the adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A tale of international intrigue with Indian casinos, Russian spies, Chinese sweatshops, and a mob-style killing in Miami, this is the story of the way money corrupts our political process.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney returns to Sundance, once again wielding the tools of his trade with the skill of a master. Following the ongoing indictments of federal officials and exposing favor trading in our nation’s capital, Gibney illuminates the way our politicians’ desperate need to get elected—and the millions of dollars it costs—may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy. Infuriating, yet undeniably fun to watch, CASINO JACK is a saga of greed and corruption with a cynical villain audiences will love to hate.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Ben Goldhirsch, Mark Cuban, Todd Wagner, Bill Banowsky Pr: Alex Gibney, Alison Ellwood, Zena Barakat CoP: Alexandra Johnes AsP: Sam Black Ed: Alison Ellwood MuS: John McCullough
Saturday, January 23, 6:00 p.m. - CASIN23TETemple Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 9:00 p.m. - CASIN25BN Broadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - CASIN26TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 2:30 p.m. - CASIN27LA Library Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 10:00 a.m. - CASIN293MHoliday Village Cinema III, Park City
Family Affair DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Chico Colvard U.S.A., 2009, 80 min., color
At 10 years old, Chico Colvard shot his older sister in the leg. This seemingly random act detonated a chain reaction that exposed unspeakable realities and shattered his family. Thirty years later, Colvard ruptures veils of secrecy and silence again. As he bravely visits his relatives, what unfolds is a personal film that’s as uncompromising, raw, and cathartic as any in the history of the medium.
Driving the story forward is Colvard’s sensitive probing of a complex dynamic: the way his three sisters survived severe childhood abuse by their father and, as adults, manage to muster loyalty to him. These unforgettable, invincible women paint a picture of their harrowing girlhoods as they resiliently struggle with present-day fallout. The distance time gives them from their trauma yields piercing insights about the legacy of abuse, the nature of forgiveness, and eternal longing for family and love. These truths may be too searing to bear, but they reverberate powerfully within each of us.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Abigail Disney, Dan Cogan Pr: Chico Colvard, Liz Garbus Ed: Rachel J. Clark Mu: Miriam Cutler
Friday, January 22, 3:00 p.m. - FAMIL22TATemple Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 9:00 a.m. - FAMIL234M Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 3:00 p.m. - FAMIL24BABroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. - FAMIL274E Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - FAMIL284NHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
14
Freedom Riders DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER: Stanley Nelson U.S.A., 2009, 111 min., color & b/w
In 1961 segregation seemed to have an overwhelming grip on American society. Many states violently enforced the policy, while the federal government, under the Kennedy administration, remained indifferent, preoccupied with matters abroad. That is, until an integrated band of college students—many of whom were the first in their families to attend a university—decided, en masse, to risk everything and buy a ticket on a Greyhound bus bound for the Deep South. They called themselves the Freedom Riders, and they managed to bring the president and the entire American public face to face with the challenge of correcting civil-rights inequities that plagued the nation.
Veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson’s inspirational documentary is the first feature-length film about this courageous band of civil-rights activists. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, Nelson chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.—SHARI FRILOT
Pr: Laurens Grant AsP: Stacey Holman Ci: Robert Shepard Ed: Lewis Erskine, Aljernon Tunsil Mu: Tom Phillips ArP: Lewanne Jones
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - FREED25TETemple Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 3:00 p.m. - FREED26TA Temple Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:30 p.m. - FREED27GE Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 7:30 p.m. - FREED281N Holiday Village Cinema I, Park City
Friday, January 29, noon - FREED29SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Saturday, January 30, 9:00 a.m. - FREED30TMTemple Theatre, Park City
GasLand DIRECTOR: Josh Fox U.S.A., 2009, 107 min., color
It is happening all across America—rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground—a hydraulic drilling process called “fracking”—and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.
But what comes out of the ground with that “natural” gas? How does it affect our air and drinking water? GasLand is a powerful personal documentary that confronts these questions with spirit, strength, and a sense of humor. When filmmaker Josh Fox receives his cash offer in the mail, he travels across 32 states to meet other rural residents on the front lines of fracking. He discovers toxic streams, ruined aquifers, dying livestock, brutal illnesses, and kitchen sinks that burst into flame. He learns that all water is connected and perhaps some things are more valuable than money.—SHARI FRILOT
Pr: Trish Adlesic, Josh Fox, Molly Gandour Ci: Josh Fox, Matthew Sanchez Ed: Matthew Sanchez Res: Molly Gandour, Barbara Arindell, Josh Fox, Joe Levine Cs: Morgan Jenness, Henry Chalfant An: Juan Cardarelli, Alex Tyson
Sunday, January 24, 5:30 p.m. - GASLA24TETemple Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 5:30 p.m. - GASLA25PE Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. - GASLA26GE Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 11:30 a.m. - GASLA28LD Library Center Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 8:30 a.m. - GASLA30PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
I’m Pat Tillman DIRECTOR: Amir Bar-Lev SCREENWRITER: Mark Monroe U.S.A., 2009, 94 min., color
Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn’t done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev’s riveting and enraging documentary.
Tillman’s tenacious family’s crusade to uncover the truth provides the through line for the film. Their tireless efforts meet resistance at every step, but they refuse to be defeated. Utilizing candid interviews with Pat’s fellow soldiers, the film unearths the truth behind the tragedy and in the process uncovers the egregious missteps the military made at every point following his death. Part moving portrait, part exposé, I’m Pat Tillman resounds with emotion and insight and calls to task those responsible along the entire chain of command.—TREVOR GROTH
ExP: Molly Thompson, Robert DeBitetto, Robert Sharenow, Michael Davies, Andrew Ruhemann Pr: John Battsek CoP: Caitrin Rogers Lp: Alice Henty Ci: Sean Kirby, Igor Martinovich OrS: Philip Sheppard
Saturday, January 23, 3:00 p.m. - TILLM23TATemple Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 9:30 p.m. - TILLM24GN Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 8:30 p.m. - TILLM26LN Library Center Theatre, Park City Special screening for Park City locals. Pass holders and any others need to waitlist. Contact the Park City Main Box Office for ticket information.
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 a.m. - TILLM27TM Temple Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - TILLM28SN Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 4:00 p.m. - TILLM293AHoliday Village Cinema III, Park City
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Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child DIRECTOR: Tamra Davis U.S.A., 2009, 88 min., color & b/w
In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.
Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Maja Hoffmann Pr: David Koh, Lilly Bright, Stanley Buchthal, Alexis Manya Spraic Ci: Tamra Davis, Harry Geller, David Koh Ed: Alexis Manya Spraic Mu: J. Ralph, Mike D. GDA: Shepard Fairey and Studio No. 1/Obey
Preceded by LAST ADDRESS Director: Ira SachsU.S.A., 2009, 9 min., color Monday, January 25, 3:00 p.m. - JEANM25TA Temple Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. - JEANM27TE Temple Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 a.m. - JEANM28YM Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 6:00 p.m. - JEANM29WE Tower Theatre, SLC
Saturday, January 30, noon - JEANM30YD Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Joan Rivers—A Piece Of Work DIRECTORS: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg SCREENWRITER: Ricki Stern U.S.A., 2010, 84 min., color
This exposé chronicles the private dramas of irreverent, legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive. The film offers a rare glimpse of the comedic process and the crazy mixture of self-doubt and anger that often fuels it. A unique look inside America’s obsession with fame and celebrity, Joan’s story is both an outrageously funny journey and brutally honest look at the ruthless entertainment industry, the trappings of success, and the ultimate vulnerability of the first queen of comedy.
Being able to break through Rivers’s self-made façade is a tribute to filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. It is obvious the magic of this film is the inherent trust between filmmakers and subject. Shot over the course of a year, the film enlists a resilient cinema vérité style to craft a moving look at this iconic performer, stripping away her comedy masks and laying bare the truth of her life and inspiration.—JOHN COOPER
ExP: Ricki Stern Pr: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, Seth Keal Ci: Charles Miller Ed: Penelope Falk Mu: Paul Brill So: Seth Keal
Monday, January 25, 9:00 p.m. - JOANR25TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 11:30 a.m. - JOANR26YD Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 8:00 p.m. - JOANR27RN Racquet Club, Park City
Thursday, January 28, noon - JOANR28SD Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 9:00 a.m. - JOANR29TMTemple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 6:30 p.m. - JOANR29GE Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Lucky DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Blitz U.S.A., 2009, 87 min., color
Dreaming of winning the lottery is as American as apple pie. Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars each year hoping to come up a winner. But what happens to the lucky few who actually pull a winning ticket? Lucky crisscrosses the country, examining a handful of past lottery winners as they navigate their newly found riches and a couple of extremely determined hopefuls. The winners’ lives are undoubtedly changed forever but not necessarily in the ways we may expect. Life becomes complicated as attorneys, hired security guards, jealous friends, scheming family members, and desperate pleas for help from strangers pepper their new existence.
Veteran director Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound, Rocket Science —2007 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award winner) has skillfully crafted a revealing look at the way one’s identity is undoubtedly turned upside down after the big payout. Thoroughly involving, Lucky cleverly strips off the veneer and shatters our perceptions about the ultimate American dream.—LISA VIOLA
ExP: Rebecca Morton, Liz Manne, Catherine Tait Pr: Sean Welch, Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, Jeb Brody Ed: Yana Gorskaya Mu: Eef Barzelay An: Walter Robot
Preceded by Mr. Okra Director: T.G. HerringtonU.S.A., 2009, 12 min., color
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 p.m. - LUCKY24TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, midnight - LUCKY254L Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - LUCKY26BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Wednesday, January 27, 8:30 a.m. - LUCKY27LM Library Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:30 p.m. - LUCKY29TN Temple Theatre, Park City
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
16
Restrepo DIRECTORS: Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington U.S.A., 2009, 70 min., color
In 2008 Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) and Tim Hetherington dug in with the men of Second Platoon for a year. Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, a stronghold of al Qaeda and the Taliban, has proven to be one of the U.S. Army’s deadliest challenges. It is here that the platoon lost their comrade, PFC Juan Restrepo, and erected an outpost in his honor. Up close and personal, Junger and Hetherington gain extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of backbreaking labor and deadly firefights that are a way of life at Outpost Restrepo.
Ever wonder what it’s really like to be in the trenches of war? Look no further. Restrepo may be one of the most experiential and visceral war films you’ll ever see. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers reveal the humor and camaraderie of men who come under daily fire, never knowing which of them won’t make it home.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: John Battsek, Nick Quested Pr/Ci: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger Ed: Michael Levine AsE: Maya Mumma
Thursday, January 21, 9:30 p.m. - RESTR21CNEccles Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 22, 9:30 p.m. - RESTR22SN Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Saturday, January 23, 3:30 p.m. - RESTR23GARose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 a.m. - RESTR24EM Egyptian Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 3:00 p.m. - RESTR27YAYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, noon - RESTR30TD Temple Theatre, Park City
My Perestroika DIRECTOR: Robin Hessman U.S.A./United Kingdom, 2010, 88 min., color & b/w Russian with English subtitles
The Bolshevik revolution, the cold war, and the collapse of the Soviet Union defined the history of the twentieth century. With such a past, what does it mean to be Russian today? Robin Hessman’s lovingly crafted documentary, My Perestroika, adopts the idea of the “everyman story,” suggesting that the unheralded lives of the last generation of Soviets to grow up behind the iron curtain hold the key to understanding the contradictions of modern Russia from the inside out.
Crafted during five years of researching and shooting, and based on almost a decade of living in Russia in the 1990s, Hessman’s film poetically interweaves an extraordinary trove of home movies, Soviet propaganda films, and intimate access to five schoolmates whose linked, but very different, histories offer a moving portrait of newly middle-class Russians living lives they could never have imagined when they were growing up.—CARA MERTES
Pr: Robin Hessman, Rachel Wexler Ci: Robin Hessman Ed: Alla Kovgan, Garret Savage Mu: Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin So: Barbara Parks, Peter Levin Res: Robin Hessman
Preceded by The Poodle Trainer Director: Vance MaloneU.S.A., 2009, 9 min., color Sunday, January 24, 3:00 p.m. - MYPER24TA Temple Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 8:30 a.m. - MYPER25YM Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 10:30 p.m. - MYPER26BN Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 6:00 p.m. - MYPER28YE Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 12:30 p.m. - MYPER292D Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
The Oath DIRECTOR: Laura Poitras U.S.A., 2010, 95 min., colorArabic/English with English subtitles
Unraveling like a lush, gripping novel that constantly subverts expectations, The Oath is the interlocking drama of two brothers-in-law, Abu Jandal and Salim Hamdam, whose associations with al Qaeda in the 1990s propelled them on divergent courses. The film delves into Abu Jandal’s daily life as a taxi driver in Sana’a, Yemen, and Hamdan’s military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay prison. Abu Jandal and Hamdan’s personal stories—how they came to serve as Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver respectively—act as prisms through which to humanize and contextualize a world the Western media demonizes. As Hamdan’s trial progresses, his military lawyers challenge fundamental flaws in the court system. As charismatic Abu Jandal dialogues with his son, Muslim students, and journalists, he generously unveils the complex evolution of his belief system since 9/11.
Exquisitely constructed so multiple threads and time periods commingle seamlessly, and gaining astonishingly intimate access to subjects and information, The Oath illuminates a realm too long misunderstood.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Sally Jo Fifer, David Menschel Pr: Laura Poitras CoP: Jonathan Oppenheim, Nasser Arrabyee, Aliza Kaplan Ci: Kirsten Johnson, Laura Poitras Ed: Jonathan Oppenheim Mu: Osvaldo Golijov
Friday, January 22, 9:30 p.m. - OATHH22TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 12:45 p.m. - OATHH23BD Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 a.m. - OATHH24TMTemple Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 6:00 p.m. - OATHH28TE Temple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:30 p.m. - OATHH291N Holiday Village Cinema I, Park City
Sunday, January 31, 1:00 p.m. - OATHH31SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
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A Small Act DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Jennifer Arnold U.S.A., 2009, 90 min., color English/Kikuyu/Swedish with English subtitles
As an impoverished boy in Kenya, Chris Mburu’s life was dramatically changed when an anonymous Swedish woman sponsored his primary and secondary education. Now a Harvard-educated human-rights lawyer, he hopes to replicate the generosity he once received by founding his own scholarship fund to aid a new generation. The challenges Mburu faces instituting his new program seem at times insurmountable but lead him down the path to discovery. Who is Hilde Back, the person who signed the checks that gave him a chance to succeed?
With clarity and grace, Jennifer Arnold’s film bears cinematic witness to the lasting ramifications of a small ripple of human kindness. Using a strong narrative thread, she unearths fascinating accounts and weaves them together seamlessly. It doesn’t hurt that her subjects have pure motivations and back stories to match. The secret of A Small Act was destined to be discovered, if only to remind and inspire others to take such a chance—and change a life.—JOHN COOPER
ExP: Sheila Nevins, Joan Huang Pr: Jennifer Arnold, Patti Lee, Jeffrey Soros Ci: Patti Lee Ed: Carl Pfirman, Tyler Hubby Mu: Joel Goodman
Friday, January 22, noon - SMALL22TDTemple Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 3:00 p.m. - SMALL23YA Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, noon - SMALL24SD Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - SMALL28TNTemple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. - SMALL291M Holiday Village Cinema I, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 12:45 p.m. - SMALL30BDBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Smash His Camera DIRECTOR: Leon Gast U.S.A., 2009, 88 min., color
Paparazzi might be the norm in our celebrity-infested times, haphazardly snapping every movement of the rich and famous. Ron Galella, though, is the original paparazzo. He elevated the celebrity snapshot into art and, at 78, remains a stalwart in the business. Dogged in his quest to photograph celebrities in unguarded moments, he defines his passion for his work by the ups and downs of his career—documenting the parade of stars at a thriving Studio 54 and having the dubious honor of being sued by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (his favorite subject) and having his jaw broken by Marlon Brando.
Leon Gast (When We Were Kings) masterfully profiles Galella and places him at the center of the debate about the First Amendment right to privacy. Galella’s work and tactics have their critics, but his influence is undeniable. In a career defined by perseverance, he has created some of the most lasting, iconic photographs of our times.—KIM YUTANI
Pr: Adam Schlesinger, Linda Saffire Ci: Don Lenzer Ed: Doug Abel So: Mark Maloof CC: Roger Rosenblatt
Preceded by Photograph of Jesus Director: Laurie HillUnited Kingdom, 2008, 7 min., color
Saturday, January 23, noon - SMASH23TDTemple Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 9:45 p.m. - SMASH23BN Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - SMASH25YEYarrow Hotel Theatre 1, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 11:30 p.m. - SMASH27LL Library Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 3:30 p.m. - SMASH292AHoliday Village Cinema II, Park City
WAITING FOR SUPERMAN DIRECTOR: Davis Guggenheim SCREENWRITERS: Davis Guggenheim, Billy Kimball U.S.A., 2009, 95 min., color
For a nation that proudly declared it would leave no child behind, America continues to do so at alarming rates. Despite increased spending and politicians’ promises, our buckling public-education system, once the best in the world, routinely forsakes the education of millions of children.
Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying “drop-out factories” and “academic sinkholes,” methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems.
However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good schools, and ultimately questioning the role of unions in maintaining the status quo, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have—in reshaping the culture—refused to leave their students behind.—JOHN NEIN
ExP: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann Pr: Lesley Chilcott CoP: Eliza Hindmarch Ci: Erich Roland, Bob Richman Ed: Greg Finton, Jay Cassidy, Kim Roberts Mu: Christophe Beck
Friday, January 22, 5:30 p.m. - WAIT122PEProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 9:00 a.m. - WAIT123TM Temple Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 3:30 p.m. - WAIT124OA Peery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Wednesday, January 27, noon - WAIT127TD Temple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:30 p.m. - WAIT129GN Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Saturday, January 30, noon - WAIT1304D Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
For more than 20 years, the Dramatic Competition has offered a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film. Fueled by fierce creativity and vision, these 16 films are guaranteed to leave a lasting impact on the next generation of cinema.
3 Backyards DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Eric Mendelsohn U.S.A., 2010, 85 min., color
A trio of brief, yet potentially life-altering, adventures unfold on one seemingly normal autumn day. In a complacent suburban neighborhood, an emotionally troubled businessman (Elias Koteas) wanders around his hometown while waiting for a delayed flight, a starstruck housewife (Edie Falco) embarks on an peculiar trip when she gives her famous neighbor a ride to the local ferry, and an eight-year-old girl takes a wrong turn on the way to school and finds herself in an unexpected adult realm.
Eric Mendelsohn (Judy Berlin—Sundance Film Festival 1999) shapes an intense and detailed domestic drama of quiet suspense. With its unconventional visual style, 3 Backyards looks and feels like a film from another time—possibly the past or the near future. Its identifiable characters and often painfully human scenarios work in tandem to pry out unsettling emotional truths of our times—creating a memorable story of turning points in these three lives.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Fred Berner Pr: Rocco Caruso, Amy Durning, Eric Mendelsohn CoP: Jennifer Grausman, Bodgan George Apetri, Atilla Yucer Ci: Kasper Tuxen Ed: Morgan Faust, Jeffrey K. Miller Mu: Michael Nicholas Principal Cast: Embeth Davidtz, Edie Falco, Elias Koteas, Rachel Resheff, Kathryn Erbe, Danai Gurira
Sunday, January 24, 8:00 p.m. - 3BACK24RNRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 8:30 a.m. - 3BACK27PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. - 3BACK27SEScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Thursday, January 28, 3:15 p.m. - 3BACK28CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 11:15 a.m. - 3BACK29RDRacquet Club, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:00 p.m. - 3BACK29BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
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Blue Valentine DIRECTOR: Derek Cianfrance SCREENWRITERS: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, Joey Curtis U.S.A., 2009, 120 min., color
Blue Valentine is an intimate, shattering portrait of a disintegrating marriage.
On the far side of a once-passionate romance, Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) are married with a young daughter. Hoping to save their marriage, they steal away to a theme hotel. We then encounter them years earlier, when they met and fell in love—full of life and hope.
Moving fluidly between these two time periods, Blue Valentine unfolds like a cinematic duet whose refrain asks, where did their love go? Framing the film as a mystery whose answer lies scattered in time (and in character), filmmaker Derek Cianfrance constructs an elegant set of dualities: past and present, youth and adulthood, vitality and entropy. The rigor of his process is visible throughout the film. Eliminating artificial devices, he has only the truth of the characters to work with. Because Gosling and Williams bring amazing intensity and emotional honesty to their roles, the experience of connecting to these two souls becomes truly moving.—JOHN NEIN
Pr: Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof CoP: Carrie Fix Ci: Andrij Parekh Ed: Jim Helton, Ron Patane PrD: Inbal Weinberg Mu: Grizzly Bear Principal Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman, Faith Wladyka
Sunday, January 24, 3:15 p.m. - BLUEV24CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 8:30 a.m. - BLUEV25RMRacquet Club, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 9:30 p.m. - BLUEV26GNRose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 8:00 p.m. - BLUEV28RNRacquet Club, Park City
Friday, January 29, 2:15 p.m. - BLUEV29RARacquet Club, Park City
Douchebag DIRECTOR: Drake Doremus SCREENWRITERS: Lindsay Stidham, Drake Doremus, Jonathan Schwartz, Andrew Dickler U.S.A., 2009, 81 min., color
The week Sam Nussbaum is to be married, his fiancée questions why his only brother, Tom, isn’t coming to the wedding. Unsatisfied with his lame reply, she surprises Sam by bringing the brothers together. Sam is not happy, but he rarely is—unless he’s telling someone what to do. When it’s revealed that Tom has only been in love once—with his fifth-grade girlfriend—Sam insists they go find her. It soon becomes evident that their journey is simply an excuse for Sam to avoid his impending commitment. If you haven’t deciphered the derivation of the title by now, stick with it. The fresh writing and original characters will reveal it all. Douchebag will make you squirm, laugh, and get pissed off—all at the same time. Outstanding breakout performances bring an authenticity that would be impressive even from seasoned actors. Drake Doremus’s clever, straightforward filmmaking keeps the story buzzing in this offbeat comedy that gives a modern twist to sibling rivalry.—JOHN COOPER
Pr: Jonathan Schwartz, Marius Markevicius CoP: Lindsay Stidham, Jennifer Cochis, Sean Vowter AsP: Ben York Jones Ci: Scott Uhlfelder, Chris Robertson Ed: Andrew Dickler, Drake Doremus, Jason Stewart Principal Cast: Andrew Dickler, Ben York Jones, Marguerite Moreau, Wendi McClendon-Covey, Nicole Vicius, Amy Ferguson
Friday, January 22, 8:00 p.m. - DBAGG22RNRacquet Club, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 p.m. - DBAGG24SNScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Monday, January 25, 11:30 a.m. - DBAGG25RDRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:30 p.m. - DBAGG27CNEccles Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 2:30 p.m. - DBAGG29LALibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 3:00 p.m. - DBAGG30TATower Theatre, SLC
The Dry Land DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Ryan Piers Williams U.S.A., 2009, 92 min., colorSpanish/English with English subtitles
James (Ryan O’Nan) returns from Iraq to face a new battle—reintegrating into his small-town life in Texas. His wife (America Ferrera), his mother (Melissa Leo), and his friend (Jason Ritter) provide support, but they can’t fully understand the pain and suffering he feels since his tour of duty ended. Lonely, James reconnects with an army buddy (Wilmer Valderrama), who provides him with compassion and camaraderie during his battle to process his experiences in Iraq. But their reunion also exposes the different ways that war affects people—at least on the surface. This moving, taut story of redemption and reconstruction extends beyond a post traumatic-stress-disorder narrative. O’Nan is heartbreaking as he explores the depths of his internal struggle; Ferrera fearlessly tackles her role of a young wife in turmoil. The Dry Land is about one man’s fight within his own terrain—his country, home, and mind—and his journey to rebuild what he’s lost.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Sergio Aguero, America Ferrera Pr: Heather Rae Ci: Gavin Kelly Ed: Sabine Hoffman Mu: Dean Parks Ca: Jeanne McCarthy, Nicole Abellera Principal Cast: Ryan O’Nan, America Ferrera, Jason Ritter, Wilmer Valderrama, Melissa Leo, June Diane Raphael
Sunday, January 24, 12:15 p.m. - DRYLA24CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 2:15 p.m. - DRYLA25RARacquet Club, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. - DRYLA26BEBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Wednesday, January 27, 8:30 a.m. - DRYLA27RMRacquet Club, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 6:00 p.m. - DRYLA28LELibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:00 p.m. - DRYLA29SNScreening Room, Sundance Resort
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
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Holy Rollers DIRECTOR: Kevin Asch SCREENWRITER: Antonia Macia U.S.A., 2009, 87 min., colorHebrew/English with English subtitles
Inspired by actual events, Holy Rollers uses the incredible story of Hasidic Jews smuggling Ecstasy in the late ’90s as a backdrop to examine the difference between faith and “blind” faith.
Sam Gold, an insulated Hasid on the cusp of manhood, is frustrated by the constraints of his beliefs and his father’s poor business decisions. When Sam is presented with an opportunity to make some real money smuggling Ecstasy between Amsterdam and New York, he cautiously accepts it—and quickly finds himself seduced by the allure of the secular world. Caught between life as a smuggler and the path back to God, Sam and his worlds begin to unravel.
In the lead role, Jesse Eisenberg deftly displays the internal moral struggle of a young man torn between polar-opposite cultures and ideologies. Director Kevin Asch fleshes out the disparate outer worlds of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community and the drug scene in Amsterdam, while revealing the complex interior lives of his characters and the taut dynamics among them. —TREVOR GROTH
ExP: Dave Berlin, Kevin Asch, Isaac Gindi, Marat Rosenberg Pr: Danny A. Abeckaser, Tory Tunnell, Per Melita, Jen Gatien CoP: Robert Profusek, Ryan Silbert Ci: Ben Kutchins Ed: Suzanne Spangler PrD: Tommaso Ortino Principal Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor, Danny A. Abeckaser, Q-Tip, Mark Ivanir
Monday, January 25, 3:30 p.m. - HOLYR25CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 8:00 p.m. - HOLYR26RNRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:30 p.m. - HOLYR27GNRose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - HOLYR28LNLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. - HOLYR29RMRacquet Club, Park City
Hesher DIRECTOR: Spencer Susser SCREENWRITERS: Spencer Susser, David Michôd, based on a story by Brian Charles Frank U.S.A., 2010, 100 min., color
Heshe r is the story of a family struggling to deal with loss and the anarchist who helps them do it—in a very unexpected way. TJ is 13 years old. Two months ago, his mom was killed in an accident, leaving TJ and his grieving dad to move in with grandma to pick up the pieces. Hesher is a loner. He hates the world—and everyone in it. He has long, greasy hair and homemade tattoos. He likes fire and blowing things up. He lives in his van—until he meets TJ. Hesher is that rare film that manages to be a completely original vision, a thoroughly entertaining story, and a provocative metaphor. Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings the character of Hesher to life with anger and angst, and Devin Brochu makes quite a splash as the young boy dealing with both the loss of his mother and an unwanted houseguest. Cowriter/director Spencer Susser crafts a multidimensional, darkly humorous film that exhibits an immensely talented storyteller at work. —TREVOR GROTH
Pr: Lucy Cooper, Matthew Weaver, Scott Prisand, Spencer Susser, Natalie Portman, Johnny Lin, Win Sheridan Ci: Morgan Pierre Susser Ed: Michael McCusker PrD: Laura Fox CoD: April Napier Ca: Kim Davis, Justine Baddeley Principal Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, Devin Brochu, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch
Friday, January 22, 3:15 p.m. - HESHE22CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 6:30 p.m. - HESHE23OEPeery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Sunday, January 24, 11:15 a.m. - HESHE24RDRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:45 p.m. - HESHE27BEBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 5:15 p.m. - HESHE28RERacquet Club, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 3:00 p.m. - HESHE30EAEgyptian Theatre, Park City
happythankyoumoreplease DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Josh Radnor U.S.A., 2009, 100 min., color
Six New Yorkers juggle love, friendship, and the keenly challenging specter of adulthood. Sam Wexler is a struggling writer who’s having a particularly bad day. When a young boy gets separated from his family on the subway, Sam makes the questionable decision to bring the child back to his apartment and thus begins a rewarding, yet complicated, friendship. Sam’s life revolves around his friends—Annie, whose self-image keeps her from commitment; Charlie and Mary Catherine, a couple whose possible move to Los Angeles tests their relationship; and Mississippi, a cabaret singer who catches Sam’s eye.
Written, directed, and starring Josh Radnor (CBS’s How I Met Your Mother), happythankyoumoreplease boasts a wryly funny script and engaging performances from its ensemble cast. With honesty and humor, Radnor captures a generational moment—young people on the cusp of truly growing up, struggling for connection, and hoping to define what it means to love and be loved.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Glenn Williamson, Bingo Gubelmann, Peter Sterling Pr: Jesse Hara, Austin Stark, Benji Kohn, Chris Papavasiliou Ci: Seamus Tierney Ed: Michael Miller PrD: Jade Healy Mu: Jaymay Principal Cast: Malin Akerman, Josh Radnor, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Hale
Friday, January 22, 12:15 p.m. - HAPPY22CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 8:30 a.m. - HAPPY23RMRacquet Club, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 6:30 p.m. - HAPPY23GERose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Monday, January 25, 9:00 p.m. - HAPPY25PNProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 7:00 p.m. - HAPPY27OEPeery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Friday, January 29, 5:15 p.m. - HAPPY29RERacquet Club, Park City
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Howl DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman U.S.A., 2009, 90 min., color & b/w
It’s San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist; society’s reaction (the obscenity trial); and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment—the birth of a counterculture.
Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman navigate a seamless segue from their documentary roots to masterful storytellers. They expand the notion of how a “true story” can be realized on film by not simply relying on facts but enlisting cinematic vision to capture the Zeitgeist of an era. The amazing cast provides the extra passion and urgency that are sure to introduce Howl to the best minds of a new generation.—JOHN COOPER
ExP: Jawal Nga, Gus Van Sant Pr: Elizabeth Redleaf, Christine Kunewa Walker, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman Ci: Edward Lachman Ed: Jake Pushinsky PrD: Thérèse DePrez Mu: Carter Burwell Principal Cast: James Franco, David Strathairn, John Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels
Thursday, January 21, 6:00 p.m. - HOWLL21CEEccles Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 22, 6:30 p.m. - HOWLL22SEScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Saturday, January 23, 2:30 p.m. - HOWLL23LALibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 11:15 a.m. - HOWLL26RDRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. - HOWLL27BEBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Friday, January 29, 3:15 p.m. - HOWLL29CAEccles Theatre, Park City
The Imperialists Are Still Alive! DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Zeina Durra U.S.A., 2009, 90 min., color Spanish/French/Arabic/Korean/English with English subtitles
A successful visual artist working in post-9/11 Manhattan, Asya lives the life of the hip and glamorous, replete with exclusive art parties, supermodels, and stretch limousines while she carefully follows the situation in the Middle East on television. Out partying one night, Asya learns that her childhood friend, Faisal, has disappeared—the victim of a purported CIA abduction. That same night, she meets Javier, a sexy Mexican PhD student, and romance blossoms. Javier finds Asya’s conspiracy theories overly paranoid—but nothing in Asya’s world is as it seems.
Zeina Durra’s atmospheric debut feature is a splendidly alluring and intelligent look at the way the war on terror seeps into the texture of everyday American life. Gorgeous 16 mm grain imbues the film with an anachronistic feel that interestingly evokes times past. The Imperialists Are Still Alive! is an exceptional work and heralds the arrival of Durra as an exciting new directorial talent.—SHARI FRILOT
ExP: Rami Makhzoumi, Matthew Chausse Pr: Vanessa Hope CoP: Joel Blanco Ci: Magela Crosignani Ed: Michael Taylor PrD: Jade Healy Principal Cast: Elodie Bouchez, Jose Maria de Tavira, Karim Saleh
Monday, January 25, 12:30 p.m. - IMPER25CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 5:15 p.m. - IMPER26RERacquet Club, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 8:30 a.m. - IMPER28RMRacquet Club, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:30 p.m. - IMPER28GNRose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Friday, January 29, 8:30 p.m. - IMPER29LNLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Lovers of Hate DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Bryan Poyser U.S.A., 2010, 93 min., color
In this delicious tale of resentment, deceit, and sibling rivalry, two adult brothers, Rudy and Paul, represent failure and success. Younger brother Paul is a successful author who writes Harry Potter -like fantasy novels for children. The painful part is that Rudy, an aspiring writer, was Paul’s original childhood collaborator on the stories. The one thing they do have in common is their love for Diana. Although Rudy is married to Diana, their divorce is impending—and he currently lives out of his car. Ever the opportunist, Paul makes his move on Diana.
Director Bryan Poyser brilliantly executes an intricate game of cat and mouse in a ski lodge (incidentally, the film culminates in Park City, Utah). A testament to the actors and a tightly constructed script, Lovers of Hate juggles humor and despair and pushes situations and characters to extremes while remaining in complete control. There are no clear winners in this story, but it is one enjoyable, tragicomic ride.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass Pr: Megan Gilbride CoP: Morgan Coy, Adam Donaghey, Chris Ohlson Ci: David Lowery PrD: Caroline Karlen Mu: Kevin Bewersdorf Principal Cast: Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green
Sunday, January 24, 5:15 p.m. - LOVER24RERacquet Club, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 2:30 p.m. - LOVER26LALibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 10:30 p.m. - LOVER27BNBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 12:15 p.m. - LOVER28CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 8:30 a.m. - LOVER30LMLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
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Skateland DIRECTOR: Anthony Burns SCREENWRITERS: Anthony Burns, Brandon Freeman U.S.A., 2009, 98 min., color
It’s 1983, and Skateland, the roller rink and local hangout of a small town, is becoming a fading memory of an earlier time, when disco and roller-skating were king. The party scene is getting stale, and 19-year-old Ritchie’s romantic life is as cloudy as his future. He struggles to make sense of it all, and decisions do not come easily to the carefree young man. When tragedy strikes his friends and family, Ritchie must face the music—and make the biggest decision of his life.
Without the benefit of a studio budget or name casting, Anthony Burns and Brandon Freeman capture the ’80s in startling detail. The result: a cinematic scrapbook of a time and place, a visceral visual, and an aural experience that reclaims the decade for those of us lucky enough to have lived through it once. While the atmosphere is time specific, the themes of the joys and pains of growing up are universal.—TREVOR GROTH
ExP: Brandon Freeman Pr: Brandon Freeman, Heath Freeman, Anthony Burns AsP: Justin Gilley, Nicholas Jayanty, Victor Moyers Ci: Peter Simonite Ed: Robert Hoffman Mu: Michael Penn Principal Cast: Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene, Heath Freeman, Taylor Handley, AJ Buckley, Haley Ramm
Monday, January 25, 5:15 p.m. - SKATE25RERacquet Club, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 2:15 p.m. - SKATE26RARacquet Club, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 7:00 p.m. - SKATE28OEPeery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Friday, January 29, 12:15 p.m. - SKATE29CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, midnight - SKATE30PLProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 31, 12:30 p.m. - SKATE31GDRose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Night Catches Us DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Tanya Hamilton U.S.A., 2009, 90 min., color
In the summer of ’76, as President Jimmy Carter pledges to give government back to the people, tensions run high in a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood where the Black Panthers once flourished. When Marcus returns—having bolted years earlier—his homecoming isn’t exactly met with fanfare. His former movement brothers blame him for an unspeakable betrayal. Only his best friend’s widow, Patricia, appreciates Marcus’s predicament, which both unites and paralyzes them. As Patricia’s daughter compels the two comrades to confront their past, history repeats itself in dangerous ways.
Night Catches Us masterfully reckons with the complexity of its characters’ revolutionary ideologies and internal desires. Bell-bottoms, Afros, potlucks, and Caddies set the scene as the film potently interweaves political media with an evocative soul-inspired score, summoning a vivid sense of place and time. The golden light that bathes characters’ faces seems to express the promise—and elusiveness—of the necessary change Marcus and Patricia struggle for so dearly—each by separate means.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
Pr: Ron Simons, Sean Costello Ci: David Tumblety Ed: Affonso Gonçalves, John Chimples PrD: Beth Mickle Mu: Music Composed and performed by The Roots Principal Cast: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Jamara Griffin
Saturday, January 23, 5:15 p.m. - NIGHT23RERacquet Club, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 2:30 p.m. - NIGHT24LALibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 9:00 p.m. - NIGHT25SNScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Wednesday, January 27, 12:15 p.m. - NIGHT27CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - NIGHT28BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Friday, January 29, 11:30 p.m. - NIGHT29PLProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Obselidia DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER: Diane Bell U.S.A., 2009, 96 min., color
Believing he’s the last door-to-door encyclopedia salesman in the world, George decides to write The Obselidia, a compendium of obsolete things. George believes that love, among other things, is obsolete. In his quest to document nearly extinct occupations, he befriends Sophie, a beautiful cinema projectionist who works at a silent movie theatre. Sophie believes that nothing is obsolete as long as someone loves it. When they interview a reclusive scientist who predicts that 80 percent of the world’s population will be obliterated by irreversible climate change by the year 2100, the two must face the question, if the world is going to disappear tomorrow, how are we going to live today? Diane Bell’s soft spoken, profound, and disarmingly charming debut feature engages these fateful issues of our time with a warm, sparkling sense of beauty, sincerity, and compassion. Obselidia offers a rare and humane lens through which we can view a world increasingly preoccupied with and inhabited by extinction.—SHARI FRILOT
ExP: David McWhinnie Pr: Matthew Medlin, Chris Byrne, Ken Morris CoP: Sharharzad “Sheri” Davani Ci: Zak Mulligan Ed: John-Michael Powell Mu: Liam Howe Principal Cast: Michael Piccirilli, Gaynor Howe, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Chris Byrne, Kim Beuche
Preceded by Glottal Opera Director: John FinkAustralia, 2009, 4 min., color
Friday, January 22, 2:15 p.m. - OBSEL22RARacquet Club, Park City
Saturday, January 23, noon - OBSEL23BDBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 12:15 p.m. - OBSEL26CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 5:30 p.m. - OBSEL27PEProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, noon - OBSEL29EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
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Sympathy for Delicious DIRECTOR: Mark Ruffalo SCREENWRITER: Christopher Thornton U.S.A., 2010, 98 min., color
Recently paralyzed DJ “Delicious” Dean battles the mean streets of Los Angeles, struggling to survive in his wheelchair. Yearning to walk again, and fighting to spark the ashes that were once his career, Dean turns to the dubious world of faith healing and gets much more than he bargained for. Lured by easy money and the heat of fame, Dean sells out to an unstable rock band, stomping the dreams of so many who see him as their only hope. World-famous DJ “Delicious” must now tackle his own worst demon—himself—if he is ever to conquer his “handicap” and find true healing.
Written by and starring Christopher Thornton in a gripping performance as the fiercely determined deejay, Sympathy for Delicious is a wildly original story. Mark Ruffalo makes an auspicious directorial debut with a gritty, yet fervent, take on the search for meaning amidst tragedy and the redemptive power that is compassion.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Joanne Jacobson, Barry Habib, Robert Stein, Dean M. Leavitt, Gina Resnick, Marcelo Paladini, Andrew F. Renzi Pr: Andrea Sperling, Matthew Weaver, Scott Prisand Ci: Chris Norr Ed: Pete Beaudreau Principal Cast: Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich
Saturday, January 23, 8:00 p.m. - SYMPA23RNRacquet Club, Park City
Monday, January 25, 7:00 p.m. - SYMPA25OEPeery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Wednesday, January 27, 3:15 p.m. - SYMPA27CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 8:30 a.m. - SYMPA28LMLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:00 p.m. - SYMPA29RNRacquet Club, Park City
Saturday, January 30, noon - SYMPA30SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Welcome to the Rileys DIRECTOR: Jake Scott SCREENWRITER: Ken Hixon U.S.A., 2009, 110 min., color
Trauma transforms us. Years after their teenage daughter’s death, Lois and Doug Riley, an upstanding Indiana couple, are frozen by estranging grief. She isolates herself in their immaculate suburban home. He philanders with a local waitress, anesthetizing pain with easy passion. When he loses his mistress to cancer, Doug, beset by further heartache, escapes to New Orleans on a business trip. Compelled by urgencies he doesn’t understand, he insinuates himself into the life of an underage hooker, becoming her platonic guardian. Meanwhile, Lois summons all of her remaining force to overcome agoraphobia and venture south to reclaim her marriage.
Exacting performances from three consummate actors (James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo, and Kristen Stewart) infuse this emotionally raw, gently humorous drama with penetrating humanity. Director Jake Scott’s debut refuses to flinch from uncomfortable moments or tie neat bows around its characters. Instead, it reveals how taking risks and leaving our comfort zone can become a profound path to healing the human heart.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Steve Zaillian, Ken Hixon Pr: Michael Costigan, Giovanni Agnelli, Scott Bloom Lp: Bergen Swanson Ci: Christopher Soos Ed: Nicolas Gaster Principal Cast: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo
Saturday, January 23, 2:15 p.m. - WELCO23RARacquet Club, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 8:30 a.m. - WELCO24RMRacquet Club, Park City
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - WELCO25WETower Theatre, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 3:15 p.m. - WELCO26CAEccles Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 11:30 a.m. - WELCO30RDRacquet Club, Park City
Winter’s Bone DIRECTOR: Debra Granik SCREENWRITERS: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini U.S.A., 2009, 100 min., color
Deep in the Ozark Mountains, clans live by an almost medieval code of conduct that no one dares defy—until an intrepid teenage girl has no other choice. When Rhee Jessup’s crystal-meth-making father skips bail and goes missing, her family home is on the line. Unless she finds him, she and her young siblings and disabled mother face destitution. In a heroic quest, Rhee traverses the county to confront her kin, break their silent collusion, and bring her father home.
With thrilling tension, Winter’s Bone depicts an archetypal rite of passage. Only this time, the young warrior is a girl. As our heroine braves a nearly impossible task, she redefines the notion of fealty and, in the process, redefines herself, too. The spare precision of Debra Granik’s direction is effortlessly profound. Stunningly genuine performances and exquisite visual details capture the textures and rhythms of a world where the mythic and the naturalistic intermingle.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Jonathan Scheuer, Shawn Simon Pr: Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan Yorkin Ci: Michael McDonough Ed: Affonso Gonçalves PrD: Mark White Mu: Dickon Hinchliffe Principal Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Sheryl Lee, Tate Taylor
Saturday, January 23, 12:15 p.m. - WINTE23CDEccles Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 3:00 p.m. - WINTE24SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Tuesday, January 26, 8:30 a.m. - WINTE26RMRacquet Club, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 8:30 p.m. - WINTE27PNProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:00 a.m. - WINTE29EMEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 3:30 p.m. - WINTE30GARose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Made by some of the
most courageous and
extraordinary filmmakers
working today, these
films from around the
world poignantly examine
issues that range from the
personal to the universal.
Enemies of the People DIRECTORS: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath SCREENWRITER: Rob Lemkin Cambodia/United Kingdom, 2009, 93 min., colorKhmer with English subtitles
The Khmer Rouge slaughtered nearly two million people in the late 1970s. Yet the Killing Fields of Cambodia remain unexplained. Until now. Enter Thet Sambath, an unassuming, yet cunning, investigative journalist who spends a decade of his life gaining the trust of the men and women who perpetrated the massacres. From the foot soldiers who slit throats to Pol Pot’s right-hand man, the notorious Brother Number Two, Sambath records shocking testimony never before seen or heard. Having neglected his own family for years, Sambath’s work comes at a price. But his is a personal mission. He lost his parents and his siblings in the Killing Fields. Amidst his journey to discover why his family died, we come to understand for the first time the real story of Cambodia’s tragedy.
Codirectors Rob Lemkin and Sambath create a watershed account of Cambodian history and a heartfelt quest for closure on one of the world’s darkest episodes.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Sandra Whipmam Pr: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath AsP: Justin Temple Ci: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath Ed: Stefan Ronowicz Mu: Daniel Pemberton
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 p.m. - ENEMI244NHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 11:30 p.m. - ENEMI26LLLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:45 p.m. - ENEMI27BNBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Friday, January 29, 6:00 p.m. - ENEMI29EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
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Fix ME Suda’ DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Raed Andoni Palestine/France/Switzerland, 2009, 98 min., color Arabic with English subtitles
Raed Andoni has a tension headache—one that has lasted generations and isn’t going to end soon. That’s because Andoni is a Palestinian, living in the Ramallah, where the prospects for a stress-free life are elusive. Fix ME, Andoni’s latest documentary, follows him through 20 therapy sessions as he tries to cure his unwelcome condition. The internal terrain of displacement and alienation that is revealed to his therapist and through his daily encounters with friends and family mimics the lived reality of thousands of Palestinians who are themselves displaced from their history and homeland.
Ironic in tone, stylishly shot, and with a haunting score, Fix ME deftly plays with the concept of detachment from every angle. In Andoni’s hands, life under occupation is rendered with sly humor and an unexpectedly light touch that culminates in a poignant statement about the universal longing for a way back home.—CARA MERTES
ExP: Palmyre Badinier Pr: Nicolas Wadimoff, Nadia Turincev, Julie Gayet CoP: Arte France Cinéma—TSR Switzerland Ci: Filip Zumbrunn Ed: Tina Baz Mu: Erik Rug, Yousef Hbeisch
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - FIXME254EHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, noon - FIXME26SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 p.m. - FIXME27YNYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 a.m. - FIXME28TMTemple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:45 p.m. - FIXME29BNBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
His & Hers DIRECTOR: Ken Wardrop Ireland, 2009, 80 min., color
Director Ken Wardrop has established a sterling reputation by crafting elegant short films that capture humanity in quick bursts. Expanding on this technique into the feature form, he crafts a cinematic mosaic that tells a 90-year-old love story through the collective voice of 70 ladies at different stages of their lives.
The hallways, living rooms, and kitchens of the Irish midlands become the canvas for the film’s rich tapestry of female characters. The story unfolds sequentially from young to old, and the characters are charmingly unabashed; while the younger contributors are animated in discussing their relationship with their other halves, the older women describe their love, and often their bereft love, with grace and candor.
His & Hers celebrates the ordinary moments that add up to the extraordinary. Individually each piece works on its own, but together they create an emotional portrait that explores the way we share life’s journey with others.—TREVOR GROTH
Pr: Andrew Freedman Ci: Kate McCullough, Michael Lavelle Ed: Ken Wardrop AsE: Richard O’Connor Mu: Denis Clohessy Res: Sheena O’Byrne, Hannah Smolenska
Friday, January 22, 3:00 p.m. - HISAN224AHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 1:30 p.m. - HISAN23BDBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Monday, January 25, 8:30 a.m. - HISAN25PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. - HISAN26SEScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Thursday, January 28, 2:30 p.m. - HISAN283AHoliday Village Cinema III, Park City
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
A Film Unfinished DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Yael Hersonski Germany/Israel, 2009, 88 min., color & b/wGerman/Hebrew/Polish/Yiddish with English subtitles
Yael Hersonski’s powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film—the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these “everyday” scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate.
Hersonski relentlessly screens each reel as ghetto survivors and (amazingly) one of the original cameramen recall actual events, investing the cryptic scenes with detail, complexity, and authority. Rigorous in its regard for human tragedy and the power of images, A Film Unfinished indicts both the evil and the astounding narcissism of the Nazi state.—SHANNON KELLEY
Pr: Noemi Schory, Itay Ken-Tor Ci: Itai Neeman Ed: Joëlle Alexis Mu: Ishai Adar So: Aviv Aldema
Preceded by Para Fuera Director: Nicholas JasenovecU.S.A., 2009, 7 min., color & b/w
Monday, January 25, 3:00 p.m. - FILMU254A Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 p.m. - FILMU274N Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 6:00 p.m. - FILMU28SE Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 3:00 p.m. - FILMU29EA Egyptian Theatre, Park City
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The Red Chapel Det Røde Kapel DIRECTOR: Mads Brügger Denmark, 2009, 88 min., color Danish/English with English subtitles
A journalist with no scruples and two Danish/Korean comedians—one a self-proclaimed “spastic”—travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange. On the pretext of being a small Danish theatre group, named The Red Chapel, they are allowed into the country, but unbeknownst to the North Koreans, cultural exchange is not really what they have in mind. Mads Brügger, the journalist; Simon, the straight man; and Jacob, the spastic, use humor to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes. The troupe rehearse under the watchful eye of government officials brought in to “collaborate” on their performance and make it more palatable for the Korean regime. They are shown the important historical sights by a female government employee, who smothers poor Jacob with motherly affection.
Fusing elements of activist filmmaking with theater of the absurd, The Red Chapel is an acerbic romp, as subversive as it is wildly original.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Peter Aalbæk Jensen Pr: Peter Engel Ci/Ed: René Johannsen So: Jacob Garfield, Mikkel Sørensen
Friday, January 22, 9:00 p.m. - REDCH22BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Saturday, January 23, 3:00 p.m. - REDCH234AHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 11:30 p.m. - REDCH24PLProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, noon - REDCH27SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 6:30 p.m. - REDCH292EHoliday Village Cinema II, Park City
Kick in Iran DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Fatima Geza Abdollahyan Germany, 2009, 82 min., color Persian with English subtitles
Sarah Khoshjamal, a 19-year-old Taekwondo superstar, is the first female professional athlete from Iran to qualify for the Olympics. This skillful vérité portrait follows the unassuming Khoshjamal in the nine months leading up to the 2008 Beijing games. Living in an Islamic country, she is required to wear a hijab at all times and, unlike her fellow competitors around the world, cannot train with men; however, the power in her fighting resoundingly breaks down stereotypical barriers.
Khoshjamal’s experience as a world-class athlete may be familiar, but captured here is the importance of the coach-athlete relationship. The bond she shares with her feisty and much-admired female coach is revealed through everyday moments as both struggle through inequality to make their mark—in sport and society. Though it’s still the male athletes who are ultimately celebrated in her country, Khoshjamal’s accomplishments and lasting influence on scores of girls in Iran are undeniable.—KIM YUTANI
CoP: Petra Felber/Ba Jutta Krug/Westdeutscher Rundfunk Ci: Jakobine Motz Ed: Katja Hahn Mu: Saam Schlamminger Pmg: Arash Setoodeh SuP: Professor Heiner Stadler
Tuesday, January 26, noon - KICKI264DHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. - KICKI27YEYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 7:30 p.m. - KICKI28BEBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Friday, January 29, 9:00 a.m. - KICKI294MHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Last Train Home DIRECTOR: Lixin Fan Canada, 2009, 87 min., color Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Each year in China more than 130 million migrant workers travel home for the New Year’s holiday—the one time they’ll reunite with family all year. The mass exodus constitutes the world’s largest human migration. Amid this chaos, director Lixin Fan focuses on one couple, Changhua and Sugin Zhang, who embark upon a two-day journey to see their children.
The Zhangs left their rural village for factory jobs when their children were just infants. Now a teenager, daughter Qin resents their continual absence. Yearning for her own freedom, she quits school to work in a factory herself. Her parents, who see education as their children’s one hope, are devastated.
Through its intimate and heartbreaking observation of the Zhangs, Last Train Home places a human face on China’s ascendance as an economic power. To overwhelming effect, Fan illustrates the cost incurred by fractured families and reveals a country tragically caught between its industrial future and rural past.—ROSIE WONG AND JOHN NEIN
ExP: Zhao Qi Pr: Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross CoP: Bob Moore Mu: Olivier Alary
Saturday, January 23, noon - LASTT23SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Saturday, January 23, 9:00 p.m. - LASTT23YNYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 8:30 a.m. - LASTT26PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 3:00 p.m. - LASTT284AHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 4:30 p.m. - LASTT30BABroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
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Russian Lessons DIRECTORS: Andrei Nekrasov, Olga Konskaya Russia/Norway/Georgia, 2010, 90 min., color Russian/Georgian with English subtitles
Andrei Nekrasov, with directing partner Olga Konskaya, returns to Sundance with a formidable documentary that energetically delves into the violent and bewildering conflicts in the Caucasus, with Russia pitted against the former Soviet state of Georgia, and involving Georgia’s troubled regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Boldly visiting conflict zones rarely filmed, the codirectors uncover damning evidence of Russian violence, incidents whose few recorded images are often reprocessed in mass-media reports as evidence of other people’s crimes (often, supposedly, residents of Georgia).
Parsing the complex history of the region, as well as oversimplified cultural assumptions about internecine ethnic conflicts, Nekrasov and Konskaya construct a portrait of a cynical Russia willing to engage in secret wars and manufacture conflicts and media reports simply to consolidate power. With immediacy and passion, but also with a commanding mastery of film form, their documentary dignifies the struggles of powerless people and holds a sobering mirror up to a superpower and its media.—SHANNON KELLEY
ExP: Torstein Grude, Olga Konskaya, Bjarte Mørner Tveit, Giorgi Arveladze Pr: Torstein Grude, Olga Konskaya Ci: Trond Tønde, Varlam Karchkhadze, Davit Asatiani Ed: Erik Andersson ArD: Sarah Horton So: Davit Gvasania
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - RUSSI264NHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 a.m. - RUSSI27YMYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 10:30 p.m. - RUSSI28BNBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Friday, January 29, 3:00 p.m. - RUSSI294AHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Secrets of the Tribe DIRECTOR: José Padilha Brazil, 2009, 110 min., color Spanish/Italian/English with English subtitles
The field of anthropology goes under the magnifying glass in this fiery investigation of the seminal research on Yanomami Indians. In the 1960s and ’70s, a steady stream of anthropologists filed into the Amazon Basin to observe this “virgin” society untouched by modern life. Thirty years later, the events surrounding this infiltration have become a scandalous tale of academic ethics and infighting.
The origins of violence and war and the accuracy of data gathering are hotly debated among the scholarly clan. Soon these disputes take on Heart of Darkness overtones as they descend into shadowy allegations of sexual and medical violation.
Director José Padilha brilliantly employs two provocative strategies to raise unsettling questions about the boundaries of cultural encounters. He allows professors accused of heinous activities to defend themselves, and the Yanomami to represent their side of the story. As this riveting excavation deconstructs anthropology’s colonial legacy, it challenges our society’s myths of objectivity and the very notion of “the other.”—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
ExP: Nick Fraser, Dan Cogan, Sheila Nevin, Diana Barrett, Abigail Disney, Jim Swartz, Susan Swartz, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Emily Pottruck, David Pottruck, Julia Parker Benello, Juliette Timsit, Caroleen Feeney Pr: Mike Chamberlain, Carol Nahra, Marcus Prado Ed: Felipe Lacerda Mu: João Nabuco SuP: Sara Bernstein for Home Box Office
Friday, January 22, 6:00 p.m. - SECRE224EHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 9:30 p.m. - SECRE23SNScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 a.m. - SECRE24YMYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 7:30 p.m. - SECRE26BEBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Thursday, January 28, noon - SECRE28TDTemple Theatre, Park City
Sins of My Father DIRECTOR: Nicolas Entel Argentina/Colombia/U.S.A./United Kingdom 2009, 92 min., color Spanish with English subtitles
Pablo Escobar, the most notorious and brutal drug lord in Colombia’s history, was gunned down in Medellín in 1993. After his father’s death, Juan Escobar fled to Buenos Aires, changed his name to Sebastián Marroquín, assuming a new identity to escape his father’s dubious legacy. For the first time since Escobar’s death, Marroquín comes forward to tell his father’s story. With heartfelt honesty, he recounts what it was like to grow up loving a father that he knew was his country’s number-one enemy. Unsatisfied with simply relating history, Marroquín requests a meeting with the sons of two celebrated Colombian political leaders who were among hundreds of victims that his father had killed in the 1980s.
Filmmaker Nicolas Entel captures the powerful and historic moment when the son of Pablo Escobar and the sons of his victims come together to heal wounds that have haunted them all for decades.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Alan Hayling, Hans Robert Eisenhauer, Tabitha Jackson, Angela Sondon, Michaela Giorelli, Julian Giraldo, Carolina Angarita Pr: Nicolas Entel, Ivan Entel CoP: Arie Kowler AsP: Tania Garron, Daniel Salcedo, Serianne Entel
Friday, January 22, 9:00 p.m. - SINSO224NHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 9:00 p.m. - SINSO23BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Sunday, January 24, 8:30 a.m. - SINSO24PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 3:00 p.m. - SINSO25SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 11:30 a.m. - SINSO291DHoliday Village Cinema I, Park City
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
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Space Tourists DIRECTOR: Christian Frei Switzerland, 2009, 98 min., color Russian/Romanian/English with English subtitles
Anousheh Ansari has dreamt of going into outer space since she was a child. A number of years and $20 million later, with the help of the Russian space program, her dream is realized—Ansari becomes the first female space tourist. In recent years, a number of private citizens like Ansari have been willing to endure rigorous training in Star City, Kazakhstan, and part with significant funds to spend time aboard the International Space Station.
Director Christian Frei (The Giant Buddhas, Sundance Film Festival 2006) explores the impact of space tourism in the heavens and on Earth by adeptly weaving together multiple strands: Ansari’s joyous experience in orbit; the efforts of local villagers to claim black market rocket debris; the observations of photographer Jonas Bendiksen; and the training of the next space tourist in line. Space Tourists examines the intersections of human enterprise and commerce in the final frontier.—BASIL TSIOKOS
Pr: Christian Frei Ci: Peter Indergand Ed: Christian Frei, Andreas Winterstein Mu: Jan Garbarek, Edward Artemyev, Steve Reich So: Florian Eidenbenz
Friday, January 22, 3:00 p.m. - SPACE22SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Saturday, January 23, noon - SPACE234DHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Saturday, January 23, 10:30 p.m. - SPACE23BNBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 5:30 p.m. - SPACE26PEProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 2:30 p.m. - SPACE291AHoliday Village Cinema I, Park City
Waste Land DIRECTOR: Lucy Walker CODIRECTORS: João Jardin, Karen Harley United Kingdom/Brazil, 2010, 95 min., color Portuguese/English with English subtitles
Brazilian artist Vik Muniz creates photographic images of people using found materials from the places where they live and work. His “Sugar Children” series portrays the images of deprived children of Caribbean plantation workers using the sugar from their surroundings. When acclaimed filmmaker Lucy Walker trains her camera on Muniz, he is cultivating a new idea for a project. He knows the material he wants to use—garbage—but who will be the subject of the new series of works?
Waste Land is a wonderfully resonant documentary that chronicles Muniz’s journey to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. He collaborates with an eclectic band of catadors, or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials, and photographs these outcasts of society as they recycle their lives and society’s garbage. Walker gains fantastic access to the entire process and, in doing so, offers stirring evidence of the uplifting and transformative power of art.—SHARI FRILOT
ExP: Fernando Meirelles, 02 Filmes, Almega Projects Pr: Angus Aynsley Ci: Dudu Miranda, Heloisa Passos Ed: Pedro Kos Mu: Moby Ph: Vik Muniz, Fabio Ghivelder
Sunday, January 24, 3:00 p.m. - WASTE244AHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Monday, January 25, 11:00 a.m. - WASTE25PDProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 7:30 p.m. - WASTE25BEBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Friday, January 29, 7:00 p.m. - WASTE293EHoliday Village Cinema III, Park City
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Animal Kingdom DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: David Michôd Australia, 2009, 112 min., color
Welcome to the jungle known as the Melbourne underworld. Animal Kingdom uses this edgy locale to unspool a gripping tale of survival and revenge.
Pope Cody, an armed robber on the run from a gang of renegade detectives, is in hiding, surrounded by his roughneck friends and family. Soon, Pope’s nephew, Joshua “J” Cody, arrives and moves in with his hitherto estranged relatives. When tensions between the family and the police reach a bloody peak, “J” finds himself at the center of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns the family upside down. Wielding a formidable cinematic lexicon, writer/director David Michôd shows complete command of every frame as he shifts between simmering intensity and gut-wrenching drama. There isn’t a false note in the film as it follows through on the tantalizing promise displayed in his short films and unleashes a fierce new voice in Australian cinema.—TREVOR GROTH
Pr: Liz Watts Ci: Adam Arkapaw Ed: Luke Doolan PrD: Jo Ford Mu: Antony Partos So: Sam Petty Principal Cast: Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, James Frecheville
Friday, January 22, 9:00 p.m. - KINGD22ENEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 9:00 p.m. - KINGD24BNBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Monday, January 25, 11:30 a.m. - KINGD25YDYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 2:30 p.m. - KINGD28PAProspector Square Theatre, Park City
All That I LoveWszystko, Co Kocham DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Jacek Borcuch Poland, 2009, 106 min., color Polish with English subtitles
Poland 1981: Behind the iron curtain, Janek, the teenage son of a navy captain, forms ATIL (All That I Love), a punk-rock band whose songs express a frustration with socialism and a desire for freedom, echoing the sentiments of the rising Solidarity movement. At the same time, Janek finds love with Basia, a young woman whose father is part of the movement and disapproves of Janek’s military family. When growing social turmoil leads to martial law, Janek’s relationships and ATIL’s music cause serious consequences for his family members, lovers, and friends.
Jacek Borcuch refreshes the coming-of-age film and its familiar tropes—teenage rebellion, first love, and sexual exploration—by setting it within a sobering sociohistorical context. His camera captures a conflicting sense of potential change and stifling paranoia, with freedom just out of sight for his protagonists.
All That I Love is a bracing, potent reminder that the personal can’t be easily separated from the political.—BASIL TSIOKOS
Pr: Jan Dworak, Kamila Polit, Renata Czarnkowska-Listos Ci: Michal Englert Ed: Agnieszka Glinska, Krzysztof Szpetmanski PrD: Elwira Pluta Mu: Daniel Bloom CoD: Magda Maciejewska Principal Cast: Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Olga Frycz, Jakub Gierszal, Andrzej Chyra, Anna Radwan, Katarzyna Herman
Friday, January 22, 9:00 p.m. - ALLTH22WNTower Theatre, SLC
Saturday, January 23, 2:30 p.m. - ALLTH23EAEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 a.m. - ALLTH26TMTemple Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 5:30 p.m. - ALLTH29PEProspector Square Theatre, Park City
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
From all corners of the globe, these emerging filmmaking talents offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles. We present these exceptional works as a way to honor the independent spirit in filmmakers everywhere.
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Four Lions DIRECTOR: Chris Morris SCREENWRITERS: Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain United Kingdom, 2009, 94 min., color Urdu/Arabic/English with English subtitles
Could there be a more hot-button topic than terrorism these days? Although it is historically the subject of serious documentaries and intense dramatic films, renowned British comedian Chris Morris finds the humor (and ultimately the humanity) in this extremist world.
Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces, Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that—while terrorism is about ideology—it can also be about idiots.
Based on three years of research and meetings with everyone from imams to ex-mujahedeen—not to mention a wealth of surveillance material from major trials, Four Lions plunges beyond seeing these young men as unfathomably alien or evil. Instead, it portrays them as human beings, who, as we all know, are innately ridiculous.—TREVOR GROTH
ExP: Carole Baraton, Peter Carlton, Will Clarke, Caroline Leddy, Angus Aynsley, Mark Findlay, Alex Marshall Pr: Mark Herbert, Derrin Schlesinger AsP: Afi Khan, Faisal A. Qureshi Ci: Lol Crawley Ed: Billy Sneddon PrD: Dick Lunn Principal Cast: Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak, Adeel Akhtar
Saturday, January 23, 5:30 p.m. - FOURL23EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, noon - FOURL25SDScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 a.m. - FOURL26EMEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:45 p.m. - FOURL28BNBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Friday, January 29, 2:30 p.m. - FOURL29PAProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Boy DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Taika Waititi New Zealand, 2009, 87 min., color
It’s 1984, and Michael Jackson is king—even in Waihau Bay, New Zealand. Here we meet Boy, an 11-year-old who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother, Rocky (who thinks he has magic powers). Shortly after Gran leaves for a week, Boy’s father, Alamein, appears out of the blue. Having imagined a heroic version of his father during his absence, Boy comes face to face with the real version—an incompetent hoodlum who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years before. This is where the goat enters.
Inspired by his Oscar-nominated short, Two Cars, One Night, Taika Waititi offers a charming, funny, and earnest coming-of-age story where everybody has some coming of age to do—particularly Alamein (affably played by Waititi himself). Never short on humor, Waititi’s story is ultimately about three boys (one grown) reconciling fantasy with reality.—JOHN NEIN
Pr: Ainsley Gardiner, Cliff Curtis, Emanual Michael Ci: Adam Clark Ed: Chris Plummer PrD: Shayne Radford CoD: Amanda Neale Ca: Tina Cleary Principal Cast: Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu
Preceded by My Rabit Hoppy Director: Anthony LucasAustralia, 2008, 3 min., color
Friday, January 22, 6:00 p.m. - BOYYY22EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Sunday, January 24, 6:30 p.m. - BOYYY24OEPeery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - BOYYY25SEScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Tuesday, January 26, 2:30 p.m. - BOYYY26PAProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. - BOYYY29LMLibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 6:30 p.m. - BOYYY30GERose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Contracorriente(Undertow) DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER: Javier Fuentes-León Peru/Colombia/France/Germany, 2009, 100 min., color Spanish with English subtitles
In a tiny Peruvian seaside village, where traditions run deep, Miguel (Cristian Mercado), a young fisherman, and his beautiful bride, Mariela (Tatiana Astengo), are about to welcome their first child. But Miguel harbors a scandalous secret. He’s in love with Santiago (Manolo Cardona), a painter, who is ostracized by the town because he’s gay. After a tragic accident occurs, Miguel must choose between sentencing Santiago to eternal torment or doing right by him and, in turn, revealing their relationship to Mariela—and the entire village.
Written and directed by Javier Fuentes- León,and featuring a sizzling international cast, Contracorriente (Undertow) is rich in the details of legend, tradition, and locale; and it is in these details that the truth lies. Strikingly photographed to accentuate the majestic Peruvian coastline, this sexy, haunting love story transcends place and time.—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Andrés Calderón, Cristian Conti, Michel Ruben, Emilie Georges, Ole Landsjöaasen Pr: Rodrigo Guerrero, Javier Fuentes-León Ci: Mauricio Vidal Ed: Roberto Benavides, Phillip J. Bartell ArD: Diana Trujillo Mu: Selma Mutal Principal Cast: Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo
Tuesday, January 26, 3:00 p.m. - UNDER26EAEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 8:30 a.m. - UNDER28EMEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 6:00 p.m. - UNDER29YEYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 1:30 p.m. - UNDER30BDBroadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
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Grown Up Movie Star DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Adriana Maggs Canada, 2009, 95 min., color
When Lillian leaves town in search of stardom, her husband, Ray, and two precocious daughters, Ruby and Rose, are left to salvage the family. Ray’s emotional development is plagued by a past that won’t go away. As he flails from woman to woman in search of a replacement mother for his girls, starry-eyed teenager Ruby is on her own path—discovering that her newfound sexuality is an easy way to get the attention she desperately craves. Separated only by their generations, father and daughter find themselves on similar journeys of sexual awakening.
Grown Up Movie Star is an accomplished first feature by Adriana Maggs. Using a remote small town in Newfoundland as her backdrop, she orchestrates a highly capable cast—with an especially riveting breakout performance by Tatiana Maslany as Ruby. Sharp, honest dialogue blurs the roles of parent and child and magnifies the pain of growing up. . . at any age.—JOHN COOPER
Pr: Paul Pope, Jill Knox-Gosse, Shawn Doyle, Adriana Maggs Ci: Jason Tan Ed: Stephen Phillipson PrD: Shelly Cornick Mu: Elliot Brood CoD: Charlotte Reid Principal Cast: Shawn Doyle, Tatiana Maslany, Jonny Harris, Mark O’Brien, Andy Jones, Julia Kennedy
Preceded by Little Miss Eyeflap Director: Iram HaqNorway, 2009, 9 min., color
Friday, January 22, 6:45 p.m. - GROWN22BEBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Monday, January 25, 9:00 p.m. - GROWN25ENEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, noon - GROWN27EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. - GROWN29PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 3:00 p.m. - GROWN30SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
The Man Next Door El Hombre de al Lado DIRECTOR: Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat SCREENWRITER: Andres Duprat Argentina, 2009, 110 min., color Spanish with English subtitles
Leonardo, a successful industrial designer, lives with his family in an architectural wonder, a midcentury Le Corbusier home. One morning, he wakes to an irksome noise and is appalled to discover that workmen next door are constructing a large window that faces directly into his home. Leonardo protests, using a number of excuses (privacy, building codes, his wife), in an attempt to coerce his neighbor, Victor, into scrapping his plan. But Victor just wants a patch of sun to catch some rays. Thus, one man’s light is another man’s blight.
Enamored of architecture, the film is meticulously designed. Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat give it a carefully crafted weirdness as well as a figurative quality. Its caustic humor comes in contemplating why the window completely undermines Leonardo. Does it reveal his arrogance, affectation, and lack of compassion; or dispel his bourgeois illusion of power? The Man Next Door offers a biting critique of moral shallowness—and what happens when thou dost not love thy neighbor’s window.—JOHN NEIN
ExP: María Belén de la Torre Pr: Fernando Sokolowicz Ed: Jerónimo Carranza Mu: Sergio Pángaro Principal Cast: Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Aráoz, Eugenia Alonso, Inés Budassi, Lorenza Acuña, Eugenio Scopel
Sunday, January 24, noon - MANNE24EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 3:00 p.m. - MANNE26SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Wednesday, January 27, noon - MANNE274DHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 6:00 p.m. - MANNE28EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, midnight - MANNE29BLBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Me Too Yo, También DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS: Álvaro Pastor, Antonio Naharro Spain, 2009, 103 min., colorSpanish with English subtitles
At first glance, Me Too is a typical romantic comedy. Daniel meets Laura. She’s attractive, rebellious, and a little trampy. They hang out, have fun together, and he falls hard for her. The unexpected part is that 34-year-old Daniel has Down syndrome. While Daniel is definitely extraordinary—a college graduate who holds sophisticated conversations—he still has to deal with others’ perceptions of him. As Daniel and Laura grow closer, their emotions take them into unfamiliar territory.
Part of the pleasure of Me Too is watching two complex, playful characters onscreen—both Pablo Pineda and Lola Dueñas inhabit their roles completely and are dynamic together. But what this film beautifully realizes is the unconventional relationship between these two unlikely characters. It’s a bond that doesn’t compute from the outside, but for those lucky enough to see the details, it’s evident what makes these two shine when they’re together.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Koldo Zuazua, Emilio González Pr: Manuel Gómez Cardeña, Julio Medem, Koldo Zuazua Ci: Alfonso Postigo Ed: Nino Martínez Sosa ArD: Inés Aparicio Mu: Guille Milkyway Principal Cast: Lola Dueñas, Pablo Pineda, Antonio Naharro, Isabel García Lorca, Pedro Álvarez Ossorio, Consuelo Trujillo
Preceded by How I Met Your Father Director: Álex MontoyaSpain, 2008, 9 min., color
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - METOO26ENEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 2:30 p.m. - METOO27PAProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:00 a.m. - METOO29YMYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, noon - METOO30BDBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
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Son of Babylon DIRECTOR: Mohamed Al-Daradji SCREENWRITERS: Jennifer Norridge, Mohamed Al-Daradji, Mithal Ghazi Iraq/United Kingdom/France/Holland/Palestine/United Arab Emirates/Egypt, 2010, 90 min., color Arabic/Kurdish with English subtitles
In 2003, three weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Ahmed, an energetic 12-year-old Kurdish boy, travels with his grandmother along the dustiest, most secluded roads in northern Iraq. In search of their father/son, a soldier missing since the Gulf War, they head south to Babylon. Along their bumpy way, they encounter the chaotic state of the country but find unexpected allies on similar quests, including one former member of the Republican Guard. Though Ahmed may be too young to fully understand the importance of this journey, his life will be changed forever.
Beautifully directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji, and featuring a magnificent performance from young Yasser Talib as Ahmed, Son of Babylon is both a fulfilling cinematic and emotional experience. It is a story of hope and forgiveness; one that palpably, and with great humanity, illustrates reality for many Iraqi and Kurdish people in the aftermath of Hussein’s reign.—KIM YUTANI
ExP: Antonia Bird, Nashwa Al Ruwaini, Hugo Heppell Pr: Isabelle Stead, Atia Al-Daradji, Mohamed Al-Daradji, Dimitri de Clercq CoP: Danny Evans, Rashid Mashawari, Bader Ben Hirsi Ci: Mohamed Al-Daradji, Duraid Al-Munajim Ed: Pascale Chavance, Mohamed Jabarah Mu: Kad Achouri Principal Cast: Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid
Monday, January 25, 6:00 p.m. - SONOF25EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 11:30 p.m. - SONOF27PLProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 3:00 p.m. - SONOF28SAScreening Room, Sundance Resort
Friday, January 29, 11:30 a.m. - SONOF29PDProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 6:45 p.m. - SONOF30BEBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Nuummioq DIRECTORS: Otto Rosing, Torben Bech SCREENWRITER: Torben Bech Greenland, 2009, 95 min., color Danish/Inuit with English subtitles
The most ambitious film ever to emerge from Greenland, and the first Greenland/Inuit-produced feature, Nuummioq tells the story of a young man’s odyssey from mundane existence into an acute sense of the sacred. Like most regular guys in the tiny capital city, Malik works, cavorts with buddies, and fools around—toggling between Danish and Kalaallisut languages. All at once, when he discovers he’s very ill, mortality intrudes. Keeping the news to himself, Malik accompanies his cousin on a boat trip. What begins as an unremarkable outing becomes a transcendent journey at the edge of the world as he grapples with his elusive past and tunes into the present.
So breathtaking and luminous is Nuummioq’s landscape that you can almost feel the brisk air oxygenating your lungs. The tender play of shadow and light on the characters’ faces seems to suggest that we’re only a flicker in nature’s vast radiance; but during our short time here, there’s family, tradition, and maybe even love.—CAROLINE LIBRESCO
Pr: Mikisoq Hove Lynge CoP: Claus “Matrix” Lauritzen AsP: Ruth Montgomery-Andersen Ci: Bo Bilstrup Ed: Henrik Fleischer, Niels Ostenfeld PrD: Sabine Hviid Principal Cast: Lars Rosing, Julie Berthelsen, Angunnguaq Larsen, Morten Rose, Makka Kleist, Marius Olsen
Saturday, January 23, 11:30 a.m. - NUUMM23EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Monday, January 25, 9:45 p.m. - NUUMM25BNBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 a.m. - NUUMM264MHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Friday, January 29, 5:30 p.m. - NUUMM29LELibrary Center Theatre, Park City
Peepli Live DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Anusha Rizvi India, 2009, 106 min., colorHindi with English subtitles
On the eve of national elections in the Indian village of Peepli, two poor farmers, Natha and Budhia, face losing their land over an unpaid government loan. Desperate, they seek help from an apathetic local politician, who suggests they commit suicide to benefit from a government program that aids the families of indebted deceased farmers. When a journalist overhears Budhia urge Natha to “do what needs to be done” for the sake of their families, a media frenzy ignites around whether or not Natha will commit suicide. Soon Natha becomes a cause célèbre, who draws out the true character and motivations of those who cross his path.
Anusha Rizvi’s auspicious first feature, Peepli Live, is a fresh and intelligently spun satire of the real life epidemic of farmer suicides that have plagued India for the past decade. With a deft hand, Rizvi infuses humor and buoyancy in depicting this tragic predicament, illuminating the true colors of many corridors of Indian society.—SHARI FRILOT
Pr: Aamir Khan CoP: Ronnie Screwvala Ci: Shankar Raman Ed: Hemanti Sarkar ArD: Suman Roy Mahapatra Mu: Mathias Duplessy Principal Cast: Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farukh Jaffer
Sunday, January 24, 3:00 p.m. - PEEPL24EAEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 6:45 p.m. - PEEPL26BEBroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Thursday, January 28, 8:30 a.m. - PEEPL28PMProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 9:00 p.m. - PEEPL29YNYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
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Southern District Zona Sur DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Juan Carlos Valdivia Bolivia, 2009, 109 min., color Spanish with English subtitles
Nestled in the lush valley of La Paz, Bolivia, the upper-class suburb of Zona Sur has sheltered the country’s wealthy elite for many years. Here, in an adobe-tile-roofed castle, a statuesque matriarch reigns over her spoiled progeny and her Indigenous Aymaran butler. But all is not what it seems. As the mother fights with her oversexed son and clashes with her petulant daughter, her six-year-old son rambles the rooftops unnoticed. Decline hangs in the air, and the threat of aristocratic privileges changing hands signifies a new chapter of a prickly and ill-fated class war.
Juan Carlos Valdivia’s revolving camera poetically articulates the devolving drama while exposing the bubble of decadence in which the bourgeoisie exist. With the recent reelection of Bolivia’s first Aymaran president, the long-suppressed Indigenous people are rising up to reclaim their homeland, and Valdivia returns to Sundance ( Jonah and the Pink Whale —Sundance Film Festival 1996) with a crystal vision of the change taking place in his native country.—CHRISTINE DAVILA
Pr: Gabriela Maire AsP: Ximena Valdivia Ci: Paul De Lumen Ed: Ivan Layme PrD: Joaquin Sánchez Mu: Cergio Prudencio Principal Cast: Ninon Del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolas Fernandez, Juan Pablo Koria, Mariana Vargas, Viviana Condori
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. - SOUTH26EEEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 11:30 a.m. - SOUTH28EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, 3:00 p.m. - SOUTH29YAYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 3:45 p.m. - SOUTH30BABroadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
The Temptation of St. Tony Püha Tõnu Kiusamine DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Veiko Õunpuu Estonia/Sweden/Finland, 2009, 114 min., b/w Estonian/Russian/English/French/German with English subtitles
To appreciate Veiko Õunpuu’s artful tale of moral confusion, let’s begin where he does—with Dante’s Inferno: “Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark.”
Tony, a middle-aged, midlevel manager, leads a quiet life. But one day, he starts to question the value of being good. In a series of bizarre encounters in which he fires his employees, witnesses his wife’s infidelity, and meets a soon-to-be kidnapped girl (never mind the severed hands and mystery dog), Tony gradually becomes unhinged from reality.
Õunpuu’s second feature asks, what good is goodness when all it brings is loss? He gleefully supplants our sense of narrative context with avant-garde flourishes, wryly devised vignettes, and unfolding metaphors, stranding us in poor Tony’s forest dark. Provocative and evasive, the film infuses chaotic energy and emotional tension into its elegant black-and-white imagery. Õunpuu’s stark vision feels more like a dream (or nightmare) and recalls the beauty of being oblique.—JOHN NEIN
Pr: Katrin Kissa, Kristina Aberg, Jesse Fryckman Ci: Mart Taniel Ed: Thomas Lagerman PrD: Markku Pätilä, Jaagup Roomet Mu: Ülo Krigul So: Janne Laine
Sunday, January 24, 8:30 p.m. - TEMPT24PNProspector Square Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. - TEMPT26WNTower Theatre, SLC
Wednesday, January 27, 9:00 a.m. - TEMPT27EMEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Friday, January 29, noon - TEMPT29YDYarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City
Vegetarian Chaesikjueuija DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Lim Woo-seong South Korea, 2009, 113 min., color Korean with English subtitles
Ominous dreams haunt and drive a young woman to abolish meat from her diet and her household, and even reject her husband, who smells of meat. Her family mistakes this sudden fixation for insolence, and soon she grows despondent, alienating herself from everyone. Her sister tries to reach her, but only her brother-in-law, an artist, manages to penetrate her withdrawn state. Her mysterious trauma ignites creativity and desire in him, and they collaborate passionately on beautiful body-painting art—drawing on her psychological pain but also providing the catalyst for her mystical transformation.
Working both literally and figuratively, the film’s title is as much about her compulsion as our primal desires and rejection of feminine norms. That’s the richness of this evocative film; it’s thrillingly profound and sensual. The moody classical score and stellar cinematography further enhance this compelling feature debut by eye-opening talent Lim Woo-seong.—CHRISTINE DAVILA
ExP: David Cho, Cho Eunun Pr: Lim Min-sub Ci: Kang Chang-bae Ed: Moon In-dae ArD: Jang Je-jeen Mu: Jeong Yong-jin Principal Cast: Chea Min-Seo, Kim Hyun-Sung, Kim Yeo-Jin, Kim Young-Jae
Friday, January 22, noon - VEGET22EDEgyptian Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 23, midnight - VEGET23BLBroadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Sunday, January 24, midnight - VEGET244LHoliday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Thursday, January 28, 9:00 p.m. - VEGET28ENEgyptian Theatre, Park City
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
