Sundance Premieres, Documentary Premieres

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 21 January 2011 00:38

Written by L E Shannon

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The nation’s most prestigious film festival presents the section with a long-time record as a career-launcher.

“2011 sees the majority of films in the Premieres section coming from outside the studios, illustrating that independent film is both robust and broadening its scope,” said John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival.

Premieres

Salt Lake City Gala Film:
The Music Never Stopped
Director Jim Kohlberg, Screenwriters Gwyn Lurie and Gary Marks
(based on the story "The Last Hippie” by Oliver Sacks) (USA)  
Using the power of music, a father struggles to bond with his estranged son, who suffers a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With J.K. Simmons, Julia Ormond, Cara Seymour, Lou Taylor Pucci, Mia Maestro.

Cedar Rapids
Director Miguel Arteta, Screenwriter Phil Johnston (USA)   
A naive small-town Wisconsin man travels to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at a regional insurance conference. With Ed Helms, John C Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alia Shawkat, Sigourney Weaver.

The Convincer
Director Jill Sprecher, with co-Screenwriter Karen Sprecher (USA)  
An insurance salesman, caught in a caper involving a rare musical instrument, sets off a series of dramatic consequences. With Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, David Harbour.

The Details
Director / screenwriter Jacob Aaron Estes (USA)  
When hungry raccoons discover worms living under the sod in a young couple’s backyard, the pest problem sets off a wild and absurd chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity, organ donation and murder by way of bow and arrow. With Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert.

The Devil’s Double
Director Lee Tamahori, Screenwriter Michael Thomas (Belgium)
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam comes to life through the eyes of the man who knew too much. With Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaissa, Raad Rawi, Philip Quast.

Flypaper
Director Rob Minkoff, Screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (USA)
When two gangs try to rob the same bank at the same time, a clever hostage in the middle must save the day. With Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey Tambor, Tim Blake Nelson, Pruitt Taylor Vince.

The Future
Director / screenwriter Miranda July (Germany, USA)
When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically. With Hamish Linklater, Miranda July, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik.

I Melt with You
Director Mark Pellington, Screenwriter Glenn Porter
(based on the story by Glenn Porter and Mark Pellington) (Canada, USA)
Four friends gather every year to celebrate their friendship. This year they are unexpectedly forced to confront a forgotten promise they made 25 years earlier. With Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino.

Life in a Day
Director Kevin Macdonald (UK)
This is a historic global experiment to create the world’s largest user-generated feature film. On July 24, 2010, professional and amateur filmmakers captured a glimpse of their lives on camera and uploaded the footage to YouTube, serving as a time capsule for future generations.

Margin Call
Director / screenwriter JC Chandor (USA)
Over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis, the key people at an investment bank struggle to decide how to handle an emergency business situation while examining the personal and moral implications of every action they take. With Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci.

My Idiot Brother
Director Jesse Peretz, Screenwriters Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall (USA)
After serving time for selling pot, Ned successively moves in with each of his three sisters as he tries to get back on his feet. With Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer.

Perfect Sense
Director David Mackenzie, Screenwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson (UK)
A love story about two people who start to fall in love just as the world begins to fall apart. With Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Ewen Bremner, Stephen Dillane, Denis Lawson, Connie Nielsen.

Red State
Director / Screenwriter Kevin Smith (USA)
A group of misfits encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America. With Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, John Goodman, Melissa Leo.

Salvation Boulevard
Director George Ratliff, with co-Screenwriter Doug Max Stone
(based on the novel by Larry Beinhart)  (USA)
An evangelical preacher who has captivated a city with his charm frames an ex-hippie for a crime he did not commit. With Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei.

Win Win
Director / screenwriter Tom McCarthy
(based on the story by Tom McCarthy and Joe Tiboni)  (USA)
When a disheartened attorney moonlighting as a high school wrestling coach stumbles across a star athlete, things seem to be looking up -- until the boy's mother shows up fresh from rehab, flat broke, and threatening to derail everything. With Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor.

Closing Night Film:
The Son of No One
Director / screenwriter Dito Montiel (USA)
Two men in post-9/11 New York are forced to relive two murders they committed as young boys. Their lives start to unravel by the threat of the revelation of these shocking and personal secrets. With Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Ray Liotta, Juliette Binoche.

Documentary Premieres

Says John Cooper, Festival Director: “The decision to create a Documentary Premieres section was a natural evolution to shine a light on films with prominent filmmakers or anticipated subjects without distracting from documentaries in competition. Sundance Institute has since its inception been one of the leading organizations in the world in support of nonfiction film, and our Festival remains a platform for both first-time and established documentary filmmakers.” All the films are world premieres.

Becoming Chaz
Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (USA)
Born biologically female, Chastity Bono invites the viewer into a deeply personal journey as he transitions from female to male, embracing his true self, which is Chaz.

Bobby Fischer Against the World
Director Liz Garbus (USA)
The drama of late chess-master Bobby Fischer's career was undeniable,as he careened from troubled childhood, to World Champion and Cold War icon, to a fugitive on the run.

Granito
Director Pamela Yates (USA)
A documentary film intertwines with Guatemala’s turbulent history and emerges as an active player in a nation’s struggle to heal itself and serve up justice.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
Director Morgan Spurlock (USA)
A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement is financed and made possible by branding, advertising and product placement.

The Interrupters
Director Steve James (USA)
From the Academy Award^TM-winning director of Hoop Dreams comes a story of ex-gang members who are now protecting their communities from the violence they themselves once employed.

Magic Trip
Directors Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibney (USA)
In 1964 Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and his band of Merry Pranksters set out on a cross-country road trip to the New York World's Fair. Fueled by large doses of LSD, they filmed the entire journey. Forty-plus years later, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and co-director Alison Ellwood use that footage, audio recordings and photographs to create an immersion experience of the legendary trip.

Reagan
Director Eugene Jarecki (USA, UK)
Reagan examines the enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world – icon, screen star, and two-term president Ronald Reagan.

Rebirth
Director Jim Whitaker (USA)
Weaving together five stories of individuals whose lives were profoundly altered by the 9/11 attack. With unprecedented time-lapse footage of Ground Zero composed over ten years.

These Amazing Shadows
Directors Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton (USA)
The history and importance of the National Film Registry unfolds in a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.

It is films such as these that say “Sundance”.

For further information, visit www.sundance.org/festival.

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