Sundance's 2011 World Cinema Dramatic

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 21 January 2011 21:05

Written by Lynne Shannon

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The World Cinema Dramatic Competition is eagerly anticipated as another chance to see the world through the eyes of other countries. More than one Academy Award™winner for Best Foreign Film has come from this Festival category.

Two of the entries are International Premieres; the rest are all World Premieres.

International Premieres:

Abraxas (Japan)
Director Dai Sako, with co-Screenwriter Naoki Kato
After botching a speech on career guidance at a local high school, a depressed Zen monk with a heavy metal past realizes that only music can revive his spirit. With Suneohair, Rie Tomosaka, Manami Honjou, Ryouta Murai, Kaoru Kobayashi.

Lost Kisses / I baci mai dati (Italy)
Director Roberta Torre, with co-Screenwriter Laura Nuccilli
A 13-year-old girl in the deprived outskirts of a sprawling Sicilian city becomes a local celebrity to her needy community when word spreads that she just might be able to perform miracles. With Donatella Finocchiaro, Pino Micol, Giuseppe Fiorello, Carla Marchese, Martina Galletta, Tony Palazzo.

Mad Bastards (Australia)
Director Brendan Fletcher, with co-Screenwriters Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait and John Watson
In a frontier town of northern Australia’s Kimberley Region, an urban street warrior meets his match in a local cop. Performances and stories from real people in Kimberley are woven through the music of legendary Broome musicians, The Pigram Brothers. With Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait, John Watson, Ngaire Pigram, Lucas Yeeda.

World Premieres:

All Your Dead Ones / Todos Tus Muertos (Colombia)
Director Carlos Moreno, with co-Screenwriter Alonso Torres
A peasant finds a pile of bodies in the middle of his crops. When he goes to the authorities, he quickly realizes that the dead ones are a problem nobody wants to deal with. With Alvaro Rodrguez, Jorge Herrera, Martha Marquez, Harold Devasten, John Alex Withillo.

The Cinema Hold Up / Asalto Al Cine (Mexico)
Director Iria Gómez Concheiro, with co-Screenwriter Juan Pablo Gómez
Four childhood friends in Mexico’s Guerrero colony consider robbing a cinema, in hopes that the heist will hurtle them past life’s obstacles. With Gabino Rodrguez, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Angel Sosa, Paulina Avalos.

A Few Days of Respite / Quelque Jours de Repit (Algeria, France)
Director / screenwriter Amor Hakkar
A pair of gay men who have escaped from Iran seek safe harbor in a small French village, where a lonely middle-aged woman offers aid. With Marina Vlady, Samir Guesmi, Amor Hakkar.

The Guard (Ireland)
Director / screenwriter John Michael McDonagh
A small-town cop in Ireland has a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a fondness for prostitutes and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international drug-smuggling ring that has brought a straight-laced FBI agent to his door. With Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Fionnula Flanagan.

Happy, Happy / Sykt Lykkelig (Norway)
Director Anne Sewitsky, Screenwriter Ragnhild Tronvoll
A perfect housewife, who just happens to be sex-starved, struggles to keep her emotions in check when an attractive family moves in next door. With Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Maibritt Saerens, Joachim Rafaelsen.

Kinyarwanda (Rwanda, USA)
Director / screenwriter Alrick Brown
Based on accounts from survivors, the film tells the story of Rwandans who crossed the lines of hatred during the 1994 genocide, turning mosques into places of refuge for Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis. With Edouard Bamporiki, Cassandra Freeman, Cleophas Kabasiita, Hadidja Zaninka, Kennedy Mazimpaka, Hassan Kabera.

Restoration / Boker Tov Adon Fidelman (Israel)
Director Yossi Madmoni, Screenwriter Erez Kav-El
Aided by a young and mysterious apprentice, an antique furniture restorer struggles to keep his workshop alive, while his relationship with his own estranged son, who is trying to close down the shop, begins to disintegrate. With Sasson Gabay, Henry David, Nevo Kimchi, Sarah Adler.

The Salesman / Le Vendeur (Canada)
Director / screenwriter Sébastien Pilote
Car salesman Marcel Lévesque operates by the rules of a bygone era, turning on the charm to make his quota. But the increasing decline of his fading industrial town threatens to plummet this peddler of dreams into an unfriendly reality. With Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzali.

Ticket to Paradise / Boleto al Paraiso (Cuba)
Director Gerardo Chijona Valdes, with co-Screenwriters Francisco Garcia Gonzalez and Maykel Rodriguez Ponjuan
A teenage girl running away from her father's sexual harassment meets a young rocker who has escaped to Havana with his misfit group of friends. Set in 1993, during a period of acute shortages in Cuba, the local AIDS hospice begins to look like an unlikely refuge to the hopeless teens. With Miriel Cejas, Hctor Medina, Dunia Matos, Jorge Perugorria, Luis A. Garcia.

Tyrannosaur (United Kingdom)
Director / screenwriter Paddy Considine
For Joseph, a man plagued by self-destructive violence and rage, a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker with a devastating secret of her own. With Peter Mullan, Eddie Marsan, Olivia Colman.

Vampire (Japan, Canada)
Director / screenwriter Iwai Shunji
On the surface, Simon seems like a fairly normal, average young man, devoted to his teaching job and ailing mother. Secretly, he is compelled to hunt through online chat rooms and message boards, searching for the perfect girl who will ensure his own survival. With Kevin Zegers, Keisha Withle-Hughes, Rachel Leigh Cook, Kristin Kreuk, Aoi Yu and Adelaide Clemens.

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

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