Sundance Goes Global as Docs Compete

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 21 January 2011 23:14

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 Documentary Competition offers more unique visions from all over the world.

International Premiere:

Position Among the Stars / Stand Van De Sterren (Netherlands)
Director Leonard Retel Helmrich
The effects of globalization in Indonesia’s rapidly changing society ripple into the life of a poor Christian woman living in the slums of Jakarta with her Muslim sons and teenage granddaughter.

World Premieres:

The Bengali Detective (India, USA, United Kingdom)
Director Phil Cox
Chubby, dance-obsessed private-detective Rajesh Bharti and his motley band of helpers tackle poisonings, adultery and the occasional murder on the frenzied streets of Kolkata.

The Blackpower Mixtape 1967-1975 (Sweden, USA)
Director Gran Olsson
From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew.

Family Portrait in Black and White (Canada, Ukraine)
Director Julia Ivanova
In a small Ukrainian town, Olga Nenya raises 16 black orphans amidst a population of Slavic blue-eyed blonds. Their stories expose the harsh realities of growing up as a bi-racial child in Eastern Europe.

Hell and Back Again (USA, United Kingdom)
Director Danfung Dennis
Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Afghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.S., we witness what modern “unconventional” warfare really means to the men who are fighting it.

Knuckle (Ireland, United Kingdom)
Director Ian Palmer
An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting, this film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.

Project Nim (United Kingdom)
Director James Marsh
From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who was taught to communicate with language as he was raised and nurtured like a human child.

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (Australia, USA)
Director Matthew Bate
When two friends tape-recorded the fights of their violently noisy neighbors, they accidentally created one of the world's first "viral" pop-culture sensations.

North American Premieres:

An African Election (Ghana, Switzerland, USA)
Director Jarreth Merz
The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana, West Africa, serve as a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks behind the scenes at the complex, political machinery of a third-world democracy struggling to avoid civil war and establish stability for good.

The Flaw (United Kingdom)
Director David Sington
Within a few months in 2008, several American financial institutions failed, and before you knew it the USA was in the red. An imaginative blend of archive, animation and personal stories delivers a devastating indictment of the unfettered capitalism which has led to crippling, catastrophic income inequality in the land of the free.

The Green Wave / Irans grüner Sommer (Germany)
Director Ali Samadi Ahadi
Animated blogs and tweets tell the story of democracy under fire and hopes dashed as protesters are arrested, tortured and raped during Iran’s tumultuous elections of June 2009.

Senna (United Kingdom)
Director Asif Kapadia, Screenwriter Manish Pandey
The story of the legendary racing driver and Brazilian hero Ayrton Senna takes us on the ultimate journey of what it means to become the greatest when faced with the constant possibility of death.


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

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