Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Yes, it is New Year’s Eve and we’re transitioning to another year but that is NOT what is causing my blues. I decided to switch my WEBHOST to Surf Experts. Com because I wanted to make my blogging from Sundance easier. I wanted to drop Radio Userland because it’s too hard to blog remotely and you can’t change the dates and/or times on posts.

The guys at Surf Experts were GREAT. They got me up and running quickly but, then, the SNAFUs began. First, Cox’s nameserver was not recognizing the new location. I’ve got that fixed but I can’t get Radio Userland to post to that new host for love nor money. So, if the blog is a little flaky for the next day or so, I apologize. Check CinemaMinima. My entries are going great there.

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“Death’s an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.”
    Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883)
    Russian Author

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The nonprofit group Women in Film will inaugurate its new Spirit of Sundance Award at the Opening Night Ceremonies of the 2005 festival. The first recipients of the award will be Laura Dern, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lisa Kudrow. All three women star in the Opening Night Feature, HAPPY ENDINGS. The Don Roos film is being distributed by Lions Gate.

All three women have been featured in previous Sundance Films. Dern was in WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE and CITIZEN RUTH. One of my favorite Laura Dern films that did NOT debut at Sundance is A PERFECT WORLD. Gyllenhaal was in the controversial and compelling SECRETARY and DONNIE DARKO. Kudrow was in THE OPPOSITE OF SEX and CLOCKWATCHERS.

Hat’s Off (please) to the independent women of Sundance past and present.

Laura Dern, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Lisa Kudrow at Sundance past.

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The Music Café is produced by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ASCAP at Sundance. The Music Café is located at 268 “upper” Main St., inside PLAN B, The Nightclub in Park City. An opening reception on Friday, January 21, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. kicks off the Music Café, which is open from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. daily to all Festival credential holders. The Music Café features four to five musicians daily, each performing 40 minute sets.

Highlights from previous years’ Festivals have included both up-and-coming and well-known artists such as India Arie, Joseph Arthur, Goapele, Patty Griffin, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris, Joe Jackson, Johnny Lang, Daniel Lanois, Shelby Lynne with Van Hunt, Tim O’Brien, Damien Rice, Tim Robbins’ band, Gob Roberts and Jeff Trott.

The daytime lineup for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Music Café is:

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The 2005 Sundance Film Festival Guide is out! This year, they have their own Searchable Sundance FilmGuide that allows searching by Title or by Director’s Name. The Director’s Name search does NOT seem to work (yet). I would like to be able to search by other criteria like CAST or MUSIC but that’s not available. (Guess I’ll have to database this one for MY Searchable Sundance.) The summaries are good, though, and have images, too.

For the analog world, there is the PDF print option, too. They have broken the catalog into three downloadable sections:

1. film timetable only
2. films pages only
3. non-film events

So, time to study up and get ready for the fest! Even if you’re not attending, you’ll get a good idea of the films that will be released in the coming year by studying the guide.

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“How can one learn to know oneself? Never by introspection, rather by action. Try to do your duty, and you will know right away what you are like.”
    Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
    German poet, dramatist

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Aaron Ruell, the actor who played the hapless Kip in last year’s Napoleon Dynamite has TWO short films in the Dramatic Short competition for Sundance 2005. (Ruell is pictured second from left in the photo from Sundance 2004.)

The two short films, EVERYTHING’S GONE GREEN and MARY were both directed by Ruell. The full catalog isn’t out yet so I don’t know who might be starring in it. Ruell, who has a website devoted to his photography, is also starring in the film Think Tank which also features a plot about geeks and Tina Majorino. I’m looking forward to seeing both films at Sundance 2005.

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“There is no moral virtue in being endowed with genius rather than talent: It is a gift of the gods or the luck of the genes.”
    Dorothy Auchterlonie (Dorothy Green) (1915 - 1991)
    English Author & Headmistress

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The Sundance Shorts list is out. Of the 3887 entries, 82 short dramatic, documentary, animation and international films were chosen. One of the short films was directed by Chris Eyre, the filmmaker who brought Smoke Signals, The Doe Boy and Edge of America to Sundance. According to Sundance, “Short films will be presented before feature length films, while others will be seen as part of six short film programs, a special program of animated shorts, and two films presented as a Special Screening. A Short Film Jury will award prizes based on outstanding achievement and merit in International Short Filmmaking for international short films under 30 minutes in length and in American Short Filmmaking for American short films of less than 30 minutes in length.”

Sundance By The Numbers (so far):
624 Documentary Submissions, 16 Selected, 2.56% chance
761 Dramatic Submissions, 16 Selected, 2.1% chance
385 World Documentary Submissions, 12 Selected, 3.11% chance
843 World Dramatic Submissions, 16 Selected, 1.89% chance
3887 Short Film Submissions, 82 Selected, 2.11% chance

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“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
    Barry LePatner

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
    Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
    U.S. Author

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In addition to blogging CyndiGreening.Com, this year I’ll be blogging the Sundance Film Festival as the Senior Editor, Independent Film for CinemaMinima. I believe Alec will also be blogging from the teen point of view.

I’m excited to have independent film information reaching a larger audience. I’ll excise the images for CinemaMinima (keeping their site “light”) but keep video and photos here. Though the festival doesn’t start until January 20, I’ll be blogging from now until then, searching for the breakout films, exciting stories and innovative filmmaking techniques. If you’ve got information, don’t hesitate to email. There’s even a discussion group that will be online soon. Post your thoughts!

“Life is short, the art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult.”
    Hippocrates (c. 460 - 370 B.C.)
    Greek Physician

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The Sundance Collection at UCLA is an educational archive devoted to the collection and preservation of independent cinema. Each year, the Festival screens films from the Sundance Collection. I am very excited to report that Documentarian Barbara Kopple’s film Harlan County, U.S.A. will screen. The film focuses on the coal miners’ strike against the Brookside Mine of Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky.

A few years ago, I attended a panel discussion at the Sundance Film Festival (okay, the truth is I love the panel discussions and try to go to one or two every day). Anyway, one of the panel discussions was the “truth” of documentary filmmaking. Questions like how to capture the truth, portray it and balance it were at the heart of the discussion. There was an underlying hint that documentary filmmakers were biased and might NOT be able to render a truthful portrait.

Barbara Kopple was there. She had made the Academy Award winning Harlan County, USA (about the violent mining strike in Harlan County, Kentucky). The truth/bias conversation was heating up and I found her comments on documentary filmmaking to be powerful and incisive. She said that ALL filmmaking, journalism, writing and human endeavor was biased and subjective because it was being interpreted and presented by a human being. The act of pointing the camera in a specific direction, capturing some audio (while ignoring other), and editing the material together inevitably created a subjective portrait.

Kopple went on to say that documentary filmmakers should endeavor to capture and present the subject matter honestly and accurately, knowing that it would come from their particular point of view. You can see her complete filmography at Cabin Creek Films and check out her upcoming film, My Generation. Rent Harlan County, USA and check out the seen when the explosive devices are being hurled into the miners’ camp. Notice how Kopple pointed the camera at the women watching the explosions rather than the explosions themselves. Powerful imagery and demonstration of her POV!

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“It is the small doubts of timid souls that accomplish their ruin. It is the narrow vision, the fear and trembling hesitation, that constitute defeat.”
    Alice Foote MacDougall (1867 - 1945)
    U.S. businesswoman

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Two of Sundance’s favorite actresses return in Dramatic Competition films this year. Laura Linney stars with Jeff Daniels in The Squid & The Whale. It’s a story of spousal competition. Daniels says he was a great writer, Linney discovers she is one. The divisive of the parents spills all over the children as each parent seduces people in their teenage boys’ lives. You may remember Linney from You Can Count on Me with Mark Ruffalo.

Also screening at Sundance 2005 is The Dying Gaul starring the incredibly talented Patricia Clarkson. In addition to being simply wonderful on Six Feet Under, she starred in Sundance faves The Station Agent and Pieces of April.

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