Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Over the course of the next week, I’ll be blogging a great deal about the films of Sundance 2006. The festival doesn’t begin until the 19th of January but already the interest is building around several films. The goal is to begin to distinguish the different films so you can watch for reviews and features on those films that interest you. As you probably already know, most of the Sundance films will be released over the course of next one or two years.

Some of the 2005 Sundance films that were well-received in the market included: MURDERBALL, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS and HUSTLE AND FLOW. One of my favorite films of Sundance 2005, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE is earning serious award nominations. Last night, I saw a commercial for the Pierce Brosnan film, THE MATADOR, which screened at Sundance last year. Tracking Sundance films ensures that you’ll be aware of much of the independent product for the upcoming year.

I will also be blogging about Sundance Shorts because every year there are shorts the become full features. The Dramatic Competition film HALF NELSON began as a Sundance short entitled, GOWANUS, BROOKLYN. A couple of years ago, the Slamdance short PELUCA became NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Hence, the value of paying attention to short films.

The number of films that screen at Sundance each year is impressive; the number submitted for each category is staggering. Here then are a few of the statistics:

• Feature Film Submissions:
  • 1764 U.S. feature films submitted
  • 1384 International feature films submitted
  • 3148 total features submitted
  • 120 feature films to screen at SFF2006
• Short Film Submissions:
  • 4327 short films submitted
  • 42 U.S. short films selected
  • 31 International short films selected
  • 73 short films to screen at SFF2006