Cyndi Greening and Alec Hart blog about their adventures during the Sundance Film Festival of 2004. Their journey began on Sunday, January 18 and will conclude on Sunday, January 25.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Winners of Sundance 2004
DIG!, Ondi Timoner: Documentary Jury Award
Primer, Shane Carruth: Dramatic Jury Award
Born Into Brothels, Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman: Documentary Audience Award
Maria Full of Grace, Joshua Marston: Dramatic Audience Award
Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock: Documentary Directing Award
Down To The Bone, Debra Granik: Dramatic Directing Award
Imelda, Ferne Pearlstein: Documentary Cinematography Award
November, Nancy Schreiber: Dramatic Cinematography Award
Seducing Doctor Lewis, Jean-Francois Pouliot (Canada): World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award
The Corporation, Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott (Canada): World Cinema Documentary Audience Award
Repatriation, Kim Dong-won: Freedom of Expression Award
We Don't Live Here Anymore, Larry Gross: Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Farmingville, Catherine Tambiani & Carlos Sandoval: Special Jury Award
Brother to Brother, Rodney Evans: Special Jury Award
Down to the Bone, Vera Farmiga: Special Jury Award for Performance
When the Storm Came, Shilpi Gupta: Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Gowanus, Brooklyn, Ryan Fleck: Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Tomo, Paul Catling: Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking:
Curtis, Jacob Akira Okada
Harvie Krumpet, Adam Elliot
Krumped, David LaChapelle
Papillon D'Amour, Nicholas Provost
Spokane, Larry Kennar
Photograph by Suchitra
// posted by Cyndi @ 10:37 PM
Friday, January 23, 2004
Blah Blah Blah
Hello everyone ....Yesterday the 22nd we went to the premiere of D.E.B.S., a Charlie's Angels chick flick thingy. The short was at Sundance last year and Cyndi and I had the chance to see it, so we felt a commitment to the film. Cyndi paid 5 x's the face value of the tickets. The tickets cost 10$ a piece x 2 people. (A little math problem for you mathematicians out there). The film had amazing affects which were done in After Affects and was edited with Avid DV Express. Jordana Brewster & Devon Aoki were in attendance. (2 Fast 2 Furious).
Today we also saw a documentary on Al Jazeera and how the coverage of the war is much different in Iraq than it is in the U.S. of A. We also saw Dogville which is a Nicole Kidman flick. When the film started I was very discouraged because the buildings were drawn with chalk and there was not too much to the set. In the end the film showed a wonderful display of acting and conflict (Must See). Sooo ahhh yea.... tomorrow we have many a plans so I'll will talk to ya guys later. Alec (Alastik)
// posted by Alec @ 11:07 PM
Another Great Movie Day
We made it into DEBS for the 9:30 screening last night. I think nearly the entire cast and crew was there. Alec was delighted to see Jordana Brewster and Devon Aoki from Too Fast, Too Furious. I was most excited to see all of the effects shots built using Adobe AfterEffects and Avid DV. The film was pretty good, too. We got home around midnight which made getting up this morning a little more challenging.
The Control Room
Ultimately, I was awfully glad we did. The early film was another documentary; even Alec said the documentary program was really strong this year. The Control Room was comparison of the U.S. and Al Jazeera's .coverage of the Iraqi Invasion. It heavily focused on the journalists at Central Command (CentCom) rather than the embedded journalists or the pentagon spokespersons. At the end, the audience was all hopped up. Most of the questions were about the politics of war instead of on the movie itself. It was even more powerful because one of the Al Jazeera journalists attended the Q&A.
November
Courtney Cox starred in InDigEnt's entry for 2004. Sophie and her boyfriend, Hugh, stop at a corner market a few moments before a burglar enters. The film revisits the event three times and changes tone with each retelling. The director said that it represented her three stages of dealing with the traumatic event (denial, resignation, acceptance). Each stage had a very distinct color palette (blue, orange, white light). The director said that the different scenes were Sophie's changing memory about the event; we saw the things that she chose to remember and which things she eliminated. This film was about the subjective, personal memory and revisionist history we all experience. Now, I have to tell you that I could tell this was three different versions of the story but I had no idea it was her changing memory as she died.
Dogville
Nicole Kidman starred in the final film of the day. It was the thing that drew Alec in. The fact that it was written and directed by Lars von Trier brought me in. The film only screened ONCE in Park City. It was VERY long ... just a few minutes short of 3 hours. When the film started, I was horrified. It was a film about the town of Dogville and the town was literally DRAWN on a stage. There were no houses, virtually no props ... just the actors and the story. But the acting was amazing and the story was really satisfying. When it was done, Alec said he thought he liked it even more than Napoleon Dynamite. More about this later.
// posted by Cyndi @ 6:05 PM
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Moooovies Move Me
I like all of the documentaries we have seen so far. I liked Born Into Brothels a lot. I Like Killing Flies was good too. The Shorts Programs are growing thin and so is the quality.
On Monday night, Kohl Glass a film student from BYU that went to MCC and used to take classes with Cyndi came to see us. Kohl is friends with the director of Napoleon Dynamite so we talked a lot about films they had worked on together at BYU. Kohl said that Jared didn't finish his degree at BYU because he learned how to develop a story idea, run a film set, and finish a film. His film was really good. It looked very professional. The editing was tight, the soundtrack was good and the cinematography was good. It took a little bit for Napoleon to grow on me.
We had spaghetti for dinner. It was too good. I had to take a nap after dinner. Now we're going to go stand in the freezing cold and try to get tickets to DEBS. Last year, I saw the director on the bus (she was pretty wasted) and got a trading card from her so I really want to see it. She was on the Digital Panel this year. She edited DEBS using AVID DV and AfterEffects. She said the film had 300 effects shots. I want to see them with the Sundance crowd.
// posted by Alec @ 6:14 PM
Day Two of Films at Sundance
Well, we've got four films per day for the next three days. It does sort of take its toll. Even if you love films, they can be emotionally draining and intellectually compelling. You can only stay on the peak of the wave for so long. Eventually, the pendulum swings back. And, there's just the whole thing that goes along with standing in lines like sardines for hours. We tried to go to the box office this morning to get tickets for Kohl and Chris but the line was HUGE. We would have missed our first screening if we had stayed. So we bolted.
Shorts Program II was much, much better than Shorts IV. There was an animated re-telling of Oedipus starring vegetables and kitchen tools that was very kewl. Gowanus, Brooklyn was compelling and interesting and One Flight Stand was amusing and wonderful. Flying, a Japanese film, suffered from a serious lack of editing. It could have been half as long and much more successful.
Napoleon Dynamite was our second film of the day. As posted below, it was really funny. It is a feature film that grew out of a short by Jared and Jerusha Hess. The short, Peluca screened at Slamdance last year. It can be purchased on DVD from BYU. It's the story of Napoleon Dynamite, a high-schooler leading a life of quiet exasperation in Idaho. His unorthodox family makes his home life as challenging as his school life. Since Fox Searchlight picked it up for a rumored $3 million, no doubt it will be in theaters soon. At the Q&A, Jared talked about the feature he has in development and the TV series he's working on. Since my former student Kohl Glass is his friend, it was even more exciting to watch it unfold.
Shorts Program V was our third film. Unfortunately we have not been too thrilled with the shorts program this year. Shorts V was also a bit of a disappointment. There were three that we really liked Our History, Short Hymn_Silent War and It's Okay to Drink Whiskey. But I HATED Are You Lonely about a twisted morgue worker. PayDay was pretty good and Hank Azaria's Nobody's Perfect was just too glossy for words. In other years, we have really like the Shorts Programs. Last year we saw the phenomenal MOST, a film that STILL makes Alec get all misty-eyed, and D.E.B.S., Angela Robinson's Charlie's Angels spoof. This year, we have yet to see anything that compelling in the shorts.
Maria Full of Grace was our 5:30 film. We had heard really good things about it but Alec and I decided to get rid of our tickets for Maria and TRY to go to the feature-length version of D.E.B.S tonight. It's sold out but we're going to go stand in the Wait List line anyway. The only bad thing is that it's at the Eccles which means we'll be standing outside at night for an hour. I'm going to need to add layers, baby, layers.
// posted by Cyndi @ 6:08 PM
Our First Day of Films at Sundance 2004
Our slate of films the first day was excellent. Here's a re-cap of what we've been seeing and hearing around the festival.
Born Into Brothels was our first film. A documentary about children born to sex workers in Calcutta. The director of the film lived with the families in the brothels for several years. She gave the children cameras and taught them to document their lives. She sought schools for the children and tried to help them break out of their cycle of poverty. The film bogged down a bit in the middle but was very moving. In the end, only two of the fourteen children succeeded in staying in school. Amnesty International used the children's photos for a calendar this year. Their photos are also on sale on Main Street. All of the funds from the photos go directly back to the children for schooling. At our screening, we heard Gour had earned $1800 toward his education. You can read more about it at Kids-With-Cameras.
DIG! was another documentary about the rivalry and self-destructive impulses of two bands, The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Rampant drug use, narcissism, and broken childhoods compel BJM to ruin every opportunity for success they get. The minor success of the Dandy Warhols only serves to propel BJM lead Anton to more and more bizarre behavior. This film will make every parent even more leery of the film business.
Then we went off to Shorts Program IV and it was quite a disappointment. I actually slept through at least one of them. My favorite was Hike, Hike, Hike a black and white line drawing animation of sled dogs. Most of the rest were quite forgettable.
The last film we were supposed to see was The Best Thief In The World but instead we went to I Like Killing Flies. We met the director Matt Mahurin and his wife, Lisa Desimini at the Born Into Brothels screening. Matt, a former director of music videos (REM, U2, Tracy Chapman, Metallica) and Lisa, a children's book author and illustrator, were really generous. They talked about the subject of his film, Kenny Shopsin and the way they used technology to make the film. They also talked about their careers and their educational backgrounds. They were surprised to hear that Alec was only 16. Matt offered him some great advice and then gave us tickets to his film. Of course we were a tad biased but the film was GREAT. Kenny Shopsin reminded me a lot of Erich Hoffer. Hoffer was a longshoreman and philosopher. Kenny is a restauranteur and philosopher. Alec said it was the first film to make him laugh out loud at Sundance. It's definitely worth a look.
// posted by Cyndi @ 5:40 PM
Napoleon Dynamite Explodes at Sundance
We saw Napoleon Dynamite today (good thing I got over my snit and decided to get tickets) and it was terrific. It was quite funny. Our screening was at the Eccles at noon today (the largest venue at around 1270 seats) and it was packed. The lines were enormously long for both ticketholders and wait list folks. One fellow sold his tickets for $100. Rumor has it that Fox Searchlight picked up the film for around $3 million.
// posted by Cyndi @ 4:56 PM
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Yo Doggies
Just up here in Sundance. We haven't seen any films yet but have been to a few awesome panels. Cyndi was able to talk to some people at PBS which was very cool. I am at the digital center right now where there is a plethora of digital cameras and what not. I have been documenting much of the trip with my camera. Well that's all for now. Peace out yizzo. Alec(Alastik)
// posted by Alec @ 3:49 PM
Digital Panel Worth the Wait
As many of you know, we came up to Sundance two days early to catch the Digital Panel and the Commissioning Editors Panel. We got into BOTH but both required considerable waiting times. Alec had to stand in the cold basement of the Egyptian for two hours while I tried to find tickets up top. In the end, it was his wait list tickets that got us in. GREAT job ALEC.
In the end, it was worth the wait! Panelists included Gary Winick, Angela Robinson, Mario Van Peebles, Deborah Dickson, and James Hayman. Hayman, director of Joan of Arcadia talked about using HD for a television series. Documentarian Dickson talked about using DV and HD for documentaries. Winick shared insights into the way InDigEnt came to be and its strengths and weaknesses. Robinson, director and editor of DEBS shared how she used AfterEffects as her primary compositing and effects tool on this feature film. They discussed DV and HD and it was terrific.
The commissioning editor panel was great,too. It was NOT what I expected. I thought we were going to listen to each group tell us what they were looking for. Instead, it turned out to be a PITCH SESSION. It was nerve-wracking but I did it. I ended up at the PBS table. I met a terrific woman who gave me some great feedback on my story and methods for getting funding. Again, we had to wait more than an hour in the cold but it was well worth it.
// posted by Cyndi @ 3:48 PM
Welcome!
After much frustration with Radio Userland, slow portables and slower dial-ups, Alec and I have decided to blog on Blogger! Hope you enjoy hearing about what we're doing!
// posted by Cyndi @ 3:44 PM