Film Matters. Tell the world why at www.kodak.com/go/filmm atters Film. No Compromise.
Š Kodak, 2011. Kodak is a trademark.
“
“
Thanks to the DGA’s low-budget agreements, I have peace of mind knowing my film will be all right. Lisa Cholodenko directing Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in The Kids Will Be All Right
It’s your film, and you want the best. Being a DGA member gives Lisa Cholodenko the freedom to make the movies she envisions and the security of knowing that regardless of the film’s budget, her creative and economic rights will be protected.
Call: East Coast: (212) 581-0371 • West Coast: (310) 289-5325 Taylor Hackford, President • Jay D. Roth, National Executive Director
Main Screening Room
Friday, Jan. 20
4:00pm Kodak Filmmaker Welcome to Slamdance
10:00am Faith, Love & Whiskey w/Rose & Sophia 12:30pm Comforting Skin 3:00pm Unconditional w/Harold’s Bad Day 5:30pm We Are Legion w/no relation 8:00pm Heavy Girls w/Angelito
10:00am Doppelgänger Paul w/Ice Fishing 12:30pm The Sound of Small Things w/February 3:00pm Neil Young Journeys 5:30pm I Want My Name Back w/The Devotion Project 8:00pm Roller Town w/TMI 10:30pm BINDLESTIFFS w/Hope. You Like Crap.
11:00am-1:00pm Neil Young/ Jonathan Demme Coffee 1:30pm Welcome to Pine Hill w/New Skin 4:00pm Sponsored Screening: Brian Keene’s Ghoul 6:00pm No Room for Rockstars 8:00pm Sundowning w/Memory by Design 10:30pm OK, Good w/Eat
10:00-11:00am Fireside Chat: Business 11:30am-12:30pm Fireside Chat: Screenwriting 1:00pm Shorts Block 3 3:00pm Shorts Block 2 5:00pm No Ashes, No Phoenix w/You Can’t Win 7:30pm Getting Up w/Ben Franklin
11:00am Shorts Block 1 1:00pm Shorts Block 4 3:30pm Danland w/On Tender Hooks 6:00pm The First Season w/Murder Mouth 8:30pm Shorts Block 5
11:00am Kelly w/I’m Never Afraid! 1:30pm Documentary Shorts— Americana 3:30pm Animation Shorts 6:30pm Buffalo Girls w/We Win or We Die 9:00pm Anarchy Shorts
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 10:00pm Opening Night Party: TMI Carhartt Lounge
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 6:00pm Happy Hour in the Filmmaker Lounge
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 2:00pm Filmmaker Sled-Off 5:00pm Hot Tub Social 6:00pm Evening of Horror Happy Hour in the Filmmaker Lounge
Gallery
Thursday, Jan. 19
Events
9:00am Filmmaker Check In Opens 9:00am Box Office Opens
Saturday, Jan. 21
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Sunday, Jan. 22
Monday, Jan. 23
Tuesday, Jan. 24
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Thursday, Jan. 26
10:00-11:30am Kodak Coffee 12:00pm The First Season w/Murder Mouth 2:30pm Welcome to Pine Hill w/New Skin 5:30pm The Sound of Small Things w/February 8:00pm Ed Wood’s Final Curtain 10:00pm Doppelgänger Paul w/Ice Fishing
9:30-11:30am Coffee w/Stan Lee 12:00pm Getting Up w/Ben Franklin 2:30pm Comforting Skin 5:00pm With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story 7:00pm Heavy Girls w/Angelito 9:30pm Old Dog w/Franchi is Back
10:00am Roller Town w/TMI 12:30pm Danland w/On Tender Hooks 3:00pm Faith, Love & Whiskey w/Rose & Sophia 5:30pm Wild in the Streets 8:00pm Sundowning w/Memory by Design
10:00am OK, Good w/Eat 1:00pm BINDLESTIFFS w/Hope. You Like Crap. 3:30pm We Are Legion w/no relation 6:00pm Unconditional w/Harold’s Bad Day 9:00pm Awards Ceremony
Main Screening Room
11:30am-12:30pm Fireside Chat: Color Correction 1:00pm Shorts Block 2 3:00pm Documentary Shorts— Americana 5:00pm Sponsored Screening: Disposable Film Festival 7:30pm Holiday Road
10:00am Terra Blight 12:30pm No Ashes, No Phoenix w/You Can’t Win 3:00pm Shorts Block 1 5:30pm Shorts Block 4 8:00pm Buffalo Girls w/We Win or We Die
10:00-11:00am Fireside Chat: Distribution 11:30am Animation Shorts 2:30pm Iranian Shorts 5:00pm Kelly w/I’m Never Afraid! 7:30pm I Want My Name Back w/The Devotion Project
10:30am Shorts Block 5 12:30pm Shorts Block 3 2:30pm Anarchy Shorts 4:30pm Panasonic’s Five Flavors of Film Competition Screening
Gallery
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 6:00pm Happy Hour in the Filmmaker Lounge
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 6:00pm Happy Hour in the Filmmaker Lounge
9:30am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 6:00pm Happy Hour in the Filmmaker Lounge
10:00am Filmmaker Breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge 10:00pm Closing Night Party in the TMI Carhartt Lounge
Events
5
Short Blocks at a Glance Block 1 Wild Cherry I am John Wayne The Centrifuge Brain Project When Rabbits Fly Cold Blood People Parade
Block 2 Pineapple The Good Person 33 Teeth I’m Coming Over DeafBlind
Block 3 Raspberry Another Bullet Dodged Eileen Pratt Reinaldo Arenas The Kook Lin
Block 4 Watermelon Little Horses Soy tan feliz Codes of Honor Crown A Scene at the Sea
Anarchy Block 5 Orange The Agony and Sweat of the Human Spirit Park Solipsist Silent River
Animation Follow the Sun! Birdboy Hietsuki Bushi Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon Soil Hollow The Observer Peekaboo The House Venus
Mahahula The Giant Rodent of Happiness We’ll Become Oil The Fritzl Effect The Magic Man STIHL The Dude At the Formal I Saw Your Sister Yesterday Stokje The Severe Psychosis of a Musicless Man
Iranian Shorts Dances With The Armchair Far From Him, Towards Him Room No. 8 Pondering A Pore As Big As a Knuckle When The Kid Was a Kid The Tree
Americana Shorts Kiss the Paper Kudzu Vine The Lookout No Wine Left Behind The Professional
Heber
Office, Press, Filmmaker Relations
N
Filmmaker Lounge Carhartt Lounge
Dr.
Box Office: 9am – 9pm* Filmmaker Relations: 9am – 6pm Festival Office: 9am – 6pm Press & Media: 9am – 6pm
Box Office
Gallery Screening Room
St.
Opening Hours
Main Screening Room
Main
Festival HQ / Screening Rooms Treasure Mountain Inn 255 Main Street Park City, Utah 84060
lley r Va Dee
Location
PARK CITY Treasure Mountain Inn 255 Main St.
*Late Screenings will extend Box Office hours.
Slamdance Opening Night Party
Friday, Jan. 20, 10pm Treasure Mountain Inn / Carhartt Lounge
Awards Ceremony & Closing Night Party
Thursday, Jan. 26 Awards 9pm, Main Screening Room Party 10pm, Treasure Mountain Inn / Carhartt Lounge
Los Angeles Global Headquarters
5634 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038 P: 323.466.1786 • F: 323.466.1784 • E: mail@slamdance.com For all the latest festival news, visit us on www.slamdance.com twitter.com/slamdance facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival
7
T ABLE O F C ONTENTS 11.Introduction 14.Staff & Credits 18.Your Friendly Neighborhood Sponsor 19.Welcome to Film Geek Winter Camp 20.Sponsors 28.Events 32.War Stories 40.Special Screenings 51.Narrative Features 65.Documentaries 75.Shorts
82.Animation Shorts 84.Made in Iran: 7 Short Premieres 87.Americana Shorts 88.Advice from Seth Gordon 89.On Failure 90.What Is Underground? 92.Anarchy Shorts 95.On the Road with Superheroes 97.Slamdance TV 98.Fireside Chats 9
99.Awards & Prizes 101. Morning Coffee Master Classes 102.Dan’s Poem 103.Slamdance NYC 104.Jury 107. I Hate Horror Movies 110. Screenwriting and Teleplay Finalists 115. The Five Flavors of Filmmaking Competition 117.King & Queen of Slamdance 120.Film Index
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I NTRODUCTION WELCOME TO SLAMDANCE! Looking at this year’s Festival it’s clear the dramatic times in which we currently live are a great inspiration for independent filmmaking. The daily challenges of life are a catalyst for filmmaker innovation and experimentation and are leading us into the next wave of indie film.
Festival happen. Enjoy the show and here’s to fine filmmaking since 1995. Onward and upward,
Peter Baxter
President/Co-founder
This year we will, as always, showcase emerging filmmaking talent at its finest. If you want to see the best in true independent filmmaking, Slamdance is the place to be. Thank you to all of our programmers— filmmakers themselves, staff in Utah and Los Angeles, our great sponsors and TMI for making the
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S TAFF & C REDITS Peter Baxter
Paul Rachman
Randall Good
Mario DeAngelis
President/Co-founder
Slamdance East Coast Director
Gallery Theater Manager
Projectionist
Dan Mirvish
Skizz Cyzyk
Ian Henderson
Producer
Projectionist
Projectionist/Box Office
Summre Garber
Slamdance Co-founder at large
Ben Hethcoat
Jeff Satsuda
Greg Urich
Submissions & Programming Manager
Beth Prouty
Paul Sbrizzi Art Director / Theater Manager
Slamdance TV Producer / slamdance.com Editor
Eric Ekman
Submissions & Programming Assistant Manager
Rebecca McLoney Salt Lake City Producer
Slamdance TV Cameraman / Editor
Terrie Samundra
George Starks
Maya Adrabi
Sponsorship & Marketing Manager
Salt Lake City Producer
Festival Photographer
Kelly Calligan
Dana Blackwell
Cory Fehrenbacher
Production Coordinator
Production Assistant
Sponsorship & Marketing Manager
Feliz Villarreal
Jessica Davis
Mark Matukewicz
Social Media Manager
Merchandise
Anna Germanidi
Andres Olsen-Rodriguez
Festival Pass & Jury Coordinator
Projectionist
Production Manager
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Projectionist/Box Office
Sasha Lisa Poulsen Box Office
Hayley Blumenstock Box Office
Saskia Wilson-Brown Strategist Festival Publicity: Matt Johnstone Publicity
Matt Johnstone Kelly Weaver Ashley Tecson
Programmers: Special Screenings
Peter Baxter Summre Garber Ehsan Ghoreishi Josh Mandel Dan Mirvish Paul Rachman Narrative Features
Nicole Arbusto* Amber Benson Todd Berger Daniel Berube Drea Clark* Tom Hodges Josh Mandel Aaron Marshall Mo Perkins Paul Sbrizzi Jana Winternitz
Documentary
Anarchy
Peter Baxter Theodore James Mick Muhlfriedel Ehren Parks* Edward Stencel* Saskia Wilson-Brown
Peter Baxter Noel Lawrence Beth Prouty Burke Roberts
Shorts
Steve Christolos Joel Garber* Randall Good* Deborah Haywood Sarah Hudson David Walter Lech Robbie Lo Andrei Mikhovich Taylor Miller Beth Prouty Jason Roberts Kseniya Rukavishnikova Susan Sfarra Milenko Skoknic
Associate Programmers
Adam Busch Eliza Hittman Katie Holly Katherine Nolfi Craig Parish David Ratner *co-captains
Slamdance Advisors Jeremy Coon Skizz Cyzyk Marc Forster Paul Rachman Anthony Russo Joe Russo
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Steven Soderbergh Penelope Spheeris George Starks Heidi Van Lier Lance Weiler Saskia Wilson-Brown Slamdance Friends Pete Ashdown Thea & Andy Beerman Joanna Charnes Frank Normile Susan Packard John Webster Dana Williams Slamdance Film Festival Co-founders Peter Baxter Jon Fitzgerald Shane Kuhn Dan Mirvish
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There’s no business like show business, and when you are an independent filmmaker sometimes it feels like there’s no business. Each year amazing companies work with Slamdance and invest in the festival, its filmmakers and the independent film community at large. These companies are here to support you, the filmmakers, and are more important than you may realize.
As we all know, the film industry is all about connections and Park City is a Mecca for networking. Take advantage of our sponsors’ presence as much as you would with that studio exec or distributor. The rare, intimate setting of Slamdance is ideal for this to happen and it is likely they will never again be this accessible.
Remember that this is show business and working with other businesses can be mutually
We have created a unique mixing pot of artistic expression and business savvy, so seize the
Y OUR F RIENDLY N EIGHBORHOOD S PONSOR
beneficial. These people braved the cold to be here and I’ll let you in on a little secret: they want to talk to you. There is no level of exposure that rivals that of the movie screen, and as creators you have the power.
Until you are making the next Transformers you are not likely to get paid for product placement or get fancy European sports cars for your film—unless of course you have amazing production insurance. You may, however, get product, props or even a free location. This might not seem like a lot, but when you don’t have to foot the alcohol bill for your next party scene, you’ll be glad you struck up a conversation with that beer rep at the festival.
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opportunity and rub shoulders with that Kodak rep at our next Slamdance happy hour.
Kelly Calligan Sponsorship & Marketing
Welcome to Film Geek Winter Camp! Fast friendships will be formed, dirty laundry aired, and crushes bound to blossom. But unlike tween Summer camp, where you professed to write your new best friends every day, you will, I guarantee, form bonds that will last a lifetime. When people say Slamdance is like one big family, they mean it, but not in a Bill Hendrickson, polygamy sort of way. What we are is an intricately woven web of unique voices who all share one thing in common, Slamdance! When we say “By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers,” we mean it. Every single person who works at Slamdance is a filmmaker, which means every partnership is carefully thought out with the first question always being, “How is this going to support our filmmakers?”
have partnered again with Panasonic for “The Five Flavors of Filmmaking Competition.” The challenge goes to 5 teams: Wild Cherry, Pineapple, Raspberry, Watermelon, and Orange. Whether an homage to Kieslowski’s color-infused trilogy or a nod to the great American auteur David Gordon Green, who did justice to my personal favorite fruit, the Pineapple... we leave the interpretation up to our fine filmmakers. So dear campers, as you go forth this week don’t forget that this is just the beginning.
W ELCOME T O F ILM G EEK W INTER C AMP At the 2011 festival, through a partnership with Panasonic, we chose 6 teams from our slate of filmmakers. Each created a film around a central theme and the winning team brought home the newly unveiled AF-100 camera. What transpired over the next year could not have been more beautiful. Filmmakers who formed friendships at Slamdance united and created an omnibus feature film, shot with the prized camera. This year, their film “Holiday Road” was chosen as a Special Screening, bringing us full circle and solidifying why we do what we do. On the heels of the successful competition, we
Look to your right, look to your left, connect with the filmmakers, audience members, Slamdance crew, industry folk and sponsor emissaries. The bonds that transpire will last. This is your week of film geek glory, at least for 2012. Make the best of it!
Terrie Samundra Sponsorship & Marketing
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S PONSORS PRESENTING
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S PONSORS
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FILM COMMISSION
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Chiller network and Modernciné are thrilled and chilled to be part of this year’s Slamdance Film Festival! Don’t miss the world premiere of Brian Keene’s Ghoul—a scary good Chiller original movie . Sunday, Jan 22 at 4P
Slamdance Headquarters Main Screening Room
WHITE with PMS 199
Get Chiller Today! Call your local cable provider!
KRYOLAN Corp. 132 Ninth Street San Francisco, CA 94103, USA Phone: 1-800-Kryolan +1 415/863-96 84 Fax: +1 415/863-90 59 E-Mail: info-usa@kryolan.com KRYOLAN City 2034 North Halsted Street Chicago, IL 60614, USA Phone: +1 773/248 1419 Fax: +1 773/248 1486 E-Mail: chicago@kryolan.com www.kr yolan.com •
E VENTS
SLAMDANCE OPENING NIGHT PARTY Carhartt Lounge at the TMI 21 and over
Friday, Jan. 20th @ 10pm Invite and pass holders only. Hosted bar… need we say more?
SLED-OFF Meet in the TMI Lobby Sunday, Jan. 22nd @ 2pm Everyone is welcome to our 11th Annual Great Park City Sled-Off! Meet in the lobby of Treasure Mt. Inn @ 2pm, then we walk from there. Great photo-op, protective headgear recommended, interesting costumes encouraged, bring a sled if you’ve got one, but come even if you don’t. Prizes sponsored by Good Health Natural Foods!
HOT TUB Hot Tub at the TMI Sunday, Jan. 22nd @ 5pm The perfect chance to salve your sled muscles in the Treasure Mt. Inn’s massive hot tub Sled-off 2011. (seats 30+) and meet successful Slamdance alumni. Hosted by FIRESIDE CHATS Slamdance Jedi masters Dan Mirvish Gallery Screening Room at the TMI & Paul Rachman, with juror Jason Free Admission McHugh, Oscar-nominated director Adrian Belic and other surprise guests. Friday Jan. 20th @ 10 & 11:30am Monday Jan. 23rd @ 11:30am FILMMAKER Wednesday Jan. 25th @ 10am BREAKFASTS Join us as we bring together filmmakers, industry figures, and Daily @ 9:30am technology gurus to meet in an Filmmaker Lounge at the TMI informal setting. Designed to Coffee, bagels and fruit. Open to provide you with new and essential pass holders. tools as you embark on your next filmmaking adventure (see pg. 98 for more details). 28
MORNING COFFEE MASTER CLASSES Main Screening Room at the TMI Priority to pass holders Sunday Jan. 22nd @ 11am With Neil Young and Jonathan Demme. Monday Jan. 23rd @ 10am With notable luminaries in the world of cinematography. Hosted by Kodak. Tuesday Jan. 24th @ 9:30am With Stan Lee We’ll provide the coffee and bagels, bed head welcome. These morning events are not to be missed! (see pg. 101 for more details)
Monday: presented by WGAW and the University of Miami Tuesday: presented by ABS Payroll and Accounting and American Entertainment Insurance Wednesday: presented by InFocus and the Louisiana Film Commission *Join us for an extended happy hour as we pay homage to the dark side of Slamdance with Pretty Macabre’s horror couture and a bloody good cocktail.
SLAMDANCE AWARDS CEREMONY
Jon Moses (The Beast Pageant) at the 2011 Closing Night Party
Main Screening Room at the TMI Thursday, Jan. 26th @ 9pm
HAPPY HOURS
SLAMDANCE CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
Filmmaker Lounge at the TMI
21 and over, hosted bar Open to passholders, per venue capacity
6pm Daily Saturday: presented by Monkeybars Sunday: Evening of Horror* presented by Kryolan, Chiller and Modernciné
David Bonawits and Jiyoung Lee (Pleasant People) at a 2011 Happy Hour.
Carhartt Lounge at the TMI 21 and over
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Thursday, Jan. 26th @ 10pm Invite and pass holders only— hosted bar.
Welcome to Pine Hill
We’re shooting in a drugaddled Queens, NY house with a gut-wrenching stench of dead dog. The homeowner’s dazed brother suddenly wanders out back, inspired to deliver an impromptu sermon on legacy. Cameras keep rolling. Willie preaches. Shannon cries, smashes his bottle, and walks off set. You can’t script that.
out to the score of the Thai national anthem.
digital cinema tools and techniques available.
Kelly
Faith, Love and Whiskey
From aggressive streetwalkers and angry johns to seedy hotel clerks, we found ourselves often filming on the run. Director James Stenson even had to visit the hospital with acute asthma due to his prolonged exposure to second-hand crystal methamphetamine smoke.
W AR S TORIES Sundowning
Director Frank Rinaldi contracted dysentery while processing the film for Sundowning at a lab in Bangkok. Thailand’s national anthem is blasted daily on loudspeakers across the city. During the broadcast, Frank’s dysentery asserted itself in a park and he puked his guts
Comforting Skin
Originally set up as a $1.7 million production in 2000, Comforting Skin’s first launch came to a devastating halt when the film’s financing collapsed on the first day of shooting. 10 years later the film was re-envisioned as a $250,000 indie, reborn through the use of the new
Facing the consequences of using real whiskey on set.
Doppelgänger Paul
We decided to shoot in Portland. We got stuck in a crazy snow storm on the I-5. Cars were abandoned on the highway, 18-wheelers turned sideways. We lost a full day of shooting in the storm. On top of this, our lead actor and D.P. were the only Americans so they were in charge of taking all the equipment across the border. The rest of us just said we were on a group vacation.
BINDLESTIFFS
Made for almost no money, with almost no permission, by a team of horny teenage dreamers. After two years
32
of blood, sweat and barf, this cumming of age story (masterfully crafted in the style of docufictional cinéma vérité) is finally ready to be viewed by you, the American public.
We Are Legion
Privacy needs ranged from the absolute, full-blown encrypted chats with masks and voice distortion to people who felt comfortable going on camera with their real names and identities, often for the first time.
I Want My Name Back
We were shooting the opening or what I thought would be the opening of the doc, a reveal of Wonder Mike and Master Gee actually playing drums and bass for the opening bars of Rapper’s Delight. They went on to jam and play a few of their songs. When I was looking for a score, I checked the ad
lib rehearsal we shot. Every one of the songs ended up in the score and it was never ever planned that way. But I couldn’t have picked out a better score.
Buffalo Girls
While traveling the border of Northwest Thailand looking for child boxers to interview, Todd crossed the wrong river into Myanmar where he ended up as the guest of the Karen Liberation Army. The unit commander confiscated all of the footage, and after two days sent Todd on his way with some delicious fish and tomato stew.
Danland
Once, my cameraman and I got trapped in a small locked room in Las Vegas with Porno Dan and a woman having sex. Dan wanted me to shoot the scene for him, and with no one else in the room, I felt
put on the spot.
The Magic Man
The vast majority of the digital composition and 3-D post-production was done by the director, who had never used any of the software before this project. He cried more than once.
A Short Film About Ice Fishing
We encountered 10-foot snow drifts, frozen electrical equipment, enough snow to impede the hero car from reaching the main location, wind gusts that caused skin to crack & bleed at temperatures that reached minus 30 degrees and still managed more than a few laughs while filming in midJanuary South Dakota.
Eat
Three days before shooting our initial location falls through. I
feel constant waves of panic. One day before shooting this incredible place opens up and it’s free. It was better than anything we’d seen and it was free.
Birdboy
In 2008, Alberto’s comic Psychonauts fell into Pedro’s hands. He immediately proposed to make some animation from the comic. Alberto, who hadn’t worked until then in animation, said yes (naïve of him), and since then both are dedicated to losing money together.
Angelito
Shooting the climax was intense. There was an uncanny silence in the room. Everybody ready: action. Then, it took us five or six takes to start getting it right because the prop wouldn’t break!
33
Crown
We decided to build an animatronic creature which we would later dub “Fetus”. The build out was a long arduous process which had us all thinking: “What the hell are we making here?”
Eileen Pratt
A live ant features in Eileen Pratt in a supporting role. At a script level, this seemed like an interesting idea, but I soon learnt that ants have their own ideas and are not particularly interested in acting.
People Parade
We walked the streets of Cambridge to recruit veteran street performers & other locals. Additional cast and crew were culled from the staff at a local community
CONT.>>
>>WAR
Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon
access television station where the film was shot. Save for one or two characters, the entire cast is comprised of buskers and non-actors discovered during the process.
After a chain of sleepless nights, I finished capturing the last frames just 2 hours before the power company came and shut the power off!
The Good Person
New Skin
A singer, Mr. Koji Ishikawa, is appearing in this movie. He is a very great musician in Japan. While making the movie, Koji Ishikawa made the theme song of this movie improvisationally. I was very glad.
We shot the ending in an abandoned motel without authorization. After 10 minutes the cops showed up. I gave them a fake name and a fake address and told them we had an authorization. They left and I turned to my crew and said, “We have 5 minutes.” We shot the rest of the scene in 10 minutes and ran away. Later at night we had to do a pick up, there were cars with weird guys driving around the motel, we shot everything from inside the car. It was very scary!
When Rabbits Fly
Three trucks of gear plus a broken elevator sure don’t make things easy when shooting on top of a highrise.
TMI
Despite a camera crew, and a Brooklyn sidewalk filled
with equipment—passersby continued to treat our “set” as if it were an actual yard sale. Turns out- people are more interested in buying used shit than they are in short films. Also, we discovered egg whites are a good substitute for vaginal mucous. Filmmaking!
The Kook
Many of the film’s settings, such as the cult’s bungalow, are actually seasonally abandoned Hasidic summer camps, while Malcolm’s house was provided by the selfdeclared “Mayor” of a Catskills hamlet.
The Agony and Sweat of the Human Spirit
Jesse’s least favorite moment was when he had to eat an entire bag of cough drops. Joe’s was when his hair gel froze.
34
Silent River
One day we left our 1989 Dacia film car in the woods to shoot with it the next night. Some hours later my colleague producer called me, saying that he just saw the police passing him with our car on a tow truck. He went after it and called me again from the police station where he had just been arrested after telling that it is his car. Minutes before, the police had found a bomb in that car. The special bomb squad was already on the way. I called everyone in the team but nobody could explain that bomb to me until I finally got a call back from the art director who told me that she just checked the props list again and uhh, there was a fake bomb on the prop list. We did not need anything like a bomb in that film but in
that moment I was anything but angry, just relieved.
Reinaldo Arenas
The very last shot of the film called for the animatronic shark to be left in the middle of the street in one of Miami’s worst neighborhoods. As we were recording the shot, a car came speeding out of nowhere and ran the shark over before the PA could stop it. The animatronic shark was completely crushed and ruined, a tire track on its head. Luckily, we were insured.
I Am John Wayne
After our second picture horse “Tanaki” (a horse who had grown up riding in the rough streets of West Philly) tried to throw our horse wrangler off his back into a moving car, we were forced to fire him a week before shooting. We
eventually found our horse, “Pro” a gentle, old horse at a dude ranch in Pennsylvania.
Hietsuki Bushi
A day after the short version was shown to YouTube, the East Japan Earthquake happened. And we just know that scientists have discovered a kind of elementary particle can run faster than light after we finished making the full version of this music video.
Follow the Sun!
Over the course of the production, MK12 became experts in stop-frame potato chip animation, cherry cordial incineration, slow-motion sno-cone bloodbaths and gumdrop manslaughter.
The Centrifuge Brain Project
Leslie Barany, who in his real life is the agent of the
famous artist and designer HR Giger, agreed to start an acting career, so he became Dr. Laslowicz.
Kudzu Vine
At night I dreamt of the snaking tentacles creeping into my bedroom, wrapping themselves around my ankles. On weekends I hand-processed the 35mm CinemaScope footage in the same basement. In the developer-laden air, I heard kudzu whispering my name.
I’m Never Afraid!
Mack broke his leg and his best friend died during one of the races. We had to postpone shooting for months. When we were ready to shoot again, a last possibility during the final days of summer vacation, we heard his parents had sold his motorbike that plays a big part in the film.
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The Devotion Project: More Than Ever
Gaining the trust of these two wonderful men was the most daunting part, and the most rewarding.
We Win or We Die
While gathering footage for the film, we were startled by a loud explosion at the courthouse in Benghazi. We rushed to the site and found that a car bomb had destroyed 5 vehicles. As we left, a suspicious man approached us and whispered, “Today. Everyday.” He disappeared behind a corner.
On Tender Hooks
The director had to watch a lot of footage of human suspension before filming to make sure she didn’t faint during filming.
CONT.>>
>>WAR Murder Mouth
We attempted a stylized studio sequence to mix in with the doco footage. We spent 16 hours wrangling a live fish, chicken, and little lamb to pose on a tabletop, dropping meat from heights, and accidentally liquefying a branding iron. We got about 10 seconds of usable footage.
The Lookout
Since I would be living and shooting the film on a mountaintop, it was necessary to backpack everything up to the lookout. The hike was four miles each way with an elevation gain of 1,628 feet. Given that this was a one person crew, it was essential to hike twelve miles on the first day to get everything up the mountain.
No Wine Left Behind
During the climactic grand opening event, cover bands were performing copyrighted music all day, making audio recording nearly impossible. Finally we asked a band to perform one original song that we could use and they rocked it like they were auditioning for Van Halen.
Harold’s Bad Day
With only one day to shoot the well-crafted script, and pennies for props, we had but one take to break stuff.
Ed Wood’s Final Curtain
Jason Insalaco’s uncle, Paul Marco, was Ed Wood’s favorite bit player, “Kelton the Cop.” Marco regaled Jason with praise for Wood’s lost TV pilot. After Marco’s death, Jason embarked on a tenacious search and located the undeveloped cans.
No Room for Rockstars
Every night we slept with ear plugs in a rattling RV doing eighty and every morning we woke up at dawn in a strange location without a schedule. After fifteen thousand miles I had lost about thirty pounds and wasn’t sure I had a film.
Terra Blight
We spent a year filming on standard definition mini-DV tapes before we realized the HD revolution was here to stay. We found ourselves experiencing the same rapid digital obsolesce we were attempting to make a movie about.
Unconditional
Filming took place in some of the roughest parts of Newcastle. It was great to get the man who practices golf in his Union Jack boxer shots
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but we were sad not to get the lady who has a ferret with no nose.
Wild in the Streets
All is fair in love and war... and football.
Stokje
Casting four kids for the leading roles in a film about molestation without any help of casting agencies was difficult enough. Directing them, one of whom autistic, the other one declaring his romantic love to me on set, proved even more challenging, but charming all the same.
Holiday Road
The cast and crew of August braved 5 days in the ocean, fending off the elements to get the perfect shot of a man truly adrift at sea.
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The University of Miami’s MFA in Motion Pictures emphasizes critical understanding of moving image practice in diverse social and cultural contexts for the creation of work that is relevant and impactful.
com.miami.edu/mfamotionpictures
• Mastering & Online HDCAM SR HDCAM Digi Beta • TERANEX Conversions & Restoration • Color Correction • Closed Captioning • Dubs & Clones • 100% Q.C.
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Ed Wood’s Lost Film
Final Curtain
8:00pm, Monday, Jan. 23
22 min / B&W / USA / 1957
Edward D. Wood Jr.’s ambitious television pilot has been lost for 55 years. It was recently discovered and makes its debut at Slamdance. Wood claimed that Bela Lugosi died while reading the script, which adds a surreal quality to this lost treasure. Final Curtain weaves a tale of a weary actor prowling a darkened theater at night searching anxiously for meaning. His journey leads him to a surprising destiny that leaves the audience stunned! Edward D. Wood, Jr. is one of the most famous filmmakers of all time. Wood is best known for the films Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) and Glen or Glenda? (1953). Wood borrowed from, as often as he departed from, classical Hollywood cinema. His meager budgets and idiosyncratic style assured his films would be anything but predictable Hollywood fare.
DIRECTOR.........Edward D. Wood, Jr. PRODUCER........Edward D. Wood, Jr. WRITER.............Edward D. Wood, Jr. CAST..................James “Duke” Moore, Jenny Stevens, Dudley Manlove (Narrator)
Jrh330@yahoo.com
+ Secret Screening To Be Announced
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Holiday Road
7:30pm, Monday, Jan. 23
US / 71 min / Color and B&W / World Premiere The spirit of the holidays is showcased in a feature-length anthology of 12 separate short films written and directed by 13 of today’s hottest up-andcoming independent writer/directors. Director’s bio: feel free to ask any one of them, they’re probably sitting next to you. Unless you’re reading this online in which case they are watching you from across the street.
DIRECTORS.......Todd Berger, Bill Palmer, Bobby Miller, Daron Nefcy, Ben Grinnell, Ian Eastin, Mary McIlwain, Aaron Arendt, Michael Suter, Dee Robertson, Doug Manley, Helena Wei, Andrew Putschoegl PRODUCERS......Kevin M. Brennan, Will Coleman, Michael Suter, Kelly Williams
EDITORS............Jonathan Thornhill, D.P. Jeremy Hayward, Ben Grinnell, Tomas Urbano, Kelly Richard
CAST..................Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Jerry Trainor,
Thomas Lenk, Blaise Miller, James Carpinello, Jeff Grace, Kent Osborne, Christine Ulloa MUSIC...............Nancy Kuo kevin@vacationeerproductions.com
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Neil Young Journeys
3:00pm, Saturday, Jan. 21
USA / 87 min / Color / US Premiere
In May of 2011, Neil Young drove a 1956 Crown Victoria from his idyllic hometown of Omemee, Ontario to downtown Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall where he intimately performed the last two nights of his solo world tour. Along the drive, Young recounted insightful and introspective stories from his youth to filmmaker Jonathan Demme. Demme, a long-time fan and collaborator, captured these tales of Young’s childhood and masterfully weaved them together with his mesmerizing music. Academy Award®-winner Jonathan Demme has produced and directed over 27 feature films including Rachel Getting Married, The Manchurian Candidate, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and Married to the Mob. He most recently directed the documentary I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Neil Young Journeys is the third film in Jonathan’s Neil Young trilogy.
DIRECTOR.........Jonathan Demme PRODUCERS......Jonathan Demme, Elliot Rabinowitz EDITOR..............Glenn Allen DP......................Declan Quinn MUSIC...............Neil Young marian.koltai@pmkbnc.com
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
No Room for Rockstars
6:00pm, Sunday, Jan. 22
USA / 98 min / Color / World Premiere
Four young musicians travel the country, sweating it out on the notoriously brutal Warped Tour. Joe, from 29 Palms, California is an unknown artist. Mike has a radio hit, but his brand of pop doesn’t mesh with the Warped Tour’s alternative/punk ethos. Chris has a hard time reconciling the commercial bent the tour has taken with his vision of music as art. Mitch sports tattoos up through his neck and screams songs about the desolation of human existence, but his biggest concern is being a good father. Parris Patton’s career began in 1995, producing, directing and editing films and music videos for Prince. His documentary Creature followed the life of a transgender club diva and was purchased by HBO. He recently worked on Oscar®-winning Diamond Docs Productions’ Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who and The Real Revolutionaries.
DIRECTOR.........Parris Patton PRODUCER........Stacy Peralta & Agi Orsi EDITOR..............Parris Patton & Joshua Altman DP......................Josh Salzman CAST..................Mike Posner, Chris Drew, Mitch Lucker, Joe MUSIC...............Mike Posner, Chris Drew, Forever Came Calling, Suicide Silence, Anarbor, Pennywise, Sum 41, Rancid, The Casualties
agi@agiorsi.com
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Old Dog
9:30pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24 China (Tibet) / 88 min / Color / US Premiere At the tail end of the twentieth century in Tibet, a son has sold his family mastiff to a dog dealer in town, but his father retrieves the mastiff and frees it in the mountains. But the freed mastiff only ends up in the hands of the dog dealer again, who plans to resell it. To get the mastiff back from the dealer, the son fights the dealer and ends up being arrested by the police. Rather than leave the mastiff in the dealer’s hands, the father chooses a tragic end for the old mastiff who has kept him company for many years. Pema Tseden was born in 1969 in Amdo, the Tibetan region (Qinghai province). Since 1991, he has published over 50 short and medium-length novels both in Tibetan and Chinese. His feature films are The Grassland (2004), The Silent Holy Stones (2005), The Search (2009) and Old Dog (2010).
DIRECTOR.........Pema Tseden PRODUCER........Sangye Gyamtso, Pema Tseden WRITER.............Pema Tseden EDITOR..............Sangye Bhum DP......................Sonthar Gyal CAST..................Yanbum Gyal, Drolma Kyab, Lochey, Tamdrin Tso karinc@gmail.com
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Franchi Is Back Director: Alexandre Franchi
Canada / 4 min Tired of repeating his cancer story a thousand times because it’s a pain in the ass, a filmmaker shoots a three minute info-video describing his medical ordeal. trollconcerto@yahoo.ca
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Terra Blight
10:00am, Tuesday, Jan. 24
USA / 55 min / Color / World Premiere An exploration of America’s consumption of computers and the hazardous waste we create in pursuit of the latest technology, tracing the life cycle of computers from creation to disposal and juxtaposing the disparate worlds that have computers as their center. From a 13-year-old Ghanaian who smashes obsolete monitors to salvage copper to a 3,000-person video game party in Texas, Terra Blight examines the unseen worlds of one of the most ubiquitous toxic wastes on our planet. Isaac Brown co-founded Jellyfish Smack Productions in 2005—a documentary production house that focuses on telling unforgettable environmental and social issue stories. Isaac is passionate about creating films that might in some small way better the world we all call home. DIRECTOR.........Isaac Brown PRODUCER........Ana Paula Habib, Eric Flagg EDITOR..............Isaac Brown DP......................Isaac Brown MUSIC...............Isaac Brown, Faso Yiriba Culture, Daoma jellyfishsmack@gmail.com
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Unconditional
3:00pm, Friday, Jan. 20 6:00pm, Thursday, Jan. 26
UK / 90 min / Color / World Premiere Sixteen year-old twins Kristen and Owen are misfits in the real world, bored of caring for their mum and fantasizing about murdering her. Then along comes Liam: 20s, tough, charming, full velocity, genuinely cool. Kristen fancies him with the intensity of someone in a fairytale. Liam takes Owen out drinking—and the depth of Liam’s mis-wired obsessions soon emerge. Liam offers unconditional love… on one condition. As the twins fall under his sway, snarled by a dangerous love, will they live to tell the tale? Bryn Higgins grew up in west London. After the Royal College of Art, he went to the BBC to make documentaries. He left to write commissioned dramas. He has been BAFTA-Nominated for Originality and has made high-profile dramas and docs. Unconditional is his first feature film.
DIRECTOR.........Bryn Higgins PRODUCER........Bryn Higgins WRITER.............Jo Fisher EDITOR..............Ben Yeates CAST..................Christian Cooke, Melanie Hill, Harry McEntire, Madleine Clark
MUSIC...............John Lunn clare@stonecity.co.uk
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Harold’s Bad Day Director: Jordan Brady
USA / 10 min / World Premiere Harold is a teacher with outstanding gambling debt. He walks in on two of his students vandalizing his apartment, coincidentally hired to “send a message.” When Harold convinces the young men to aim higher in life, it does not go over well with their boss. jordan@superlounge.tv
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Wild in the Streets
5:30pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
UK / 82 min / Color / World Premiere Toward the end of winter on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday the people of Ashbourne gather in the center of their town to renew the longest running sports rivalry on earth. The game is called Shrovetide Football and originates from two medieval communities living opposite the river Henmore. Today, they are known as the Up’ards and Down’ards. Each team consists of hundreds of people. The object of the game is simple: Get a 4-pound ball to one of 2 goals that lay 3 miles apart. Under no circumstances is manslaughter to be tolerated. For the past 1000 years, kings, revolutions and wars have tried to stop this ancient tradition. Against all odds, a passionate community keeps it alive. As the “dirty” Down’ards prepare for revenge, both teams will have to fight an additional foe: modern society.
DIRECTOR.........Peter Baxter PRODUCERS......Peter Baxter, Jimmy Zalcman WRITERS...........Peter Baxter, Jay Nelson EDITORS............Jay Nelson, Steve Prestemon DP......................Lance Acord, ASC CAST..................Sean Bean (narrator), People of Ashbourne MUSIC...............Matt McKenna (score), Oasis,
In 1995 Peter Baxter co-founded Slamdance as an independent alternative to Sundance. Since its inception, Baxter has been responsible for developing and maintaining Slamdance. His current film work includes the documentary feature Wild In The Streets and producing Slamdance’s award-winning short screenplay Harold’s Bad Day.
The Duke Spirit, Mercury Rev
villagegreen@slamdance.com http://wildinthestreetsmovie.com
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SPECIAL SCREENINGS
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story 5:00pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
US / 74 min / Color and B&W
The life of Stan Lee, from his Depression-era upbringing through the Marvel age of comics. The film uncovers transcripts, illustrations, photographs and stories of Lee’s journey—from his early years at Timely Comics, his military service, the comic book industry’s censorship battle of the 1950s, the dawn of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s and the legendary characters Stan cocreated, to his current company POW! Entertainment. A portrait of a man whose creativity knows no bounds and whose characters have grown from humble beginnings to powerhouse properties in all media. Will Hess, a 39-year-old filmmaker from New Orleans, grew up against the creative canvas of music, food, art and Mardi Gras that New Orleans is known for. His passion for creating art was instilled at an early age.
DIRECTOR.........Will Hess, Nikki Frakes, Terry Dougas PRODUCER........Paris Latsis, Will Hess, Nikki Frakes, Terry Dougas WRITER.............Will Hess, Nikki Frakes EDITOR..............Nicholas Stich, Nikki Frakes DP......................Keyan Safyari CAST..................Stan Lee MUSIC...............Kostas Christides, Minos Matsas, Holly Amber Church will@emergingentertainment.biz
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N ARRATIVE F EATURES DC: Yo, Nicole, what do you think stands out in this year’s crop of narrative features? NA: I think we’re seeing more international films, and more films from rural areas. When I look back, there’s been an increase in films coming from smaller communities, not to mention more films with unusual narrative structures. DC: I concur! Our narrative films all take more of a risk, they seem to be inventing their own filmic language. I can identify conventional elements in everything but then those details get quickly turned on their heads. It’s pretty ballsy for rookies, word. NA: Exactly—when access to cameras/digital opened up at first we were just seeing films made by people who were excited to suddenly have the means/equipment to make their film. And certainly there were some gems in that initial burst. But now I feel that we’re getting to those films that are using the opportunity to challenge themselves and really think about telling a story in a different way. DC: Yup! I think their frame of reference has grown, as well. It’s not about biting styles, it’s letting something—a way of shooting, a manner of performance, an entire genre—inspire them or push them in a specific direction, and then honing that into a committed, distinctive tone of their own. Emerging directors who know how to
51
do that, to commandeer but not copy a style, those are the ones I consider “da bomb.” Kids still say “da bomb,” no? NA: No, Drea. I don’t think they ever really said that. At this stage, I am excited for our filmmakers to see each other’s work. Every year we create our own community and I hope they all learn, share, gossip, or whatever together as they travel on with their films. DC: I also hope that they whatever together. No diggity. NA: Please stop.
Drea Clark & Nicole Arbusto Co-Captains of the Narrative Competition Committee
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
BINDLESTIFFS
10:30pm, Saturday, Jan 21 1:00pm, Thursday, Jan. 26
USA / 80 min / Color / World Premiere Three high school virgins, suspended from school on a bogus graffiti charge, flee to the inner city in an attempt to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye—a book they neither have read nor understand. BINDLESTIFFS documents their struggles along the way as they surrender their virginities to vagrants, prostitutes, and crack fiends. Hot on their tail is Charlie, the deranged school security guard. Under the impression that the boys are planning a school shooting, he takes the law into his own hands to stop them and save America. A product of the digital age, Edison’s filmmaking career began in the sixth grade— skipping gym to shoot short films. BINDLESTIFFS, his feature directorial debut, originated from a critical case of high school senioritis and a push in the right direction from filmmaker and mentor, Mike Akel.
DIRECTOR.........Andrew Edison PRODUCERS......Andrew Edison & Luke Loftin, Mike Akel, Matt Patterson
WRITERS...........Andrew Edison & Luke Loftin EDITORS............Andrew Edison & Luke Loftin DPS....................Katie McDowell, Sharad Patel CAST..................Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin, John Karna, Will Fordyce, D.A. White, Adelaide Lummis
MUSIC...............Dylan Hanwright andrewjohnedison@gmail.com
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Hope. You Like Crap. Director: Shaun Parker
USA / 7 min / World Premiere As a Radio/TV/Film major at U.W. Oshkosh, Wisconsin I made a short film I thought was going to change the world. 20 years later the only thing that it changed was me. shaun.parker@gmail.com
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Comforting Skin
12:30pm, Friday, Jan. 20 2:30pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Canada / 109 min / Color / World Premiere An emotionally fragile woman’s lonely reality is shattered when her tattoo seemingly comes to life. Offering its undying attention and otherworldly sensual pleasures, the tattoo quickly seduces, drawing her into a dangerous and all consuming bond that requires more than she may be able to give. Comforting Skin is the debut feature film for Vancouver based writer/director Derek Franson. His past work includes several digital-FX filled music videos and shorts as well as a brief stretch as an assistant animator on the cult series Ren & Stimpy.
DIRECTOR.........Derek Franson PRODUCERS......Justin James, Andrew Webster, Derek Franson WRITER.............Derek Franson EDITOR..............Lenka Svab DP......................Adam Sliwinski CAST..................Victoria Bidewell, Tygh Runyan, Jane Sowerby, Philip Granger
MUSIC...............Alain Mayrand andrew@webstertalent.com
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NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Doppelgänger Paul
10:00am, Saturday, Jan. 21 10:00pm, Monday, Jan. 23
(Or a Film about How Much I Hate Myself)
Canada / 84 min / Color / US Premiere The story of the unlikely relationship of Karl and Paul, two lonely men on the brink of middle age. Following a near death experience, Karl comes to believe that Paul, a stranger he sees on the street, is his doppelgänger. After stalking him for several weeks, Karl finally makes contact, thus setting in motion a bizarre chain of events that will result in the loss of a thumb, the theft of a manuscript, rides on a miniature railroad, a trip to Portland in a 1984 Chevy VanDura, and two appearances on a popular morning talk show. As a director, Dylan made the award-winning short films, The Bug, Imetacanine, Man Feel Pain which won the Best Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004, Night for the Canadian Film Centre, and most recently Big Head which premiered at TIFF in 2009.
DIRECTOR.........Dylan Akio Smith, Kris Elgstrand PRODUCER........Katherine Hazen, Oliver Linsley WRITER.............Kris Elgstrand EDITOR..............Aram Coen, Dylan Akio Smith, Alex Leigh Barker DP......................Craig Trudeau Dylan Akio Smith CAST..................Tygh Runyan, Brad Dryborough, Ben Cotton, Matt Finochio
MUSIC...............Bill Frisell katherinehazen@me.com
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A Short Film About Ice Fishing Director: Jason Shahinfar
USA / 8 min Two friends devote a winter afternoon in South Dakota to ice fishing, cold beers, friendly chatter, man’s best friend, guns, dynamite…all on a frozen lake. jason_shahinfar@hotmail.com
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Faith, Love and Whiskey
10:00am, Friday, Jan. 20 3:00pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
Bulgaria / 75min / Color / World Premiere Neli flees her fiancé Scott and her stable but boring life in America to return home to her doomed life in Bulgaria in search of her passionate, selfdestructive love, Val. But when Scott goes looking for her she has to choose between a secure future and a tragic love. Having grown up in a family of cinematographers, Kristina left Bulgaria to study economics in America in hopes of a better life. Unable to fight her nature, she became a filmmaker and has since shot 6 features, 14 shorts, and is currently finishing her MBA at NYU Graduate Film School.
DIRECTOR.........Kristina Nikolova PRODUCER........Georgi Nikolov, Mollye Asher WRITER.............Kristina Nikolova, Paul Dalio EDITOR..............Sara Corrigan DP......................Alexander Stanishev CAST..................Ana Stojanovska, Valeri Yordanov,
Rose and Sophia Director: Natalie Neal
Yavor Baharov, John Keabler
MUSIC...............Wosh MC, Leepra Delux, Svetlio And The Legends
kristina.nik@gmail.com
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USA / 7 min / World Premiere At ages 15 and 16 two teenage best friends struggle to find their new identity as women. In the midst of puberty, boy problems, and failed attempts to become more grown-up, Sophia and Rose rekindle a childhood interest in spying to help them make sense of their world. roseandsophiamovie@gmail.com
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Heavy Girls (Dicke Mädchen)
8:00pm, Friday, Jan. 20 7:00pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Germany / 79 min / Color
Sven’s mother Edeltraut is suffering from dementia. He shares his entire life, the apartment, even the bed with her. During the day he works at a bank. While he is at work, Daniel comes to the apartment to look after Edeltraut. But one day while Daniel is cleaning the windows, Edeltraut locks him out on the balcony and takes off. The two men go out looking for her. But what they find is not just Edeltraut, but also a tender fondness for one another, one which turns both of their lives upside down. Axel Ranisch was born in 1983 in Berlin. Trained in Media and Theater Education. Studied Directing at the Konrad Wolf University of Film and Television. In 2011 he founded production company Sehr Gute Filme with his film-mates Anne Baeker, Heiko Pinkowski and Dennis Pauls. He is active as a director, writer, actor and media educator.
DIRECTOR.........Axel Ranisch PRODUCERS......Anne Baeker, Dennis Pauls WRITERS...........Axel Ranisch, Heiko Pinkowski, Peter Trabner DP......................Axel Ranisch EDITING.............Guernica Zimgabel, Milenka Nawka CAST..................Ruth Bickelhaupt, Heiko Pinkowski, Peter Trabner, Paul Pinkowski
axelranisch@me.com
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Angelito
Director: Paula Lima
USA, Brazil / 13 min Luisa, a Colombian immigrant, watches over Danny every day. Danny tries to earn his nanny’s respect by pushing at Luisa until she responds inappropriately. paulalvc@gmail.com
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
OK, Good
10:30pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 10:00am, Thursday, Jan. 26
USA / 79 min / Color / World Premiere Guided by motivational affirmations and encouraged by an intense physical-movement workshop, actor Paul Kaplan struggles through a series of demoralizing auditions that push him towards the edge. OK, Good mixes vérité technique with confining formalism to build a hypnotic and tweaked-out meditation on performance, identity, anxiety, and one man’s personal apocalypse. Daniel Martinico is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and video artist best known for hacking VHS tapes and remixing Wrath of Khan. His work has shown in galleries, festivals and museums internationally. OK, Good is his first feature film.
DIRECTOR.........Daniel Martinico PRODUCER........Hugo Armstrong & Daniel Martinico WRITER.............Hugo Armstrong & Daniel Martinico EDITOR..............Daniel Martinico DP......................Daniel Martinico CAST..................Hugo Armstrong
Eat
Director: Janicza Bravo USA / 14 min August has never been with a woman. Claire is his next door neighbor. They’ve never met. Claire locks herself out of her apartment and August lets her into his. He does what he can to keep her there. hello@janicza.com
martinico@ucsd.edu
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NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Roller Town
8:00pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 10:00am, Wednesday, Jan. 25
Canada / 76 min / Color / US Premiere When mobsters try to turn the roller rink, Roller Town, into a moneymaking video arcade, roller-skating hero Leo is forced to fight back. There to help him are his best friends Music and Julia (a high society rich girl/the girl of Leo’s dreams). Before long, Roller Town is full of arcade machines, skaters have turned into gamers, and the whole town has fallen under the zombie spell of video games. Refusing to give up, Leo and his friends use the power of roller-skating, friendship and the boogie to thwart the mob’s evil plans. Andrew Bush is a Halifax, Canada-based writer/actor/director. In 2005, he was one of the first Canadians to offer online sketch comedy via YouTube and went on to co-found the sketch troupe Picnicface, co-writing and acting in all of their sketches. Roller Town, which he directed and co-wrote, is his debut feature film.
DIRECTOR.........Andrew Bush PRODUCER.......Bill Niven and Jay Dahl WRITER.............Andrew Bush, Mark Little, Scott Vrooman EDITOR..............Thorben Bieger, Andrew Bush, Shawn Beckwith DP......................Christopher Porter CAST..................Mark Little, Kayla Lorette, George Basil, Scott Vrooman, Evany Rosen, Pat Thornton, Cheryl Hann, Brian MacQuarrie
andycbush@gmail.com
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TMI
Director: Jeff Tomsic
USA / 5 min / World Premiere Obnoxiousness begins at conception. Kellan and Katherine discuss the good, the bad, and the icky side of making a baby. jjtomsic@gmail.com
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
The Sound of Small Things
12:30pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 5:30pm, Monday, Jan. 23
USA / 85 min / Color / World Premiere
Sam, a hobby musician and copywriter, and Cara, a survivor of a mysterious accident resulting in a loss of hearing, are navigating a fragile young marriage. Their nascent relationship becomes troubled as a series of secrets and interlopers begin to blur the borders of truthful communication between them. Both struggling with their perception of the situation, innocence and culpability for the difficulties in their relationship is clouded within the space of silence between them. Peter McLarnan is a visual artist and filmmaker living and working in Minneapolis, MN. A self-taught filmmaker, his video and installation work has shown at numerous gallery and project spaces throughout the Twin Cities. He is the recipient of a 2010 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant.
DIRECTOR.........Peter McLarnan PRODUCER........Peter McLarnan WRITER.............Peter McLarnan EDITOR..............Peter McLarnan DP......................Brennan Vance CAST..................Sam Hoolihan, Cara Ann Krippner,
February
Director: Nick Singer USA / 11 min / World Premiere A young plumber has a series of abbreviated encounters. Nick.Singer@gmail.com
Mike Hoolihan, Nick Hoolihan, Andrea Pittel, Ben Garthus, Erin Hael, Dane Steinlicht. MUSIC...............Switzerlind, Brian Just, Villa. pmclarnan@gmail.com
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NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Sundowning
8:00pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 8:00pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
Singapore / 92 min / Color / World Premiere Sundowning is the portrayal of Shannon, a young woman who has lost her cognition and memory. She is content, but lacks any recollection of her past, her family, or her own identity. She lives in pacified near-isolation, sharing an apartment with Susan, her gentle yet mysterious caretaker. The depth of their experience manifests through the nuances of their strict routine. Shannon eventually grows suspicious of her caretaker’s control, and grapples for insight into her condition and Susan’s role in her life. Frank Rinaldi received an MFA in Film Production at NYU’s Tisch Asia. His work navigates the boundaries between character-driven narrative and experimental filmmaking. He is interested in investigating how non-linear techniques can be incorporated into storytelling and how storytelling can facilitate experimental agendas.
DIRECTOR.........Frank Rinaldi WRITER.............Frank Rinaldi PRODUCERS......Stephanie Bousley, Shannon Fitzpatrick, Kenny Gee
Memory by Design Director: Nathan Punwar
EDITOR..............Scott Laidlaw DP......................Kiran Chitanvis CAST..................Shannon Fitzpatrick, Susan Chau MUSIC...............Thomas Seely frankrinaldi@sundowningthemovie.com
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USA / 5 min Celebrating the ways we record ourselves, memories become distorted into stories pulled apart and put together one too many times. The objects that three young women use to mark their past take on memories of their own, each with a version that unravels and revises the present. nathan@kettlecornrock.net
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Welcome to Pine Hill
1:30pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 2:30pm, Monday, Jan. 23
USA / 80 min / Color / World Premiere
Shannon Harper is an imposing 6-foot, 300-pound young Caribbean American. A recently reformed drug dealer working as a claims adjuster by day and bouncer by night, Shannon receives earth-shattering news that compels him to make peace with his past and search for freedom beyond the concrete jungle of New York. Traveling from the backyards of Brooklyn crack houses to the lush Catskill Mountains, the film is a meditative journey about how we choose to live our lives. Keith Miller is a filmmaker, painter, and professor. A member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, he made his first short film in 2004, and his films, photographs, and paintings have exhibited all over the world. He teaches at NYU where he is the Curator of the Gallatin Galleries.
DIRECTOR.........Keith Miller PRODUCER........Elisabeth Holm WRITER.............Keith Miller EDITOR..............Keith Miller DP......................Alex Mallis, Lily Henderson, Begonia Colomar CAST.................Shannon Harper, Mary Meyers, David Williams, Mark Read, Junior Adolph, Ernest Bastien, Jaiden Kaine, Mark Anthony MUSIC...............Michael Rosen elisabeth@kickstarter.com
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New Skin
Director: Vladimir de Fontenay
USA / 12 min Helen, a single woman struggling with her past relationship and her addiction to alcohol, spends New Year’s Eve working at a gas station. Just before midnight, she meets an intriguing young man. vladimirdefontenay@hotmail.fr
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D OCUMENTARIES ES: This year continues Slamdance’s tradition of programming diverse and truly independent documentaries. But everyone is always asking, what makes a Slamdance film? EP: Anything that’ll rattle the Christian coalition and have them pressure big box stores to pull their advertising from a TLC reality show. Last year’s film, Fordson, featured the football coach on said series and seriously, it’s the exact cultural response we were looking for. That fits the subversive nature of Slamdance. And last year’s Superheroes, watch that on HBO On-Demand on your HD cable box. That’s a Slamdance film. ES: Couldn’t agree more. The really neat thing was that this year we found a common theme among the feature film: perseverance. You see it in the Van Amburg family struggling to make their dream of becoming successful dairy farmers in The First Season, also in two young girls in Thailand trying to make their families dreams of having good homes in Buffalo Girls. It also shows up in Germany on the basketball court, in LA with a graffiti artist trying to keep his creativity alive, with a porn star trying to find happiness and rappers reclaiming their identities back, in a transgender prostitute seeking acceptance and an Internet movement trying to inform the world. EP: And not only do I think I Want My Name Back is the most important hip-hop doc I’ve ever seen or heard of, it should also
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be required viewing for every musician before driving a rented Mercedes down the Sunset Strip. And our shorts line-up is just as dynamic. We’ve got one of the freshest pieces of revolutionary doc material: a filmmaker who grabbed his camera and went to Libya to literally film a revolution. And on the home front our Americana line-up continues that theme of perseverance that we saw in so many submissions this year. ES: Yeah, maybe it’s a shared feeling amongst us programmers or maybe it strikes farther into the American zeitgeist, but I’m ready to persevere and I hope that the audience will do the same after seeing all these beautiful independently made documentaries. EP: I think that says it, Ed. Good night and good luck from the doc team.
Ed Stencel & Ehren Parks Co-Captains, Documentaries Committee
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Buffalo Girls
6:30pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 8:00pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Thailand / 64 min / Color / International Premiere Buffalo Girls tells the story of two 8-year-old girls, Stam and Pet, both professional Muay Thai prizefighters. Set in small villages throughout rural Thailand, the film chronicles the young girls’ emotional and sometimes heartbreaking journeys as they fight in small underground arenas to win prize-money to help provide for their families. After many months of rigorous training and a long schedule of fights, Stam and Pet fight each other for the 20 Kilo championship belt of Thailand and a cash prize that will change the winner’s life forever. Todd Kellstein spent over two years in rural Thailand shooting Buffalo Girls. An experienced music video/commercial director and DP, he left those industries to concentrate on socially conscious storytelling. This is his first documentary film.
DIRECTOR.........Todd Kellstein PRODUCERS......Lanette Phillips, Jonathon Ker EDITOR..............Zimo Huang CAST..................Stam Sor Con Lek, Pet Chor Chanachai, Dakota Fanning (Narration) MUSIC...............Scott Hackwith jk@paydirtpictures.tv
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We Win or We Die
Director: Matthew Millan
Libya, USA / 21 min / World Premiere February, 2011. The people of Benghazi revolt against the brutal regime of Moammar Gaddafi, and besiege the great fortress known as the Katiba. We Win Or We Die is the story of an ordinary man, whose heroic act breaches the walls of the Katiba, and liberates the city of Benghazi. matthewdmillan@gmail.com
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Danland
3:30pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 12:30pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
USA / 85 min / Color / World Premiere When we first meet amateur porn producer Dan Leal, aka “Porno Dan,” he’s at the top of his game and wants to stop starring in his own movies. But following him on a three-year quest to build his business and find love leads everyone into uncharted territory: deep inside the heart and mind of Porno Dan. Alexandra’s longtime experience in the independent film world has proven her eye for a great story. As Director of The Fifth Night Short Film and Screenplay Series at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Alexandra kick-started the development of over fifty feature films including Girlfight, Roger Dodger, Brother to Brother and Transamerica.
DIRECTOR.........Alexandra Berger PRODUCER........Avi Zev Weider WRITER.............Ann Husaini & Alexandra Berger EDITOR..............Ann Husaini & David Petersen DP......................Avi Zev Weider, Derek Wiesehahn,
On Tender Hooks
Director: Kate Shenton
Brandon Cruz, Brian Winckler CAST..................Dan Leal, Kira Silver, Brittany Andrews, Mary Carey, Kayce Monroe, Mike Stratigareas MUSIC...............Michael Montes azw@loopfilmworks.com
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UK / 11 min Human suspension is when people pierce meat hooks through their flesh and suspend themselves in mid-air with them. The documentary follows Damien Lloyd-Davies as he prepares to do his first human suspension, nicknamed the “Suicide Suspension.” kate.a.shenton@googlemail.com
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The First Season
6:00pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 12:00pm, Monday, Jan. 23
USA / 83 Min / Color / World Premiere Paul and Phyllis van Amburg, believing that a small, family farm is the best place to raise their children, take their life savings and buy a defunct dairy. With three children and a fourth on the way, and armed only with their principles and determination, they fight to defy the odds as they become full-time farmers. Through an intimate, cinema vérité style, we witness the Van Amburg’s struggle as they fight against relentless toil, financial ruin and the harsh reality of dairy farming to achieve their version of the American dream. Rudd Simmons produced Dead Man Walking, High Fidelity and the first season of the TV series Boardwalk Empire. He served as the Executive Producer on The Road, Across the Universe, The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tenebaums, and The Hi-Lo Country.
DIRECTOR.........Rudd Simmons PRODUCER........Rudd Simmons EDITOR..............David Meneses DP......................Rudd Simmons and Matthew O’Neill CAST..................Paul van Amburg, Phyllis van Amburg MUSIC...............Paul Brill
Murder Mouth
Director: Madeleine Parry
ruddsimmons@gmail.com
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Australia / 17 min Madeleine’s never killed anything bigger than a spider, so she decides to reconnect the animal and the meal or never eat meat again. She is encouraged to slaughter an animal herself, but even if she can kill an animal, will she still want to eat it afterwards? dan@projectorfilms.com.au
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Getting Up
7:30pm, Friday, Jan. 20 12:00pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
USA / 53 min / Color / World Premiere Tony ‘Tempt’ Quan is a legendary LA graffiti artist, social activist and publisher. In 2003, Tempt was diagnosed with ALS, and he is now unable to breathe, speak, or move except for the use of his eyes, but his mind and creative spirit are intact. Mick Ebeling founded the Not Impossible Foundation in order to give a voice back to Tempt to once again do his art. Getting Up beautifully illustrates that through the will of two men, and on the shoulders of a community, anything is possible. Caskey’s avant-garde vision draws inspiration from the beauty found in the bizarre and distorted details of ordinary life. Her first short film, The Package, was a visual foray into the vulnerable world of an odd deliveryman’s quest for love, and had its world premiere at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival.
DIRECTOR........Caskey Ebeling PRODUCER........Jon Barlow WRITER.............Tempt EDITOR..............Luis Lopez, Amardeep Kaleka DP......................Amardeep Kaleka CAST..................Angst, Chaz, Defer, Eyeone, Mare 139,
Ben Franklin Blowing Bubbles at a Sword Director: Jonathan Napolitano
Mick Ebeling, Slick & Tempt MUSIC...............Money Mark
caskey@theebelinggroup.com
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USA / 40 min / World Premiere Three mental athletes stretch the limits of their minds as they train for and compete in the 2011 USA Memory Championship. newyorktwist@gmail.com
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
I Want My Name Back
5:30pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 7:30pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
USA / 93 min / Color & B&W
The rise and fall of former original members of The Sugarhill Gang, Master Gee and Wonder Mike, creative leaders of the group that recorded the biggest selling Hip Hop single of all time, “Rapper’s Delight,” widely credited with introducing the world to Hip Hop music in 1979. And then one day in 1984 it was gone… the money, fame and even their names, as ruthless forces in the record industry tried to exploit and destroy them. Thirty years after their historic recording, Master Gee and Wonder Mike come back to reclaim their names. Roger Paradiso is the Producer/Director/Writer of Tony ‘N’ Tina’s Wedding starring Mila Kunis and Adrien Grenier, and Executive Producer for City By The Sea, starring Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand and James Franco. He is currently in development with a script he co-wrote with novelist Jack Englelhard (Indecent Proposal).
DIRECTOR.........Roger Paradiso PRODUCERS......Roger Paradiso, Josh Green, Edward J. Albowicz EDITOR..............Cory Monden MUSIC...............William Bookman (Score); Henry Williams, Guy O’Brien, Tracey Temple, Michael Wright (Original Music) CAST..................Wonder Mike, Master Gee, HenDogg and DJ T. Dynasty, Treach and Vinnie of Naughty by Nature, Grandmaster CAZ, Bob Sinclair, Melle Mel josh@emergingpictures.com
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The Devotion Project: More Than Ever
Director: Antony Osso
USA / 10 min The 54-year love story between William Campbell and John Hilton, starting with their meeting in an NYC bathhouse in 1957, up to the present day, when an illness presents them with new struggles and an appreciation of their very special bond. The first film in a series. antony.osso@gmail.com
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Kelly
11:00am, Sunday, Jan. 22 5:00pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25 USA / 50 min / Color / World Premiere At the age of sixteen, transgender adolescent Kelly Van Ryan left her rural origins in search of proverbial Hollywood fame and fortune. She arrived on the West Coast accompanied only by a childhood friend and a long-harbored desire for love and acceptance. Without a proper support network, Kelly was quickly thrust into a survival struggle that often typifies the quest for stardom in Los Angeles. Financial and personal frustrations eventually led to prostitution and drug abuse. Photographer and filmmaker James Stenson’s work has appeared internationally in Marie Claire, GQ, Elle, Cosmopolitan, FHM, The Times, The Telegraph, Entertainment Weekly, Variety and Time, and for media groups such as Warner Bros, BBC, HBO, and Sky Media.
DIRECTOR.........James Stenson PRODUCERS......James Alario, Anne Kemp, Elizabeth Racster, James Stenson
EDITOR..............Meghan Klien DPS....................James Alario, James Stenson CAST..................Kelly Van Ryan MUSIC...............Russell Spurlock
I’m Never Afraid! Director: Willem Baptist
jamesstenson@me.com
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Netherlands / 20 min Eight-year-old Mack was told by doctors he should have been dead. Now he performs on the motocross track while death watches him from all corners. He gets inspiration from his deceased grandfather and support from his sister who lives in constant fear of going into anaphylactic shock. willem@kaliberfilm.nl
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
No Ashes, No Phoenix
5:00pm, Friday, Jan. 20 12:30pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Germany / 88 min / Color / International Premiere After years of trying, the Phoenix Hagen basketball team finally makes it to Germany’s 1st league, the “Bundesliga.” The fans in the small, industrial town of Hagen are thrilled. The problem is, in order to stay in the 1st league they have to win a few games. And Phoenix just keeps on losing. Their young coach is desperate. Looking for help fast, the team signs Michael Jordan. But their savior brings a lot more baggage to Hagen than just a famous name. A film from the depths of the locker room. Born in Hagen, Germany, in 1976, Jens Pfeifer graduated in cultural anthropology and law from the University of Hamburg and continued to study filmmaking at the University of Television and Film in Munich, Germany. He has directed numerous short documentaries, including several for German television.
DIRECTOR ........Jens Pfeifer PRODUCER .......Alexander Krötsch DP......................Tobias Tempel EDITOR..............Eric Asch CAST..................Ingo Freyer, Steven Wriedt, Michael Hakim Jordan, Chase Griffin, Matthias Grothe, Quentin Pryor, Bernd Kruel, Andreas Marx MUSIC...............B. Fleischmann film@pechschwefel.de
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You Can’t Win
Director: Jorge Torres-Torres Puerto Rico, US / 12 min / World Premiere A rare glimpse at an ancient bloodsport which has endured for centuries and since has become illegal in many countries around the world. Animal welfare activists continue to lobby for a ban on the sport. This is an unflinching portrait of cockfighting in the island of Puerto Rico. jorgejtorres@gmail.com
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists 5:30pm, Friday, Jan. 20 3:30pm, Thursday, Jan. 26
USA / 93 min / Color / World Premiere
Through interviews with current members in disguise, people recently returned from prison or currently facing trial, writers, academics, activists and major players in various “raids,” We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists explores the historical roots of early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater, and traces the collective’s evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach, the most transformative civil disobedience of our time. Brian Knappenberger is an award winning writer, director and producer for PBS Frontline/World, Bloomberg Television, The Sundance Channel, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, and The Travel Channel. His investigations often surround issues of freedom of speech and technology.
DIRECTOR.........Brian Knappenberger PRODUCER........Luminant Media WRITER.............Brian Knappenberger EDITOR..............Andy Robertson DPS....................Scott Sinkler, Dan Krauss, Lincoln Else MUSIC...............John Dragonetti And The Submarines
no relation
Director: Kieran Dick
knappy1@mac.com
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Canada / 7 min Within his writings, science fiction author Philip K. Dick often posed the question, ‘What is real?’ In this short experimental documentary, filmmaker Kieran Dick asks ‘What is real and how do you capture it?’ When the camera is on a subject, are there such things as truth and honesty? sablefat@hotmail.com
S HORTS JG: What sorts of short films are you most interested in screening at Slamdance, Randall? RG: Well Joel, our short film audience is savvy, and we should show them challenging, entertaining work that will have them talking for days. DeafBlind and Soy tan feliz are two out of many shorts this year that I think can generate that kind of excitement. What about you? JG: Original, compelling, tonally consistent films. Certainly The Kook, Crown, and Silent River (among others) fit that definition for me. Films that I find to be in some way moving or funny or disturbing or beautiful. Man I hope I don’t sound too pretentious. Do I? RG: You don’t sound pretentious. I do think you sound a little too general. JG: I guess that’s intentional. To me, while there are certain general parameters that define a “Slamdance film,” I think it ultimately becomes a fairly personal response. I mean if there’s a film that is prototypically Slamdance but I hate it, I’m going to argue against it. How would you define what constitutes a Slamdance film?
RG: Because Slamdance was born out of rejection, I think we ought to seek out the sorts of films that are often rejected by most festivals. I keep an eye out for films that exhibit raw talent, but are too weird, unclassifiable, or rough around the edges to be easily programmed
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elsewhere. I think the films People Parade and The Good Person are good examples of this. JG: So if a film has already had a good festival run, does that disqualify it for you? RG: Not necessarily. If a film is mind-blowingly good and pushes the boundaries of cinema, and it’s been justly honored the world over then I don’t have a problem with us showing it, too. A lot of times those sorts of films get more play at foreign festivals than at festivals in the US, which can sometimes lean a little more toward crowd-pleasers.
JG: Yeah, I feel the same way, we owe it to these filmmakers to provide a platform in Park City. RG: Agreed. I can’t wait to see how this group of shorts plays!
Joel Garber & Randall Good Captains of the Short Films Committee
SHORTS BLOCK ONE WILD CHERRY
I AmDir:John Wayne Christina Choe
USA / 18 min / World Premiere
The Centrifuge BrainDir: Project Till Nowak
Germany / 7 min In the 1970s a group of US scientists studied the effect of extreme amusement park rides on their passengers’ brains. Even today research fever will lead to the most fanciful experiments. tn@framebox.com
A young black cowboy struggles with the death of his best friend. notoriousfilms@yahoo.com
11:00am, Saturday, Jan. 21 • 3:00pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Cold Blood
Dir: Martin Thibaudeau
When Rabbits Fly Dir: Helgi Jóhannsson,
Halldor Ragnar Halldorsson
Iceland / 21 min / North American Premiere
A family of three and one rabbit is forced to move into a cardboard box on top of a high-rise. With a baby on the way and always wanting the best for the family, the father comes up with a devious plan involving his pregnant wife and six different men. helgi@draft.is
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Canada / 5 min An exhausted mother brings her terrified son to the hospital. She soon realizes that her daughter is not the only child who needs her attention. infoloco @locomotionfilms.com
People Parade Dir: John M. Wilson
USA / 24 min / World Premiere
After the star of a longrunning variety show passes away, his son is obligated to reunite a weathered cast of television performers and host the final episode. TheFutureMachine @Gmail.Com
SHORTS BLOCK TWO PINEAPPLE
3:00pm, Friday, Jan. 20 • 1:00pm, Monday, Jan. 23
The Good Person Dir: Yukihiro Katô
Japan / 23 min / US Premiere A housewife with a missing husband finds that her joy is short-lived when a mysterious woman visits claiming to have found him. bu_nyan81@yahoo.co.jp
I’m Coming Over Dir: Sam Handel
33 Teeth
Dir: Evan Roberts
USA / 8 min
USA / 25 min In an eccentric mountain town, a borderline neoLuddite struggles to maintain and share a fragile state of enlightenment. sam@samhandel.com
Eddie is a hormonal 14-year-old boy living alone with his mother in the suburbs. He has a heightened fascination with the comb of his attractive older neighbor, Chad. evandavidroberts@yahoo.com
DeafBlind
Dir: Ewan Bailey
UK / 15 min / World Premiere
A deaf and blind woman feels Christ’s presence in her home despite her deep depression. Meanwhile, a mysterious young man has developed an intense fascination with her. ewan@hoppity.com
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SHORTS BLOCK THREE RASPBERRY
1:00pm, Friday, Jan. 20 • 12:30pm, Thursday, Jan. 26
Eileen Pratt
The Kook
Dir: Michael Kratochvil
Another Bullet Dodged Dir: Landon Zakheim USA / 13 min
Australia / 15 min / World Premiere Eileen is a middle-aged bus driver living a life of solitude, disconnected from the world around her. A tragic work accident prompts her to confront her past, sending her on a downward spiral back to where the pain began. michaelkrat@yahoo.com
A wolf in sheep’s clothing who thinks he is a sheep. landonjz@gmail.com
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Reinaldo Arenas Dir: Lucas Leyva USA / 5 min
Told from the point of view of a dying shark, the film captures the last moments in the life of an unintentional immigrant in downtown Miami. LucasLeyva@gmail.com
Dir: Nat Livingston Johnson & Gregory Mitnick USA / 18 min Fa is a gentle and unassuming member of an eccentric religious sect cloistered in the Catskill Mountains. When she discovers that her group’s intergalactic signals are being crossed with those of a local man named Malcolm, Fa sets out to find him and resolve the troubling miscommunication. nat@superpeking.com greg@superpeking.com
Lin
Dir: Piers Thompson
UK, Bulgaria, Turkey / 25 min
A woman arrives in an unknown country at daybreak. She appears to be running away from her past. piers@hectorfilms.co.uk
SHORTS BLOCK FOUR WATERMELON
1:00pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 • 5:30pm, Tuesday, Jan. 24
Soy tan feliz
Crown
Dir: Vladimir Durán
Little Horses Dir: Levi Abrino USA / 18 min
A divorced, small town postal worker tries to win his family back with the very best pony he can afford. littlehorsesfilm@gmail.com
Argentina, Colombia / 14 min / US Premiere Fragments of a Saturday winter day. The Vittenzein brothers are alone at their family house. Mateo stops by to pick up Bruno and Camilo and drive them to the country house where their mother awaits. A sudden slam on the brakes brings them into the intimacy of a waste land. soytanfeliz@servocine.com
Dir: AG Rojas
CodesDir:ofJonHonor Rafman Canada / 14 min / World Premiere
USA / 8 min / World Premiere A gang of street kids turns an unassuming house into a haven for middle-aged junkies hooked on a most bizarre narcotic. Doug, a habitual user, returns to experience a surreal high from which he may not return. riel.rochd@gmail.com
In a journey that interweaves cinematic genres, a legendary arcade video gamer moves seamlessly through actual and virtual space and time. While he cherishes the intense experiences of mastering a renowned game or defeating an arch-rival, he comes to question the significance of his legacy and tradition itself. jonrafman@gmail.com
A Scene at the Sea Dir: Jaehee Lee
South Korea / 22 min
A blind elderly man’s deep, nostalgic attachment to the sea begins to worry his caretaker son. The son must find a way to balance his concern for his father with his father’s devotion to the sea. cellavi@hotmail.com
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SHORTS BLOCK FIVE ORANGE
8:30pm, Saturday, Jan. 21 • 10:30am, Thursday, Jan. 26
The Agony and Sweat of the Human Spirit Dir: D. Jesse Damazo & Joe Bookman
USA / 15 min A quiet ukuleleist and his talkative manager struggle to realize their artistic vision in this comic story of loss and friendship. joe@agonyandsweat.com
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Solipsist
Dir: Andrew Huang
Park
Dir: Liz Cambron
USA / 19 min
The story of an unnamed girl living in a trailer park, drifting through life, beginning sexual explorations, and stealing her dad’s Vicodin. Her budding relationship with an older woman begins to give her stability, but her hunger for a way out of the trailer park continues to grow. elizabeth.cambron@live.com
USA / 10 min / World Premiere A three-part psychedelic fantasy film about otherworldly beings whose minds and bodies converge into one entity. Filled with elaborate costumes, visual effects, and underwater puppets, the film is a non-narrative experience designed to transport viewers through a hypnotic, dream-like journey. andrewhu84@gmail.com
Silent River Dir: Anca Miruna Lazarescu
Germany / 30 min / US Premiere
In 1986, crossing the Danube River from Ceausescu’s Romania was the most promising way to escape to the West. Gregor and Vali want to get away. They need each other, yet there is mutual distrust. info@filmallee.com
BE INDEPENDENT WITH YOUR FILM. RELY ON US FOR THE REST OF YOUR PLANS. Yelp's got the reel deal on fabulous local businesses in Park City, Salt Lake and beyond.
ANIMATION SHORTS
Birdboy Follow the Sun! Dir: MK12
USA / 4 min
Dir: Alberto Vázquez, Pedro Rivero
Spain / 12 min A terrible industrial accident changes Dinky’s life forever. Now her fate may ride on the wings of her eccentric friend Birdboy, a misfit who hides in the Dead Forest, lost in his fantasies. info@birdboy.net
While we have a few minutes before the show, why not stop by our refreshment stand? We have all kinds of tasty treats—delicious pizza, ice-cold refreshments, fresh popcorn and Milk Bombs®! Tempt your taste buds today with our selection of sweets and all-American beef products! Popcorn for all eternity! Hell’s on its way! teddy@mk12.com
Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Hietsuki Bushi Cocoon Dir: Ryo Hirano
Japan / 4 min / World Premiere
A traditional Japanese song meets science fiction, future agriculture, teenage story, blip music and eccentric animation in a story of quantum physics across time. far-east@street.ne.jp
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Dir: Bradley Schaffer
USA / 7 min A short-tempered Texas sheriff uses his cowboy logic to recklessly defeat a race of condescending, cocoondwelling critters. Scagar@aim.com
Soil Dir: Meejin Hong
USA / 3 min / World Premiere
As imagery transforms between figures and abstraction, the life cycle of an organism and dualities within human nature are explored. meejinhong@gmail.com
3:30pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 • 11:30pm, Wednesday, Jan. 24
Hollow Dir: Oliver Franklin Anderson
USA / 3 min
Two young brothers stumble across a disturbing secret in the fleeting light of a Midwestern summer. oliverfanderson@gmail.com
The Observer
The House
Dir: Abbey Luck
Dir: David Buob
USA / 5 min / World Premiere A curious citizen triumphs over the reign of a greedy king by spreading word about a new way of life. After the passive villagers are poisoned by the king’s ideological vomit, the Observer seeks truth in a mysterious forest. i.am.abbeyluck@gmail.com
Peekaboo Dir: Cecilia Fletcher
USA / 9 min / World Premiere
Germany / 7 min The dream of a little girl is to care for her grandmother, but her aunt and mother do not let her. There is only one way out. david@davidbuob.de
Venus Dir: Tor Fruergaard
Denmark / 8 min
Carolina and Rasmus have not had sex for four months. To Caroline’s great dismay, Rasmus believes the answer is to be found at the local swingers’ club, and she reluctantly agrees to go with him in an attempt to save their relationship. mail@torfruergaard.com
An animated short about the decisions we make and the decisions made for us. While traveling to her dream vacation, a woman is confronted with evidence of murder and the decision of how to react. ceflet@gmail.com
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MADE IN IRAN: 7 SHORT PREMIERES Amongst fellow filmmakers at Slamdance last year, I was drawn into a conversation about an Iranian youth culture panel discussion taking place at the adjacent festival. I told them about my past experience in curating Iranian film screenings in Chicago. The idea came up of having an Iranian special screening at Slamdance 2012. Born and raised in Iran and being a frequent visitor after my migration to the US, I became painfully aware of a lack of direct and veritable representation of a part of the Iranian population that I still have a great affinity with: the Iranian artist. For me, it wasn’t about politics or religion. It was
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about artists I knew whose work I found to be brilliant and worth sharing with people in the west. In the spring of 2005, I personally funded and curated the first Iranian short screening in Chicago titled “Samad Film Festival”.
Dances With The Armchair
Made in Iran: 7 Short Premieres is a result of my most recent trip to Iran. I met filmmakers eager to have their work shown in the US, and I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to present their work at Slamdance and help foster awareness of the Iranian artist’s struggle and unique vision.
Iran / 4 min / US Premiere In this video, the armchair and fire are pigments creating shapes and forms that at times resemble the faces that once sat on the armchair. As the chair burns down, the faces dance and prepare it for its death. nehdaran@gmail.com
Ehsan Ghoreishi
Far From Him, Towards Him Dir: Javad Rezaei Monfared Iran / 16 min / World Premiere
Dir: Dariush Nehdaran
A 35-year-old man with a terminal disease wants to reconcile with his father who cut him off years ago. He learns his father is a servant at a holy shrine in the religious city of Qum. Once near the shrine, he is unable to see it and faces new challenges. j_rezaee_m@yahoo.com
2:30pm, Wednesday, Jan. 25
Pondering Room No. 8 Dir: Zohreh Keshavarz & Motlagh Shirazi
Iran / 10 min / World Premiere Humans are imprisoned in the confines of their minds. Restless and drowned in everyday routines, they await a savior or leader to guide them to a better life. Eventually, one of their own breaks free of the cage and the rest, inspired by him, free themselves from empty thoughts and repetitive lifestyles. zohre.k.m.shirazi@gmail.com
Dir: Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz & Motlagh Shirazi
Iran / 3 min / World Premiere
A Pore As Big As a Knuckle
When The Kid Was a Kid Dir: Anahita Ghazvinizadeh
Iran / 17 min / World Premiere
Dir: Ali Ahmadi
Once upon a time, in a clear night where moonlight was shining, there was an inner child who went wandering around with outer self. The street had blue pavements and the air was crisp. directedillusion@gmail.com
Iran / 12 min / World Premiere This film examines how people in Iran inevitably give in to a life of tension and conflict without much choice. ali16_ahmadi@yahoo.com
Taha, a 10-year-old, is involved in a play in which children imitate their parents’ roles. Living with his divorced mother, Taha understands new things about his mom by playing her role. anahita.g.z@gmail.com
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The Tree Dir: Hamed Siami
Iran / 8 min / World Premiere A man who goes to pick up a photo of himself in a small shop is confronted with a maddening and paradoxical situation. beinghamedsiami @yahoo.com
1:30pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 • 3:00pm, Monday, Jan. 23
AMERICANA SHORTS
Kiss the Paper Dir: Fiona Otway
USA / 20 min
What does nostalgia for letterpress reveal to us about a broader cultural transformation? A letterpress printer for over 50 years, Alan Runfeldt invites us into his print shop to discover some answers. festivals@fionaotway.com
Kudzu Vine
No Wine Left Behind
Dir: Josh Gibson
Dir: Kevin Gordon
USA / 20 min Through images of kudzucovered forms, photographed in black and white and radiating with the luminance of early cinema, this ode to the climbing, trailing, and coiling species Pueraria lobata evokes the agricultural history and mythic textures of the American South, while paying tribute to the human capacity for improvisation. joshigi@duke.edu
The Lookout Dir: Brian Bolster
USA / 16 min / World Premiere
Fire lookouts are an important link in detecting and preventing wildfires that can destroy our public lands. “The Lookout” captures the solitary working life of one lookout living in complete isolation while scanning the landscape prepared to combat untamed wildfires. briansbolster@me.com
USA / 14 min When Marine Sergeant Josh Laine returned from fighting in Iraq to his native Livermore, CA, he couldn’t find a job anywhere. When a girlfriend got him into wine, he decided to take a crack at winemaking. The winery has since become a place where returning veterans can find a job, camaraderie, and a sense of purpose. kevin@kevingordonfilms.com
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The Professional Dir: Skylar Nielsen
USA / 8 min
Shot on location in Neil’s metal fabrication shop, the 3rd generation craftsman gives a sincere overview of his life’s work, dispensing hard-worn wisdom while illuminating the sobering realities of the role private business plays in an ever changing economic landscape. Ian@vitabrevisfilms.com
A DVICE F ROM S ETH G ORDON
The best advice I ever got was to make a film in a circumstance where I (and my fellow filmmakers) answered to no one. The result of that enterprise was The King of Kong in which we had no financial investors, no studio, no overbearing elder statesmen; we had no one other than ourselves to judge our process and its product. Slamdance accepted and screened Kong in 2007 and when we sold it my life changed and my film career began. Thanks to Kong, many doors have since opened in a number of disciplines but one thing has remained true across all of these opportunities: nothing compares to the way we made Kong. All the creativity and resources for great storytelling were as available to us (with our prosumer camera and off-the-shelf editing software) as can be found on the most elaborate production of any pay-grade in Hollywood or elsewhere and it is to that purest sense of craft
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and quiet experimentation that I continually aspire. That is where the goods are mined. The only advice I would give myself back then (if I would have listened) would be this oft repeated maxim about film: “No one knows anything.” And I would go further: there’s no THING to know. Audiences can’t be predicted, nor critics, nor the alchemical mystery that yields the great works in film or elsewhere. So burn the candle into the wee hours. Believe in yourself. Never surrender. Don’t get chumpatized. And, no one knows anything, certainly not me.
Seth Gordon
Here we are. Another year at Slamdance with the crème de la crème of indie filmmakers. We, here, are all winners! We are the 1% of American filmmakers! We are deserving of distribution offers, industry acclaim and invitations to the most exclusive parties! Yeah right. Party invitations will happen—even the most hardened grump is forced to socialize, and here in Park City you
O N F AILURE
can’t shake a stick without hitting someone brilliant and connected. But, industry acclaim and a distribution offer...? Not a guarantee. Enter everyone’s favorite fear: Failure. With such an intimate understanding of your film’s complex birth, and flush off the high of having been included in the first place, it becomes a strange sort of deflation when nothing much happens at the festival, itself. You start to feel powerless, unable to advance. You hear about the amazing parties where so-and-so met so-and-so, and the buzz around the hot new films at Sundance. And you start to feel, frankly, like shit. When you get laid up with the inevitable mid-week Park City flu, and are shivering in your static electricity-heavy condo unable to sleep, knowing that somewhere on the mountain there is an
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awesome party going on that you weren’t invited to, I would invite you to consider these words: This is normal. This is part of the process, for independent filmmakers. You are working in a system that is designed to keep you out, and a lot of that is out of your control. Instead of aspiring to be the person throwing the party that no one can come to, I would invite you to turn your sense of outsider-ness, of failure, into a sort of commitment. Commit to doing it differently. Commit to failing at the system, ‘cause the system is failing you. Most importantly – put away that half-assed daydream about abandoning the film world altogether, get your ass in gear and go fuck shit up. Make it happen, in your own way, acquisitions execs be damned. Turn failure into a new model. And make that model a success.
Saskia Wilson-Brown
W HAT I S U NDERGROUND? NL: What is underground film? By word association, Emile De Antonio’s “Underground” (1976) immediately comes to mind. The director filmed an underground interview with an underground terrorist organization and the FBI tried to confiscate the footage. They tried to keep the film underground so to speak. The director’s work was controversial and theatres got bombed. Predictably, a lot of screenings were cancelled. The government buried the films underground. I have no idea if De Antonio considered himself an underground filmmaker but I admire that spirit of resistance. And there is also something he said about his craft that informs my underground ideals: “I raise a minimal budget for a maximum amount of effort, for a maximum amount of commentary, for a maximum amount of creating new form.” He was speaking of documentary in that quote but, again, it makes me think of underground cinema at its best. As you will note, we are already two paragraphs into this text and I have not ventured a definition of underground film. I don’t have a good one yet. However, I have a few ideas that might describe it. Underground film is not a genre. It is a form of resistance to dominant cultural paradigms. And what bestows underground status must occur in the specific circumstances of a historical moment. What may appear shocking to one generation seems quaint to the next. For instance, Bunuel’s L’Age d’Or (1930) was condemned by a Spanish newspaper as “the most repulsive corruption of our age... the new poison which Judaism, masonry, and rabid, revolutionary sectarianism want to use
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in order to corrupt the people.” It was banned in many countries and yanked from distribution for nearly a half-century. Though it has achieved institutional status today, that was an underground film for its time. There is something about underground cinema that is feral. Avant-garde film is more domesticated. It does not seem out of place in a modern art museum. When underground film crosses into “respectable” venues, there is the satisfaction of vindication but also a feeling of loss. It’s like putting a lion in a zoo so visitors can gawk at it from a safe distance. Your thoughts, Burke? BR: First of all who is Siskel and who is Ebert in this discussion? I tend to agree with everything you said there—on an intellectual level. However, What is interesting to me is the way in which you’ve said it is inherently contradictory... I’d like to focus on your use of “feral” and “domesticated.” To me the word “underground” is far too often commandeered as a self-proclaimed badge of cool to offset the insecurity of not having been invited into the eyes or ears of the masses. And, of course, they would jump at the opportunity! I can speak on this because, in my youth, I was admittedly guilty of this.
So “underground” is a flawed word from the jump. Like “liberal” or “independent” or “punk.” They are the kinds of words that transform in the mouths of the users, including all the academic diarrhea my esteemed gentle-brother just spouted, which is still from the position of an outsider looking in. Neither position is correct. These are simply semantic debates. ‘Feral Cinema’… I like that. Work that comes from a unique personal exploration is what hits me in the clit: the fiery voice of an individual (“Individual” being another word that has been claimed by the fools). I think your construction of the definition as based on history is necessary, but in and of itself deconstructs the “feral” nature of which you speak. Like the art professors who will teach Picasso’s brush stroke techniques, but will never teach that Picasso’s defied his teachers. And most of could never have discovered these techniques on their own because they are too busy trying to define things. Playing devil’s advocate—I would say your very attempt to categorize it, using the language of institutions is exactly that cage imprisoning the lion. We live in exciting times. New resources for creating cinema give power to the people. As a result, you get the paths flooded with mediocrity and worse. I wish the cream always rises to the top but let’s be realistic. We have not heard of all the greatest artists who have ever lived. A few have been lucky, and we’re lucky to have had them. I think that is where you hit the nail on the head—timing. What is underground to one generation is quaint to another and what not. I differ on your point of view mainly in that I don’t think the box office statistics or budgets or venues are relevant to the “underground”
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film. I think it is the nature of the piece that makes it so. I think no matter how many Oscar nominations David Lynch receives, he is still exploring techniques that are untried and ideas that are personal—not sculpted for the masses. To speak on it as a matter of numbers is to open up the can of worms labeled “degree.” Is Gaspar Noé not underground anymore because he’s got financial backing from major international players (...which he did, and continues to do, very brave and difficult work to earn) or is he underground still because 99% of Americans have still never heard of him? If I may shift this conversation toward a different perspective, I propose that many a “punk rock” band failed to find their potential because they were concerned with what conformed to punk rock. Tearing away the constraints that define punk is the “punkest” thing to do. Underground cinema need not be anything more than unique, spirited and most importantly: BRAVE. GOOD underground cinema needs all those elements as well as a technical and creative prowess in every element of filmmaking.
Noel Lawrence & Burke Roberts [continued at www.slamdance.com/2148160]
ANARCHY SHORTS
Mahahula The Giant Rodent of Happiness
We’ll Become Oil
The Magic Man
Dir: Mihai Grecu
Dir: DC Kasundra
Romania, Hungary / 8 min / US Premiere
USA / 10 min
Dir: Stefanos Sitaras
Dir: NOMINT
Greece / 45 sec Happiness is a very serious matter, definitely worthy of an awesome deity like Mahahula, an ancient gigantic infant rodent born from an alien space travelling seed that crash-landed on primordial earth. info@nomint.gr
The Fritzl Effect
Dry landscapes are filled with the traces of a metaconflict, beyond any visible political or ideological issue. A continuous and unexplainable state of crisis takes over the spaces and the view, transforming pure mineral geography into a theater of war. The story of oil taking over history. thegrecu@gmail.com
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Greece / 7 min / US Premiere A musician keeps a young woman in his basement for inspiration. As she tries to escape, she only falls deeper into his trap. stefanos_sitaras @emerson.edu
STIHL Dir: James Benning & James Raymond
A vaudeville magician resorts to the black arts to secure fame and fortune, but unleashes a sinister force that kills his lover and traps him in an alternate reality. After bringing his beloved back to life, they must learn to live in this prison. But love is a powerful thing. A black and white silent film, presented in 3D. dckasundra @deadsetfilms.com
USA / 5 min / World Premiere Experimental filmmaker James Benning and video artist James Raymond collaborate to create a dark fantasy world founded on modern day fears with chain saws, teddy bears, porno and masked men. jamesraymond88@gmail.com
9:00pm, Sunday, Jan. 22 • 2:30pm, Thursday, Jan. 26
The Dude Dir: Jeff Feuerzeig
USA / 19 min
Meet the dude behind The Dude. As the inspiration for the beloved central character in the Coen Brothers’ cult-favorite film The Big Lebowski, Jeff Dowd has become a popular figure at Lebowski Fests around the country. jonathan@rsafilms.com
At the Formal
Stokje
Dir: Andrew Kavanagh
Dir: Léonie de Boer
Australia / 8 min / US Premiere Graduating year 12 students in formal attire, their parents and teachers, mill around the grounds and car park of a hall in the twilight. At first, it looks like the normal proceedings of a school formal. But the observation of uncanny moments hint that things may not be exactly as they seem. ramona@telecican.com
I Saw Your Sister Yesterday Dir: Mina Park
USA / 3 min
Netherlands / 13 min Ten-year-old Len is sitting unsuspectingly in the play tower, when he is addressed by a stranger. The boy introduces Len to a new world, but on one condition—something about a stick. leoniemorgane@gmail.com
A woman feels the many restrictions which come from our social environment: prejudice, sexism and social norms. She suffers from those things, but nobody knows her pain. Finally, her pain becomes herself and she returns to society. minaeyo@hotmail.com
The Severe Psychosis of a Musicless Man Dir: Ian McClerin
USA / 13 min / World Premiere
A cartoonish journey into the mundane life of Preston: a middle-aged family man who begins hearing music in his head, fusing with his eccentric family, that plummets him into insanity. millerk@uncsa.edu
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Peep slugmag.com for daily coverage of Slamdance films, parties and more.
O N T HE R OAD W ITH S UPERHEROES We premiered our documentary Superheroes at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival and it was one of the most wonderful experiences imaginable. The Festival supported the film and us, the filmmakers, in a way that is never to be forgotten. We had amazing crowds at every screening and the exposure we received at Slamdance ultimately led to us selling our film to HBO. We also won the Theatrical Release Award, which is by far the best award a filmmaker could possibly receive at any festival anywhere. To be given the opportunity to go “On The Road” and screen our film theatrically, in twelve cities, across the US (also, Ireland and Canada!) including a week long run at the IFC Center in New York City, was a dream come true. The
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IFC run also led to a great review in the New York Times, which made this already amazing experience that much sweeter. Slamdance is a festival that feeds the needs of emerging filmmakers, which is something that cannot be said about most other festivals. Slamdance truly is a festival that is “By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.”
Michael Barnett & Theodore James
S LAMDANCE TV SLAMDANCE.COM LAUNCHES SLAMDANCE TV The new slamdance.com launched in September of 2011 after months of creative collaboration between Slamdance office staff and gurus @CargoCollective. Slamdance has a long-standing reputation for recognizing raw talent and providing a home for those whose visions and voices might otherwise go unnoticed. In creating the improved .com, it was important that the site serve as a resource for all independents and a refuge for all rejects. The Festival that was born after being rejected from Sundance 18 years ago introduces:
on slamdance.com, cable and Video-On-Demand outlets. At its heart, Slamdance TV lives by ye olde mantra — “By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.” Slamdance TV will give back to the independent community by spotlighting new Festival talent as well as providing insight from successful Slamdance alumni like Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity). Through honoring notable filmmakers
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from the Festival’s past, we welcome tomorrow’s visionaries to the ever-expanding and notoriously irreverent Slamdance family. In addition to filmmaker interviews, Slamdance TV will include Q&As, festival event coverage and even two half-hour short film blocks (comedy and animation), all for FREE. Let’s face it: Not everyone can make it to slopes of Park City for this year’s Slamdance Film Festival. Why not experience the Anarchy In Utah from the comforts of your own home? It all begins with slamdance.com. FIND US. FIND ANARCHY. FIND FUN.
Ben Hethcoat
Producer, Slamdance TV
What do Elvis’ rhinestone necklace, Leonardo Da Vinci, this year’s Slamdance Screenplay Competition winners, and the Occupy movement all have in
F IRESIDE C HATS common? The Slamdance 2012 Fireside Chats, that’s what! Designed to provide you with new and essential tools as you embark on your next filmmaking adventure, we invite you to join us in our thirteen year tradition of bringing together filmmakers, industry figures, and technology gurus to meet in an informal setting. Everyone is welcome—there is no admission fee. Location: Gallery Screening Room Admission: Free to all Chats. First come, first serve. Coffee/Bagels/Fruit 9:30am. A special thank you to Steve Montal and Edward Stencel.
Friday January 20, 2012 10:00-11:00am
T.C.B.!
Sponsored by Pierce Law, ABS Insurance, and the Louisiana Film Commission With David Pierce (Pierce Law Group, LLP), Josh Green (I Want My Name Back, Producer), Peter Baxter (Slamdance) Ever wonder what the “T.C.B.” on Elvis’ rhinestone necklace stood for? Taking Care of Business. This no-nonsense chat focuses on the business of pre-production: obtaining insurance, finding state incentives, filming on location, and legal issues. Join industry professionals for a discussion on how to successfully navigate the world of insurance, legal affairs, and business challenges to get your film into production. Friday January 20, 2012 11:30am-12:30 pm
KEEP CALM, WRITE ON
Sponsored by Slamdance Screenplay Competition in conjunction with the Writers Guild of America, West With Lisa Gottlieb (University of Miami), Todd Berger (Writer), Chad Kinkle (Jug Face, Winner of Screenplay Competition 2011), RJ Buckley (Harold’s Bad Day, Winner of Screenplay Competition, Short, 2011) So you wrote a screenplay, now what? Learn the ropes of working with agents, managers, producers, and executives. Find out about the Writers Guild, and its benefits and protections. Learn more about the Slamdance Screenplay Competition, and how past winners have gotten their screenplays produced and screened as festival features.
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Monday, January 23, 2012 11:30am-12:30pm
THE POTENTIAL OF COLOR Sponsored by Blackmagic Design With Alexis Van Hurkman, Kendall Eckmann and Mark Thompson Meet with Blackmagic Design, as they give a tour of their latest post production tools. Alexis, Kendall and Mark will discuss the power and potential of color, now that high quality color correction tools are now available to anyone, regardless of budget. Alexis will showcase his use of the Davinci Resolve on recent films and television pilots. Demo to follow Tuesday morning in the filmmaker lounge. Wednesday, January 25, 2012 10:00-11:00am
WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY… TO FIND DISTRIBUTION With David Magdael, Orly Ravid, Tom Thimot (Monkeybars) In a time long long ago, an indie filmmaker was approached by a suit, they shook hands, the suit walked away with the film, the filmmaker walked away with a fist full of dollars. A week later the film was playing at a theatre near you. Those days may be long gone, but in 2012 there are more options than ever before to get your film in front of your audience. Learn about new distribution possibilities through social media, web & mobile apps, and other DIY methods. Come be a part of this interactive discussion with some of the most formative minds in this movement. Occupy Distribution!
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A WARDS & P RIZES
Rescued from a fetid Turkish street, Sparky has since fathered many a fine offspring in solid bronze. Highly sought after around the world, this year’s litter are ready to be awarded and accompanied by generous sponsor prizes in the following categories:
JURY AWARD FOR SHORT FILM JURY AWARD FOR ANIMATION JURY AWARD FOR FEATURE DOC JURY AWARD FOR SHORT DOC JURY AWARD FOR NARRATIVE FEATURE AUDIENCE AWARD FOR FEATURE DOC AUDIENCE AWARD FOR FEATURE NARRATIVE FILMMAKER AWARD FOR SPIRIT OF SLAMDANCE In addition to the Sparkies: Slamdance’s long-standing Presenting Sponsor, Kodak, will present
THE KODAK VISION AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Panasonic will award an AF100 camera to the winner of the Five Flavors of Filmmaking Competition (p.116).
SLAMDANCE ON THE ROAD DISTRIBUTION PRIZE For Best Feature and Short Film
Watch the best independent films on Shooting People and take part in our regular Film of the Month competition, where judges give feedback on your work. Previous judges include Werner Herzog, Michael Winterbottom, Larry Charles, Lucy Walker, Morgan Spurlock, and Matthew Barney. www.shootingpeople.org
M ORNING C OFFEE M ASTER C LASSES On the heels of the highly popular Coffee with Vilmos Zsigmond hosted by Kodak at the 2011 festival, this year we’ve extended our Morning Coffee Master Classes to bring you great luminaries in the world of film. Grab a coffee and bagel in the Filmmaker Lounge and then join us in the Main Screening Room as we hear the stories, wisdom, trials and tribulations of the masters in the craft. Please arrive early as these events will quickly fill up. Priority is given to pass holders. Sunday, January 22, 2012 11:00am-1:00pm
COFFEE WITH NEIL YOUNG & JONATHAN DEMME While the Slamdance Film Festival is mostly about emerging directors with unique visions and small means to get them on screen and seen, Slamdance is also about community, collaboration, and the exchange of information and ideas to further the very independent director’s experience and career. I cannot think of two better individuals for Slamdance filmmakers to have coffee with than musician/filmmaker Neil Young and writer/ director/producer Jonathan Demme who both command the kind of careers and artistic paths Slamdance directors aspire to. They’ve
come to Slamdance to share their knowledge and experience in the film world with the Slamdance class of 2012. —Paul Rachman Monday, January 23, 2012 10:00-11:30am
COFFEE WITH KODAK & DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY In 2012, cinematography is changing rapidly, but the fundamentals of a great image will always be the same. The pioneers of celluloid, Kodak, present this in depth conversation with some of the industry’s leading Directors of Photography who discuss the past, present, and future of the art of cinematography. Tuesday, January 24, 2012 9:30-11:30am
COFFEE WITH STAN LEE Come hear the Man of Marvel Stan Lee regale us with the triumphs of his career along with a few pitfalls. Hear the personal side of Stan you never knew along with some of the more common character creation stories which one can never get tired of rehearing! —Will Hess, Director
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D AN’S P OEM THE LOCAVORE FILMMAKER
Then use a Range Rover for out-and-abouting Movies are focussed on actors To just make a film, there was performing once a time, You’ve got no time to worry You just needed a camera, and about global warming maybe a dime, But seeing Al Gore regret his You’d eat foie gras flying LA to happy ending New York Reminded you that the earth Had no qualms about using a still needed mending disposable spork So without sacrificing your Looking for a studio, you’d try goal to shoot wide screen North Carolina You tell your whole crew that But co-production looked it’s now time to go green! sweet if you’d just visit China. More than just cans and Tax credits would be fine, it’d scripts you’ll recycle, be swell to purloin You’ll invest in a hipster fixedthem in Detroit, New Orleans, gear bi-cycle or Des Moines! You realize you live down the You’d rack up frequent miles block from Drew Barrymore just for location scouting
You cast her because now... you’re a filmmaking locavore!
One guy down the block has a Steadicam rig
No matter her part’s for a onelegged old man You’re on a mission more important than Cannes! You’ll shoot in your house, hire your neighbors as gaffers Your twin six-year-olds become production staffers You’ll grow your craft service right there in your garden Environmentally speaking, you’ve got quite the hard on. For seasoning you’ll pull out some weeds that are crocus While the postman holds boom, and your wife pulls some focus If you can walk and if you can bike it Your vendors must be close, so you say that you like it.
Another has C-stands, that he stole from a gig. You find an editor who does some great montage Better yet still, he lives in your garage Finally time to do your sound mixin’ There’s no better place than right there in your kitchen! Now your movie’s finished and you’ve done all your edits You realize you’ve exhausted all your carbon credits You’re invited to Slamdance but deduce it’s too far Even a Prius wouldn’t make it; it’s barely a car. So you come up with a plan, perhaps too primeval Screw it you say, you’ll hold
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your own fest-ival Right there in your living room, project on the wall You’ll sell tickets on the porch, and popcorn in the hall Though your DP had failed when he tried to penetrate her You still convince Drew to ride the bicycle generator The neighbors all come, including one studio biggie He greenlit The Muppets, and he cast Miss Piggy The screening’s a success and you throw some confetti! A standing ovation, though Barrymore’s sweaty. An agent who’d stopped by while taking a jog Then asks if you’d shoot the
sequel in Prague After what you’ve been through, it’s not at all ridiculous He’ll fly you right there, on his brand new G6-ulous The load on your shoulder that you just can not carry more Is lightened by knowing you were the world’s first filmmaking locavore. (Largely credited as the founder of the locavore filmmaking movement [mainly because he’s lazy, lives two blocks from Sony, and would like them to hire him one day], Dan Mirvish is a co-founder of Slamdance, and is currently finishing post-production on his new feature film, “Between Us,” starring Julia Stiles, Taye Diggs, Melissa George and David Harbour.)
S LAMDANCE NYC Slamdance New York continues its year round series of screenings at the IFC Center in New York. This past year we hosted a screening for 2011 Documentary Grand Jury and Audience award winner Bhopali and 2011 favorite Superheroes with filmmaker Q and A’s.
New York participating in Independent Filmweek and the Script to Screen series. On either coast there is always a way to connect to Slamdance.
Paul Rachman Slamdance NYC
Slamdance also continues its close relationship with the Independent Feature Project in
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Michael Barnett and the subjects of Superheroes onstage at the IFC Center.
J URY
Mark Bell
A veteran of the film festival circuit, Film Threat Owner/Publisher Mark Bell is no stranger to film festival jury duty. Year in and year out he makes at least one new friend per fest, usually the filmmaker with the jury prize-winning film, and is hated by everyone else. Rather than spend years sobbing in the corner asking “Why must they hate me,” Mark has cultivated a thick skin by eating more food. At his current mass, Mark can withstand insults, injury and the cold of Park City, Utah.
Karin Chien
is an independent film producer and distributor based in New York City, and the 2010 recipient of the Independent Spirit Producers Award. Karin is the producer of ten independent feature films, including Stones In The Sun (2012), Jack And Diane (2012), Circumstance (2011), The Exploding Girl (2009), and The Motel (2005). Her films have won over 100 festival awards, premiered at Sundance and Berlin, and received international distribution. Karin
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is in production on Untitled (Structures), a film installation by Leslie Hewitt in collaboration with Bradford Young. Karin is the president and founder of dGenerate Films, the leading distributor of independent Chinese cinema. Karin is also the director of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Fellowship.
Ehsan Ghoreishi
is an Iranian-born independent filmmaker and curator who lives in the US. He is also a cinematographer (I Am a Visitor In Your World), actor (Profane), sound designer (On Look Films), and musician with a BA in film from Columbia College Chicago. Ehsan has made several short films in the US and Iran and is a Slamdance alum. He has also curated Iranian film screenings in the US including “Made In Iran: 7 Short Premieres” at Slamdance 2012. He is currently working on his feature length documentary that takes place in both the US and the Middle East.
Aaron Marshall
is a Los Angelesbased filmmaker whose debut film, Zombie Girl: The Movie, won the Spirit Award at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival. He’s a Nicholl Fellowships finalist, a CineStory alumni, and in high school he once recited every line of dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back from memory.
Jason McHugh
is a Transmedia Producer, writer and game designer most well known for producing Cannibal: The Musical and Orgazmo with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. McHugh was hired by Perry Farrell to write and produce, Mindfield, a text messaging prankster game that was played @ Lollapalooza from 2003 - 2007. During that time he also produced a rock doc about the Van’s Warped Tour and mockumentary about jam rock called; Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo, directed by Les Claypool, the 5th greatest bass player in the world. McHugh continues to pursue new gaming, film and theater projects and has just released a book you need to read called “Shpadoinkle: The Making of Cannibal: The Musical.”
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Oona Mekas
The daughter of filmmaker Jonas Mekas, Oona began her love affair with cinema at a very early age. Some of her first memories are of dark theaters illuminated by the light of a projector, watching works by everyone from Stan Brakhage and Harry Smith to Buster Keaton and Sergio Leone. She is a board member of Anthology Film Archives, a theater and archive in New York City dedicated to the preservation and screening of cinema in all forms, with an emphasis on experimental and avant-garde film and video. These days, she calls Los Angeles home and continues her journey as an actor, writer & filmmaker. The Sparky Award.
CONT.>>
>>JURY CONT.
Orly Ravid
Founder of The Film Collaborative, co-owner of New American Vision. Her 13-year industry experience in film ranges from: festival programming to acquisitions; domestic licensing and distribution; business affairs and foreign sales. She conceived of and co-authored the first-ever multi-format case study book, “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul.” She regularly moderates panels on new technology and digital distribution. She served as a Programming Associate for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival and as Programming Consultant for Palm Springs International and on the Board of Directors of Outfest. Born in Israel and raised in Manhattan, Orly enjoys blending a love of film with business savvy in service of true artists.
Jack Truman
is an award winning filmmaker, and 25 year veteran of stage and film. A former professor at Texas A&M, Jack has a M.A. in Communications and a B.S. in Business. His film directorial debut, the award winning hit cult short film Phone Sex Grandma, premiered at the 2006
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Slamdance Film Festival. His follow up hit short, The Outhouse, was part of Slamdance’s $99 Special Program in 2008. His films have screened at over 300 film festivals worldwide. His latest documentary 7 Stories From An Old Stripper is currently playing the film festival circuit.
Kelly G. Williams
is a producer and festival programmer. He recently joined the Lone Star Int’l Film Festival as Director of Programming. Before that, he served as the Film Program Director at the Austin Film Festival from 2004 until 2011. In 2007, he was awarded the International Film Festival Summit Excellence Award for his work at AFF. In addition, he has produced numerous short films, including Kat Candler’s Hellion which is premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. In 2011, he also produced the feature films Pictures of Superheroes and Cinema Six, as well as Holiday Road—which is world premiering at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.
I H ATE H ORROR M OVIES That’s what I hear most often when I meet someone and they learn that I write horror. It’s a strange thing to be told to your face by a total stranger that they despise what you do. But it spills from their mouths as if they were talking about something bad they ate. That statement is generally followed by “But you look normal.” I smile and reply with “Well, I’m dark on the inside.” Which I’m not really, but that’s a different topic. The fact that horror movies elicit such extreme responses in the general public shows the power of the genre. Their revulsion illustrates just how these stories strike a nerve deep within the human experience and prove our need to explore these fears. Otherwise, they would feel no need to comment at all. Another thing I hear a lot is, “I don’t like all the blood and guts.” As if we as horror storytellers giggle in delight as we dream of buckets of blood squirting from the severed limbs of
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screaming victims. Okay, some do. But the best writers use what elements are motivated within the context of the story. If the damn story calls for the writer to dig deep into the uncomfortable truth of death and show someone being cut to pieces, then so be it. Why do I like horror so much that I’ve dedicated my professional life to exploring it? The truth is, I have no idea. If I did, I would probably stop writing these sick and demented stories. So don’t trust me about the power of horror, just check out the numbers for shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story. They tell you all you need to know.
Chad Kinkle Grand Prize Winner of the 2011 Slamdance Screenwriting & Teleplay Competition
®
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S CREENWRITING A ND T ELEPLAY F INALISTS The sixteenth year of the Slamdance Screenwriting and Teleplay competition proved to be another exciting and productive season. Our goal remains to discover emerging talent and get their scripts into the hands of people who can produce them, and we continue to work very hard at facilitating that introduction. For three years running Slamdance has produced the winning Short Screenplay and premiered it at the festival. Last year saw Dead in the Room, our winning short from 2010 written by Marjory Kaptanoglu, which in 2011 continues to have a long and healthy festival run. This year, RJ Buckley will see his story come to life on the big screen at Slamdance 2012 as we premiere Harold’s Bad Day, directed by Slamdance alum Jordan Brady. We are also very excited to make a big announcement this year in Park City regarding our 2011 Grand Prize Winner “Jug Face” written by Chad Kinkle, but I’ve promised to keep quiet until then. What I can say now with certainty, is that we look forward to continuing our search for independent writers with strong voices and helping to get them heard in 2012 and beyond.
Summre Garber
Submissions and Programming Manager
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HORROR: GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Jug Face by Chad Kinkle A teenage girl, pregnant with her brother’s child, tries to escape from a backwoods community when she discovers that she must sacrifice herself to a creature in a pit.
The Hollow by Will Simmons Racing for the Canadian border with a bag of stolen drug money, an ex-convict is ensnared by an Eastern European cult in the isolated town of Westhope, North Dakota. In order to escape his captors and gain his freedom, he must uncover a dark secret, which the town’s residents have protected for generations.
19 Floors by Lee Brandt and Christopher Lawrence A lone Delta Force Soldier battles hordes of creatures and dizzying heights while rescuing his wife from an apartment building.
FEATURE: WINNER – Appearances
TELEPLAY: WINNER – Uncivilized
SHORTS: WINNER – Harold’s Bad Day
by Frederic Richter An upstanding member of the New York Jewish Community is accused of being a Nazi War criminal, not the Holocaust survivor everyone thought they knew so well.
by Adam Aresty A lawman with a dark past must deliver justice in a post-apocalyptic town called Little Houston.
by RJ Buckley After two teens trash his apartment, local High School teacher Harold Thompson attempts to inspire the youths into giving up their life of crime.
Motor City by Matthew Kohnen & Sean Kohnen A recent ex-con in Detroit carjacks a vehicle with his brother, only to find it has a nuclear bomb in the trunk. As the original owners come looking for it, the brothers are stuck between the cops and the bad guys, with no one to turn to but the streets.
Dearborn Hotel by Peter Gaffney After witnessing a murder involving Chicago’s D.A., a down-on-his-luck detective attempts to blackmail the killer.
2012 Slamdance Writing Competition Schedule Early Deadline: Feb. 29th - April 6th Regular Deadline: April 7th - June 11th Late Deadline: June 12th - July 31st
Mad Men “Semper Fi” by Rory Kozoll: In this Season 5 opener, Ken Cosgrove delivers a business proposition that could divide the loyalties of agency staff, and put a damper on Don and Megan’s big day.
Dexter “Cop Killer” by Teresa Vilaseca: When the mother of Dexter’s next kill claims a cop already killed her son, Dexter must find out who got to him first and, more importantly, why. The only things standing in his way: the graduate student that reminds him of Rita, Deb’s excellent detective skills and Astor’s not-so-excellent babysitting skills.
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Six Years, Four Months and Twenty Three Days by John Mawson A tale of unexpected sex, intense embarrassment and unforeseen salvation. Because sometimes, time alone is not enough.
He Knows by Stuart Creque Mommy and Daddy assure Timmy that Santa Claus knows who’s been bad and good. Timmy resolves to prevent Santa from leaving a lump of coal to ruin his parents’ image of him as their little angel. The Good Health and Slamdance Trailer Script Winner: Ariya Watty
Commercials Documentaries Films Industrials Internet (New Media) Live Performances Music Videos Print Media Shorts Special Events Staff Payrolls Television Training Theatre
Union/non-union talent and crew payroll Low-Budget Productions Welcome Production and post-production accounting Workers Compensation Insurance Corporate accounting and bookkeeping
“The Independent Filmmaker’s Choice” Serving the Entertainment Industry since 1985
Isabella’s Cookie Company Matter of fact, it is a lot like Isabella's Cookies!
Curious what a small cookie company is doing sponsoring a film festival in Park City, Utah? The answer is simple...
Every year, we dream new flavors into existence and let people's taste buds do the judging. Just like many filmmakers, our goal is to be different & inspire moments that will create a memory.
We love movies as much as the next person. Countless hours are spent in the kitchen discussing ourfavorite movie scenes and reciting lines in the likenesses of General Zod, HAL 2000, Fred Fenster, Jules Winnfield, Joan Crawford & Ms. Daisy.
Thank you for allowing us to be a part of the 2012 Film Festival and we hope you get the chance to check out and enjoy our treats.
We identify with the spirit of independent filmmaking completely. It takes a lot of guts & courage to go out on your own, make a film & present to the world.
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Panasonic & Slamdance Present
T HE F IVE F LAVORS O F F ILMMAKING C OMPETITION For the second straight year, Panasonic and Slamdance have teamed up for a competition with the directors and cinematographers of the 2012 Slamdance slate. “The Five Flavors of Filmmaking” Competition: Five teams, five flavors: Pineapple, Wild Cherry, Raspberry, Watermelon, and Orange. Each team is assigned a flavor and creates a one minute film using Panasonic’s new AF100 Camera in Park City. They will conceptualize, shoot, edit and screen their work to the Slamdance audience. The Cinematographer of the winning film takes home their own AF100! How can you make a film about a flavor? Well, that’s up to our fine filmmakers. Join us on Thursday, January 26th at 4:30 in the Gallery Screening Room for a screening of all five films. The winner of the competition will be announced at the Closing Awards Ceremony. A huge thank you to Bernie Mitchell and Jan Crittenden of Panasonic for their tremendous support of our Slamdance filmmakers.
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K ING & Q UEEN O F S LAMDANCE Dear Slamdance Class of 2012, As we packed our cases for Slamdance, putting in everything we could possibly imagine we might need at the festival, it was hard to believe that our little film was heading out to the buzz and flurry of Park City. We had shot Stranger Things with our two lead actors and scarcely any other crew in the remote English countryside. Suddenly the film was in competition at Slamdance and our first screening was on the opening day. We hoped we were prepared. We packed one thousand postcards, a staple gun and a printer into our suitcase and set off, full of anticipation, on our multi-legged plane trip to Utah. We had been to Slamdance in 2006 with a short film and it was thrilling to be back with our first feature. From the moment we arrived at the Treasure Mountain Inn, the spirit of the festival was palpable. Time seemed to speed up: there were so many people to meet and so many exciting films to see. We stocked up on energy bars and bagged some good real estate on the board outside for our posters (the staple gun came into its own). As people queued down
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the corridor for our screening, we stopped and savoured the moment, drinking it in. Slamdance was an incredible experience. We were honoured to be a part of it. Sharing our film with the Slamdance audience was such a joy. But beyond the screenings themselves, the festival brought together a community of remarkable, creative, generous and hugely talented people that we’re grateful to have met. We’re both looking forward to this year’s films and wish you all a fantastic festival.
Eleanor Burke & Ron Eyal
Directors of Stranger Things Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, Slamdance 2011
F ILM I NDEX 33 Teeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Agony and Sweat of the Human Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angelito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Another Bullet Dodged . . . . . . . . . At The Formal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Franklin Blowing Bubbles at a Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BINDLESTIFFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birdboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo Girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Centrifuge Brain Project . . . . . Codes of Honor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cold Blood (Sang Froid) . . . . . . . . Comforting Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dances with the Armchair . . . . . . . Danland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DeafBlind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
77 80 56 78 93 69 52 82 66 76 79 76 53 79 84 67 77
The Devotion Project: More Than Ever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doppelgänger Paul (Or a Film about How Much I Hate Myself) . . . . . . . The Dude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ed Wood’s Lost Film Final Curtain . . Eileen Pratt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faith, Love and Whiskey . . . . . . . . Far From Him, Towards Him . . . . . . February . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The First Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . Follow the Sun! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Franchi is Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Fritzl Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Getting Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Good Person (Zennin ) . . . . . . Harold’s Bad Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heavy Girls (Dicke Mädchen ) . . . . .
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70 54 93 57 40 78 55 84 59 68 82 44 92 69 77 46 56
Hietsuki Bushi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Holiday Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hollow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hope. You Like Crap. . . . . . . . . . . . The House (Das Haus) . . . . . . . . . . I am John Wayne . . . . . . . . . . . . . I’m Coming Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . I’m Never Afraid! (Ik Ben Echt Niet Bang!) . . . . . . . . I Saw Your Sister Yesterday . . . . . . I Want My Name Back . . . . . . . . . . Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kiss the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Kook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kudzu Vine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Little Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Lookout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Magic Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
82 41 83 52 83 76 77 71 93 70 71 87 78 87 78 79 87 92
Mahahula The Giant Rodent of Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Memory by Design . . . . . . . . . . . . Murder Mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neil Young Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . New Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No Ashes, No Phoenix . . . . . . . . . . no relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No Room for Rockstars . . . . . . . . . No Wine Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . The Observer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OK, Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Old Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . On Tender Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peekaboo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
92 60 68 42 61 72 73 43 87 83 57 44 67 80 83
People Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Pondering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 A Pore As Big As a Knuckle . . . . . . 85
The Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reinaldo Arenas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roller Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Room No. 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rose and Sophia . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Scene at the Sea (Gu yeo-rum-eui ba-da) . . . . . . . . The Severe Psychosis of a Musicless Man . . . . . . . . . . . . A Short Film About Ice Fishing . . . . Silent River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solipsist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Sound of Small Things . . . . . . . Soy tan feliz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . STIHL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
87 78 58 85 55 79 93 54 80 82 80 59 79 92
Stokje . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Sundowning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Terra Blight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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The Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon . . . . . . . . . TMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unconditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We Win or We Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . We’ll Become Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . Welcome to Pine Hill . . . . . . . . . . When Rabbits Fly (Þegar Kanínur Fljúga) . . . . . . . . . When The Kid Was a Kid . . . . . . . . Wild in the Streets . . . . . . . . . . . . With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story . . . . . . . . . . . . You Can’t Win (No Gano) . . . . . . . .
85 82 58 46 83 73 66 92 61 76 85 47 48 72
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