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We were always a little uncomfortable with the whole Generation X thing. Irreverent, jaded and self-centered, it's true our crowd bubbled up between conjured wars fueled by lies and that after many of our families disintegrated we went on to gaze at our reflection in the shiny surface of the Internet bubble. Not easily manipulated, we are instead a generation of manipulators. Thank goodness for the Duplass brothers, whose film BAGHEAD at least demonstrates that we can laugh at ourselves while invoking The Ghosts of Sundances Past. We came back to consider the Gen X concept after looking at what these Sundance movies, by such directors as Craig Lucas, Austin Chick, Amy Redford and Ricardo de Montreuil, have to say about money, family, mortality and, ultimately, What Really Matters. From where we sit the idea that Gen X is finally getting a sense that something, anything, Really Matters is a newsworthy concept in and of itself. What Really Matters to the hero of Lucas' BIRDS OF AMERICA (Matthew Perry) is keeping it all together as his siblings fall apart. It takes some time for the (anti-)hero of Chick's AUGUST (Josh Hartnett) to recognize the importance of his relationship with his brother. The hero of Redford's THE GUITAR (Saffron Burrows) is designing a death so fabulous that it might make up for a heretofore dreary life, while the hero of de Montreuil's MÁNCORA (Jason Day) gains perspective from a visit to the idyllic Peru surf town of the film's title. Our lineup is presented here in the order of each film's first screening; please keep in mind that this year Press / Industry screenings for many titles precede the first public screenings. Early plans call for JW+A to hold its TV press day, which will include talent from most of these films, on Tuesday January 22nd between 10am and 2pm, with the idea that all of these films will have screened at least once. Please keep in mind that screening times are approximate and, like talent expected, may change between now and the Festival. If you are a journalist and wish to discuss any one title, please email the designated contact person or persons for that film. If you wish to contact us by telephone, please do so at our NYC office number, 2,12-595-6161, until the opening day of the Festival. Our contact info during the Festival can be found below. CONTACT INFORMATION:
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Spectrum
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Interviewer Elvis Mitchell |
THE BLACK LIST is almost like a coffee-table book: gorgeous photographic portraits of some of today's most fascinating and influential African-American icons, only the portraits speak to you in their own words about experiences, issues and events you probably haven't heard them talk about before. THE BLACK LIST is a unique collaboration between celebrated portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and former New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell, who happen to live on the same block in New York's East Village; Greenfield-Sanders served as director while Mitchell completed the interviews with Slash, Toni Morrison, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Vernon Jordan, Faye Wattleton, Marc Morial, Lou Gossett Jr., Lorna Simpson, Mahlon Duckett, Colin Powell, Zane, Al Sharpton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Thelma Golden, Russell Simmons and Chris Rock. 
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Premiere
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director Amy Redford, Actor Saffron Burrows |
Nothing seems to jar us into recognizing What Really Matters like good old Death, which the heroine of Amy Redford's intimate yet joyful debut feature faces with the short term acquisition of some prime Manhattan real estate, a handful of credit cards, a burning desire to master that one skill she never got around to and by satisfying a few carnal desires along the way. Saffron Burrows' transformative performance in THE GUITAR proves that she is one of the finest actors working and may give awards handicappers someone new to talk about a year from now. 
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Spectrum
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director Chick, Actors Hartnett, Adam Scott, Naomie Harris, Emmanuelle Chriqui |
AUGUST is the story of two brothers, Tom and Joshua Sterling (Josh Hartnett and Adam Scott) whose Internet start-up, Landshark, is as hot as a New York City summer - only this is the summer of 2001, their company is in lock up, its stock price is plunging and, in a few weeks, the world will change forever. For now Tom continues the hedonistic life of an Internet star, the kind of guy we might have seen profiled on 60 Minutes II: he dates multiple women, drives a bitchin' '69 Camaro convertible and hangs out at a new club called Bungalow 8. But, like an emo version of Patrick Bateman, it somehow never seems to matter that Tom is not quite able to explain what his company actually does. Starring Hartnett in a role you wouldn't necessarily expect him to play and featuring a speech by Rip Torn that may be our generation's answer to plastics, AUGUST is directed by Austin Chick (XX/XY) from a script by Howard A. Rodman.
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World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director de Montreuil, Actors Jason Day, Elsa Pataky, Enrique Murciano |
From the director of LA MUJER DE MI HERMANO and the writer of VOCES INOCENTES comes MÁNCORA, a tender and pulsating road-trip drama that delicately traces the shifting emotional boundaries between three disconnected souls. MÁNCORA introduces us to Santiago (Jason Day), a 21-year old from Lima who is haunted by his father's recent and unexpected suicide. Suffocating in the chill of a grey Lima winter, Santiago decides to take refuge in MÁNCORA, a beach town in the north of the country where summer never ends. Right before his departure, Santiago receives an unexpected visit from his stepsister Ximena (Elsa Pataky), a vibrant, sexy Spanish photographer and her husband Iñigo (Enrique Murciano), a brash art-collector from New York. The tranquility of their getaway is quickly shattered by a powerful act of boundary-crossing and betrayal, which threatens to transform their relationship forever and turn Máncora into a paradise lost.
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Spectrum
Primary contacts: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director Lucas, Actors Matthew Perry, Lauren Graham, Ginnifer Goodwin and Ben Foster |
Some of our best artists' most resonant work has observed that American middle-class suburbia breeds all kinds of deep and conflicting feelings among siblings: think Cheever and Franzen, Solondz and Ball and, now, Craig Lucas. The title of his new film refers to the iconic Audubon series of engravings coveted by a certain stripe of the American bourgeoisie, an original edition of which the deceased father of the family in question has left, along with a substantial mortgage, to his offspring, led by Morrie (Matthew Perry). The oldest, he ended up raising his younger brother Jay (Ben Foster) and kid sister Ida (Ginnifer Goodwin) in the same house in which he now lives with his wife, Betty (Lauren Graham). Jay's life is a dangerous mess, and when he and Ida come to live with Morrie and Betty the younger siblings antics highlight the social tightrope they are walking with the picture-perfect couple (Gary Wilmes and Hilary Swank) next door who are also the only people standing between Jay and Betty and the promise of financial and emotional security.
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Premiere
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Director Simon, Actors Reece Thompson and Mischa Barton |
This first feature from Brett Simon comes to Sundance with a distributor (Yari Film Group), a release date (August) and a great cast (Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton and Bruce Willis). Like a certain current hit, ASSASSINATION began as a wordy, edgy, smart script about a darker side of teen life that came to be realized by a plucky, barely-discovered Canadian actor charged with bringing the audience into his highly stylized world. A noir in which Thompson's hero, a reporter for the school paper, tries to do good but actually makes things worse by uncovering what he thinks is the truth. The film's rich moods of day-to-day menace and laconic sexuality envision high school as, in the character's own words, "the least wholesome four years of your life."
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Spectrum
Primary contact: Screenings:
Talent Available: Directors Jay and Mark Duplass, Actors Steve Zissis, Ross Partridge, Greta Gerwig, Elise Muller |
So you probably already know the Duplass Brothers from THE PUFFY CHAIR and are expecting big, big things for their follow-up. Don't. A clever indie comedy, BAGHEAD is the kind of movie that makes us laugh at but also identify with its desperate characters. More important, it lets us get a little horny and drunk, and even forces us to admit that we're more than a little afraid of the dark. Watching BAGHEAD makes you wish you were there when they filmed it… alone, at night, in a cabin, out in the woods, with your friends, a camera, and a few bottles of crappy tequila. Boo! |
©2008 JEREMY WALKER + ASSOCIATES, INC. |