UCLA Party at 2009 Sundance Film Festival

Times

Sun Jan 18 at 4:00 PM

Venue

Café Terigo, 424 Main St., Park City, UT

Named since 1995 for iconic actor-director Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, the festival has gone from strength to strength under Director Geoffrey Gilmore MA ’79.

Sundance’s 15-year-old crosstown rival the Slamdance Film Festival, has also welcomed several Bruins.

SUNDANCE FILMS

U.S. Narrative Feature Films

“The Messenger,” directed by Oren Moverman, written by Moverman and Alessandro Camon and executive produced by Nathanial Bolotin MFA ’07, stars Ben Foster as a convalescent Iraq War veteran who bonds with the senior officer (Woody Harrelson) who is his supervisor and mentor in the Army’s Casualty Notification Office.

“The Only Good Indian,” produced by faculty member Hanay Geioqamah and alum J.T. O’Neal MFA ’04, is director Kevin Wilmott and screenwriter Tom Carmody’s revisionist western follows a teenaged Native boy (Winter Fox Frank) who flees the re-education regime of a repressive Christian school, with a white sheriff (J. Kenneth Campbell) and a Native bounty hunter (Wes Studi) on his trail.

Documentary Competition

“Art & Copy,” directed by Doug Pray '91; written by Timothy J. Sexton. Rare interviews with the most influential advertising creative minds of our age illustrate the wide-reaching effect advertising and creativity have on modern culture. World Premiere.

Spectrum: Documentary Spotlight

“No Impact Man,” directed by Laura Gabbert '04 and Justin Schein, produced by Eden Wurmfeld '03. The documentary follows the Beavan family as they abandon their high consumption Fifth Avenue lifestyle in an attempt to make a no- net environmental impact for the course of one year. Cast: Michelle Conlin, Colin Beavan. World Premiere.

Shorts Program

Little Canyon, directed by student Olivia Silver. Greta’s dad is moving the family cross-country. Promising a California paradise he packs half the household into a dented station wagon. All that's missing is Mom.

US animated shorts

Joel Stein’s “Completely Unfabricated Adventures,” directed by faculty member Bill Barminski and Christopher Louie '05, written by Joel Stein. Journalist Joel Stein takes us on an animated adventure through the waste treatment plant of Orange County.

Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship

“All Fall Down,” written by Jonathan Wysocki '04 will receive the 2008 Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship. Created in 2005 in memory of a long-time Sundance Institute staff member, the annual fellowship provides support to an emerging screenwriter through ongoing development of his or her screenplay. Recipients are selected from artists who have attended one of the Institute's renowned screenwriters labs.

SLAMDANCE

“Punching the Clown,” directed by faculty member Greg Viens, co-written by Viens and star Henry Phillips and co-produced by Corey Wish ’05, is based on Phillips’ real-life experience as a modern day American troubadour, grinding his way through the heartland, living out of his car and singing his twisted satirical songs to anyone who will listen. The plot kicks in when Philliups, hoping for something better, moves to Los Angeles.

"Spooner," starring Matthew Lillard and Nora Zehetner and co-produced by Marius Markevicius MFA '02, has been declared "the sleeper of the festival" by Los Angeles Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan. Title character (Matthew Lillard) is a used car salesman, still living at home with his parents, who meets the girl of his dreams (Nora Zehetner) on the eve of his 30th birthday.

Utah Premiere, Drama

“A Quiet Little Marriage,” written and directed by Mo Perkins '04, produced by Angela Sostre '04 and Tamara Maloney '04. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Cy Carter, Jimmi Simpson and Michael O’Neill. A loving young couple squares off against each other in a covert, domestic battleground of their own making.

Shorts program

Vodka and Women, a 2008 Director’s Spotlight Finalist, written and directed by student Xavier Tatarkiewicz. Stefan, a depressed accountant, suspects his girlfriend may be cheating on him. He decides to follow his father's advice and visit his new neighbor – a retired prostitute. However, things will take a surprising turn and Stefan’s life will change… or maybe not so much.

Documentary shorts

“Frozen Dreams,” directed and photographed by students Xochitl Dorsey and Kahlil Hudson, respectively.

“Six and A Half,” written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, produced by Ehren Parks '09. The film is one of a handful of films to screen with a feature at this years festival, a drama called “Not Forgotten,” starring Paz Vega and Simon Baker.

Special screening

“Weather Girl,” directed and written by Blayne Weaver '01, production design by Michael Fitzgerald '98. Cast: Tricia O’Kelley, Mark Harmon, Jane Lynch, Kaitlin Olson, Jon Cryer, Patrick J. Adams, Ryan Devlin. A Seattle weather girl freaks out on-air over her cheating boyfriend, the morning show anchor, and moves in with her little brother.

SUNDANCE STAFF

Geoffrey Gilmore MFA ’79, director; Ilyse McKimmie BA ’94, Associate Director, Feature Film Program, Caroline Libresco MFA ’01, senior programmer; John Nein MFA ’03, programmer; Juli Kang MFA ’07, assistant, Feature Film Program International, Rosie Wong ’03, manager, Sundance Industry Office.

Related Programs

Published

Fri Nov 14, 2008 in Social

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