UCLA Reception at Sundance Film Festival 2006

UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television will honor its accomplished students, faculty and alumni by hosting a reception during the internationally acclaimed Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The reception will be held at Café Terigo, 424 Main Street, Park City, on Tuesday, Jan. 24 from 4-6 p.m.

School of Theater, Film and Television Dean Robert Rosen, film department Chair Barbara Boyle and Geoffrey Gilmore ’79, director of the Sundance Film Festival, will host the reception. The event will honor the diverse creative achievements of UCLA’s students, faculty and alumni both past and present.

“UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television shares with Sundance a commitment to the independent spirit of filmmaking,” Rosen said. “Like the festival, TFT believes that the future of cinema is best served by creative risk-taking in both content and style.”

Seven films by members of the UCLA community were selected to screen during the prestigious festival.

Premiering in Park City are “The Illusionist” produced by Cathy Schulman, a professor in the UCLA Producers Program, and “The Secret Life of Words” starring Tim Robbins ’82. “With its glowing amber palette, splendid spectacles, and nuanced performances,” says the official Sundance Film Guide, “‘The Illusionist’ explores art and technology as populist forces.” “The Secret Life of Words” is described as “an intensely perceptive, wrenchingly cathartic love story about the need for human interdependence and the power of silence and speech to transcend trauma.”

In the Spectrum category of the festival are “Journey from the Fall” written and directed by UCLA alumnus Ham Tran and “Who Needs Sleep,” a documentary produced and edited by Tamara Maloney ’04.

The Sundance Film Guide describes “Journey from the Fall” as “an accomplished first feature that gives voice to the untold story of Vietnamese refugees.”

“Who Needs Sleep,” co-directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler, is described as a biting admonition of an industry that places corporate greed above workers’ safety and a passionate cry for change.

Competiting in the dramatic category of the festival is the delightfully quick-witted screwball comedy, “Puccini for Beginners” produced by Eden Wurmfeld ’03. “Sexuality is fluid and unapologetic, while gender identity and politics are hotly debated — and even poked fun at — rather than narrowly defined,” says the Film Guide.

Additional UCLA related documentaries screening during the festival include “What I Love About Dying” and “Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner.”

“What I Love About Dying,” directed by current UCLA student Silas Howard, is a short documentary about the life and untimely death of poet and political activist, Kris Kovick. A staple in the San Francisco spoken word scene, Kovick was known for speaking her mind so it came as no surprise that when she was diagnosed with
cancer she was as outspoken about her illness as she had been about everything else in her life.

Terry Sanders ’54 and ’67, is the executive producer and cinematographer of “Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner,” described by the Film Guide as “a multifaceted gem that sparkles as it enlightens on so many levels.”

In a related event during Sundance, two student films: “Winning the Peace” and “The Double,” will screen in Park City on Friday, Jan. 27 at 6p.m. The films were selected for The Best of The Angelus Awards Student Film Festival and will screen at the Mountain Vineyard at 1401 Kearns Blvd.

During the festival, Rosen will be moderating a panel titled “Going, going, gone: The Culture of Movie-going” on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 2p.m. Panelists will include Connie White, Mark Fishkin and Russell Collins.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has an historic relationship with Sundance. In addition to Geoffrey Gilmore, M.A. ’79, who is a member of the faculty, Caroline Libresco, M.F.A. ’01, serves as a festival programmer, and film professor Gyula Gazdag serves each summer as the artistic director of the Sundance Filmmaking Lab. John Nein, M.F.A. ’03, also a member of the Sundance programming department, coordinates the many panels and seminars held during the industry buzzfest.

The reception is sponsored in part by JetBlue Airways and generous donations from alumni Francis Ford Coppola, Michael and Judith Ovitz, Alexander Payne, John Ptak and Pietro Scalia.

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Keywords

"alexander payne" "gyula gazdag" "barbara boyle" "cathy schulman" 

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