Celebrating Creativity at Sundance 2009

The sale near the end of this year’s 23rd Sundance Festival of "Surfwise" director Doug Pray‘s popular ad world doc “Art & Copy” may have been the culimnation of the Bruin season in Park City, but it was far from the only high point. Named since 1995 for iconic actor-director Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, the festival has always had a strong UCLA presence under Director Geoffrey Gilmore MA ’79.

Follow the link above to a slideshow of memorable images from the annual UCLA party at Café Terigo on Main St., a gathering of alumni, current students, faculty members and friends applauding the creativity nurtured by TFT.

In addition to “Art & Copy,” several other films with School connections screened during the festival:

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.

Spectrum: Documentary Spotlight

“No Impact Man,” directed by Laura Gabbert MFA ’97 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.

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.

(Photos by Juan Tallo. Cover photo by Aaron Proctor.)

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