Archive for January, 2010
Sundance Shorts: Part One
January 21st, 2010
Let me begin by telling you my dilemma.
Not too long ago, I was contacted by the press office at Sundance, asking if I could cover the shorts in the festival. I thought this was a great idea, except that I would be nowhere near Park City, Utah during the final weeks of January.
I arranged press credentials for a partner of mine out of Los Angeles so that he would go on my behalf, but some critical factors didn’t work out favorably, and now we’re not sure if he’ll be able to make it to the festival at all.
In the meantime, I’ve been contacted by others, e.g. someone from the National Film Board of Canada, requesting interviews with filmmakers they represent.
So, if you are at the festival, and are blogging, vlogging, tweeting or otherwise documenting the goings-on, and ESPECIALLY if you have press credentials, PLEASE let me hear from you. Let’s collaborate.
In the meantime, if my contact manages to make it after all, bonus.
That said, I’d like to draw your attention to an article by Daniel Fienberg that takes a look at what screened yesterday at the festival. Below is an excerpt:
Shorts Program I was chosen as part of Sundance’s opening night slate because it represents the many sides of the Festival’s shorts slate. It includes an American narrative short (“I’m Here”), an American doc short (“The Fence”), an international animated short (“Logorama”) and an international narrative short (“Seeds of the Fall”). The official Sundance guide tries to make the argument that the films in Program I are unified by the theme of love. That’s ridiculous. They’re mostly unified by the aforementioned diversity and being among the longest shorts on that side of the Sundance lineup.
He then gives a brief commentary on each short film. Read it yourself!
I know that there was a lot of buzz around “I’m Here” from Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) and I personally was intrigued by the trailer for Logorama, though the description in Daniel’s article led me to believe that I wouldn’t have liked it after all. What do you think?
Here are a couple highlights to look for today (if you are present, if not, just enjoy it here).
Le Petit Dragon (The Little Dragon)
My Mom Smokes Weed
Every day is pretty packed, but if you missed a screening on one day, there’s a good chance you can catch it again.
Be sure to check back here for more updates as the festival goes on, and don’t forget to contact me about covering the rest of the festival. We’ll have fun, I promise.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Canada’s National Film Board online archive: a success story (boingboing.net)
- Sundance 2010 Short Film Trailers – Part 1 (cinematical.com)
- Watch Oscar Nominated Short Logorama Now – Really, Watch It [Image Cache] (gizmodo.com)
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Short film coverage at the Sundance Film Festival (and other news!)
January 15th, 2010
It’s that time of year again…all the presents have been returned or run out of batteries, most new year’s resolutions have been broken, and the Sundance Film Festival is just around the corner.
Incredibly, we’ve been invited to cover the many Independent Short Films being screened at the festival. We’ll be able to blog, vlog, tweet, and otherwise document the goings-on of the fest.
I’ve seen various trailers for some of the Sundance Shorts, and I’ve gotta tell you, there are some treats to be found, and I’m positive that our team at the festival is looking forward to viewing them.
To whet your appetite, I’d like to highlight some of the things I’ve found. For today: Drunk History.
Filmmaker Jeremy Konner has found a clever trick for creative storytelling–filming drunk people and having them talk about historical events. He then has A-list actors re-enact the story as told by his subject. The results are….interesting. Some might find them hilarious, some might find them offensive, but mildly amusing. At any rate, these short films are sure to find an audience. Two such films are screening at this years Sundance Film Festival, Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln and Drunk History: Tesla & Edison.
Douglass & Lincoln features Don Cheadle (Oceans 11,12, & 13, Crash) as Frederick Douglass and Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Stranger Than Fiction) as Abraham Lincoln.
Tesla & Edison features John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Walk Hard) as Nikola Tesla and Crispin Glover (Beowulf, Back to the Future) as Thomas Edison. You may remember these two actors from the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? or heard their voice-acting this past September in the animated feature, 9.
As a taste of what to expect, here’s the first installment featuring Michael Cera. And remember, if the humor isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll most certainly find something at the festival that suits you better.
Be sure to check back here for more updates on the festival. And leave a message in the comments about what YOU want to see at or from Sundance!
In other news, Welcome to my new domain, independentshortfilms.org!
Be sure to:
(1) Update your bookmarks,
(2) Submit your favorite posts StumbleUpon, delicious, Digg, reddit, Mixx, or wherever you happen to be,
(3) Subscribe to the new feed (RSS or ATOM) for free, automatic updates,
(4) Link to the new domain from your blog, site, or social networking profile(s), and
(5) Tell all your friends about the move. I’m still working out a couple of things, so just consider this a beta version. In the meantime, thanks for coming!
Looking forward to our future!
Related articles by Zemanta
- Short film coverage at the #Sundance #FilmFestival (and other news!) (independentshortfilms.org)
- Trailer for John C. Reilly’s Sundance Comedy ‘Cyrus’ (cinematical.com)
- Land of the lost career: Will Will Ferrell ever grow up? (canada.com)
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