“Sundance: More retreads than recharging”
THR’s film critic Kirk Honeycutt provides this analysis of Sundance 2010:
Sundance this year splashed bumper-sticker slogans over every screen, program and signpost: “This Is the Renewed Rebellion.” “This Is the Recharged Fight Against the Establishment of the Expected.” “This Is Rebirth of the Battle for Brave New Ideas.”
Did anyone check with the filmmakers? At nearly every turn, they went for the expected. Brave new ideas were nowhere to be seen.
What one did get were tired warhorses such as the coming-of-age movie. You could get it Texas style ( “Skateland”) or New Zealand-flavored ( “Boy”). At least the latter came with a Maori cast of nonprofessional kids in a remote setting.
And so it went: wedding comedies ( “The Romantics”), Manhattan comic melodrama ( “HappyThankYouMorePlease,” “Please Give”), immigrants in America ( “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!”) and teens gone wild ( “Welcome to the Rileys,” “The Runaways”).
Qualitywise, these films ran the gamut from good to so-so, but nobody was smashing any molds.
Perhaps nobody is making “game changing” movies. Perhaps they are, but Sundance officials are out of touch, maybe even clueless.
Meanwhile it’s business as usual as more deals get finalized:
A new distributor has made its mark at Sundance and a veteran indie is back in the game as the result of two film pickups on Thursday. Several more sales were brewing.
The film and video division of independent book publisher Hannover House ponied up about $2 million for “Twelve,” director Joel Schumacher’s look at drug-dealing among privileged Manhattan teens that will play Friday as the fest’s closing feature. Roeg Sutherland, who co-heads CAA’s film finance group with Micah Green, shepherded the deal.
Meanwhile, Newmarket Films re-entered the fest market, picking up domestic rights to the Natalie Portman-produced drama “Hesher,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in a deal in the $1 million range.
And on the ‘other side of the tracks,’ Slamdance handed out its awards:
16th SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS
GRAND JURY AWARDS
Narrative Film
“Snow and Ashes,” directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud
Special Jury Mention: “One Hundred Mornings, directed by Conor Horgan
Documentary Film
“American Jihadist,” directed by Mark Claywell
Animated Short
“Seed,” directed by Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird
Narrative Short
“Prvi Dan Mira” (First Day of Peace), directed byMirko Rucnov
Special Jury Mention: “Bout the Bout,” directed by Nico Sabenorio
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Narrative Film
“The Wild Hunt,” directed by Alexandre Franchi
Documentary Film
“Mind of the Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story,” directed by Adam Barker
Best Anarchy Online Film
“Sugar Stick,” directed by Laura Harris
Winner also receives Sony Software Package
Spirit of Slamdance Sparky Short Film Award
“Mosquito,” directed by Jeremy Engle
SPONSORED AWARDS
Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography
“General Orders №9,” directed by Robert Persons
Dos Equis Most Interesting Film Award (and best Mumblecore film to NOT play SXSW)
“Nothing but Everything,” directed by Wallace Cotten
1st Script Accessible Screenplay Award sponsored by Lonely Seal Releasing
“All the Wrong Reasons,” written by Gia Milani
Interesting to see them adding a screenplay competition featuring stories about disabled people:
SLAMDANCE is proud to announce the winner, and finalists for the 1st Annual SCRIPT ACCESSIBLE AWARD. Screenplays considered in the SCRIPT ACCESSIBLE category highlighted characters with disabilities, or stories and themes pertinent to disabled people, and in many cases were penned by disabled writers. It’s a world SLAMDANCE and award sponsor LONELY SEAL RELEASING are extremely passionate about, as the voice of disabled talent in this industry is far too often ignored. The winning writer will be honored on January 28th at the 2010 SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL in Park City, Utah and prizes will be awarded then.
For more information on that, go here.