Sundance Winners and Losers

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

They call it the Sundance alchemy…..the strange and rather unknowable process by which films with advanced buzz fall flat and titles that come out of nowhere become the next big indie flings. Such was the case at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where several of the higher profile films did not get the love from audiences, critics or distributors, and where a few unheralded films walked away with the lion’s share of prizes and, most importantly, distribution contacts that will insure that they will get seen by a wider public in the months ahead.

The two most high-profile films before the festival — LAY THE FAVORITE, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and the latest Brooklyn tale from iconic indie director Spike Lee, RED HOOK SUMMER, both landed with a critical thud and are still looking for buyers (Lee did not help matters by lashing out against the Hollywood and indie establishment for not understanding or supporting works about the African-American experience). Several highly touted comedies, including the romcom CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER, starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, and BACHELORETTE, a mean-girl marriage comedy starring Kirsten Dunst that many were hoping would be the indie answer to the mega-hit BRIDESMAIDS, also did not get any critical love (although both will most likely end up with modest distribution deals). The documentary opener THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, about a billionaire and his trophy wife that spawned a defamation suit before the Festival even began was dismissed by many critics as reality television fodder about big boobs, big expense accounts and the outrageous spending habits of the privileged 1%.

But this Sundance alchemy thing can work both ways. A film shot in Louisiana that had very little advance buzz and which, based on the Festival’s description of it as a mythological tale, had buyers rolling their eyes, became in just a few short days the toast of Sundance, winning major awards and securing a tasty deal with Fox Searchlight, arguably the most aggressive indie distributor on the block. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, a visually arresting drama tinged with magical realism about a 6-year-old named Hushpuppy in the outer reaches of bayou country, became an instant must-see after an early audience gave it a standing ovation, and critics drooled. All subsequent public screenings were immediately sold out and press and industry clamored for a repeat Press and Industry screening, which finally happened last Thursday. The built up demand required standing on line in advance of the screening for over an hour, but what awaited was definitely worth the wait…..maybe not the most commercial movie to come out of Sundance, but certainly the most inspiring and most original.

Other standouts that entered the Festival with either little heart or negative buzz also shined. ROBOT AND FRANK, starring Oscar nominee Frank Langella as a retired jewel thief and his robot caretaker and THE SURROGATE, a beautifully acted humanist tale about a man living in an iron lung who longs to lose his virginity at age 40, featured peak performances by John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy…..the kind that will be remembered at next year’s awards season. Other films that made this a memorable Sundance include the raunchy phone sex comedy FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL…, with hilarious performances by Ari Graynor and Lauren Miller; THE WORDS, an intense and personal journey of a writer’s deception and his ultimate redemption with an all-star cast that included Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde; SIMON KILLER, a highly atmospheric whodunit by New York wunderkind Antonio Campos; MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, a dramatically intense relationship drama about a woman trying to salvage her family and identity when her husband is incarcerated, with strong direction by Ava DuVernay; and ARBITRAGE, a crackerjack thriller set against the economic meltdown with strong performances by Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and last year’s Sundance “it girl” Brit Marling.

Documentaries were especially strong, with films exploring the crisis in health care, the failed drug war, the scandal of rape in the armed services, the legacy of a disappeared 1970s rocker and the downward spiral of American cities and institutions, among the primetime topics observed. International films were politely received with none emerging with distribution deals (so far) but expect to see these films branch out to the international film circuit and find audiences beyond Park City.

At Saturday evening’s gala awards ceremony, which in true Sundance style was a relaxed affair that was livestreamed for an international audience, the big winners were BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD for Best U.S. Drama, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN for Best U.S. Documentary, VIOLETA WENT TO HEAVEN (Chile) as Best World Cinema Drama and THE LAW IN THESE PARTS(Israel) as Best World Cinema Documentary. A more complete list of winners follows, with many worthy titles that will be making their way through the international film festival circuit, and also, hopefully to big screens and small screens via VOD in the months ahead. For more information on them, visit: http://www.sundance.org/festival

SUNDANCE 2012 AWARD WINNERS
 The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary: THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (Eugene Jarecki)
 The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic: BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Benh Zeitlin)
 The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary: THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (Israel, Ra'anan Alexandrowicz)
 The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic: VIOLETA WENT TO HEAVEN (Chile, Andrés Wood)
 The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary: THE INVISIBLE WAR (Kirby Dick)
 The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic: THE SURROGATE (Ben Lewin)
 The World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Sweden, United Kingdom, Malik Bendjelloul)
 The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic: VALLEY OF SAINTS (India, Musa Syeed)
 The Best of NEXT Audience Award: SLEEPWALK WITH ME (USA, Mike Birbiglia)
 The U.S. Directing Award: Documentary: THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES (Lauren Greenfield)
 The U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic: MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (Ava DuVernay)
 The World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary: 5 BROKEN CAMERAS (Israel, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi)
 The World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic: TEDDY BEAR (Denmark, Mads Matthiesen)
 The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (USA, Derek Connolly)
 The World Cinema Screenwriting Award: YOUNG & WILD (Chile, Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano, Sebastián Sepúlveda)
 The U.S. Documentary Editing Award: DETROPIA (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady)
 The World Cinema Documentary Editing Award: INDIE GAME (Canada, Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky)
 The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary: CHASING ICE (Jeff Orlowski)
 The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic: BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Benh Zeitlin)
 The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary: PUTIN’S KISS (Denmark, Lise Birk Pedersen)
 The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic: MY BROTHER THE DEVIL (UK, Sally El Hosaini)
 U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change: LOVE FREE OR DIE (Macky Alston)
 U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance: AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (Alison Klayman)
 U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing: Andrea Sperling and Jonathan Schwartz for SMASHED AND NOBODY WALKS
 U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting: THE SURROGATE (John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy and cast)
 World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision: CAN (Turkey, Rasit Celikezer)
 World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize for its Celebration of the Artistic Spirit: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Sweden/UK, Malik Bendjelloul)
 Yahoo Short Film Audience Award: THE DEBUTANTE HUNTERS (USA, Maria White)

European Short Film Winners At Sundance

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

Two short films from the United Kingdom and one from Kosovo were among the winners announced yesterday of the Short Film Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival. Sixty five films from around the world were presented in this year’s program from over 7500 submissions, in curated packages and as stand-alone short films presented before feature screenings. They represent the new generation of filmmaking talent who will undoubtedly return to Sundance in future years with feature length films in competition.

The Short Film jurors are Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head for MTV and King of the Hill for FOX TV; Dee Rees, Sundance Institute Directing Lab Fellow and writer/director of the award-winning short film PARIAH, and Shane Smith, Director of Public Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The Short Film program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival is presented by Yahoo! As part of the sponsorship, a selection of nine short films that premiered at the Festival are currently featured on Yahoo! Screen. Through January 27, film buffs can watch the films and vote for their favorite. Yahoo! will present the winning filmmaker with the inaugural Yahoo! Audience Award and $5,000 at the Festival’s closing Awards Ceremony.

This year’s Short Film winners include:
The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: FISHING WITHOUT NETS (U.S.A., Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey) — A story of pirates in Somalia, told from the perspective of the pirates themselves.

The Jury Prize in Short Film, U.S. Fiction: THE BLACK BALLOON (U.S.A., Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie) — The Black Balloon strays from the herd and experiences what life as an individual is like. He explores New York City in the deepest way, seeing all of its characters.

The Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction: THE RETURN (Kosovo, Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj) — A man comes back from a Serb prison to his wife and son. Much has changed since he was declared missing and continuing where they left off four years ago may not be as easy as it seems.

The Jury Prize in Short Film, Non-Fiction: THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM (U.S.A., Director: Lucy Walker) — Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. A visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.

The Jury Prize in Animated Short Film: A MORNING STROLL (United Kingdom, Director: Grant Orchard) — When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.

The Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling: THE ARM (U.S.A., Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis) — In an attempt to keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, Chance starts a texting relationship with Genevieve, a girl he meets at a yogurt shop.

The Special Jury Award for Animation Direction: ROBOTS OF BRIXTON (United Kingdom, Director: Kibwe Tavares) — The trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs through January 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. A complete list of films and events is available at www.sundance.org/festival

John Cooper: Indie Innovator

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

It is probably safe to say that John Cooper, the Director of the Sundance Film Festival, dreams in 24 frames per second. He has said in various interviews over the years that film has been part of his DNA going way back to childhood, although his first immersion in the arts was in live theater, ranging from performance to design. He spent the obligatory years in New York City, the center of live performing arts, but in 1989, by chance (or fate), he volunteered at the Sundance Institute’s Summer Labs and fell in love with the process, energy and mission of the Institute. He became a member of the Festival’s programming team that same year, beginning an almost 25 year association with the Festival. In 1989, the Sundance Film Festival was quite a different beast and the indie landscape was far more modest. However, in that same year, a small indie film titled SEX, LIVES AND VIDEOTAPE by an unknown director named Steven Soderbergh exploded at the Cannes Film Festival, and its success was about to change all that. Suddenly indie film was white hot and Sundance was well positioned to become the organization that would become the keeper of the holy grail of emerging indie talent.

Cooper (as he known by friends and colleagues) returned to California to become part of the Festival programming team, which at that time consisted of two people. In the Festival’s early years, he created the short film program and quickly transitioned into programming documentaries and feature films. Working under the leadership of Sundance founder Robert Redford and Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore, he focused on efforts to expand the Festival’s boundaries by helping introduce the New Frontier On Main initiative, where contemporary artists intersect with new technologies, as well as boosting the Festival’s content-rich website and leading the initiative to expand the Festival’s audience via strategic relationships with online platforms such as iTunes, Netflix and Xbox 360. Since 2005, he spearheaded what was then known as the Sundance Institute Art House Project (now known as Sundance USA), a national initiative of 18 art houses from across the country designed to connect regional audiences to the Sundance’s films and filmmakers. He also introduced a new section to the program called Next, focused on low- or no-budget films and ratcheted up the World Cinema competition sections to give them equal footing with the core American Indies program.

After serving as the Festival’s Director of Programming since 2003, Cooper got the opportunity of a lifetime in 2009, when longtime Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore accepted a job as chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises, which among other things, sponsors the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Speculation was rampant at the time about who would succeed Gilmore in the high profile role, with fears that a Hollywood studio honcho might be anointed and shift the Festival into a decidedly more commercial direction. Well, the good news is that the Institute, with Redford’s apparent blessing, saw that they had the right person for the job was already in their midst, and elevated Cooper into the position. As Festival Director, he oversees creative direction of the Festival and has final decision on all films and events. The first Festival that he was completely in charge of in January 2010 was viewed as a return to Sundance’s roots, with “less commercial, more independent” serving as his mantra. While the Festival continues to include films that bring out celebrity talents, the films chosen in the past three years (including the class of 2012) seem to bear out his ethos of presenting smaller and tougher films that challenge audiences to think as well as just react.

For this year, he has incorporated the theme of LOOK AGAIN to encourage people to embrace a new generation of filmmakers and storytelling techniques. When asked about the motivation behind this campaign, Cooper shared that “LOOK AGAIN refers to opening yourself up to a new perspective and renewed vitality – to re-examine the power of film as an art form. I love to watch audiences celebrate the new slate each year. I think audiences at this year’s Festival are going to discover a diverse range of exciting stories both in narrative and documentary. As the Rolling Stones sang “you just might find….you get what you need!” This creative approach comes at a time when indie films are facing a crisis in terms of finding distribution and making back their even modest investments. While new distribution platforms are showing promise, the economic crisis and the possible move towards a more conservative government do not harken well for art cinema. “In these challenging economic times, filmmakers have had to be more resourceful and truly independent in their approaches to filmmaking”, Cooper said in the Festival’s announcement press release. “Looking at this year‘s submissions, the result is more fully realized visions and stronger stories; we are proud to see the Festival emerging as a key indicator of the health and creativity of our filmmaking community”.

The onus for the quality of the overall event is now shared between American indie titles and a strong representation of world cinema offerings. In fact, the World Cinema competitions for narrative features and documentaries contain an impressive number of world premieres. In industry terms, that means that more international filmmakers and sales agents are opting to premiere at Sundance instead of Berlin or other non-American venues. “My staff and I have stepped up our commitment to international outreach in the past few years, and our international friends are catching on to the opportunities we have to offer, including networking meetings and social gatherings designed just for them”, Cooper offered. “As with U.S. films, we have a rich history of supporting work that is sometimes overlooked by others….yet when those films find audiences it is magical.”

For the third Festival under his artistic direction, Cooper has settled into his role and can see his personal influences converging with the realities of the marketplace and the continued enthusiasm of film artists who are driven to tell their stories. But even in a “dream job”, the challenges are great and the position requires him to say NO much more than he says YES (the Festival screens less than 10% of the films that are submitted to it…..onerous odds, indeed). “The rejection process is heartbreaking”, Cooper shared. “It is hard to ignore the struggle and dreams that go into making any film. I often tell filmmakers that though our Festival may be a “quick” path for them to achieve their goals, it is not the only one.” However difficult that process may be for a man who is not afraid to show his more tender and emotional side, the rewards of the “dream job” are also great. “It is rewarding knowing that the Festival works – that it is a platform for creating real impact both for films and the independent community.” Cooper concluded. “There’s something special about standing backstage with a filmmaker at their world premiere, both of us knowing their life is going to change and not even having to talk about it.”