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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize Awarded at 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Three New Artist Grant Recipients Revealed

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize Awarded at 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Three New Artist Grant Recipients Revealed

20th Year of Science-In-Film Initiative Celebrated, Feature Film Prize Goes to After Yang

Park City, UT – The Sundance Film Festival has announced the artist grant recipients for the Sundance Institute Science-in-Film initiative at the twentieth annual Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize Reception, where the previously announced 2022 Feature Film Prize winner (Kogonada, After Yang) was honored. The grantees received a total of $70,000 in funding for their projects in development through the Sloan Episodic Fellowship (Kathryn Lo, Our Dark Lady), Sloan Development Fellowship (Nuhash Humayun, Moving Bangladesh) and Sloan Commissioning Grant (Shawn Snyder and Jason Begue, The Futurist).

“The Science-In-Film Initiative is turning 20 and we are thrilled to gather and celebrate After Yang and our grantees. With the importance of this initiative becoming clearer every year, it’s with gratitude that we mark two decades of the Sloan Foundation providing material support and recognition for filmmakers whose work engages with science and technology in an entertaining, meaningful way” said Festival Director Tabitha Jackson.

“From Primer, Grizzly Man, and Robot & Frank to Searching, Tesla, and After Yang – I was there for every award – it’s been a wonderful, pioneering, two-decade partnership with Sundance,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “To see extraordinary work move from development to the screen and beyond for 20 years is to witness a line of progress in science and technology representation that has deeply influenced our culture. This year’s Feature Film Prize winner Kogonada and screenwriting recipients – Kathryn Lo, Nuhash Humayun, Shawn Snyder, and Jason Begue – are outstanding additions to the multitalented Sloan family. We’re honored to recognize these gifted artists and look forward to contributing to their future success.”

The twenty-year partnership between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Sundance Institute forms part of the Sloan Foundation’s nationwide Film Program, which includes support for six of the nation’s leading film schools plus six additional public schools and seven screenwriting development partners and has resulted in over 750 film projects and 30 completed feature films. In addition to Hidden Figures, originally supported by a Sloan book grant, the film program has long championed stories about women in science from Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story to stories about Louise Pearce, Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, Lise Meitner and Jane Goodall. The program has also supported many works about the role of technology in daily life, including the impact of machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence. Sloan has supported feature narrative films such as Adventures of a Mathematician, One Man Dies a Million Times, The Sound of Silence, To Dust, The Catcher Was a Spy, The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Imitation Game, Experimenter and Operator, along with documentaries, such as the 2020 Sundance Film Festival selection Coded Bias and several new projects, including episodic television, in development. The program has also given early recognition to stand-out films such as Don’t Look Up, Ammonite, The Aeronauts, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, First Man, Searching, The Martian and Son of Monarchs, last year’s recipient of the Feature Film Prize.

AFTER YANG: Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize

After Yang has been awarded the 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and received a $20,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at today’s online reception. The Prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.

The 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Jury was previously announced on December 13th.

The jury stated, “For its exquisitely crafted and deep poetic meditation on how technology can help us reflect on our humanity, and the ways our brains navigate memory, loss, and connection — even while it poses new challenges to our privacy, security, and identity — the 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival goes to Kogonada’s After Yang.”

After Yang / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Kogonada, Producers: Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, Paul Mezey, Theresa Park)  — In the near future, a father and daughter try to save the life of Yang, their beloved robotic family member. Cast: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith. Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Haley Lu Richardson. North American Premiere. Fiction.

Koganada’s debut film, Columbus, starring John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. He wrote and directed his second feature, After Yang, starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith, for A24.

Sundance Institute / Sloan Episodic Fellowship

Kathryn Lo (writer) will receive a $10,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for Our Dark Lady. Previous winners include: The Harvard Computers, Higher, and DELTA-V.

Our Dark Lady: After James Watson trashes scientist Rosalind Franklin in his memoir on the discovery of DNA’s double helix, a friend seeks to uncover the theft of her data by investigating two labs in 1950s England — where Rosalind emerges as the centerpiece of the most important scientific breakthrough of the modern era.

Working in print, radio, television and online, Kathryn Lo relishes storytelling of all forms.  She spent 10 years curating the Emmy-winning documentary series Independent Lens, and oversaw a 450-hour program pipeline at PBS.  After a career of championing others’ work, Kathryn is excited to pursue her own curiosity and projects.

Sundance Institute / Sloan Development Fellowship

Nuhash Humayun (writer and director) will receive a $15,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for Moving Bangladesh. Previous winners include: Chariot, Tidal Disruption, and Goliath.

Moving Bangladesh: Stuck in traffic and in life – a struggling Bangladeshi entrepreneur creates an app that may change transport in developing countries forever, but must first overcome his skeptical family.

Nuhash Humayun is a Bangladesh-based writer/director with a focus on the intersection of genre and Asian identity. His credits include Sincerely Yours, Dhaka (world premiere at Busan 2018, acquired by Netflix). Nuhash’s upcoming feature Moving Bangladesh has  received support from Film Independent, Cannes Marche du Film, Locarno Open Doors and Film Bazaar.

Sundance Institute / Sloan Commissioning Grant

Shawn Snyder (co-writer and director) and Jason Begue (co-writer)  will receive a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for The Futurist. Previous winners include: Pharmacopeia, The Plutonians and Challenger.

The Futurist: When the scientific community abandons him, a renowned neuroscientist attempts to rectify his complicated past and to author a more auspicious future by using his own brain for cyborgian experimentation. The Futurist takes place inside that brain. Inspired by true events.

Shawn Snyder’s first feature, the Sloan/Sundance supported To Dust, won the Best New Director Award and Audience Award at Tribeca 2018 and was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards. Having studied Religion at Harvard and Filmmaking at NYU, Shawn never imagined making movies about science. He stands corrected.

Jason Begue is a Latinx filmmaker known for To Dust, which he co-wrote with Shawn Snyder and co-produced alongside Alessandro Nivola, Emily Mortimer and Ron Perlman. He is currently completing studies at NYU Grad Film, while the writing duo continues to develop a larger slate of projects – including Baby-Face, Jason’s first feature.

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation:
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York-based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants in three areas: research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater, and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.

Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with top film schools in the country – including AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, and USC, plus six public film schools – and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production, along with an annual best-of-the-best Student Grand Jury Prize. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs with the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, Film Independent, SFFILM, the Black List, the Athena Film Festival, and  the North Fork TV Festival. The Foundation has helped develop over 30 feature films including Michael Almereyda’s Tesla, Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler’s Radium Girls, Thor Klein’s Adventures of a Mathematician, Jessica Oreck’s One Man Dies a Million Times, Michael Tyburski’s The Sound of Silence, Shawn Snyder’s To Dust,  Logan Kibens and Sharon Greene’s Operator, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game, and Matthew Brown’s The Man Who Knew Infinity. The Foundation has supported feature documentaries such as Picture a Scientist, Coded Bias, In Silico, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, The Bit Player, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Particle Fever, and Oceans.

The Foundation has an active theater program and commissions about 20 science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the National Theatre, as well as supporting select productions across the country and abroad. Recent grants have supported Bess Wohl’s Continuity, Charly Evon Simpson’s New York Times Critic’s Pick Behind the Sheet, Chiara Atik’s Bump, Leigh Fondakowski’s Spill, Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes, Nick Payne’s Constellations, Lucas Hnath’s Isaac’s Eye, and Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51. The Foundation’s book program includes support for Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures, which became the highest-grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017 and a social and cultural milestone.

For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit www.sloan.org or follow the Foundation at @SloanPublic on Twitter and Facebook.

The Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute. 2022 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, AMC+, Chase Sapphire, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Amazon Studios, DIRECTV, DoorDash, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, WarnerMedia, XRM Media; Sustaining Sponsors – Aflac, Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, IMDbPro, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, Rabbit Hole Bourbon & Rye, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health, White Claw Hard Seltzer; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Shadow And Act, Variety, Vulture. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. sundance.org/festival

Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories for the stage and screen, Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive.
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join the Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

(Press release provided by Sundance Institute)

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Sundance 2022 Mid-Festival Report Beyond Film

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

While there are still a few more days of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival left to watch movies, there’s also plenty of time left to check out all of the Beyond Film programmings they’ve been rolling out daily on the online Festival Platform.

Beyond Film includes Sundance-produced talks and events as well as artist meet-ups and a daily talk show with Fest Director Tabitha Jackson–there’s something for everyone and all of it is free at Festival.Sundance.org, without needing any kind of credential or ticket to accessing! The full list of programming is available here.

 

Dakota Johnson in the Q & A for Am I OK? at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)

 

There are big names (including actors and directors from the 2022 Sundance films this year, such as Dakota Johnson, Keke Palmer, Eva Longoria Bastòn, Amy Poehler, Emma Thompson and Karen Gillan) and big topics (such as climate change, robotics and censorship)

This is an excellent opportunity to check in and check out what’s going on behind the scenes and to get that little something extra.

 

 

Check it out!

 

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THE BLACKHOUSE FOUNDATION WRAPS 2022 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

THE BLACKHOUSE FOUNDATION WRAPS 2022 FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING WITH A CELEBRATION OF 15 YEARS AT
THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Reaffirms Commitment to Education by Introducing 
The International Screenwriter’s Lab
(Los Angeles, California, January 23, 2022) – With festivities underway, The Blackhouse Foundation has curated dynamic conversations in celebration of the culture’s premier thought leaders, with a lineup including Regina Hall, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Richard Lawson, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, industry executives across film, television, visual media, and more!
Today, The Blackhouse Foundation’s programming slate will culminate with a celebratory look back at the foundation’s 15-year history at The Sundance Film Festival, its evolution, and a look towards the future of Blackhouse. Executive Director Jenean Glover will moderate this discussion with Blackhouse Chairman and Co-Founder Brickson Diamond, Co-Founder and Board Member Carol Ann Shine, and Board Members Pauline Fischer, Datari Turner, and Dolly Turner. Register now via Crowdcast to attend!
As The Blackhouse Foundation steps into its 15th year, Blackhouse reaffirms its commitment to education and to creating opportunities for Black filmmakers domestically and internationally. The Blackhouse Foundation, in partnership with Pauline Fischer’s PMF Media Group and VentureLift Africa, recently introduced the International Scriptwriter’s Lab, a creative accelerator and fellowship program whose core mission is to support global, emerging storytellers of compelling film and television projects and help position the participants on a path to project launch. Focusing on Kenyan participants this year – the five Fellows of the inaugural cohort consist of screenwriters Damaris Irungu, Voline Ogutu, Carolyne Kemunto, Wanjiru Kairu and Grace Irungu – the goal is to create a bridge between African and Hollywood-based storytellers, especially African-American storytellers, and help position all participants for success through increased preparedness and connection and to create and nurture a pipeline of talented creative voices across the region.

Today’s Programming Schedule at The Blackhouse!

Building Inclusive Content at Lionsgate
Date: Sunday, 1/23
Time: 1pm – 2pm MT
The Blackhouse Foundation is proud to present a fireside chat with Lionsgate on the future of inclusive content. Join their President of Motion Picture Group, Nathan Kahane, and Head of Inclusive Content, Kamala Avila-Salmon, for an intimate conversation with Blackhouse CEO, Brickson Diamond, on how this leading film studio is building an intentional and integrated roadmap for a more diverse and inclusive film slate for years to come.
Onyx Collective Presents: Summer of Soul, A Necessary Story
Date: Sunday, 1/23
Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm MT
Join Summer of Soul Director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Onyx Collective’s President Tara Duncan for an intimate conversation about Black erasure and getting history right. Moderated by The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis, they will reflect on the importance of building transformative narratives and curating these untold stories that have the power to change the world.
Celebrating 15 Years of the Blackhouse at Sundance
Date: Sunday, 1/23
Time: 4pm – 5pm MT
The Blackhouse Foundation remains a linchpin for culture on a global scale through engagements at Sundance and beyond. But how did we get here? Join the foundation’s leadership as they recap their illustrious 15-year evolution.
For 2022, The Blackhouse Foundation proudly welcomes Meta back as Presenting Sponsor. Onyx Collective joins The Blackhouse Foundation as Select Sponsor, while Lionsgate and Participant contribute as Supporting Sponsors and ICM Partners joins as Sponsor.
The Blackhouse Foundation continues to champion and support leading black writers, directors, producers, crew, and talent throughout film, television, digital media, and beyond with an unshakable platform.

ABOUT THE BLACKHOUSE FOUNDATION:

The Blackhouse Foundation works to expand opportunities for Black content creators by providing pathways to opportunities within film, television, digital, and emerging platforms. Blackhouse provides opportunities for minority creatives to learn about the financial production, marketing, and distribution resources that will raise the profile of their content, while also providing participants with a nucleus for continuing support, community, and education.

(Press release provided by the Purple Agency, Andre Watson)

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Sundance Day Four For Fans of the Spooky and Supernatural

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

By Katie Small

What to Watch at the 2022 Festival: Films for Fans of the Spooky and Supernatural

 

Maika Monroe appears in Watcher by Chloe Okuno, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

From the Festival that brought you some of the most iconic and deeply disturbing horror flicks of the last several decades — including The Blair Witch Project, Hereditary, Halloween, and Saw — the 2022 Sundance Film Festival boasts yet another impressive lineup of deeply imaginative films that dwell in the terrifying and supernatural.

Whether you’re a fan of gripping psychological thrillers or supernatural folk horror, this year’s selections are sure to keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat. But if you abhor gore, fear not, as there are plenty of palatable films for the squeamish; elements of magical realism and the paranormal abound.

The following list breaks the lineup down into supernatural dramas, psychological thrillers, and films that include a bit of both. Themes of social isolation, motherhood, family dynamics, romance, and racism dominate.

Supernatural Dramas

 

A still from Nanny by Nikyatu Jusu, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Nanny (U.S. Dramatic) — Aisha is an undocumented Senegalese immigrant in pursuit of the American dream — her specific version of which involves bringing her young son, whom she was forced to leave behind in Senegal, to join her in New York City. She finds work as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan family, but must carefully navigate the tense atmosphere between the workaholic mother and the disillusioned father. Meanwhile, she is haunted by a supernatural entity derived from West African folklore, a presence that invades both her dreams and reality.

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future (World Dramatic) — Magical realism propels the melodrama in the Spanish language film The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future; the mysterious resurrection of her long-dead mother forces Cecilia to return home to her family’s dairy farm in southern Chile. Once there, she rendezvous with magical farm animals, eschews a connection with her mother, struggles to find common ground with her estranged brother and father, and grapples with the budding transgender identity of her eldest child.

 

Supernatural Horror

Regina Hall appears in Master by Mariama Diallo, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

 

Master (U.S. Dramatic) — At an elite New England university, the dean of students (Regina Hall), a first-year student (Zoe Renee), and a literature professor (Amber Gray) navigate politics and privilege as they encounter increasingly terrifying manifestations of their school’s haunted and racist past. An eye-opening study of power and privilege, Master marks writer-director Mariama Diallo’s first feature and blends horror, drama, psychological thriller, and social critique. Sundance programmer John Nein says, “What begins as a search for belonging becomes a chilling struggle for survival, and Diallo shrewdly reframes a basic horror trope — escaping an evil force — asking what escape is possible for communities of color confronting a racial terror that is everywhere.”

You Won’t Be Alone (World Dramatic) — Set in 19th-century Macedonia, folk horror film You Won’t Be Alone is a dark fable propelled by the supernatural. After a young girl is transformed into a witch by an ancient, shape-shifting spirit, she is left to roam the woods in a feral state. When she inadvertently kills a villager, she becomes a shape-shifter herself, assuming the body of her victim. The young witch continues to inhabit different people (played by multiple actors), living among the villagers for years, observing and mimicking their behavior until the ancient spirit who cursed her returns.

Resurrection (Premieres) — Taking an unsettling look at the consequences of emotional manipulation and codependent relationships, Resurrection mixes magical realism and horror to unnerving effect. After a phantom from her past returns to haunt her, Margaret finds herself being pushed to extreme limits that test her “kindness” and ability to be a good mother — a key facet of her personal identity, and one that she has carefully cultivated while juggling single parenthood and building a successful career. Rebecca Hall’s magnetic lead performance makes this surreal psychological thriller unforgettable.

Hatching (Midnight) — Tween gymnast Tinja spends most of her time fighting with her obnoxious little brother and trying to please her image-obsessed mother, who showcases their family’s existence on her popular blog “Lovely Everyday Life” as a bright and cheery vision of suburban perfection. After Tinja discovers a dying bird in the woods, she brings its strange egg home and nurtures it until it hatches. According to Sundance programmer Heidi Zwicker, “The creature that emerges, christened Alli, becomes Tinja’s closest friend, surrogate child, and living nightmare in this tremendously twisted coming-of-age body horror film.”

Horror and Psychological Thrillers

Maika Monroe appears in Watcher by Chloe Okuno, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

 

Watcher (U.S. Dramatic) — Newly married, Julia moves with her husband to Romania where he has just landed a new job. While he’s busy working all day, she’s left alone to wander the wintery streets of Bucharest and lounge in their luxurious apartment. Cooped up, she notices someone watching her in the adjacent building, and as the stranger’s observations continue unabated, Julia launches an obsessive quest to prove her suspicions to her skeptical husband. Meanwhile, a serial killer known as The Spider stalks Bucharest, targeting young women. Watcher hypnotically weaves a web of suspense and misgivings as Julia, isolated in a foreign landscape, must defend her intuition.

Speak No Evil (Midnight) — While on vacation in Tuscany, a polite Danish family befriends a free-spirited Dutch couple and their mute son; a few months later, the Dutch invite the Danes to visit them at their home in the Netherlands. They happily oblige, but what starts out as an idyllic reunion quickly takes a turn for the worse. The Danes’ exceptional houseguest manners are repeatedly tested by their erratic and eccentric hosts, who are harboring secret and sinister intentions. Speak No Evil masterfully builds tension and suspense, with a visual crescendo that is sure to leave a lasting impression.

PIGGY (Midnight) — Sara, a small town butcher’s daughter, is routinely ridiculed for her appearance by a clique of mean girls in her rural Spanish village. One summer day at the community pool, the girls take the bullying too far, nearly drowning Sara. A vigilante stranger witnesses the event and responds by kidnapping Sara’s tormentors. As the town searches for the bullies, Sara, intrigued by the stranger’s ambiguous intentions, keeps quiet. Horrific brutalities ensue and the violence only worsens the longer Sara holds her tongue. Bloody and laced with grim satire, PIGGY is a psychologically thrilling, nail-biting tale of justice, redemption, and the vulnerability of a tormented teenager desperate to fit in.

Fresh (Midnight) — Frustrated by dating apps, Noa takes a chance on the awkward-but-charming cosmetic surgeon that she bumped into in the produce section of the grocery store. Their romance quickly takes off, and she accepts his invitation for an impromptu weekend getaway, but quickly discovers that her roguish new lover is hiding some unusual appetites. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan, Fresh tells a twisted tale of the horrifying realities of modern dating.

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Maika Monroe Drives Chloe Okuno’s WATCHER at Sundance Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Day 3 at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival brought forth in the US Dramatic Competition what seemed like a Maika Monroe vehicle with Chloe Okuno’s Watcher, a genre-bending thriller. Watcher is set in Bucharest, Romania, and tells the tale of a young, blonde, expatriate female coping with life in a new country and the uneasy feeling she is being watched.

 

Maika Monroe appears in Watcher by Chloe Okuno, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Maika Monroe is cast as the lead, Julia, and her physical talent is on full display. Her physicalities in a train sequence are extraordinary. While the plot is a bit predictable, the visuals and inclusiveness of various genres, combined with Hitchcockian touches make the film quite palatable, and Maika Monroe’s performance as Julia is just as delightful as it is impressive.

Stay tuned for more on The Watcher!

Director/Writer Chloe Okuno of Watcher, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of 42 West)

 

#Sundance, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2022

EMERGENCY Gives a Wild Ride at Sundance Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Carey Williams has returned to the Sundance Film Festival with an identically titled, feature-length update to his short film, Emergency. And, it is a wild ride. Exploring the human condition through the eyes and world views of his characters, Williams interjects moments of comedic relief, while maintaining a firm grip on the film’s narrative sets the tone early in a masterfully directed “safe space” scene of a deadpan classroom debate on the N-word.

 

Sabrina Carpenter portrays Maddy in Carey Williams’ Sundance Film Festival US Dramatic Competition entry, EMERGENCY, from Amazon Studios. (Photo courtesy of AccoladePR)

Donald Elise Watkins, who bears a striking resemblance to Daniel Kaluuya, portrays Kunle, a Princeton bound college senior, who winds up on a complicated adventure with his roommates Sean (RJ Cyler) and Carlos (Sebastian Chacon) when a young party girl, Emma (Maddy’s younger sister) portrayed by Maddie Nichols, turns up incapacitated on their floor.

What ensues provides a canvas for playful, hard-hitting social satire that hits the bullseye.  Keep an eye out for this director and this film’s release! Four stars.

 

#Sundance, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2022

Sundance Day Three Recap and a Look at Day Four

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Emma Thompson, Amy Poehler, Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul, Lena Dunham, and More
Participate in the Third Day of Sundance Film Festival 

PARK CITY, UT (January 22, 2022) – Sundance Film Festival welcomed audiences to an action-packed weekend with the third day of premiere screenings and conversations featuring some of the most notable visionaries in independent film, new media, and culture-at-large, including Emma Thompson, Karen Gillan, Amy Poehler, Aaron Paul, Lena Dunham, Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Scott Speedman, W. Kamau Bell, Nina Menkes, Riley Stearns, Daniel Hart, Saul Williams, Drum & Lace, Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Daryl McCormack, and more.

Emma Thompson discussed her very intimate, vulnerable role in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; Lena Dunham discussed how female sexuality is depicted on screen with the Sharp Stick cast including Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Scott Speedman, and Taylour Paige; Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul highlighted their surprising dance skills in Dual; Director W. Kamau Bell shared insight on the power of celebrity magnetism, especially in the case of Bill Cosby; and Lucie Arnaz expressed her trust in having Amy Poehler direct the documentary on her parents in Lucy and Desi.

Each year, Sundance serves as a cultural launchpad, helping to expand audience horizons through film and the conversations that occur the minute that credits roll. Continuing to foster this spirit of discussion into 2022, Sundance Film Festival programs a series of panels across discipline and topics to keep the conversation going.

DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS

  • FILM Q&As We Need to Talk About Cosby Panel
        • W. KAMAU BELL (Director) on the power of celebrity magnetism to muddle reality: “How we confuse a celebrity’s image with their reality. So, R. Kelly was selling an R- rated image, which is very different from what Bill Cosby was selling. We can look at white celebrities, too, and see that just because we like a celebrity a lot, doesn’t mean that that’s who they really are. That’s one of the ultimate lessons of this film, and it’s harder for Black folks because we don’t have as many powerful figures in the media who are celebrities. So, we really hyper-focus on the few that we have.”
        • RENEE GRAHAM (Journalist, Featured In The Film) on the protections Cosby had from the media:  “There were several journalists that had said, “yeah, I heard things but I didn’t want to lose access to people in the industry.” They didn’t want to be the one to bring down the icon. And Bill Cosby PREYED on that to continue getting away with it. I don’t think it was a coincidence that at the height of his powers, in the 1980s with The Cosby Show, that his criminality escalated because he had even more access, but he had even more protection from people.”
        • MAUREEN RYAN (Journalist, Featured In The Film) on the importance of media literacy in these cases: – “I get asked all the time, ‘how can you separate the art from the artist?’ The art is in service to the artist’s image. The image that they have constructed in many ways is the thing that allows them to operate in the way they do.”
        • LISE LOTTE-LUBLIN (Subject & Survivor) on the conflicting feelings about the “fatherly hero” she’d known all her life and the man himself: “As a survivor of this, I found out in 2014 the actual circumstances of what happened because I don’t have actual memory of the actual incident, but one of the things that was extremely overwhelming for me whas to fight all of those glorious feelings that i had with Bill Cosby as a child growing up. Loving his shows and repeating his comments and laughing at his jokes – there was a lot of happiness around that. And when I realized what he had done to me, versus what I grew up loving and feeling (adoring him), it was such a conflict in me.”
        • BARBARA BOWMAN (Subject & Survivor) on Cosby’s elaborate facade: “It’s so profound how he was able to perform in his private life the way he performed in his public life. I don’t know how he had time to do both… We’re touching on some important things about culture – people don’t want to shatter their illusion. They’ve grown up with an icon, they’ve grown up with a father figure – America’s favorite dad.”
    • BRAINWASHED: Sex-Camera-Power Panel
          • JOEY SOLOWAY (Subject – Creator of Transparent) on the objectification of women in cinema: “It’s a state of emergency,” and although there’s a lot of work ahead, they see Nina Menkes’ film as a step forward towards equality on and off screen, “we are making history whether we’re on the mountain or not.”
      • Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Panel | LINK TO STILLSSOPHIE HYDE (Director) and Katy Brand (Screenwriter) on working with Dame Emma Thompson: “I always had Emma in my mind as Nancy. I wrote it with her voice and style and cadence.” (Katy) “I could see Emma in the writing.” (Sophie)
          • EMMA THOMPSON on coming on board: “I was thrilled to read it and read it in thirty seconds flat and wrote back and said ‘You have to do this! We have to make this! We absolutely have to make it. RIGHT NOW! Get on with it, well come on!’ It’s all ready, it’s beautiful. It’s perfect, like nothing I’d done before.” “It was very freeing. It was a beautiful experience.”
          • EMMA THOMPSON and DARYL MCCORMACK (actor) on portraying intimacy and vulnerability: “Part of our vulnerability and the ability that that has – seeing these two people face their own vulnerability is what gave each other access to dig further.” [Daryl] “As soon as we actually look into one another’s eyes and exchange our experiences and our humanity all of that just goes. It goes in an instant because we’re humans.” [Emma]
        • Screenwriter Katy Brand, director Sophie Hyde and actors Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack attend a Q&A moderated by Festival Director Tabitha Jackon and Director of Programming Kim Yutani following the virtual premiere of Good Luck to You Leo Grande, an official selection of the Premieres section at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. © 2022 Sundance Institute.
          • Dual PanelRILEY STEARNS (Director) on the inception of this unique concept about duality using clones for a film: “The initial idea came about where an actor would act opposite themselves, but then I really wanted to confront what that means, existentially and really think about who this person is. Is this a better version of you? How does that make you feel? How does that make you go forward in life? And then from there came up with the “duel” concept – fighting to the death.”
            • KAREN GILLAN (Lead Actor) on doubling up on lines and playing against herself, again: “I’ve actually acted opposite myself in two other films prior to this! Because I’ve acted in a lot of sci-fi and time travel [genres], I’ve met past and future versions of myself before. So that was something I’m weirdly accustomed to.”
            • AARON PAUL (Actor) and KAREN GILLAN (Actor) on the film’s surprising dance sequence:  [Aaron] “First of all, I can’t tell you how terrified I was to do that dance… we had the same dance instructor.” [Karen] “She basically, whenever we were dancing would laugh at us so directly, like she didn’t even try to stop herself from laughing. She was pointing and going ‘it’s so funny when you concentrate so hard.’ We were trying, we were really trying!”[Aaron] She would just aggressively point and go HAHA”
            • RILEY STEARNS (Director) on shooting in Finland: “ We were the very first U.S. production to be shot there all the way through. We had the best experience there…The coolest thing about it is that it really makes it feel like a new world, like Dual exists in an alternate reality.”

  • Sharp Stick PanelLENA DUNHAM (Director/Actor) on her character Sara Jo: “I was asking a lot of questions at the time of how we depict female sexuality on screen and how it’s inexplicably linked to trauma. I was thinking about some of the trauma in my life, and some of it being medical trauma and what it would be like to have a character informed by this medical trauma. That really created this naïve and specific worldview in her and when she meets someone who cracks it open.”
    • SCOTT SPEEDMAN (Actor) on what it was like to work with Lena: “It was a very safe space, and it was such a joy that you just never heard no, you didn’t feel controlled and that’s rare for me. It kind of created this environment where you felt like you could step out and do whatever you wanted to really let it go.”
    • LENA on what it means to create your own family: “I am a woman who can’t have biological children and thought a lot about what it means to make your own family and design your own family and how it’s just as meaningful.”
    • TAYLOR PAIGE (Actor) on standards in society: “She has a white mother and a white sister and compares herself to white standards of beauty and doesn’t realize the social media world she aspires to white influencers are actually influenced by black influencers and black culture.”
    • LENA on how she came about the title of the film: “It came from doctors in the UK who say if they give you a shot or take your blood it’s going to be a sharp poke or sharp scratch. It’s a way to comfort you. That made its way into a monologue of Sara Joe’s about trying to predict pain before it comes to dull the effects of it. It’s aggressively poetic.”
    • LENA on the porn industry: “Porn can liberate people. It’s an industry that is just as complicated as Hollywood and as vast and probably more prolific. It’s very important to recognize the very healthy role it can play and the role that porn actors can play in shaping people’s identity.”


 

  • NEW FRONTIERSuga’ – A Live Virtual Dance PerformanceVALENCIA JAMES (Lead Artist/Performer) on her motivation to highlight the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the sugar industry: “This piece all started in the summer of 2020, so we were in lockdown and we all just witnessed the horrific murder of George Floyd, and at this time I found my coping mechanism was to seek a closer relationship with my ancestors.”
      • TERRI WRIGHT (Rehearsal Director) on the experience of doing live performances in virtual reality:  “That same feeling you might get from performing in a theater with a live audience… butterflies in your stomach, anxiety, wondering what people are seeing, wondering what they’re thinking in the moment, all of that is intact in there with this technology.”

 

  • SUNDANCE ASCAP MUSIC CAFÉ Sundance ASCAP Music Café Performers: Day 2 of the 2022 Sundance ASCAP Music Café showcased three unique sets from the honey-voiced singer-songwriter and actress Hayley Sales, soulful R&B guitar fusionist Jordan Hawkins, and EVAN + ZANE, a fascinating collaboration between award-winning actress Evan Rachel Wood and acclaimed guitarist Zane Carney.
      • Hayley Sales performed: “Let Me Fall Apart,” “Lose Me Forever,” Never Far,” “Never Let You Go,” and “World Can Wait.”
      • Jordan Hawkins performed: “Heart Won’t Stop,” “Risky,” “Slow Down,” and “We Have.”
      • EVAN + ZANE performed: “Smokey Taboo,” “Children of the Revolution,” “Song for Zula,” and “This Woman’s Work.”

TUNE IN / ATTEND TODAY | January 23 

  • CINEMA CAFÉEVA LONGORIA BASTÓN & AMY POEHLER | 1:30 PM ET// 11:30 AM MT // 10:30 AM PT
      • Eva Longoria Bastón (Director/Producer, La Guerra Civil) and Amy Poehler (Director, Lucy and Desi). Moderated by Mandalit del Barco (NPR)
  • A HIGHLIGHT OF FILM PREMIERES AND POST Q&As:Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. | 1:45 PM ET // 11:45 AM MT // 10:45 AM PT
      • Adamma Ebo (Director/Writer), Adanne Ebo (Producer), Regina Hall (Actor/Producer), Sterling K Brown (Actor/Producer)
    • Cha Cha Real Smooth | 4:45 PM ET // 2:45 PM MT // 1:45 PM PT
      • Cooper Raiff (Writer/Director/Actor/Producer), Dakota Johnson (Actor/Producer), Leslie Mann (Actor), Brad Garrett (Actor), Evan Assante (Actor), Vanessa Burghardt (Actor), Raul Castillo (Actor)
    • Aftershock | 5:45 PM ET // 3:45 PM MT // 2:45 PM PT
      • Paula Eiselt (Director/Producer), Tonya Lewis Lee (Director/Producer), Shawnee Benton-Gibson (Featured Subject Collaborator), Omari Maynard (Featured Subject Collaborator), Bruce McIntyre (Featured Subject Collaborator)
    • jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy | 8:00 PM ET // 6:00 PM MT // 5:00 PM PT
      • Clarence “”Coodie”” Simmons (Director/Producer/Writer/Cinematographer), Chike Ozah (Director/Producer)
    • Alice | 8:15 PM ET // 6:15 PM MT // 5:15 PM PT
      • Krystin Ver Linden (Writer/Director), Keke Palmer (Actor/Executive Producer), Peter Lawson (Producer), Common (Actor/Executive Producer)
    • TikTok, Boom | 8:45 PM ET // 6:45 PM MT // 5:45 PM PT
      • Shalini Kantayya (Director), Spencer X (Cast), Feroza Aziz (Cast), Deja Foxx (Cast)
    • Phoenix Rising | 8:45 PM ET // 7:45 PM MT // 6:45 PM PT
      • Evan Rachel Wood (Actress, Activist, Survivor), Amy Berg (Director), Miranda Yousef (Editor), Ira Wood (Actor, Evan’s brother), Shay Franco-Clausen (Phoenix Act Coalition Member, IGNITE Regional Director, Community Strategist, Survivor), Ashley Walters (Photographer, Survivor)
    • God’s Country | 11:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM MT // 8:00 PM PT
      • Julian Higgins (Director/Producer), Shaye Ogbonna (Writer), Thandiwe Newton (Role of Sandra)
    • My Old School | 11:15 PM ET // 9:15 PM MT // 8:15 PM PT

 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

The Festival takes place digitally via our enhanced online platform at Festival.Sundance.org, on the New Frontier Spaceship, a bespoke immersive platform allowing festival-goers to gather virtually, and in-person at seven Satellite Screens venues around the country during the Festival’s second weekend. Additional programming includes a daily talk show (“How to Fest: Daily”), and Satellite Screen conversations as well as partner offerings in the Festival Village. To note, all talks are available online via live stream or posted later on festival.sundance.org to view globally. Sign up for an account at festival.sundance.org to access online. All times are U.S. Mountain Time.  Tickets are on sale.

ABOUT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute. 2022 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, AMC+, Chase Sapphire, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Amazon Studios, DIRECTV, DoorDash, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, WarnerMedia, XRM Media; Sustaining Sponsors – Aflac, Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, IMDbPro, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, Rabbit Hole Bourbon & Rye, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health, White Claw Hard Seltzer; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Shadow and Act, Variety, Vulture. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Visit sundance.org/festival for more.

Ben Lublin and Lise-Lotte Lublin attend the Q&A of the virtual Premiere of We Need to Talk About Cosby, an official selection of the Premieres section at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. © 2022 Sundance Institute.

(Sundance Press Office)

#Sundance, Slamdance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2022

Sundance Film Festival Day 3 Quick Tip

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Sundance Film Festival completed the second day of its online festival programming featuring conversations with John Boyega, Elizabeth Banks, Regina Hall, Sigourney Weaver, Abi Damaris Corbin, Phyllis Nagy, Connie Britton, Colin Farrell, Hayley Lu Richardson, Wuumi Mosaku, Zoe Renee, Mariama Diallo, Chlose Okuno, Kogonada, and more. Stay tuned. In the meantime check out “How To Fest With Tabitha Jackson.”

Sundance Festival Director Tabitha Jackson on “How To Fest,” a daily segment chockful of festing tips, filmmaker interviews, and some of the day’s recommended screenings. (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Making the festival easily accessible to everyone is a primary driver and here is a daily segment titled, “How To Fest With Tabitha Jackson,” chock full of wise words combined with a Shari Frilot and Phyllis Nagy filmmaker chat. In addition, suggestions for the day’s films and events with brief overviews are provided to ease the sense of inundation. Furthermore, it’s a fun piece! Go forth and discover…

 

Stay tuned as the day is just beginning!

#Sundance, Feature Film, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2022

Day 2 Taking Off With Fast Flying Films

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Day 2 at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival started off with Tabitha Jackson’s “How to Fest,” a wonderful way to open the day at Sundance – full of wise words and insight into promising films and filmmakers. Admittedly, I felt my face flush with Jackson’s closing inspirational alliteration, “Put on your intrepid trousers and go forth and discover.”

Taking those words to heart, After Yang presented itself. Stay tuned for more on this Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize winner!

At 1:45, DOWNFALL: The Case Against Boeing from acclaimed director Rory Kennedy, has numerous festivalgoers chomping at the bit with this comprehensive investigation into the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. More to follow on “searing indictment of a once-principled company corrupted by the influence of Wall Street to prioritize profits above all else.”

Here are a few more tips for today:

  • BEYOND FILM:

  • FESTIVAL VILLAGE: Now is the time to dip into Festival Village and add everything of interest to your schedule by “favoriting” – you don’t need reservations, but make a schedule now so that you don’t hear about it after it happens.

  • NEW FRONTIER:

  •  A HIGHLIGHT OF FILM PREMIERES AND POST Q&As:

    • 892 | 3:18 PM ET // 1:18 PM MT // 12:18 PM PT

      • Abi Damaris Corbin (Director, co-writer), Kwame Kwei-Armah (Writer); John Boyega (Actor), Connie Britton (Actor), Olivia Washington (Actor), Nicole Beharie (Actor), and Selenis Leyva (Actor).

    • Living | 3:48 PM ET // 1:48 PM MT // 12:48 PM PT

      • Oliver Hermanus (Director), Bill Nighy (Actor), Aimee Lou Wood (Actor)

    • Call Jane | 9:52 PM ET // 7:52 PM MT //6:52 PM PT

      • Phyllis Nagy (Director), Elizabeth Banks (Actor), Sigourney Weaver (Actor), Wuumi Mosaku (Actor), Robbie Brenner (Producer)

    • Master | 10:06 PM ET // 8:06 PM  MT // 7:06 PM PT

      • Mariama Diallo (Director, Amber Gray (Actor), Zoe Renee (Actor), Regina Hall (Actor)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

The Festival takes place digitally via our enhanced online platform at Festival.Sundance.org, on the New Frontier Spaceship, a bespoke immersive platform allowing festival-goers to gather virtually, and in-person at seven Satellite Screens venues around the country during the Festival’s second weekend. Additional programming includes a daily talk show (“How to Fest: Daily”), and Satellite Screen conversations as well as partner offerings in the Festival Village. To note, all talks are available online via live stream or posted later on festival.sundance.org to view globally. Sign up for an account at festival.sundance.org to access online. All times are U.S. Mountain Time.  Tickets are on sale.

ABOUT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute. 2022 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, AMC+, Chase Sapphire, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Amazon Studios, DIRECTV, DoorDash, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, WarnerMedia, XRM Media; Sustaining Sponsors – Aflac, Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, IMDbPro, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, Rabbit Hole Bourbon & Rye, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health, White Claw Hard Seltzer; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Shadow and Act, Variety, Vulture. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Visit sundance.org/festival for more.

Until next time, I’ll see you at the Cinema House!

HollywoodGlee inside the Sundance Film Festival Headquarters at the Park City Marriott on January 23, 2019, in Park City, Utah, the day before the opening of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
#Sundance, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival 2022

Sundance Film Festival 2022 is Opening Today

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

DAY 1 IS HERE!

Robert Redford addresses members of the press at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival Press Conference at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah, on January 29th, 2019. (Photo by Larry Gleeson)

Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford, Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente, and Festival Director Tabitha Jackson will kick off the 2022 Festival at 4 p.m. MT with a customary welcome and introductory remarks before the highly anticipated opening day premiere of New Frontier’s 32 Sounds!

 

Sam Greene (Photo coutesy of Sundance Inst.)

This indelible, feature-length journey from Sam Greene weaves together 32 audio experiences, crafting a cinematic poem about the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world. Green previously premiered A Thousand Thoughts at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Featuring original compositions by JD Samson that will be performed live, 32 Sounds is designed to be experienced with personal headphones for a truly unique binaural audio experience. A high-quality headset is strongly recommended for online audiences.

Meet the artists behind all films and projects at the Festival on the Spaceship. Click here to learn more.

Secret Bonus Screening for Sundance Opening Film 32 Sounds — RSVP HERE

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival will be held January 20-30th, online and on seven satellite screens across the country. Tickets and packages are available HERE.

Until next time, I’ll see you at the movies!

Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah.