Sundance Film Festival

'Wiener-Dog' Trailer: Greta Gerwig Befriends a Dachshund in Todd Solondz's Dark Sundance Comedy

Michael Nordine — Thu, 26 May 2016 19:02:27 GMT

Todd Solondz first made waves at the Sundance Film Festival when "Welcome to the Dollhouse" won the Grand Jury Prize in 1995, and he returned to Park City earlier this year with "Wiener-Dog." His first movie since 2011's "Dark Horse," it follows a dachshund's experiences with four different owners. Watch the trailer now.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: 'Wiener-Dog' is Todd Solondz's Angriest Movie

The comedy looks typically dark and cynical, with one exchange feeling particularly emblematic of Solondz's sensibility: "I'm going to Ohio tomorrow, wanna come along?" "What's in Ohio?" "Crystal meth." The non-canine performers include Greta Gerwig (as a vet tech named Dawn Wiener, because of course), Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Tracy Letts and Zosia Mamet.

READ MORE: Sundance: Todd Solondz Isn't as Cynical As You Think

Among Solondz's other films are "Storytelling," "Palindromes" and the controversial "Happiness." The writer/director himself describes his latest as "'Au Hasard Balthazar' meets 'Benji," which is certainly enough to pique this writer's interest. Amazon Studios and IFC Films are releasing "Wiener-Dog," which received financing from both Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures and Christine Vachon's Killer Films, on June 24.

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'Tickled': Campaign Launched To Try To Discredit Provocative Competitive Tickling Documentary

Graham Winfrey — Mon, 23 May 2016 17:21:47 GMT

New Zealand journalist David Farrier's upcoming documentary "Tickled" doesn't hit theaters until June, but the co-director has already been hit with a lawsuit and a website devoted to discrediting the movie.

On top of the lawsuit and website, several journalists were also contacted about their coverage of the documentary from the Twitter account @kjclarkee, an unverified account that identifies itself as belonging to Kevin Clarke, a producer for Jane O'Brien Media.

The documentary that played at Sundance and the True/False Film Festival earlier this year focuses on the endurance tickling contests held by Jane O'Brien Media, which the film states is run by David D'Amato. The doc exposes some troubling practices at the company, which Farrier first got involved with after trying to write a story about the contests.

"Their first reply was 'we don't want to deal with a homosexual journalist,'" Farrier told IndieWire in a previous interview. "That comment is what kicked this whole thing off. They wrote that on their public Facebook page."

Even before making the documentary, Farrier discovered Jane O'Brien Media to be a particularly litigious company. After blogging about their interaction with Jane O'Brien Media, Farrier and his co-director Dylan Reeve received notices from attorneys alleging defamation. The involvement of lawyers indicated to Farrier and Reeve that there was a larger story worth pursuing, so they began work on their investigation.

Farrier is not worried about landing in hot legal water, however, as he sought the help of lawyers himself prior to making his documentary to ensure his movie would be protected against lawsuits. HBO and Magnolia are also on board to distribute the film, and haven't blinked, despite the lawsuit.

Farrier told IndieWire that anyone wondering who to believe in the spat between him and D'Amato should "see the film and make up their own minds."

'Captain Marvel' Rumored To Be Directed By 'White Girl' Helmer Elizabeth Wood

Vikram Murthi — Tue, 17 May 2016 19:42:31 GMT

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, Elizabeth Wood premiered her feature-length debut drama "White Girl," about partying college girl Leah (Morgan Saylor) who starts seeing Blue (Brian "Sene" Marc), a young drug dealer whom she helps sell his product to her affluent classmates; when Blue gets arrested and Leah is left with a hefty amount of his cocaine, she has to decide whether she should sell it to save him or just use it herself. The film garnered some controversy for depicting sex and drug use involving naive youths, nevertheless it was soon picked up by FilmRise for U.S. distribution and set to be released in late summer or early fall. Now, We Got This Covered reports that Wood is in talks to direct the upcoming Marvel property "Captain Marvel," a female-led superhero film about Carol Danvers, a United States Air Force member whose human genes are fused with those of an alien race. Their sources say that she recently had a meeting with Marvel representative to talk about helming the project, and that the meeting was set up by her husband Gabriel Nussbaum, who has produced all of Wood's projects.

READ MORE: FilmRise Acquires Elizabeth Wood's Controversial Sundance Drama 'White Girl'

Wood began writing the screenplay for "White Girl" before she attending Columbia University's screenwriting MFA program; she loosely based the film on her own life. Other producers on the film include Christine Vachon, who has worked with Todd Haynes, Larry Clark and Mary Harron, as well as the directorial team Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost ("Catfish"). Saylor is best known for her role as Dana Brody in the Showtime drama "Homeland."

"Captain Marvel" is schedule for a March 18, 2019 release.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: 'White Girl' Goes On A Wild Ride Through New York City

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'The Birth of a Nation' Live Poster: Nate Parker Asks You to Stand With Him in New Look at Sundance Winner

Michael Nordine — Tue, 17 May 2016 18:07:50 GMT

Fittingly for a historical drama that takes its title from a classic film whose links to racism severely complicate its legacy, "The Birth of a Nation" made history when it premiered at Sundance in January. Writer/director/star Nate Parker's biopic centering around Nat Turner was bought by Fox Searchlight for a record-setting $17.5 million upon its premiere and is already being pushed as a serious awards contender. Months ahead of its theatrical release, the film is the subject of an aggressive marketing campaign to build and maintain buzz. A "living poster" is the newest look at the film.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: The Brilliance of 'Birth of a Nation' Is Bigger Than the Movie

Really a 30-second video, the image begins as a close-up on Parker before zooming out. Like a blood-stained image on parchment, it morphs into an American flag whose colors do indeed run. All the while, a monologue from Parker can be heard in the background: "The first shall be last. The last shall be first. Stand with us."

READ MORE: Nate Parker's 'The Birth of a Nation' Sells to Fox Searchlight in Biggest Sundance Deal Ever

Turner was a slave and preacher who led a rebellion in Virginia in 1811. Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Penelope Ann Miller, and Gabrielle Union co-star alongside Parker in the film, which won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. Fox Searchlight is releasing it on October 7.

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'The Witch' Exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Clip: Watch The Cast Discuss Working With Director Robert Eggers

Vikram Murthi — Mon, 16 May 2016 21:25:27 GMT

In Robert Eggers' debut horror film "The Witch," a Puritan family encounters forces of evil in the woods outside their New England farm. Set in the 17th century, William (Ralph Ineson), his pregnant wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), their daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), their son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), and two fraternal twins Mercy and Jonas (Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson) are banished from their Puritan plantation for the sin of "prideful conceit." They build a farm out by a large forest on the outskirts of civilization where Katherine gives birth to Samuel, but when Samuel suddenly disappears one day, the family slowly falls apart as the witchcraft around them starts to take hold of their lives. "The Witch" will be available on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow. Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip of the cast discussing what it was like to work with director Robert Eggers.

READ MORE: Review: 'The Witch' is a Uniquely Spooky Discovery

"The Witch" had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It was later screened at the Toronto Film Festival. A24 and DirecTV Cinema acquired distribution rights and the film received a wide theatrical release on February 19th. Star Anya Taylor-Joy has been approached to star in the upcoming "New Mutants" film in the "X-Men" franchise, as Magik, a mutant with the ability to teleport. Robert Eggers' next film will be a remake of the 1922 F.W. Murnau film "Nosferatu."

Buy "The Witch" on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow.

READ MORE: Beware, Horror Fans: 'The Witch' Has Just Been Named an Official 'Satanic Experience'

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'The Lovers and the Despot' Exclusive Poster: New Doc Follows Director-Actress Couple Kidnapped By Kim Jong-il

Vikram Murthi — Thu, 12 May 2016 20:44:47 GMT

The new documentary "The Lovers and the Despot" follows the romance between film director Shin Sang-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee, the "Brangelina" of '70s South Korea. Though they were a glamorous couple, fame eventually took its toll on their relationship, but it also resulted in a strange twist of fate. The two eventually were kidnapped by the North Korean regime and forced to play along with a bizarre filmmaking project courtesy of dictator Kim Jong-il, a big fan of the Shin and Choi. Amidst their imprisonment and torture, the two eventually rekindled their romance and realize that making movies is their only way to escape the ugly reality of their fate. Check out the poster above.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: Kim Jong-Il Kidnaps A Filmmaking Couple In Documentary ‘The Lovers And The Despot’

"The Lovers & The Despot" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. It also screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Sarasota International Film Festival, and the Seattle International Film Festival. It's directed by Ross Adam and Robert Cannon; though this is Adam's first film, Cannon previously directed another documentary entitled "Three Miles North of Molkom," about Ängsbacka, a 21st century playground for adults deep in the lakeside forests of Sweden. Magnolia Pictures will distribute the film.

"The Lovers and the Despot" will be in theaters and on demand/iTunes on September 23rd.

READ MORE: Sundance Exclusive: Clip From ‘The Lovers And The Despot’ Goes Over The Border Into North Korea

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'Tickled' Trailer: First Look at David Farrier's Hit Sundance Documentary Will Make You Laugh Uncomfortably

Michael Nordine — Mon, 09 May 2016 20:32:39 GMT

Ever heard of competitive endurance tickling? Neither had David Farrier, a TV reporter from New Zealand who launched an investigation into a bizarre series of videos he came across online — at his own peril, as it turns out. "Tickled" is the result, and it's genuinely too strange to summarize. For now, watch the documentary's trailer ahead of its release next month.

READ MORE: 'Tickled': Why The Online Fetish Doc Was Hit With A Defamation Lawsuit

The trailer first introduces us to Farrier's (off)beat, which consists of anything out-there and unusual he can find. CET piqued his interest immediately, leading him to reach out to the company responsible; the extremely negative, vitriolic response he received only made him more compelled to find out who was behind this and what their angle was. Farrier was met with threats of legal action before he and co-director Dylan Reeve even planned to make a film about this odd online rabbit hole.

READ MORE: Magnolia Pictures and HBO Pick Up Sundance Doc 'Tickled'

"Tickled" was one of the most buzzed-about titles at Sundance this year. Magnolia Pictures will release the film, which is truly stranger than fiction, on June 17.

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'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' Poster: Nature Is Gangster in New Look at Taika Waititi's Sundance Hit

Michael Nordine — Mon, 02 May 2016 18:14:05 GMT

Taika Waititi's adventure/comedy "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" recently broke box-office in the director's native New Zealand, bringing in $1.3 million over its opening weekend. It's the filmmaker's second such record in his home country, where "Boy" remains the highest-grossing domestic film with earnings of more than $9 million; his next outing, the considerably more high-profile "Thor: Ragnarok," may eventually add to his list of records. Now, ahead of its stateside theatrical release, "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" has a new poster to go along with last week's trailer.

READ MORE: 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' Trailer: Taika Waititi’s Comic Adventure Film Releases New Footage -- Watch

"Nature just got gangster," reads the back of a jacket featuring helicopters, diamonds and a large woodland creature my city-dwelling eyes have narrowed down to either a large deer or perhaps an elk. Said animal is, of course, outfitted with a dollar-sign necklace as well. An adaptation of a story by Kiwi novelist Barry Crump, the film stars newcomer Julian Dennison as a juvenile delinquent who embarks on an ill-advised journey with his foster uncle, played by Sam Neill.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: Taika Waititi's 'Hunt For The Wilderpeople' Starring Sam Neill & Julian Dennison

"Hunt for the Wilderpeople" premiered to a warm reception at Sundance, where it was picked up for distribution by The Orchard for a little under $2 million. It's set to hit U.S. theaters on June 24.

For more, watch the trailer for Waititi's "What We Do in the Shadows":

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'Weiner' Poster: Double Entendres Abound in New Look at Revealing Documentary

Michael Nordine — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 18:22:13 GMT

Calling it now: Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg's "Weiner" will lead to more double entendres than any other movie this year. If the new poster for the revealing documentary is any indication, we're off to a good start: The New York Post helpfully refers to it as "the full package."

READ MORE: Sundance Review: 'Weiner' is the Best Documentary About a Political Campaign Ever Made

Kriegman and Steinberg originally set out to document Anthony Weiner's bid for the mayoral race in New York City a few years ago, which the former congressman envisioned as his political comeback after a sexting scandal tarnished his image. Old habits die hard, however, and the filmmakers ended up capturing something else altogether. The poster shows him flanked by some of the tabloid headlines he inspired: "Weiner rising in the polls," "Weiner's long hard road back," "Weiner's second coming"...you get the picture.

READ MORE: Anthony 'Weiner' Doc Finds Foreign Distribution with Dogwoof and NonStop Entertainment

"Weiner" won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize for Documentary before screening at the New/Directors New Films, True/False and Tribeca film festivals. Sundance Selects will release it theatrically on May 20.

For more, watch the trailer for "Weiner":

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W. Kamau Bell on Doing Stand-Up on CNN For 'United Shades of America'

Liz Shannon Miller — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:18:30 GMT

There's Hollywood courage, and then there's real world courage. Here's an example of real world courage: Comedian W. Kamau Bell, in the first episode of his new CNN documentary series "United Shades of America," decided to go hang out with the KKK. Given that Bell is black, this could have gone quite badly for him. While, as seen in the first episode of the series, he didn't experience any physical harm, these sorts of experiences have emotional costs.

READ MORE: Watch: The State of the Union Address Gets a Wes Anderson-Inspired Facelift

Via phone, Bell told Indiewire about how he got involved with this new series, how his life as a touring stand-up comedian and podcaster fit into the process and what it was like to premiere it at the Sundance Film Festival. An edited transcript follows.

It premiered at Sundance, right?

We screened the first episode at Sundance. And Anderson Cooper was there and did a Q&A with me so that was #lifegoals. [Editor's note: He actually did say "hashtag lifegoals."]

That's like peak CNN.

Yeah. It was, like, "CNN's serious about this. They sent Anderson Cooper here."

Talk to me about how the project came together.

After "Totally Biased" went off the air, I got super depressed and thought my career was over. Then I got invited to some meetings with CNN. An outside production company had pitched them this show, but the version they pitched was slightly different. At that point, it was just called "Black Man, White America." It was me traveling around the country to white places and I was like, "That's good, but what do we do after the fourth episode?" And so I spun it into this idea where it was a whole bunch of different places where I wouldn't be welcome or comfortable. Then the production company came up with a much better name, which was "United Shades of America." Luckily, having come from "Totally Biased" and having the benefit of being an executive producer on that show, now I can go in these situations where I get to be an executive producer and not just an on-camera presence. So you get a lot more power. Ultimately that's how you solve the "Oscars so white" problem.

Are you saying the production company pitched you? Like, were you attached, or were they just like, "It'd be funny to get Kamau to go out into the woods"?

They said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we got a black comedian to do this?" And then CNN, they look at the waiver wire — "Oh, there's a black comedian available." I think with CNN having a very specific brand, me being a topical guy, talking about politics, they thought I'd be a good fit. Luckily, the production company thought so too. Kevin Hart can't get every job.

What was the initial reaction? Was there a part of you that thought, "This is a great way to get myself killed?"

First of all, I'm the one who pitched the first episode [with the Ku Klux Klan]. I was looking for ways... If I go through with it and it works, it's probably a good show. If I get killed, it's a really good show. I was the one who pitched that idea because there are already these shows on TV. CNN had these shows, with Anthony Bourdain and Mike Rowe and Lisa Lang. I had to separate myself from them in the pilot. What can I do to separate myself from them? If I do that show, it's automatically different than if Mike Rowe does it.

It also sets up the idea that even in America, there's a lot to explore. You don't need to travel too far to find weird exotic cultures.

That's the whole thing. It's the United States of America. I travel a lot as a comedian, and what I've seen is that we are probably 50 different countries, at least. As far as doing stand-up and doing college shows — if you go to Garden City, Kansas from the Bay Area, it feels like you stepped through a wormhole to a different universe.

Are there episodes coming up that are tougher? Or was this the height of what you could do?

We only had eight episodes in the first season, so it was important to us to make every episode as different as possible. It's not like we are doing this week the Klan, next week the neo-Nazis. The show is about the diversity of America. The show that follows the KKK episode is about San Quentin, so we are talking to inmates in prison. So we are talking to a lot of black men, which automatically makes it a different kind of show. And then we have a show about cops in Camden, New Jersey and we have a show about Latino Americans in East LA. We have a show about Alaska and a show about retirees and spring breakers in Florida and a show about gentrification in Portland. So each show is about something different, which is very important to us. You don't want to repeat yourself. There were situations where I felt jeopardy, but it was emotional jeopardy and not physical jeopardy.

What's an example of emotional jeopardy?

Going into San Quentin brings up feelings of incarceration in this country. All the people I talk to are around the same age as I am and most of them are black men. You can't help but go, "There but for the grace of God go I." You don't have to have committed a horrible crime in this country, or any crime, to go to prison for life or worse. I was just very aware of the fact that I get to go home to my family and they stay here. We don't, unlike some countries, place value on rehabilitation and the rehabilitated. I don't think a politician in this country wants to go, "I've paroled more prisoners than any politician in the history of this state." That's not a successful platform because we like to focus on the punishment part and not the rehabilitation part. So hopefully, in that episode, I can shine some light on the rehabilitation part.

Bringing in incarceration, that's also a major class issue as well as a race issue.

It can be. Although I may not come from the same neighborhood as those dudes, I can end up in a bad situation with the criminal justice system at any time.

With the structure of the show, was the idea always to incorporate your stand-up with it?

That was something we came to later. It's easy to get caught up in the way these shows are always done. With this show, we've tried to come up with a way to put a new spin on it. Because I'm a comedian we had this idea, instead of just narration — which is in there — having a more direct connection so that in talking about the Ku Klux Klan, I'm talking to them but I'm also in a nightclub talking to a bunch of black people about my experience.

In general, it makes it feel like something very different for CNN.

It's only a few years ago when they said they were going to have Bourdain on and everyone was like, "How's that gonna work?" Well, according to the Emmy committee, it's worked excellently. I'm just a part of CNN trying to further extend that idea, while still staying true to the brand of relevant television. I put that responsibility on myself, of how can I keep extending that? How can I feel like this is my show instead of just another version of the shows that were already on?

How many days of shooting was the stand-up portion?

We shot this a long time ago, and it's all kind of a whirlwind. I think we shot them over four or five days. I think we are really trying to throw it all against the wall right now. I'm really excited and nervous for April 24 because then we get to see what sticks. Thanks to Twitter, I'll know immediately what's working and what is not working. Which is exciting and terrifying. It's excitifying.

What's your relationship with Twitter?

My relationship with Twitter is always the same. You buy a pitbull for your house for protection and the dog claims it loves you but at any point it might turn on you. That's how I feel about Twitter. Sometimes new dogs come through the window and you are like, "You don't even live here." That's where I'm at with Twitter right now.

You mentioned the word relevant, but this was shot a long time ago... That said, while I'm assuming you are tackling issues in a way that is relevant because certain things aren't going away, was that ever a concern?

It's certainly a concern. Even with "Totally Biased." We'd write it the day and air it that day, a lot of times. We shot it and I was concerned, "What if this goes stale?" Weirdly when we shot ["United Shades"] we were talking about the Klan when no one was talking about the Klan. Thanks to future President Trump, not knowing much about the Klan or having to Google the Klan was in the news again. It became this thing where suddenly it was a lot more relevant again. The same is true of the San Quentin episode. A couple months [after shooting], Obama went and visited a federal prison. It was like, "Dammit Obama, you scooped me." But also people were talking about this issue.

With a potential Season 2, do you have ideas for where you'd want to go?

I think we've only scratched the surface. I also think once Season 1 goes up, if we get a Season 2, people will have a better idea of what the show is. It will open some doors up. It was hard to go to anybody, even people I wanted to talk to. It was CNN and it's a black comedian you've never heard of and he wants to do jokes about you. A lot of times people are suspicious about the whole thing. So I'm hoping when the show comes out people dig it and we get a Season 2.

READ MORE: The 12 Major Breakouts of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival

In the meantime, what's keeping you busy?

I got two kids, they don't seem to want to feed themselves. [laughs] I also have a comedy special coming out on Showtime on April 29th. It's called "Semi-Prominent Negro." I'm also working on a podcast I've been working on for a while called "Denzel Washington is the Best Actor of all Time. Period." It's a podcast about... well you heard the title and I have been able to do that podcast and interviewed Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler and Jesse Williams from "Grey's Anatomy" so we are building a coalition of people who agree with us. I also have a public radio show on KLAW San Francisco called "Come Out Right Now" which is a public affairs show kinda like "Totally Biased" but public radio. Like a neavu relevant talk show.

With the Denzel podcast, when do you get Denzel?

We had Spike Lee. He said he would send Denzel a link to his episode. Denzel is kind of like Santa Claus. Is he real? I've never seen him. I don't know. We are just making good episodes, hoping it goes high enough in the food chain where he will want to do it. He has a movie coming out in September, "The Magnificent Seven," so we will do everything we can to aim our podcast his way. But if he never comes on the show, it doesn't make me and Kevin, my co-host, love him any less. He's a busy man and not the kind of celebrity who does a lot of nonsense. So if he sees us as nonsense, we understand.

Your approach, like for a lot of different comedians, seems to be to be on as many different platforms as possible.

As the prophet Drake said, "What a time to be alive." I think we live in an era where you can manifest your ideas in a much easier way than you could 30 years ago. Back then all the equipment was expensive, how do you get the thing you want? Now you come up with an idea for a podcast and you can record it on your phone and release it instantly. You can buy the bandwidth, build the website. Like a lot of comedians, I'm doing the projects I'm interested in and have time for. It's fun to know some people only know me because of the Denzel podcast and some people are meeting me because of CNN publicity. I have multiple interests, and I like to be able to scratch all those itches.

"United Shades of America" airs Sundays at 10pm.

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'Weiner' Trailer: Anthony Weiner As You've Never Seen Him Before in First Look at New Documentary — Watch

Michael Nordine — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 18:02:08 GMT

Be careful when emailing or texting this next one, folks. "Weiner," which won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize for Documentary a few short months ago, now has a revealing trailer. Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg started following Anthony Weiner's bid for mayor of New York City when the former congressman was making his comeback following a much-publicized sexting scandal; what they ended up capturing was another political meltdown.

READ MORE: Sundance Review: 'Weiner' is the Best Documentary About a Political Campaign Ever Made

The co-directors were given full access to the campaign, and it shows here: This is Carlos Danger as you've never seen him before. Candid, behind-the-scenes footage shows him contemplating the state of his campaign, attempting to keep media attention focused on his policies and wondering why he agreed to be filmed like this in the first place. Weiner was thought of as one of the Democratic Party's most promising young members before the dual scandals rocked his career.

READ MORE: Anthony 'Weiner' Doc Finds Foreign Distribution with Dogwoof and NonStop Entertainment

After playing Sundance, "Weiner" went on to screen at the prestigious New Directors/New Films and True/False film festivals. Sundance Selects will release it theatrically on May 20.

Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Festivals newsletter here.

Watch: 'The Birth of a Nation' is a Full-Blown Oscar Contender in Gripping Teaser Trailer

Vikram Murthi — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 17:23:37 GMT

Nate Parker's "The Birth of a Nation" follows Nat Turner (played by Parker himself), a slave during the 1800s who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. As a boy, Turner was taught to read, so he could study the Bible and be a preacher to other slaves, but when Turner's master takes him across the country on a preaching tour, he sees the scope and true horror of slavery. He decides to be a different kind of leader, and encourages his fellow men and women to rise up against the oppression that holds them down. Watch the brand-new trailer for "The Birth of a Nation" above.

READ MORE: Nate Parker's 'The Birth of a Nation' Sells to Fox Searchlight in Biggest Sundance Deal Ever

Set to Nina Simone's cover of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," the trailer shows Turner preaching the Bible to his white masters as well as his fellow slaves, but we soon see Turner witness the casual atrocities that surround him — squalid conditions, threats of violence, and a heartbreaking shot of a child playfully leading another child with a rope around his neck. Through intimate close-ups and telling camerawork, we see how Turner changes his mind about his place in the world after seeing the inherent moral injustice of submitting to a master. Soon, he's preaching about "signing a new song" and enacting vengeance on those who seek to hurt them unjustly. It ends with a shot of Turner's rebellion rising up and fighting against their cruel masters. It's a powerful early look at what will surely be one of the most dynamic, talked-about films of the year.

"The Birth of a Nation" premiered in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it received an enthusiastic standing ovation. Fox Searchlight Pictures bought the worldwide rights to the film for $17.5 million, the largest deal at the festival to date. "The Birth of a Nation" was a labor of love for Parker, who wrote the screenplay, helped put together the financing, and placed his acting career on hold for the film because he believed that it was necessary and important to put Turner's story on screen.

The film will be released in theaters on October 7th.

READ MORE: Sundance: Why Nate Parker Put His Acting Career on Hold to Make Breakout Hit 'The Birth of a Nation'

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Daily Reads: How Hollywood Turned Its Back On One of Its Most Exciting Filmmakers, Pop Culture's Obsession With Cults, and More

Vikram Murthi — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 16:09:03 GMT

Criticwire's Daily Reads brings today's essential news stories and critical pieces to you.

1. How Hollywood Turned Its Back on Karyn Kusama. Karyn Kusama's "The Invitation" opened in limited release last Friday to mostly positive reviews. Though Kusama garnered plenty of industry attention back in 2000 when her debut film "Girlfight" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, she has mostly struggled since then, trying to gain a larger foothold in Hollywood. Buzzfeed's Adam B. Vary explores Kusama's comeback and the arc of her life from "Girlfight" to "The Invitation."

Emotionally depleted and creatively blocked, Kusama started taking boxing lessons at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn on the recommendation of a friend. The regimented workouts became a kind of therapy — and a source of inspiration. "There was a moment where I just looked at this gym, took it all in, and wondered, Where are the girls?" Kusama said. She began listening to the stories of the young Latino and black men who would train next to her, how they would treat their trainers as surrogate father figures and channel their anger from their days at school into their work at the gym. Then, one day, a male sparring partner in a clinch essentially dared Kusama to hit him. A script began to form: It featured a young Latina character named Diana Guzman, whose mother had died when she was young and whose father was a washout alcoholic who barely paid her any notice at all. It was around this time that Kusama met John Sayles, a dyed-in-the-wool independent filmmaker who was friends with the couple Kusama babysat for. He was in the midst of prepping what would become one of his most acclaimed films, the 1996 Western-mystery "Lone Star," and Kusama became his assistant. In Sayles, she finally found a mentor, someone from whom she could learn the practical logistics of filmmaking, and who could supply the focused creative motivation for "Girlfight" she desperately needed. "He just had a couple of really great notes along with some incredible encouragement," she said with a sigh. "I mean, man, it just means so much to have people you respect just give you a little bit of support." He also gave Kusama something else only a good mentor can provide: a firm push out the door. "She had been kind of wandering in the wilderness for it seemed like a year and a half with a very good script," Sayles recalled in a phone interview. "And various fairly dilettantish people who sometimes put money into movies were [saying], 'Oh, yes, maybe, no, maybe.' It just got kind of ridiculous. I said, 'Karyn, you have to dedicate yourself to this one thing.'" In essence, he fired her so she could focus on "Girlfight" full-time.

2. Cultsploitation and True Believers. The new Hulu original series "The Path" focuses on the inner-workings of a fictional cult, and it joins other acclaimed TV series like "The Leftovers" and "The Americans" that explore people's fascinations with cults. Christianity Today's Alissa Wilkinson examines the real danger of cults and pop culture's obsession with them.

Cults look bizarre by nature to the outsider, and that can't-look-away weirdness is part of the attraction. It's telling that Scientology is the cult de jour — two documentaries have opened at major festivals about the strange religion ("Going Clear" and "My Scientology Movie"), and a few years ago, P.T. Anderson's movie "The Master" starred a Philip Seymour Hoffman character with a suspicious resemblance to L Ron Hubbard. Scientology is expensive and arcane, abusive, secretive, and created by a science fiction novelist. Celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta raise its profile, and audiences don't feel bad about picking on them. All Scientology films also home in on the same question: how could people get suckered in? How do ordinary, interesting folks wind up spending their fortunes and decades of their lives in something that sounds bizarre to the outsider? The post-Rapture (kinda) drama "The Leftovers" is full of cults, all of which have sprung up after 3% of the world's population disappeared, apparently at random. Some characters spend their time battling cults from within, while others stay outside and others just join up, finding rest for their weary souls in someone else telling them what to believe. "The Path" takes a similar tack, portraying those who join the Meyerists as broken and weary individuals in search of healing and enlightenment. "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" opened its first season with an introduction to our heroine, kidnapped as a teenager and imprisoned in an underground bunker by the leader of a bizarre doomsday cult for fifteen years. She is freed, and she moves to New York City. Capers ensue. The first season’s theme is that everyone has their own "bunker" to overcome — but by the finale, Kimmy must confront her former captor, in one of TV's most fabulous cameos. In the first season, an episode skewered SoulCycle as a substitute cult, and that theme is revisited early in season 2 (which premieres April 15). No spoilers, but one episode centers around a character who can’t shake the cult — and doesn't want to. She "needs" a cult to belong to. Her identity comes from the group, not any individual.

3. Inside the First-Person Shooter Movie "Hardcore Henry." The new Russian-American sci-fi action thriller "Hardcore Henry" has garnered some buzz for its first-person shooter style. Rolling Stone's Jason Newman exp lores the making of "Hardcore Henry."

You're dangling off a van driving at an ungodly speed down a three-lane Moscow highway; suddenly, you hear a raucous, jarring thump. With all the violent jostling, it’s impossible to tell if it was a bump in the road or a tire crushing a stuntman's head. You look everywhere for clues; it's only once the Russian daredevil, previously lying prostrate in the middle of hectic traffic, flashes the thumbs up and yells, "Did you get?! Did you get?!" that you realize no one has died. Not yet, at least. Congratulations: You get to shoot your first-person-P.O.V. cyborg movie another day. According to Sharlto Copley, the star, executive producer and aforementioned van-dangler of the new cyber-action film "Hardcore Henry," he can laugh at the death-defying stunt now. "I thought I drove over him and killed him," Copley says. "It was my worst three minutes in film. But he later showed me this crazy, weird bump that just happened to be there at the exact moment I knocked him down." It turned out that the only film-related fatalities are the hundreds committed by the titular hero. The Henry of "Hardcore Henry" is a freshly "woken" half-man, half-robot fusion who must figure out why a telekinetic psycho and his army of violence-prone cyber-minions are trying to kill him. Also, the entire film is shot from the perspective of our on-the-run hero. You see only what he sees. You slay who he slays. The audacious, frenetic film, directed by 32-year-old Ilya Naishuller, utilizes countless GoPros and absurd levels of violence to blur the line between film and first-person shooter — think "Doom" meets "Ichi the Killer" meets Kingda Ka<. "I've got to play these characters like we're in a video game," Copley, who plays 11 half-cyborg versions of his character Jimmy, says. "It's not like we're trying to make an Oscar-winning movie here."

4. How "Sleepy Hollow" Lost Any Faith Its Fans Had Left In It. Fox's "Sleepy Hollow" has garnered some controversy from its fans for some of its most recent creative choices. Vulture's Nichole Perkins looks at the recent fallout and the various reasons why "Sleepy Hollow" lost its way.

It all started in "Sleepy Hollow's" second season, which was widely viewed as a mess. The show changed course by killing off two characters and hiring a new showrunner. The diverse cast that originally drew considerable praise and viewership practically disappeared. Supporting characters played by John Cho and Nicholas Gonzalez left. Abbie's sister and police captain, played by Lyndie Greenwood and Orlando Jones, respectively, had their airtime drastically reduced, and eventually Jones was not asked to return for season three. His absence was particularly hard to take because he was the main star interacting with fans via social media. He constantly live-tweeted and encouraged them via Tumblr and frequently showcased fan art and fiction about the show. Jones was the most socially engaged of all the cast, and his departure left many fans upset. But the most unforgivable misstep of season two was its treatment of Abbie Mills, who, to reiterate, was one of two leads. She was sidelined while Crane focused on his wife, Katrina (Katia Winter), and devil son, Henry Parrish (John Noble). (Also egregious: Supposedly a powerful witch, Katrina was repeatedly put in peril, frequently making her the damsel-in-distress character.) The show's audience couldn't help but notice that the people of color on the cast, one of its main draws for many viewers, had been drastically reduced while the white characters received more airtime. Then the show added another white character, Nick Hawley (Matt Barr), an old flame of Jenny's who developed feelings for Abbie. Not only was Abbie reduced to playing sidekick as Crane saved Katrina over and over, but the idea that Abbie could have a potential love interest with her sister’s ex was, frankly, insulting. The show didn't pursue that idea any further but the damage had been done. (The fact that Abbie never had a legitimate love interest is a whole other can of worms.) Much of the audience no longer trusted the show and began to voice their disapproval, most notably with the Twitter hashtag #AbbieMillsDeservesBetter.

5. Writer/Director Joachim Trier on his Latest Film "Louder Than Bombs." Joachim Trier's "Louder Than Bombs" entered limited release last Friday. It's the Norwegian director's English-language debut. Filmmaker Magazine's Scott Macaulay interviews Trier on his new film and its difficult production history.

Filmmaker: In terms of moving yourself from Norway to America to make this film, did you think of this material as being particularly American? Because I could imagine a version of this film set in Norway. Simply by telling this story in America, in New England, it brings up comparisons in American viewers. I put it alongside films like "Ordinary People" or "The Ice Storm" — this "family tragedy" genre.

Trier: Yes, from the beginning. I’m interested in that tradition of good character dramas. I'm interested in the Woody Allen films like "Interiors" and "Another Woman," and in John Hughes' way of looking at teenagers, particularly in "The Breakfast Club." I probably saw that 20 times when I was a kid. I mean, what happens a lot to that type of movie, with the autumn leaves, [set in] either Chicago or New York, with communication problems within family, a lot of that has just become melodramatic. I wanted to try to spark a new formal approach to that type of human story that I grew up loving. I think some people are under the impression this is going to be kind of a cheap film filled with people sitting around in a house crying. But we are in different countries. We are in CGI universe. We are in dream sequences. We are in a videogame world. I mean, I wanted to formally approach it the opposite way. I don’t know if we've been good enough at conveying that to the audience before they see it, but a lot of people are quite shocked by what they get to see, because it's not just dialogues and pondering — that could have been a stage play kind of movie, but it’s the opposite.

Filmmaker: So you wouldn’t have thought of putting this somewhere else?

Trier: No, to me, it’s a New York film, or at least American. It’s also a "coming home" story, from a land that's been at war now for 15 years. And there's sort of parallel culture of amazing journalism [in America]. This is a country where there are still being printed deep journalistic pieces, where real good conflict journalism is being appreciated. You could say the same about certain places in Europe as well, but I just felt that this film, it's about how people drive cars upstate and what happens in those cars. It's about someone living in the suburbs of New York with photo agencies like Magnum [here in the city]. I know people like that in New York, in Nyack. That feeling — there's something about it.

Tweet of the Day:

Cast Melissa McCarthy in the Justice League movie, make all the money.

— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) April 10, 2016

Trailer Watch: Animal Rights Evolve in Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker's 'Unlocking the Cage'

Laura Berger — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:00:00 GMT

A trailer has arrived for "Unlocking the Cage," Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker's eye-opening Sundance animal rights doc. "When you imprison a chimpanzee, the chimpanzee understands that tomorrow he's going to be in prison," animal rights lawyer Steven Wise explains. "And as far as he knows, it's not going to end."

The doc sees Wise fighting to acquire rights for non-human animals. To do so, he must transform the perception of cognitively complex animals such as chimps, whales and dolphins from "things" to "persons" with legal protections.

Oscar-nominee Hegedus told Women and Hollywood, "During the years that I have been following Steve, there has been a monumental shift in our culture as the media and public show increasing receptiveness to Steve’s arguments about why we should expand our legal system to include a nonhuman animal, such as a chimpanzee." She continued, "The scientific research from primatologists, such as Jane Goodall, is convincing and extensive. Some of the most compelling moments for me in the film are of Kanzi, Koko and Tatu, great apes who have been taught to communicate with us using sign language or symbols."

Hegedus ultimately hopes that "the film will inspire people to think differently about animals and why they deserve protection."

"Unlocking the Cage" made its world premiere at Sundance. It will make its Canadian debut May 2 at Hot Docs.

The feature hits theaters May 25 in NYC and nationally in June.

Exclusive: Release Date Set for Maya Vitkova's Debut 'Viktoria'

Casey Cipriani — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:14:54 GMT

Maya Vitkova's 2014 Sundance hit "Viktoria" is finally hitting U.S. theaters and Women and Hollywood has the exclusive release date. The film will premiere in New York on April 29, distributed by Big World Pictures.

The official synopsis for "Viktoria," provided by Big World, details that the film, "follows three generations of women in the final years of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the early years of the transition to democracy. The film focuses on reluctant mother Boryana and her daughter, Viktoria, who in one of the film’s surreal, magical touches is born without an umbilical cord. Though unwanted by her mother, Viktoria is named the country’s Baby of the Decade, and is showered with gifts and attention until the disintegration of the East Bloc. Despite throwing their worlds off balance, the resulting political changes also allow for the possibility of reconciliation."

Vitkova wrote, directed and produced the film, which was the first Bulgarian feature to screen at Sundance. There, it was noted for it's visual artistry and ability to shift tones from absurdest humor to political allegory, though it did so without much dialogue.

“I think words are useless,” Vitkova said following the film’s premiere, “the emotion is in the image.”

[via Press materials]

Watch: Diego Luna Gives Remezcla an Intimate Look at 'Mr Pig,' His Mexico-Set Road Movie

Vanessa Erazo — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 17:47:17 GMT

Remezcla talked to Diego Luna about directing "Mr. Pig" during the Sundance Film Festival. They tagged along to his world premiere screening and took him on a ski lift ride the next morning. He shared his fears about filmmaking, the joy that sharing his art with an audience brings, and why he thinks his daddy issues make it into all his movies.

This is the second episode of Remezcla's Panoramica series, where they follow Latino directors during the lead up to the world premiere of their most recent movie at big name film festivals.

The Mexican premiere of "Mr. Pig" was Saturday, March 5 at the Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG). The film's ISA is Mundial, U.S. rights are still available.

Read more about the Sundance premiere here.

Hit play on the video below to follow Diego Luna's emotional journey to the Sundance Film Festival.

The Supreme Court's Landmark Abortion Case is Powerfully Explained in 'Trapped' Documentary (Review)

Eric Kohn — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 16:07:26 GMT

Many issue-driven documentaries aim for timeliness, but the urgent message of "Trapped" is directly tied to the timing of its release this week. In the movie, which premiered last month at Sundance, filmmaker Dawn Porter ("Gideon's Army") targets a Supreme Court hearing taking place at this very moment, setting the stage for a historic ruling fraught with tremendous risk. On Wednesday, the court began to consider an appeal from Whole Women's Health on the Texas law HB2, a series of ideologically-driven regulations designed to shut down abortion clinics across the state.

"Trapped" effectively chronicles the debilitating impact of HB2 on pregnant women seeking abortions across the state and well beyond it, because if the Supreme Court upholds the law, others like it will spring up nationwide. "Trapped" personalizes a dire scenario shockingly under-explored in the mainstream media, by putting the clinicians and patients impacted by the ruling front and center. It's less focused on examining their situation than giving voice to their concerns.

READ MORE: Watch: Solve the Puzzle in First Clip From Controversial Sundance Doc 'Trapped'

"Trapped" is straightforward in its depictions of HB2's destructive impact, with a mixture of alarming figures (in the absence of resources, over 240,000 women attempt to end pregnancy on their own in Texas each year) and snapshots of the passionate doctors struggling under its restrictions. As filmmaking, it never rises to the level of absorbing abortion clinic portraits "After Tiller" or "12th and Delaware," both of which explore the tender, communal aspects of their settings in contrast to the belligerent stances of the pro-life radicals threatening the people who work there. "Trapped" moves along at a much faster clip, with glimpses of angry protestors, tense advisory sessions and devastated medical professionals emphasizing the same urgent points several times over — that abortion clinics are essential, and that many of them face the greatest threat to protection of abortion practices established by Roe v. Wade since the ruling happened over 40 years ago.

Among the galvanizing figures that "Trapped" offers up, the most powerful is Willie J. Parker, a black Christian doctor who shuttles between clinics in Alabama while dealing with absurd restrictions imposed by the local government. In one striking scene — recently sampled by John Oliver on a "Last Week Tonight" episode devoted to the court case — Parker briefs a group of pregnant women by admitting that he's required to say abortion increases the risk of breast cancer before adding that there's no scientific research to back up the claim. Elsewhere, "Trapped" finds clinics struggling to deal with restrictive laws surrounding consent, anesthesia and other convoluted demands blatantly designed to shut them down. As one administrator puts it, the HB2 bill has been designed "to regulate us out of business." And in more than one instance cited throughout the film, that's exactly what it does.

As with "After Tiller," Porter includes snippets of visits featuring several anonymous pregnant women visit the clinics, by generally keeping the camera focused on their hands. But on the few occasions when the filmmaker does manage to capture their faces, "Trapped" obtains a more profound connection to the stakes at hand. When a young woman gazes into the camera to discuss her decision, it's impossible not to experience the weight of her burden. Yet somehow the law not only persists, but threatens to spread across the nation.

In its closing scenes, "Trapped" outlines the successful efforts of Whole Women's Health to appeal HB2 before the Supreme Court, though it falls short of presenting this stage as a compelling narrative, instead rushing through the events with a series of title cards and snippets of protests. Nevertheless, the collage-like quality of these scenes speaks to a story that's unfinished by its very definition. The court — now more unstable than ever, with one empty seat that Republicans are eager to keep the sitting president from filling — appears unlikely to find an easy path to resolving the situation anytime soon (today's reports of Justice Anthony Kennedy's insistence on returning the case to Texas for further research suggests that a verdict could be delayed until next year).

No matter the limited scope of its perspective, the movie's peek behind the current headlines gives its perspective a formidable edge. For the moment, "Trapped" carries the sense that history could change it at any moment. When the verdict is in, it will either capture the beginning of a triumphant movement or the stages before its crushing defeat.

Grade: B

"Trapped" opens in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles on March 4.

READ MORE: Sundance-Winning Abortion Doc 'Trapped' Finds Distribution Ahead of Landmark Case

FilmRise Grabs Sundance Cult Doc 'Holy Hell'

Steve Greene — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 18:31:17 GMT

And the Sundance acquisitions keep on rolling in. Today's fresh pickup comes courtesy of FilmRise, which revealed that they have acquired American distribution rights to the documentary "Holy Hell."

Will Allen's debut feature centers around the West Hollywood cult of which he was both a member and videographer during the 1980s. "Holy Hell" drew attention before Sundance when the festival lineup announcement listed the director as "undisclosed." Allen's identity was eventually revealed in advance of the Park City premiere.

READ MORE: The 2016 Indiewire Sundance Bible: All the Reviews, Interviews and News Posted During The Festival

In addition to co-producer and fellow former member Tracey Harnish (pictured above, with Allen) and producer Alexandra Johnes, the film's executive producers include Jared Leto, who boarded the project after the first public screening.

"Holy Hell" will open in theaters on May 20.

Cure Your Monday Blues With This Hilarious Short on 'How To Lose Weight In 4 Easy Steps'

Nix Santos — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 23:01:36 GMT

Breakups tend to inspire people to do many things, whether it’s consuming pints of Ben and Jerry’s, crying endlessly over repeated viewings of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," or, you know, starting anew. In the short film "How to Lose Weight In 4 Easy Steps!" directed by Benjamin Berman, the protagonist – brilliantly portrayed by "Saturday Night Live’s" very own Beck Bennett – serves as our personal mentor on how to reinvent oneself in a few "easy" steps, using his own experiences as a guide.

READ MORE: Exclusive: Watch All the Oscar-Nominated Short Films At Once

The short film, which premiered at Sundance this year, is more than meets the eye. Disguised as a cliché self-help guide with matching bold fonts and an overly optimistic narrator, it surprisingly wears its heart on its sleeve, despite being the product of a collaboration between comedians. Berman's own directorial credits include "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and "Man Seeking Woman," while the short itself was produced by JASH and based on a blog post written by "Conan" producer Aaron Bleyeart.

Filled with a silliness and humor that you'd expect from such a team, the short ultimately becomes more than a comedic fitness tutorial and evolves into a coming-of-age story for adults. Beyond the four helpful, inspiring, and informative tips that the short breaks down in a brisk seven minutes, look for a bonus cameo that you will not want to miss. Watch the short film above.

READ MORE: Here Are the Sundance 2016 Short Film Winners

How 'The New Yorker Presents' Got Made for Amazon Streaming

Anne Thompson — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:02:03 GMT

Watch this on The Scene.

"The New Yorker Presents" debuted its first two shows at Sundance, where I sat down with series showrunner Kahane Cooperman (winner of 11 Emmys and 2 Peabodys as executive producer of Jon Stewart's “The Daily Show”) and Jigsaw Productions' Stacey Offman. The series debuts February 16th on Amazon. Watch a segment from the series, in which director Alex Gibney and New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright discuss what the CIA knew about the 9/11 hijackers before 9/11, in the clip above.

The series brings together a range of filmmakers for a fascinating mix of shorts and doc features based on content from The New Yorker: Steve James, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Lucy Walker, Dawn Porter and Roger Ross Williams among them.

Produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions, "The New Yorker Presents" is unlike anything you've ever seen before, both unexpected and hugely entertaining, combining documentaries, short scripted narrative films, comedy, poetry, animation and cartoons. Take the two episodes that screened at Sundance. Check out the range of eclectic material that Cooperman and Offman had to curate and make happen—multiplied across ten episodes!

“The Ride of Their Lives”

* “The Ride of Their Lives”: Filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams) profiles two young people competing in the world’s most dangerous sport – bull riding.

* “Black Bodies in Motion and in Pain”: Writer Edwidge Danticat connects the dots between painter Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and recent outbreaks of racist violence in America.

* “The Death and Life of Atlantic City”: Writer Nick Paumgarten on the closure of the $2.4 billion Revel casino.

* Cartoons by Roz Chast and Liana Finck.

* “Around Town” takes us inside the archive library at The New Yorker; and visits a beekeeper who works atop a skyscraper.

“The Agent”

* Filmmaker Alex Gibney (Going Clear) tells how the FBI could have prevented the 9/11 attacks – if it weren’t for the CIA.

* “Le Café de Balzac”: Paul Giamatti plays 19th-century French author Honore de Balzac, who drank 50 cups of coffee each day. Written by Brendan O’Hare; directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (American Splendor).

* “Unreality Star”: Patients with “the Truman Show delusion” believe their lives are being watched on TV.

* Cartoons by Roz Chast and Benjamin Schwartz.

* “Around Town” takes you inside The New Yorker’s legendary fact-checking department; and visits a man who raises pigeons on the roof of his apartment building.

(Full credits below.)

Anne Thompson: You had to apply for this job. What was it?

Kahane Cooperman: I was a longtime producer at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” I was there the entire time, starting in 1996 — for 12 weeks, never expecting it to become a hit. But my background was documentary film; that’s how I got hired there, and that’s how, later in my “Daily Show” career, I crossed paths a few times with Alex Gibney. When Stewart announced his departure on a Tuesday night, Alex and another Jigsaw Productions producer, Jay Snider, separately got in touch with me the next day. Gibney said, “I don’t know what Jon’s announcement means for you, but we have a rather extraordinary opportunity here for you.” It was, and so, for the first time in nineteen years, I had to go on a layer of interviews that started with Gibney and Snider, to Amazon and Condé Nast Entertainment, then ending with David Remnick in his office for 90 minutes. And I got the job!

What is Jigsaw’s relationship to “The New Yorker Presents" and how did Gibney get involved?

Stacey Offman: The New Yorker and the Condé Nast Entertainment division brought the project to Jigsaw and Amazon and said, “We need a production company. We think you’re the right fit. Let’s do this together.” They’d already sold to Amazon, so we came onboard and finished putting the whole deal together, and we were the production company running it day-to-day.

So you have a budget, x number of episodes. How did you figure out the structure? What was a given, and how did you figure out what it should be?

Offman: The documentaries are like the anchor of the whole series.

Cooperman: Creatively, we have this pilot, and I felt that it was a very good place to start, but that there was a lot more we could do with the series. The biggest challenge was creating ten episodes all comprised of short films based on both non-fiction and fiction from “The New Yorker.”

Was there a timespan you had to work with?

Cooperman: We can go all the way back to 1925, when the magazine first started. In this first season — and we hope it won’t be the last — we only went back about fifteen or sixteen years. To get this up and running was such a huge effort, because we had more than fifty films in production at one time, from both in-house teams of filmmakers and outside, acclaimed filmmakers making films for it.

Out of Jigsaw?

Offman: Yeah. This was a big undertaking, even for us, and it was a small army where we had to break down the content and what would fit into ten episodes. We were talking a much bigger number at one point, which could’ve been quite daunting for a first season, because there’s so much to do just to get the kinks out. For us, the pilot was one thing, and it had this family small team on it. You throw a lot of resources at it, and are ultimately at the mercy of Amazon customers evaluating it. What kind of responses you’re getting.

How do they get that response?

Cooperman: Amazon’s model for programming is creating all these pilots, and then the viewers vote on them.

Offman: Stars and comments. They analyze what kind of feedback they’re getting.

And they’re giving you notes on this?

Offman: No, they don’t share that information. It’s their internal greenlighting process.

Cooperman: That’s their measuring stick, as far as we can tell.

Offman: The genesis, going back to what did everybody — Condé Nast, Amazon, and Jigsaw – want to create here. Part of the reason they came to Jigsaw is that our storytelling in non-fiction has been series, and we wanted to reinvent the magazine with a new creative approach. We were handed IP and told, “Go through everything you have. Don’t fuck it up.” We were really nervous about elevating the brand and iconography of “The New Yorker” and putting a Jigsaw spin on it. The creative genesis didn’t come from the magazine. They simply said, “Come into our archive and go for it.” We’ve been, our own selves, thinking about how to describe it: “A reinvention of a news magazine for a digital format” opens it up to a more mainstream audience, this show.

It looks like you have a good budget.

Offman: It’s a pretty healthy budget for a half-hour. But you had to pore through all this stuff.

Cooperman: When I came into it—because Jigsaw loosely programmed out of nowhere the possibility of 26 episodes—there was already a pile of stories that could maybe work in this format from “The New Yorker.” Not that were greenlit — just possibilities.

So you’re looking for material that’s easy to visualize?

Cooperman: Not every story translates to the visual, so we’re looking for doable stories. We wanted to cover a real breadth of topics, subject matter, and tone. A great thing about the magazine is that any given issue has a million dips into a million different worlds, and I felt like every episode has the potential to tap into that same thing, so we wanted to make sure we had a balance of stories that could give the same variety that the magazine has to offer. It might be really serious or quirky, playful, talk-of-the-town, or a short narrative comedy piece.

What went into the Paul Giamatti as "Balzac" short?

Cooperman: Well, we spent, in addition to staffing up, a lot of time curating all these stories from the magazine to create a menu to present to filmmakers we were going around to. So it was kind of exciting, because here we have all these great things we’d like to do. “What appeals to you? What strikes you? And, if nothing does, tell us and we’ll come back with more. Or, if you’ve read something in the magazine that’s exciting, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.” Because we had to license everything individually. Most “New Yorker” writers retain the rights to their stories.

So when it came to “La Café de Balzac" —the actual story was called, “What I Imagine Honoré de Balzac Thought During His Daily 50 Cups of Coffee"— we reached out to Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini, who I happen to know; we went to Columbia together. Also, our supervising producer, Jack Lechner, also knew them. So we showed them a bunch of stories, and the one they responded to was this one, and they said, “We’d love to have our friend Paul Giamatti do it. We’ll ask him if he’s interested.” They’d worked with him previously on “American Splendor.” And so he was. Their concept was, “We want to do one shot for every cup of coffee.” It’s this really fabulous conceit with Paul Giamatti in black-and-white and prosthetics, as Honoré de Balzac, getting more and more caffeinated as you go along, and part of the wonderful thing about it is that, when you're at cup 35, you can’t imagine it’s still going to go on, but it does, and you get to cup 50. It’s just delightful.

I felt strongly that we create a series that had all these separate, distinct elements — all these films that were different from each other. There was non-fiction and fiction and different styles and subject matters seen through the eyes of different filmmakers. We also had four wonderful in-house filmmakers creating a lot of the content as well. I needed each episode, though, to feel like it was of the same universe. I asked myself, “What’s that universe?” Then I used “The New Yorker” and the city it represents to define that universe, and so we have very short, very cinematic pieces that take place inside “The New Yorker.” We have the copy-editors, fact-checkers, idea meetings, cartoon-captioning.

Well, on some level, this is a promo thing for “The New Yorker.”

Offman: Well, it’s — more than that.

Cooperman: I actually don’t agree with that. This is about visual storytelling and honoring these filmmakers’, writers’, and editors’ visions. It’s just not about the magazine. But it’s great to dip in to a few moments, but we kept them very short, and you just see a little glimpse of how it works. In addition to that, we have these interstitials of "Around Town," where I took my favorite idea of, “Behind every window is a story,” and I look and say, “What’s going on behind that window? Who lives in there? What’s their life like?” We chose a bunch of different realities in New York to do 30-to-90-second vignettes where we drop into the world of New York City. It might be a tattoo parlor or a hat shop or taxidermy class or dance rehearsal. All wrap around these moments in “The New Yorker,” which aren’t even in every episode but are in some. I hope to create this universe that all these stories can live in. We don't want this to be a promo for “The New Yorker.”

Offman: With the example of the interstitials, this is what came from the creators of the show and creates a narrative. It's our own connective tissue that’s not the magazine. “The New Yorker” gave us insights on talent and writers that were really helpful to steer us in the right direction. It was all coming out of our shop, basically.

How did you match the filmmakers with the documentaries, and why did Alex Gibney do the one he did?

Cooperman: In the same way we presented a bunch of stories to Bob and Shari, we showed Alex a handful of stories and there were some that compelled him more than others. Certain things resonate deeply with him that he wants to communicate. This one story, he has a relationship with the writer, Laurence Wright.

“Going Clear,” right?

Cooperman: This was a topic that he’d been thinking a lot about, so that’s what he wanted to do. He had up to 15 minutes to tell this. So that’s the cap on the doc format—about 13 or 15. Almost everyone asked for more, but when you have a half-hour episode, you have to keep the balance.

How many episodes have you completed at this point?

Cooperman: The tenth episode. When I get back, I’ll do the color correct. And then it’s done.

When do you find out about a second season?

Offman: A month or two after they drop it is sort of the standard. We’re already collecting stories and imagining what it will be.

Cooperman: The whole time I was keeping a second-season list. Not just of stories, but artists and filmmakers who weren’t available but expressed deep, great interest.

Offman: It’s an amazing curatorial process, too. I think Alex was always obsessed with the “30 for 30” model. How can we do this series and bring on other directors? “The New Yorker” is a perfect opportunity to give fellow peers an opportunity. There’s a limit and you can collaborate with great people. What they’ve turned around are all so unique.

Cooperman: They either pick something out from an original story or bring it to a new place. One thing: it’s been so collaborative. Early on in the process, whenever possible, we get the filmmaker, writer, and editor on the phone together with myself and a few other of my colleagues, and we have a conversation about how a filmmaker sees this story. They ask questions, the writer gives insights into the story.

And I put a lot of thought into programming each episode. Conceptually, what we did was create the bank of content first. Then I saw what we had, came in, and programmed them like a DJ most — to control the emotion of the room.

You’re introducing everyone with the first one, making them familiar with the environment.

Cooperman: Yeah. Because it’s an unusual environment, and we’re showing things in a new way. I don’t think people are used to receiving content without a host or voice bringing them through it, or introducing them to what they’re about to see. It’s very unusual and new.

Offman: It’s meant to be an experience. You can watch them in a silo, but, as Kahane says, it’s a half-hour piece. It’s very nuanced.

Cooperman: No one piece of episode is alike. They all have different moods and feelings, taking you through this gauntlet of reactions.

Can you tease some things that are coming up? Did you ask Jon Stewart to do anything?

Cooperman: I did, and it was right when he was coming up to leaving the show and not knowing what his next thing would be. I said, “I’m divining you’re a second-season guy.” And he said, “Yeah, I’m a second-season guy.” But throughout the series are more than fifty great stories, which can be one minute or fifteen.

I’ll focus on the centerpiece docs by our filmmakers. You will meet a Lucha Libre exotico wrestler, as seen through a film by Roger Ross Williams. He’s an incredibly moving character with such a depth of humanity that I can’t shake him from my consciousness. Dawn Porter made a film about a nurse family partnership that does house calls to young mothers, mostly teens, who have babies — and not only teaches them how to take care of their children, but how to be moms. You follow this one nurse around to these young women’s homes, and you see the relationship there. Lucy Walker made a visually stunning portrait of a chef in Los Angeles. Steve James made a film about youth bull riding that both celebrates and makes you question it, if these kids really want to be doing it. Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein's film called “The Hellraiser” is about a former Evangelical preacher who left the church and is making his own way through the world, in this really positive way. The Way brothers, Chapman and Maclain, made a really quirky film about a serial cat burglar who stole silver and the detectives who found him. Jesse Moss made this powerful documentary about the Albuquerque Police Department and the killing of unarmed civilians that’s just devastating.

You have these amazing stories to start with, but then the filmmaker has to reinterpret them, even if a lot of the work has been done.

Cooperman: Yeah. But the idea of the story is there and they have to take it where they can take it — especially stories written a while ago.

My favorite “New Yorker” stories are by John McPhee, where he describes the layers of rock and how California fires get created. Have you tackled him yet?

Cooperman: We haven’t, although there’s a nice nod to him in one of our short, beautiful interstitials where it goes into the archives and it starts out with the archivist doing a search for something and ends on McPhee’s article, a portfolio of all the work he’s done there, and ends with finding an article she’d been searching for since the beginning. There’s a nod, and, in the middle, you see who else is in the archive: Salinger, Capote.

Will you go into the past and do Lillian Ross, “The Red Badge of Courage”? There’s a lot of Hollywood content to play with.

Cooperman: We would love to, but we need a season two first. There’s a lot.

Nikki Finke!

Offman: That’s a great suggestion. And then James Thurber.

Cooperman: It’s endless. Like a treasure chest. There’s a third episode going out, and it’s our only theme one of the series, in the same way there’s an occasional “theme” issue of the magazine. It’s a food episode, and it’s really entertaining.

Are you thinking of exploring VR aspects?

Cooperman: We have actually talked to VR artists fairly recently, and if we get a Season Two… it would be so cool.

Offman: At Jigsaw we’ll do VR very soon, because how could we not? We have to educate ourselves a little more.

Cooperman: And Amazon’s very excited about that, too, so they put together a phone call with a really great VR artist. We don’t know how we’d do it, and we don’t know if we have a second season yet — but, if we do, I would really want to explore that.

SERIES CREDITS

Executive Producers:

Alex Gibney

Kahane Cooperman (showrunner)

Dave Snyder

Michael Klein

Dawn Ostroff

Henry Finder

Co-Executive Producers:

Richard Perello

Stacey Offman

Supervising Producers:

Isaac Bolden

Jack Lechner

Coordinating Producer:

Colin Culligan

Line Producer:

Dana Kuznetzkoff

Directors

Janicza Bravo

Rob Epstein

Blair Foster

Jeffrey Friedman

Alex Gibney

Jyllian Gunther

Steve James

Eugene Jarecki

Alex Karpovsky

Ryan Miller

Jesse Moss

Dawn Porter

Robert Pulcini

Jed Rothstein

Michael Slovis

Shari Springer Berman

Lucy Walker

Chapman Way

Maclain Way

Roger Ross Williams

Writers:

Janicza Bravo

Naomi McDougall Jones

Robert Pulcini

Brian Savelson

Shari Springer Berman

Casting By:

Bernard Telsey, CSA

Tiffany Little Canfield, CSA

Altitude Films Acquires Ira Sachs' 'Little Men' for UK Distribution

Elle Leonsis — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:58:29 GMT

READ MORE: Mongrel Land International Rights to Ira Sachs' 'Little Men'

Altitude Films has announced that they have purchased the UK rights to this year's Sundance hit "Little Men." The deal marks the second time that director Ira Sachs has teamed up with the UK distributor, as Altitude also released his "Love is Strange" two years ago. Altitude Film Entertainment's Ellie Gibbons and Mongrel International's Charlotte Mickie negotiated the acquisition.

"Little Men" tells the story of sheepish Jake (Theo Taplitz) and brazen Tony (Michael Barbieri), two young boys who meet at Jake's grandfather’s funeral and strike up a quick friendship. The unlikely pals must then endure challenge of their parents' disputes with one another and deal with those ramifications. Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle and Paulina Garcia star in this film about familial contention.

Of the announcement, Sachs said, "Following in the steps of 'Love is Strange,' I'm very pleased to be working again with Will and Hamish and their great team at Altitude. It’s a pleasure to collaborate with individuals who share similar values in both life and cinema."

Altitude Films has yet to announced a UK release date for "Little Men."

READ MORE: Sundance Springboard: Meet The Little Men At The Heart of Ira Sachs' Acclaimed Drama

Women Activists Rocked Sundance, Celebrating a Sea Change

Anne Thompson — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 21:25:11 GMT

Women were all over the recent Sundance Film Festival, from many films directed and produced by them to a series of events celebrating the rise of women's power.

The Producer's Brunch was dominated by keynoters Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler, whose 20-year-old Killer Films has produced 80 movies including "Still Alice" and 2016 Oscar contender "Carol" and boasted four films at the festival ("Wiener Dog," "Frank and Lola," "Goat" and "White Girl"). And New Yorker Julie Goldman was honored for documentary producing ("Life, Animated," "Weiner").

Women in Film hosted a panel and gave out grants at one packed Sundance brunch, including Dawn Porter and Sari Gilman for their Sundance abortion film "Trapped." Vimeo announced its Share the Screen initiative to feature women directors.

Among the high-profile films hitting big at Sundance were "Equity," written, directed, produced and starring women, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics in part because of its behind-the-screen narrative. Liz Garbus, whose Sundance opener last year "What Happened, Miss Simone," made the final Oscar five for documentary, debuted a new film at Sundance, "Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper," while festival regulars Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady debuted their latest, "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You," on opening night, which was picked up by Netflix and Music Box.

READ MORE: Wall Street Movie 'Equity' Starring Anna Gunn Was Made By Women for Women

The Women at Sundance Brunch featured Universal chairman Donna Langley, who shepherded her studio to record numbers in 2015 with a diverse slate from franchise "Furious 7" and Lionsgate reject, Oscar-nominated "Straight Outta Compton," to "Trainwreck," written by and starring Amy Schumer, and "Pitch Perfect 2," directed by Elizabeth Banks. “It’s about coming at things from a quality standpoint," said Langley. "Maybe if I have a sensibility toward 'Pitch Perfect,' 'Mamma Mia!' and 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' it's because I want to go to the movies and see things I care about. We’re not afraid to make movies toward one or two demographics. If we build it, they will come.”

Banks admitted that she started to wonder if she didn't "work hard enough or whatever excuse you want to make. But then when you look at the numbers, it’s reassuring: Only 30% of all roles go to women. That was a kick in the butt.”

The Sundance Institute and Women in Film have joined forces for several years to research the real barriers for women in Hollywood. They have discovered that from 2002 to 2013, women were just 4.2 percent of directors of top-grossing movies. Aired at the Women at Sundance brunch was one of the interstitial shorts from Epix docu-series "The 4%: Film’s Gender Problem" in which Vachon begged, “Instead of holding a million panels about it, let’s do something about it.”

"Project Greenlight" maverick producer Effie Brown, who dared to argue with movie star Matt Damon on the show, agrees. In her rousing keynote about examining one's unconscious biases, she said that along the way, women and people of color agreed to take a back seat in Hollywood: "Somehow, we co-signed this. Somehow, we participated." She exhorted the women to be active and push for diversity in hiring. "Our voice is powerful. We are a force of nature," she concluded. "There's nothing more fierce on God's green earth than a woman with her mind made up." Brown is now going to run Lee Daniels' production company.

And New York press agent Donna Daniels, who reps many women filmmakers, arranged for Esquire photographer Elizabeth Griffin to shoot 11 women usually behind the media spotlight. "They stand for all the women here," said Daniels, "whose names we see in credits all the time but we never see their faces. They are all very accomplished, fearless collaborators, positive women who shoot the eight ball into the side pocket every day, and make it work. If you want to have a positive reinforcement of women working in this business, we have to see them standing in their power."

The women in the portrait are, from front row left, producer-director Blair Foster (six doc shorts in Amazon original series "The New Yorker Presents," "The Conversation," a series of short films about race published by the New York Times' Op-Docs), director Rachel Grady ("Jesus Camp," "Detropia," "Norman Lear"), director Lucy Walker ("The Crash Reel," "Wasteland," Sundance VR short "History of Cuba and Dance"), Donna Daniels, Heidi Ewing ("Jesus Camp," "Detropia," "Norman Lear"), New York attorney Victoria Cook (Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz), who wrote a viral article about women documentary filmmakers and awards, Kahane Cooperman (winner of 11 Emmys and two Peabodys for Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," executive producer and showrunner of "The New Yorker Presents").

Second row: Senior Vice President of A&E Indie Films Molly Thompson (Sundance entries "Author: The JT Leroy Story" and "Life, Animated"), Shari Springer Berman, who co-directed with Robert Pulcini "American Splendor" and "Balzac" in "The New Yorker Presents" series, documentary producer Julie Goldman (Sundance entries "Life, Animated," "Wiener"), producer Caroline Suh (Epix's “The 4% Project,” Sundance Channel's "The Iconoclasts," Netflix Original series "Cooked"), and Senior Vice President of Development and Production for Jigsaw Productions, Stacey Offman (producer, "Sinatra: All or Nothing at All," "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown," CNN's "Death Row Stories," "The New Yorker Presents"). After the Griffin photo shoot we all repaired to a local Main Street bar for a drink. Fun.

At an energized Sundance dinner hosted by Katie Couric there were four long tables of women, from producers Effie Brown, Wendy Ettinger, Gigi Pritzker and Andrea Sperling ("Transparent"), Sundance execs Keri Putnam, Michelle Satter and Caroline Libresco, and Women in Film's Cathy Schulman, to doc directors Kim Snyder ("Newtown") and Grace Lee ("American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs") and actress-turned-directors Clea Duvall (Sundance entry "The Intervention") and Rose McGowan (short "Dawn"). Each one stood up and introduced themselves, often to raucous cheers of support. "After working in TV journalism for 30-something years," said Couric, "I was looking for a smart way to do quality work in a sea of crap. I like to explain complicated issues that help people understand them better, like childhood obesity ('Fed Up') and [Sundance doc entry] 'Under the Gun.' and I'm looking for the opportunity to mentor girls and women."

Documentary filmmaker Amy Ziering said that "The Hunting Ground" and "The Invisible War" "are changing the discourse from one in which the victim is blamed to one where the perpetrator is blamed. We are 51% of the population. It is time for us to be making the rules, not following them!"

"Transparent" showrunner Jill Soloway said that she wakes up "every day believing that the global patriarchy can be toppled. It seems easy at this point. We all have the internet. Check out Topplethepatriarchy.com. Protagonism is a privilege perpetuator, it is propaganda that perpetuates privilege. White men are making these movies with each other and for each other because it perpetuates their privilege. They are climbing mountains, wearing Nazi costumes, and pretending to be in the '70s because it's fucking fun! Filmmaking creates a universe where we become the subjects in our own lives. We have to stop them by shaming them, so that when they look around at a project filled with white men they say, 'it's embarrassing, we can't do this any more.' I think we're getting to that place. Effie, all of you guys, topple the patriarchy! We're doing it!"

Review: In "Glassland" a Devoted Son Grapples With His Mother's Corrosive Addiction

Carlos Aguilar — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 20:10:00 GMT

Dublin’s damped and gloomy days underscore the heartfelt human drama in Irish filmmaker Gerard Barrett's affecting feature “Glassland.” Centered on a mother and a son, the film doesn’t resort to excessive embellishments to capture the agony of addiction and the strength of unshakable love. Its melancholic beauty is elicited from the decisively enthralling cinematography and two utterly intense performances. The characters, like the film itself, offer sincere tenderness amidst the irrational affliction they must face together.

Working as cab driver to support his small imperfect family, John (Jack Reynor) leads a life with few hopes for his own future. As he assures on a recurrent voice over phrase, he’s exhausted and frustrated with his predetermined existence. The monumental task of taking care of Jean (Toni Collette), his alcoholic mother, is not limited to the financial aspect. She routinely drinks herself to the point of shameless and violent incoherence. These episodes inevitably take a toll on John who’s unable to find a way to combat her corrosive illness.

Tireless John carries this enormous burden in addition to his already numerous responsibilities, such as visiting his younger brother Kit (Harry Nagle), who was born with Down syndrome and lives in a government facility given that the situation at home is far less than ideal. Revealing her tremendous selfishness, Jean refuses to visit her youngest, which leaves John to fill in the emotional void as best as he can. His kind efforts are as simple as a spontaneous car ride or a birthday card, but they are constant and brimming with warmth.

Though not explicitly discussed, John’s actions let us know that some of the work he is involved with is not exactly law-abiding. Caught up in this daily chaos, the young man’s only relief is his time with childish, but loyal, best friend Shane (played by a humorous and endearing Will Poulter), a video game-loving momma’s boy. Their lives couldn’t be more disparate as Shane is planning to escape the passiveness of this town by traveling abroad. Quietly disguising his sadness with lighthearted banter, John internally understands he can’t just pack up and leave.

Observing his characters’ challenging reality as if hiding behind door frames, Barret and his cinematographer Piers McGrail construct a visually poetic maze out of this family’s mistrust and disappointment. The glass partitions can’t contain their explosive arguments always adorned with powerful moments of bare truth. Through these stylistic choices we are invited to become silent witnesses with the camera. Each door becomes a window into the bottled up anger and suffering that resides in their home. Sometimes we are allowed to lean in closer to look at Jean’s tormented face or John’s inspiring determination. More often, we must wait outside the room for the next outburst to occur. It’s visual storytelling at its best.

Showcasing a precise ability for nuanced tone, Barrett assertively chooses to sprinkle a handful of subtly comedic moments, which offer glimpses of joy as palpable and delicate as the most painful sequences in the film. John is an unsung hero who never wallows in the daunting nature of his circumstances, but rather strives to find solutions. Capturing the very essence of this troubled man, Reynor gives a moving performance that irradiates compassion and generosity towards all those he encounters. Every smile, scream, and piercingly disapproving look towards Jean’s behavior carries a touching sense of duty. His character strongly refuses to succumb to despair and doing the correct thing is always above everything else. This is a career-making performance that while subdued, stands out because of its naturalistic humanity.

But Reynor is not alone when it comes to marvelous on-camera work here. In what becomes a standout scene, Toni Collette delivers a devastating monologue that is at once genuinely devastating and harrowing. She dishes out her thoughts on motherhood, loneliness, and her dependence on the negatively soothing friend that is alcohol. Collette is marvelously vulnerable and occasionally even terrifying. It’s at once a physically and psychologically haunting performance that complements Reynor’s gentle strength. She is consumed by her character in a powerful manner.

Their road to recovery it scattered with tangible worldly obstacles and the necessity to reconnect spiritually so that she can heal and he can start his own life. “Glassland” is about this crossroads in their lives, one in which the dark passages must be overpowered by John’s devotion to help Jean. There is nothing he won’t do to help her, but the uncertainty of their future is reaching unbearable heights. Death lurks in every corner waiting for the final, and brutal blow to come. John’s mission is to stop his mother from taking it, to save her from herself.

For all its wonderfully dim color palette, for its unexpected charm, its carefully design aesthetics without being overpowering, its heart-wrenching sensibility, and its compelling cast, Barrett’s “Glassland” is as much a directorial triumph as it is a fantastic challenge for its actors. The film avoids overdramatic and trite tropes, and instead focuses on its successfully minimalist scope. I loved this film for the grave themes explored through a lens coated with sympathy, and for the brave people it uses to tell its story. John is a quotidian warrior who is untainted by his problematic situation, although his face portrays a stark demeanor, there’s a smiling face reflected on the glass in front of him. That internal desire to be happy cannot be shattered.

"Glassland" opens today in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall and in NYC at Cinema Village. The film is also available on VOD.

Note: Review originally published during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where "Glassland" premiered

Art House Convergence Plans For the Future

Peter Belsito — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:05:47 GMT

A new national film organization has formed and thrived in the US. Art House Convergence meets yearly in Midway, in the mountains of Utah, in the days just before the Sundance Film Festival starts.

The organization is composed of US cinema art house theater owners from all over the US. Also attending are film festival directors whose regionally based US events are held in these art house theaters.

This year over 600 people attended from all over the US. They came to network and learn. The energy and idea level here is hard to describe.. Let's say both are very high and powerful and invigorating.

About Art House Convergence

The idea of the Art House Convergence was born when a group of exhibitors were brought together at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project.

For two years, this small group of exhibitors met at the Sundance Film Festival to discuss independent film and independent film exhibition. In 2008, the group expanded and hosted the first Art House Convergence conference in Salt Lake City, UT, with 25 attendees.

Over the next several years, the conference attendance grew dramatically and it moved to the Zermatt & Homestead Resorts in Midway, UT.

By 2013, the conference attendance reached 350, including several international art houses. The first Regional Seminar was hosted by Cinema Arts Centre in August, 2013. The regional seminars continue (in San Rafael, CA in 2014 and in Boston, MA in 2015) to grow in attendance, with a plan to expand to multiple regional seminars annually. In 2015, over 500 exhibitors, film festivals, and allied organizations joined for the annual conference in Midway, UT.

In partnership with the IFP Festival Forum, the Art House Convergence presented its second film festival track, in addition to the dozens of art house and independent exhibitor sessions.

The Art House Convergence, having grown into a year-round organization, relies on several staff members and a huge number of volunteers to coordinate and plan all the events and programs. The organization strives to reflect its core intention, community-based, mission-driven, in all its programs, seminars and conference.

The workshops

The daily dozens of workshops which are held throughout each day are full of information for theater owners, fest heads and industry types who also attend.

This one was about involving and interesting families and young people in theaters, activities, films etc.

Amy Averett spoke from the famous Alamo DraftHouse Cinema / theater in Austin Texas.

"Re families - What's in the lobby is really important, keep an eye on them, the posters. Some supplied to theaters can be objectionable.

So what's the quality of programming? Will parents want their kids to see this or that film? Our theater also has a restaurant for families. We like to publicize aggressively kids' programming. We also have many charitable tie ins to screenings, activities.

How can a theater get 'ownership' so to speak of the kids? Get them young with great programs and courtesy, compassion, kindness.

We have a strict rule - NO texting or phones on in screenings.

We have regular Alamo DraftHouse family events. We schedule these off 'peak' theater hours (e.g. mornings) and we supply special kids' foods. We have special Teen Programs, teen oriented film screenings. We have them fill out forms for screenings with youth oriented questions, tests.

We have special Kids Camp. It costs them just a few dollars to attend and all money goes to non profits and charities for families and these last all summer.

We have set up special family messaging. How to do this since most staff are non parents. How do we appeal to families? What interests them, catches their attention?

Firstly we develop a family friendly schedule. Study school and general family event schedules and work around those."

Mats Gilmor spoke.

He runs a theater, Palladium, in small town in southern Sweden, Vaxjo.

"They are always trying to interest and attract kids to the theater and to see films.

They have youth clubs there. How to get kids to promote film to their peers?

How to grow their audience in collaboration with the society locally? They like to promote the aesthetics of cinema.

They have many local pop up cinema events. (films screening not in theater but outside, in parks, churches, halls, etc.)

They have programs where kids will program and screen films for kids.

They sell special family tickets.

Kids can download special films to watch at home.

The main question is always how to attract the young ones to cinema.

We keep at it. Persistence is needed to attract them

Encourage parents to take their kids to the cinema.

And we especially try to claim for cinema a space in the digital arena."

Holly Mahadeo spoke.

She manages the Enzian indie theater and Florida Film Fest in the Orlando area.

"We have regular events, series like the weekly Peanut Butter Matinee and the Family Film Series.

We are trying to bring in young children and their parents.

So we schedule these events regularly Saturday afternoons monthly plus we'll have a special restaurant for them. And raffle prizes.

The idea is all about cultivating the next generation of film lovers - and theater goers.

We have a Science on Screen series.

These will be for kids presentations before screenings of recent museum bound archaeology arrivals locally.

We have a special Kid Fest.

This is 4 weeks long. 64 kids. 5th to 9th graders.

2 sessions or camps. 32 kids each and we break them into smaller groups. There is a young filmmakers camp (with 22 scholarships). We have guest speakers for returning kids about film craft.

They actually make films here.

We have a Youth Acting program.

A professional acting coach. After school, 8 kids, once a week, divided by age.

They have Reel which is a short film fest by teens. Just starting.

Holiday programming. Easter egg hunt. At Xmas Santa comes by.

Kids programming. Always off hours at optimum family times. Saturday, Sunday mornings, afternoons."

Needless to say this was an eye opening presentation, especially for those of us who have young children in our families.

All about the future and how to attract youngsters to films and theaters. And their parents.

I Survived the Most Terrifying Experience at Sundance 2016

Steve Greene — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:15:00 GMT

It’s very dark inside Blackout, which makes sense. The whole thing is built on deprivation, and the first thing that gets removed is the tiny comfort of flipping on a light switch when entering an unfamiliar room.

You see a staircase leading to a floor, largely empty except for a stranger beckoning you to join him. He’s not quite as tall as you, but after he commands you to step into the small circle made by a beam from his flashlight, it’s clear that doesn’t matter. His forceful tone suggests that you answer in kind, confirming that you do not have any of a handful of conditions: Asthma, PTSD, epilepsy.

Once you’ve proven that you’re not disqualified (but not necessarily qualified, however), The Instructor grabs you by the arms and rushes you into a room lined with tiny video monitors. There’s barely enough time to register that there are soundproof headphones sitting on the stool that you’re being thrust toward. You are to sit down, cover your ears with those headphones and pay attention. If you have any free will to disobey the orders, now is not the time to find out.

Through the fog beginning to accumulate on your glasses, you can see that each of these monitors now has a video image of a young teenager. It’s night-vision, as if this message was recorded for you in secret. You don’t allow yourself to think that this is a message others have seen. In that moment, this message is meant for you and you alone.

Like the initial staging room, this is another test. The girl in the video tells you to repeat after her. You know she can’t hear you, but you echo her cryptic submissions back to her. As before, it’s a directive, a gauge of how willing an accomplice you’ll be during the horrors to come.

“I am prepared to be marked,” she wants you to say, a confirmation that this is what you really want. “I am prepared to be marked!” you shout louder at her behest. “I AM PREPARED TO BE MARKED!” you scream, not daring to break your focus to check what might be lurking behind you. Good thing, because when they smother you with a plastic bag and whisk you away from the room with the monitors, you don’t have to worry about seeing them coming.

Blackout isn’t a Scooby-Doo haunted house where unwanted guests tiptoe through hallways and peer around corners. Everything happens with breakneck speed. It’s designed to maintain perpetual motion so that it’s impossible to register what’s artifice and what might leave a tangible effect.

What I experienced was a condensed version of what began as an immersive theater piece. Co-creators Josh Randall and Kristjan Thorgeirsson began Blackout in New York in 2009 and in the intervening years, it has fostered an emerging cult phenomenon. Focusing on the fan base surrounding this enigmatic, mysterious enterprise, director Rich Fox and producer Kris Curry had a number of potential subjects for their documentary “The Blackout Experiments,” which premiered at Sundance 2016.

Obviously, the overall Blackout experience depends on the participant. Those who enter with trepidation and reject the off-the-bat intensity will likely have a diminished experience.

Like any narrative participatory endeavor, Blackout presents any individual with an alternate reality — not a false one or a fantastical one, but one that requires whomever's inside it to segment their perception. To mentally switch over 100% to an experience like this would be psychologically dangerous, but to do so 95% is ideal.

“The Blackout Experiments” features interviews with individuals who, despite the rigors and mental exhaustion that accompany an experience like Blackout, find themselves returning to its clutches. These Blackout superfans exemplify the power of that divided perception, an inherent part of the theatrical process that is at once therapeutic and addictive.

But the power of an experience like this to unlock someone’s understanding of themselves is a retroactive process. In the moment, that other 5% remains a safeguard against paranoia. It's the 5% that signs the liability waiver at the door and assumes that since this is run by a reputable organization at a festival-sanctioned event, no real harm should come from it.

Blackout derives its terror from that other 95% telling you that assumption is wrong.

Next: The wordless answer to Blackout's questions.

Before they take the bag off your head, someone places a small container in your hand. It may be The Instructor, but even if you still had your glasses (they're probably lying on the floor somewhere back near the monitors), there’s a layer of plastic covering your eyes. You shake the small gift and something small rattles inside. “Open it only when you need to,” whispers The Instructor. Off comes the bag and another voice shouts in your ear to find the girl and take off her mask.

This is not instruction that needs clarification. You’ll find out what it means soon enough. The arm connected to that voice squishes you down onto the floor. “Crawl! Keep crawling!” yells that second voice from the receding distance. You go forward, wriggling on all fours, coming to a wall that you can’t go through.

Out of your peripheral vision, to your left is a small area bathed in red light. Huddled in the corner of this cramped space is a girl. The bag over her head isn’t plastic, but made of black fabric. Staying in your crouch, you creep toward her, not sure if she can sense you coming. Taking off this bag might reveal something dangerous. But you were told to do this, and there’s no time to consider what creature might be lurking underneath. You're told to do a lot of things in Blackout.

You whip off the bag and jump back a few feet in act of self-preservation, but she looks more frightened than you are. It’s clear this is someone you’re meant to help. “What do you need?” you ask her. Wordlessly, she doubles over in pain, convulsing. Maybe she tells you or maybe you just intuit it, but the key to ending this episode is giving her what’s in your right hand: A pill bottle. It’s a trick, you think. I’m not going to be responsible for a wrong choice. So you hand her the bottle without opening it. She tries, but can’t remove the lid. When she tosses it back to you, the choice is clear: Watch this young woman suffer or risk incurring the wrath of The Instructor and this new accomplice.

After you hand her the pill bottle, top now off, she fishes out the contents and swallows it. More convulsing. You’ve killed her. You chose wrong and now this is your consequence, to watch her expire in front of you.

But no! She gathers herself, as much as one can when huddled in a barely-inhabitable cramped space. She grabs you by the hand and leads you away from the red place, into the safety of a nearby bathroom.

She tells you to sit on the toilet, just as you are. You don’t fully sit down on the open seat, because if these kinds of terrors are out here, who knows what’s lurking down there? But she puts you at ease. She tells you to sit. Not to relax, but to center yourself.

As soon as you’ve got some level of calmness, she’s convulsing again. You left the pill bottle back at the red space, so what to do now? The wrenching of her body becomes steadily more violent.

Now sitting is not an option. She tells you to get up, to really see what’s happening to her. And then, something shifts. She’s ready for something that she wasn’t before. She rotates your body 180 degrees so now you’re facing the wall. There’s a voice inside you saying that it would be unwise to turn around and soon that voice becomes a hand on your shoulder telling you that it would be in your interest to stay in the direction you’re currently facing. She grabs you by your hand and guides it. First backwards, then down across the inside of her leg. You feel a string and she guides your fingers around it, like an executioner placing a weapon into your unsuspecting palm.

“Pull,” she says, with an urgency that’s now frightening. “Pull hard!” she tells you and you obey because this is going to spare her.

Right down the street from the Blackout space (which was held at Kickstarter's official festival headquarters) is the Sundance Film Festival’s home for New Frontier, the section of the program that houses some of the best examples from the emerging world of virtual reality.

One of the pieces from this year's New Frontier slate was Milica Zec’s “Giant.” Told through visuals shown in a custom headset, the participant is placed in a virtual basement location, witnessing a young family trying to survive a Western warzone. Two parents and their young daughter try to comfort each other in the face of impending destruction. Battle planes fly overhead out of sight and the encroaching sounds of military vehicles add a layer of dread to the human story playing out below.

The main goal of “Giant” is not the verisimilitude of sensory details, but emotional ones. It’s not long, but it ends with a fleeting glimpse into what it’s like to be a victim, to be faced with the real consequences of conflict.

Days before Blackout, as I was waiting in line for “Giant,” I spoke to a woman waiting in line with me. We discussed the various offerings from throughout the New Frontier building. But what stuck with me wasn’t her evaluation of the exhibits themselves, but the people using them. “Some people think all VR is the same. They jump right in to the most intense experiences, thinking it’s just going to be like anything with a headset,” she said.

“They’re not ready.”

Next: The resilient, post-Blackout collective.

“What are the numbers?! There were four numbers! What were they?!” The girl is gone and the Instructor is back, but he’s not the one filling your mouth with water. That’s the guy standing to his right. And you realize that it’s not water flowing through a tube that’s filling up your stomach, but the contents of a regular plastic water bottle being violently squeezed.

No time to register relief, because now The Instructor is asking questions. “Tell me the numbers!” he screams at you when you’re not instantly forthcoming with the information he desires.

There weren’t any numbers in the bathroom. Maybe there was a clock with hands that pointed to the correct time. Perhaps they were written in reverse on the wall behind you that reflected perfectly in the mirror above the sink.

But you didn’t have your glasses.

There’s no point in guessing. Lying will only make it worse. So you return The Instructor’s serve with a declaration. “I didn’t see anything!” you shout towards the space between the two men, the devils hovering at each of your shoulders.

You’re now being held against a wall, so there’s not much you can do besides wait to be quizzed further.

“The first number: Was it a 5 or a 6?!” The Instructor has given you a chance at redemption.

“6!” you shout with confidence, because he can tell if you hesitate. Doesn’t matter if you’re wrong, though. Which you are. The Instructor tells you so. Back in comes the water bottle, the bottom of it easily being crushed by this second man’s hand. The Instructor reminds you to keep breathing and swallow, a rare show of benevolence.

He asks you again: “The first number: Was it a 5 or a 6?!” Only now you can’t remember which answer was wrong the first time. “5!” comes your answer from a place you can’t quite identify.

“YES!” cries The Instructor, slamming his open palm on the area right next to your left ear. Even being right in Blackout has its consequences.

One time, you guess correctly on the first try. “YES!” he yells again, this time louder. The questions, already coming in rapid succession are somehow going faster.

Once you’ve gotten through all four, you think that it might be helpful to remember this sequence for later. Maybe those numbers open up a safe or they’re the combination to get out of your next locked room.

But this is Blackout, so the next immediate thing that crowds out all other thoughts is the tiny piece of paper that they’ve folded up and jammed deep inside the pouch just inside your bottom lip. It only takes three seconds to get it good and secure. Once it’s there, a voice whispers in your ear: “Don’t let him find it!” You’re being dragged again.

Aside from offering small glimpses into the Blackout experience itself, Fox and Curry’s film also shows a burgeoning community that’s sprung up on both coasts. (Randall, both in the film and in post-screening comments, expressed his hesitance to to allow the film any behind-the-scenes access to the creation of different iterations of Blackout.) In both New York and Los Angeles, Blackout enthusiasts have informal, living-room gatherings to share their personal connection to the reality that Randall, Thorgeirsson and the rest of the Blackout team have fashioned for them. In many cases, these uber-participants have gone through multiple versions of Blackout, returning to it with that odd mixture of trepidation, excitement and willingness.

These groups refer to themselves as “Survivors,” which gives what we see of these meetings the feeling of a weekly poker game, grief support group meeting and RPG campaign all rolled into one. They sit on couches and take spots around dining room tables, casually discussing these traumatic events as a way to form a communal, we’re-in-this-together bond.

In the individual, talking-head interviews that Fox has with these participants, they provide anecdotes from their past involving neglect, substance abuse, disorders, isolation and sexual violence. For them, taking on this immersive reality allows them to confront those past injuries and outlast them again. It’s a muted kind of triumph, a form of empowerment that they find not only helpful, but essential.

My experience was a concentrated dose of all of these horrors, experiences that I’d never been previously witness to. Rather than reclaiming a sense of strength and victory from a deeply-buried memory, it was a chance to track my instincts when faced with those terrible situations. The simulated horrific crime that was part of my experience (and of another male participant’s in the documentary) is a reality that many men and women live in every day, without the luxury of shedding the walls of some theatrical space.

Seeing these groups sharing their experiences together in “The Blackout Experiments” is a logical extension of that tiny, shared ground. Although Blackout is catered to the individual, it’s designed to be understood with the help of others in its aftermath.

In both the individual experience during and the collective coping in the weeks and months after, it’s a reminder that what was once a burden can now be manifested and conquered. To them, they’ve been given a great gift.

Next: When Blackout's realities overlap...

When most people go through a haunted house, they expect to scream. They anticipate the jump scares, the deranged butchers with bloody cleavers or undead teens with half-decomposed faces. Shouting in short bursts brings on that tiny self-contained catharsis that finishes by the time you’re on to the next room.

Part of Blackout’s twisted genius is that the compressed timeframe and constant motion doesn’t afford you those breaks. There’s only shouting when prompted, but those aren’t the times when it needs to happen. There’s no time to scream when water is being forced down the esophagus.

There’s also terror in Blackout’s negative space. It’s an intricate production where participants are not given the gift of an alternate identity. At the beginning of the experience, as soon as that flashlight beam becomes visible, The Instructor asks for *your* name. You’re not given the role of a soldier in a post-apocalyptic landscape. You’re not stepping into the shoes of a tourist trying to outrun the snare of a serial killer. You are yourself. You are the sum of your vulnerabilities.

So when that last plastic bag covers your face and mouth and you’re told to shout, “It’s never over!” and you do and they tell you to do it louder and you obey and they tell you it’s not good enough and you summon all you have to scream “IT’S NEVER OVER!” and they push you out to Main Street, you realize that it’s true. It’s never over, because you’re the same person out in the midnight winter air that you were while you were inside.

Emerging from Blackout is far more jarring than being thrust into it. After a quarter hour of sensory overload, it rejects any form of resolution. There’s no friendly tour guide to explain what happened to the women inside. No, these characters aren’t real, but the experience still leaves you with a very real need to sustain those high levels of stimuli. Getting pushed back out into the normal flow of life without warning is their version of giving you the bends. The surface comes too quickly.

Blackout is an avalanche of extremes, one that leaves a noticeable void in its absence. I wasn’t keen on letting too many people see me stagger around in a post-Blackout stupor. As I walked home, to help sharpen those sensory responses, I put the earbuds back in, this time at maximum volume. I kept my gloves off, even though the Park City chill was enough to freeze the condensation on my beard. It wasn’t a desire to preserve that experiential dread, but a feeling that it was somehow necessary to create a bridge between the two realities so that I’d be OK on the other side.

It’s no coincidence that the final piece of preparation before Blackout begins is being asked if you have PTSD. In this way, it’s ensuring that what transpires next isn’t merely a cheap, manipulative facsimile. Going through Blackout dredges up feelings of horror, but it’s also giving empathy to go along with it.

Blackout isn’t strictly a virtual reality experience, but it’s a window into what might be to come. It offers a glimpse at what we can expect as “immersive” becomes an entertainment option that’s democratized and removed from specific places or means.

This is the train coming at the audience. And it’s not asking us if we’re ready. It’s shouting in our ears until we listen.
Three days passed between my Blackout and a Thursday morning screening of “The Blackout Experiments” at Park City’s Prospector Square Theate.

After the film, Randall, Fox and one of the documentary’s subjects were all there, all speaking to their very different personal connections to the project. (It was a fascinating Q&A to see three individuals there on behalf and in support of the same project, each with their own levels of wariness towards each other.)

As I headed toward the exit, I made my way across the front of the screening room. Before I could reach the side walkway, I heard a voice calling my name from the second row.

Turning, I saw Randall. We exchanged knowing glances. I walked over and instinctively shook his hand. We spoke briefly about my time in Blackout, though I made sure not to ask too many probing questions, still wanting to preserve some of the illusion.

As we kept talking, I realized why he knew my name. Because not only was he an observer to my experience, but 60 hours ago, he was slamming his hand within inches of my left ear. He’d covered my mouth with a plastic bag and now we were chatting like new friends who’d met in line outside the theater.

Here was The Instructor, the man who I’d willingly accepted as my captor after a mere fifteen minutes in a dark basement. My guide through a new reality.

Then again, I’m still only 95% sure it was him.