2011 Sundance Film Festival
Encyclopedia
The 27th annual Sundance Film Festival
took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah
, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah
, Ogden, Utah
, and Sundance
, Utah
.
The festival opened with five screenings, one from each category in competition: Sing Your Song, Pariah, The Guard, Project Nim, and Shorts Program I. The New Frontier category opened with All That Is Solid Melts into Air. The closing night film was The Son of No One.
There were 750 sponsors of the festival and 1,670 volunteers. Attendance was initially estimated at 60,000 people.
. The festival had films from 40 first-time filmmakers (25 in competition), representing 29 countries.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of the Sundance Institute
said, "For an artist to make it to the Festival among 10,000 submissions is an incredible achievement in his or her own right."
For the second year in a row, Sundance Selects selected five films to make available nationwide through video on demand
: Kaboom, Mad Bastards, Septien, These Amazing Shadows, and Uncle Kent.
For a full list of films appearing at the festival, see List of films at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Screening Room. Each series is scheduled to run for 6 weeks, beginning January 6, 2011, through February 3, 2011.
Launched on January 6, 2011 were shorts from past years by filmmakers with feature films at this year's festival. The short films, directors, and current films include:
The January 13, 2011 launch included shorts developed at the Sundance Institute Feature Film Labs:
Scheduled to launch in 3 parts on January 20, January 27, and February 3 are short films from this year's festival:
The awards for short films were announced January 25. On January 28, 2011 the Alfred P. Sloan Prize
was awarded to the film Another Earth
. All of the awards were announced January 29 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony, which was hosted by Tim Blake Nelson
near Park City.
U.S. Documentary Jury
U.S. Dramatic Jury
World Documentary Jury
World Dramatic Jury
Alfred P. Sloan
Jury
Short Film Jury
Helen Fisher
was initially announced as a member of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize Jury, but was not included in the final list of jurors.
Additional award presenters included Ray Liotta
, Joshua Leonard
, and Vera Farmiga
.
wrote "Sundance 2011 has proven to be exceptionally strong, audiences and filmmakers seem to agree." Tourtellotte reported that Robert Redford said that three years ago the Sundance Institute
"set out to get back to its roots of supporting alternative voices in cinema and he felt like this year that strategy paid off." Redford said "This year, what has excited me, is I think the quality is increasing in diversity and is increasing in depth."
The AP reported that Redford said it's "always a relief" when the festival ends because "it's really exhausting."
Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times
, wrote "though the festival has gotten ever bigger — and (thankfully) more efficient in moving its close to 50,000 attendees in and out of its far-flung theaters — it still retains the scrappy, antic spirit that has animated it from the start." Turan wrote "One of the paradoxes of Sundance is that the quirkiness and charm around the edges of the festival are not always fully appreciated because so much of the media focus is on the premieres section and the U.S. dramatic competition" which he said "are, frankly, often the weakest parts of the festival."
Turan said "Sundance's insistence on giving equal weight to documentaries and dramas has made it into as important a nonfiction showcase as any festival in the world; witness the fact that four out of the five Oscar-nominated docs
this year debuted at Sundance last January." He also wrote that the foreign language film competition "is a strength at Sundance, and yet that field is given even less popular attention than the documentaries."
Peter Knegt wrote that this year's festival "probably won't replicate last year's Oscar record." He said "Despite a huge surge in sales, this year's Sundance slate looks like it might be the least Oscar-friendly in some time." He noted that the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winners have been nominated for Best Picture for two years (referring to Precious
and Winter's Bone
). Knegt speculated on films that might be nominated for the Oscars. Films he deemed "most likely to succeed" at being nominated included: Like Crazy for Best Picture, Michael Shannon of Take Shelter for Best Actor, Elizabeth Olsen of Martha Marcy May Marlene for Best Actress, Felicity Jones of Like Crazy for Best Actress, Jessica Chastain of Take Shelter for Best Supporting Actress, Project Nim for Best Documentary Feature, Page One for Best Documentary Feature, and The Interrupters for Best Documentary Feature. He wrote "It's reasonable to feel assured that at least one of Sundance's docs will end up an Oscar nominee, if not two, three or four."
Jada Yuan of New York
magazine wrote "perhaps the biggest highlight of the festival is just how ripe it's been for acquisitions, with nearly 30 films getting picked up, the most at any Sundance
ever."
On "why everyone is suddently so bullish on independent film", Owen Gleiberman wrote that the "energy and optimism at Sundance this year wasn't just hype." He said the factors he thought were driving a new evolving vision of the indie film world included: "The deals haven’t gotten cheaper — they've gotten smarter", a belief that last year's new festival director John Cooper and director of programming Trevor Groth "have re-energized the festival, heightening its quality and organizing the movies with a tempting new shape and vision", video on demand gives distributors a safety net and more confidence, and the audiences for Sundance movies are not going away, saying "The Oscars...have become a testament to the central place that Sundance movies now occupy."
Regarding the number of dramas acquired by distributors, Kenneth Turan said "That number seems way out of proportion to the quality of the films, or to how well they will likely do in the marketplace." Turan wrote "In documentaries, the situation was reversed: The quality was sky high, but hardly any were acquired for theatrical release" because audiences are "reluctant to embrace the genre."
At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, 9 films went on to garner 15 Oscar
nominations. Tom Hall of indieWire
wrote "Following one of the most critically successful years in the festival's history, a year that saw Blue Valentine, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are Alright, I Am Love, Animal Kingdom, Enter The Void, Please Give, A Film Unfinished, Gasland, Restrepo, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Waste Land, Last Train Home, The Oath, The Tillman Story and many others find tremendous acclaim, 2011 always had its work cut out for it", saying "after looking at a strong year at the indie box office for last year's films, reasonable, level-headed deals were popping up all over Sundance.". But Hall wrote that this year he felt that "the recession came home to roost." He said "If 2011 marks the line in the sand for independent film financing in a recession driven investment climate, it also marked the complete opposite in the distribution world; a return to the glory days of pure, unadulterated content speculation." Hall wondered about the pressure on this year's acquired films to "perform across multiple platforms" in the next year. He wrote "if this year’s buying spree proves anything, it at once cements the dominance of the Sundance Film Festival
as the premiere market festival in the US and, given many of the films that sold, raises my eyebrows."
Acquisitions at the festival included:
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, Ogden, Utah
Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
, and Sundance
Sundance
Sundance Resort is a ski resort located northeast of Provo, Utah, spanning over on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Range. Snow skiing began on the site in 1944...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
The festival opened with five screenings, one from each category in competition: Sing Your Song, Pariah, The Guard, Project Nim, and Shorts Program I. The New Frontier category opened with All That Is Solid Melts into Air. The closing night film was The Son of No One.
There were 750 sponsors of the festival and 1,670 volunteers. Attendance was initially estimated at 60,000 people.
Films
10,279 films were submitted. 3,812 feature films were submitted, including 1,943 from the US and 1,869 internationally. From these, 118 feature films were selected and include 95 world premieres. 6,467 short films were submitted, 81 short films were selected to be screened and 12 shorts are viewable on YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The festival had films from 40 first-time filmmakers (25 in competition), representing 29 countries.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
said, "For an artist to make it to the Festival among 10,000 submissions is an incredible achievement in his or her own right."
For the second year in a row, Sundance Selects selected five films to make available nationwide through video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
: Kaboom, Mad Bastards, Septien, These Amazing Shadows, and Uncle Kent.
For a full list of films appearing at the festival, see List of films at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
YouTube Screening Room
12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and 8 "classic" shorts will be available to watch online at the YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Screening Room. Each series is scheduled to run for 6 weeks, beginning January 6, 2011, through February 3, 2011.
Launched on January 6, 2011 were shorts from past years by filmmakers with feature films at this year's festival. The short films, directors, and current films include:
- By Modern Measure by Matthew Lessner, The Woods
- Little Farm by Calvin Reeder, The Oregonian
- Countertransference by Madeleine Olnek, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
- Choices by Rashaad Ernesto Green, Gun Hill Road
The January 13, 2011 launch included shorts developed at the Sundance Institute Feature Film Labs:
- Conversion by Nanobah Becker
- Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259 by Lance Weiler
- Pop Foul by Moon Molson, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time
- Sikumi by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, On the Ice
Scheduled to launch in 3 parts on January 20, January 27, and February 3 are short films from this year's festival:
- 8 Bits by Valere Amirault, Sarah Laufer, Jean Delaunay, and Benjamin Mattern
- Andy and Zach by Nick Paley
- Close. by Tahir Jetter
- Excuse Me by Duncan Birmingham
- Jupiter Elicius by Kelly Sears
- oops by Chris Beckman
- Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 by David & Nathan Zellner
- Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul by Orlando von Einsiedel
- The High Level Bridge by Trevor Anderson
- The Hunter and The Swan by Emily Carmichael
- Xemoland by Daniel Cardenas
- Yelp (With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" by Tiffany Shlain
Award winners
- Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - How to Die in OregonHow to Die in OregonHow to Die in Oregon is a 2011 documentary film produced and directed by Peter Richardson. The film is set in the state of Oregon and covers the state's Death with Dignity Act that allows terminally ill patients to end their own life with medication prescribed by their physician .- Synopsis...
- Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - Like CrazyLike CrazyLike Crazy is a 2011 American romantic drama film. The film was directed by Drake Doremus and stars Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones and Jennifer Lawrence. In an interview with The Telegraph, Jones stated that the script was fully improvised...
- World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - Hell and Back Again
- World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - Happy, Happy
- Audience Award: U.S. Documentary - BuckBuck (film)Buck is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Cindy Meehl. The film focuses on the life, career, and philosophy of the real-life "horse whisperer" Buck Brannaman.-Synopsis:...
- Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic - Circumstance
- World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary - SennaSenna (film)Senna is a 2010 documentary film that depicts the life and death of Brazilian motor-racing champion, Ayrton Senna. It is Asif Kapadia's fourth feature film as director, and is produced by ESPN/Working Title and distributed by Universal Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures...
- World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic - KinyarwandaKinyarwanda (film)Kinyarwanda tells the story of hope, redemption and religious tolerance in the midst of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award. The film marks Brown's directorial debut.-Cast:* Edouard...
- Best of NEXT Audience Award - to.get.her
- U.S. Directing Award: Documentary - Jon Foy for Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee TilesToynbee tilesThe Toynbee tiles are messages of mysterious origin found embedded in asphalt of streets in about two dozen major cities in the United States and four South American capitals. Since the 1980s, several hundred tiles have been discovered. They are generally about the size of an American license...
- U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic - Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May MarleneMartha Marcy May MarleneMartha Marcy May Marlene is a 2011 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Sean Durkin, and starring Elizabeth Olsen , John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy...
- World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary - James Marsh for Project Nim
- World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic - Paddy Considine for Tyrannosaur
- Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award - Sam Levinson for Another Happy Day
- World Cinema Dramatic Screenwriting Award - Erez Kav-El for Restoration
- U.S. Documentary Editing Award - Matthew Hamachek and Marshall Curry for If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
- World Cinema Documentary Editing Award - Goran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist for The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary - Eric Strauss, Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens for The Redemption of General Butt Naked
- Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic - Bradford Young for Pariah
- World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary - Dangfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again
- World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic - Diego F. Jimenez for All Your Dead Ones
- U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize - BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey
- U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize - Another Earth
- World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize - Position Among the Stars
- U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performance - Felicity Jones for Like Crazy
- World Dramatic Special Jury Prizes for Breakout Performances - Paddy Considine and Olivia Colman for Tyrannosaur
- Jury Prize in U.S. Short Filmmaking - Brick Novax Pt 1 and 2
- International Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking - Deeper Than Yesterday
- Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking - Choke, Diarchy, The External World, The Legend of Beaver Dam, Out of Reach, and Protoparticles
- Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize - Another EarthAnother EarthAnother Earth is a 2011 American science fantasy/drama film directed by Mike Cahill in his feature film debut. The film stars William Mapother and Brit Marling. It premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and is being distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.-Synopsis:Rhoda...
- Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards - Bogdan Mustata of Romania for Wolf, Ernesto Contrera of Mexico for I Dream In Another Language, Seng Tat Liew of Malaysia for In What City Does It Live?, and Talya Lavie of Israel for Zero Motivation
- Sundance Institute/NHK Award - Cherien Dabis, director of May in the Summer
The awards for short films were announced January 25. On January 28, 2011 the Alfred P. Sloan Prize
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The prize is given to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.Each winner is presented...
was awarded to the film Another Earth
Another Earth
Another Earth is a 2011 American science fantasy/drama film directed by Mike Cahill in his feature film debut. The film stars William Mapother and Brit Marling. It premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and is being distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.-Synopsis:Rhoda...
. All of the awards were announced January 29 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony, which was hosted by Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
near Park City.
Juries
The 23 jury members, which award prizes to films, were announced on January 17, 2011. Presenters are followed by asterisks.U.S. Documentary Jury
- Jeffrey BlitzJeffrey BlitzJeffrey Blitz is an American film director, producer and screenwriter from Ridgewood, New Jersey. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2002 documentary, Spellbound and he won the Dramatic Directing Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for his 2007 film, Rocket Science.Blitz won the 2009...
- Matt GroeningMatt GroeningMatthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
(*) - Laura PoitrasLaura PoitrasLaura Poitras is a documentary film director and producer.Her 2006 film My Country, My Country was nominated for an Oscar.Her 2010 film The Oath won the "Excellence in Cinematography Award for U.S...
- Jess Search (*)
- Sloane Klevin
U.S. Dramatic Jury
- America FerreraAmerica FerreraAmerica Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...
(*) - Todd McCarthy (*)
- Tim OrrTim OrrTim Orr is an American cinematographer known mostly for his work with director, David Gordon Green. Orr graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1998...
(*) - Kimberly PeirceKimberly PeirceKimberly Peirce is an American feature film director, notable for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry . Her second feature, Stop-Loss, was released by Paramount Pictures in 2008.- Early life and career :...
(*) - Jason ReitmanJason ReitmanJason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...
(*)
World Documentary Jury
- José PadilhaJosé PadilhaJosé Padilha is an award-winning Brazilian film director and producer.Padilha emerged onto the Brazilian movie scene with his first feature film Bus 174. In 2007, Padilha directed The Elite Squad , his first fictional film. The film was a commercial and critical success, seen by more than 11...
- Mette Hoffmann Meyer
- Lucy Walker
World Dramatic Jury
- Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
- Bong Joon-hoBong Joon-hoBong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.-Biography:He was born in Daegu in 1969 and decided to become a filmmaker while in middle school, perhaps influenced by an artistic family He majored in sociology in Yonsei University in the late 1980s and was a member of the film club...
- Rajendra Roy
Alfred P. Sloan
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The prize is given to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.Each winner is presented...
Jury
- Jon AmielJon AmielJon Amiel is an English film director who has since the early 1980s worked in film and television in both the UK and the US.-Early life:...
- Paula Apsel
- Sean M. CarrollSean M. CarrollSean Michael Carroll is a senior research associate in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He is a theoretical cosmologist specializing in dark energy and general relativity...
- Clark GreggClark GreggRobert Clark Gregg is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He co-starred as Christine Campbell's ex-husband Richard in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which debuted in March 2006 and concluded in May 2010...
(*)
Short Film Jury
- Barry Jenkins
- Kim Morgan
- Sara Bernstein
Helen Fisher
Helen Fisher (anthropologist)
Helen E. Fisher is a Canadian-American anthropologist and human behavior researcher. She is professor at Rutgers University. Fisher has studied romantic interpersonal attraction for over 30 years. Prior to becoming a research professor at Rutgers University, she was a research associate at the...
was initially announced as a member of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize Jury, but was not included in the final list of jurors.
Additional award presenters included Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
, Joshua Leonard
Joshua Leonard
Joshua Granville Leonard is an American actor, known for his role in The Blair Witch Project.-Early life:Leonard was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Joann, an operator of a children's theatre, and Robert Leonard, a theater professor. He was raised in State College, Pennsylvania...
, and Vera Farmiga
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress and director. Farmiga made her film debut in the 1998 drama thriller Return to Paradise. This was followed by supporting roles in the 2000 romantic film Autumn in New York and the 2001 television series UC: Undercover...
.
Festival theaters
- Park CityPark City, UtahPark City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
- Eccles Theatre - 1,270 seats
- Egyptian TheatreMary G. Steiner Egyptian TheatreThe Mary G. Steiner Egyptian Theatre is located at 328 Main Street in Park City, Utah in the United States of America. It has also been referred to as the Mary J. Steiner Egyptian Theatre or The Egyptian Theatre in Park City.-History:...
- 290 seats - Holiday Village Cinema I - 164 seats
- Holiday Village Cinema II - 156 seats
- Holiday Village Cinema III - 156 seats
- Holiday Village Cinema IV - 164 seats
- Library Center Theatre - 478 seats
- Prospector Square Theatre - 336 seats
- Redstone Cinema 7 - 175 seats
- Redstone Cinema 8 - 193 seats
- Temple Theatre - 314 seats
- Yarrow Hotel Theatre - 295 seats
- Salt Lake City
- Broadway Centre Cinemas IV - 211 seats
- Broadway Centre Cinemas V - 242 seats
- Broadway Centre Cinemas VI - 274 seats
- Rose Wagner Performing Arts CenterRose Wagner Performing Arts CenterThe Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is a three-venue arts complex in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah that is home to modern dance companies, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, Plan-B Theatre Company, and the Sundance Film Festival. It is part of the Salt Lake County Center for the...
- 495 seats - Tower TheatreTower Theatre (Salt Lake City, Utah)The Tower Theatre located in the 9th and 9th neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah is a historic film theater operated and maintained by the Salt Lake Film Society....
- 349 seats
- Sundance ResortSundanceSundance Resort is a ski resort located northeast of Provo, Utah, spanning over on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Range. Snow skiing began on the site in 1944...
- Sundance Resort Screening Room - 164 seats
- OgdenOgden, UtahOgden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
- Peery's Egyptian TheatrePeery's Egyptian TheatrePeery's Egyptian Theater is a movie palace located at 2439 Washington Blvd., in Ogden, Utah in the United States of America. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.-History:...
- 840 seats
- Peery's Egyptian Theatre
Sundance Film Festival U.S.A.
On January 27, 2011 the festival sent 9 filmmakers to 9 cities across the US to screen and discuss their films. The cities and films included:- Ann Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
at Michigan Theater - Win Win, and post-festival: Cedar Rapids - Brookline, MassachusettsBrookline, MassachusettsBrookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
at Coolidge Corner TheatreCoolidge Corner TheatreCoolidge Corner Theatre, a cinema in the Coolidge Corner section of Brookline, Massachusetts, is the "only operating not-for-profit Art Deco theatre in the Boston area and is one of the top ten arthouse film exhibition theaters in the county." Among recipients of this venue's annual Coolidge Award...
- My Idiot Brother - BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York at BAMBrooklyn Academy of MusicBrooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
- Kaboom - ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois at Music Box Theatre - The Music Never Stopped - Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California at Vintage Cinemas Vista Theatre - The Details - Madison, WisconsinMadison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
at Sundance Cinemas Wisconsin - Like Crazy - Nashville, TennesseeNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
at The Belcourt Theatre - Letters from the Big Man - San Francisco, California at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology
- Seattle, Washington at The Egyptian Theatre - Cedar Rapids
Reception
Bob Tourtellotte of ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
wrote "Sundance 2011 has proven to be exceptionally strong, audiences and filmmakers seem to agree." Tourtellotte reported that Robert Redford said that three years ago the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
"set out to get back to its roots of supporting alternative voices in cinema and he felt like this year that strategy paid off." Redford said "This year, what has excited me, is I think the quality is increasing in diversity and is increasing in depth."
The AP reported that Redford said it's "always a relief" when the festival ends because "it's really exhausting."
Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, wrote "though the festival has gotten ever bigger — and (thankfully) more efficient in moving its close to 50,000 attendees in and out of its far-flung theaters — it still retains the scrappy, antic spirit that has animated it from the start." Turan wrote "One of the paradoxes of Sundance is that the quirkiness and charm around the edges of the festival are not always fully appreciated because so much of the media focus is on the premieres section and the U.S. dramatic competition" which he said "are, frankly, often the weakest parts of the festival."
Turan said "Sundance's insistence on giving equal weight to documentaries and dramas has made it into as important a nonfiction showcase as any festival in the world; witness the fact that four out of the five Oscar-nominated docs
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
this year debuted at Sundance last January." He also wrote that the foreign language film competition "is a strength at Sundance, and yet that field is given even less popular attention than the documentaries."
Peter Knegt wrote that this year's festival "probably won't replicate last year's Oscar record." He said "Despite a huge surge in sales, this year's Sundance slate looks like it might be the least Oscar-friendly in some time." He noted that the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winners have been nominated for Best Picture for two years (referring to Precious
Precious (film)
Precious , is a 2009 American drama film directed by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, and Paula Patton...
and Winter's Bone
Winter's Bone
Winter's Bone is a 2010 American independent drama film, an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Debra Granik and stars Jennifer Lawrence...
). Knegt speculated on films that might be nominated for the Oscars. Films he deemed "most likely to succeed" at being nominated included: Like Crazy for Best Picture, Michael Shannon of Take Shelter for Best Actor, Elizabeth Olsen of Martha Marcy May Marlene for Best Actress, Felicity Jones of Like Crazy for Best Actress, Jessica Chastain of Take Shelter for Best Supporting Actress, Project Nim for Best Documentary Feature, Page One for Best Documentary Feature, and The Interrupters for Best Documentary Feature. He wrote "It's reasonable to feel assured that at least one of Sundance's docs will end up an Oscar nominee, if not two, three or four."
Jada Yuan of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine wrote "perhaps the biggest highlight of the festival is just how ripe it's been for acquisitions, with nearly 30 films getting picked up, the most at any Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
ever."
On "why everyone is suddently so bullish on independent film", Owen Gleiberman wrote that the "energy and optimism at Sundance this year wasn't just hype." He said the factors he thought were driving a new evolving vision of the indie film world included: "The deals haven’t gotten cheaper — they've gotten smarter", a belief that last year's new festival director John Cooper and director of programming Trevor Groth "have re-energized the festival, heightening its quality and organizing the movies with a tempting new shape and vision", video on demand gives distributors a safety net and more confidence, and the audiences for Sundance movies are not going away, saying "The Oscars...have become a testament to the central place that Sundance movies now occupy."
Acquisitions
Redford was happy about the success of the festival, with about 45 films being sold vs 14 in 2010, an increase of about 220%. Redford said studios are realizing "there are audiences" for indie films.Regarding the number of dramas acquired by distributors, Kenneth Turan said "That number seems way out of proportion to the quality of the films, or to how well they will likely do in the marketplace." Turan wrote "In documentaries, the situation was reversed: The quality was sky high, but hardly any were acquired for theatrical release" because audiences are "reluctant to embrace the genre."
At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, 9 films went on to garner 15 Oscar
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
nominations. Tom Hall of indieWire
IndieWire
indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
wrote "Following one of the most critically successful years in the festival's history, a year that saw Blue Valentine, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are Alright, I Am Love, Animal Kingdom, Enter The Void, Please Give, A Film Unfinished, Gasland, Restrepo, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Waste Land, Last Train Home, The Oath, The Tillman Story and many others find tremendous acclaim, 2011 always had its work cut out for it", saying "after looking at a strong year at the indie box office for last year's films, reasonable, level-headed deals were popping up all over Sundance.". But Hall wrote that this year he felt that "the recession came home to roost." He said "If 2011 marks the line in the sand for independent film financing in a recession driven investment climate, it also marked the complete opposite in the distribution world; a return to the glory days of pure, unadulterated content speculation." Hall wondered about the pressure on this year's acquired films to "perform across multiple platforms" in the next year. He wrote "if this year’s buying spree proves anything, it at once cements the dominance of the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
as the premiere market festival in the US and, given many of the films that sold, raises my eyebrows."
Acquisitions at the festival included:
- Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
- The Big Bang
- Dada Films
- The Last Mountain
- Focus FeaturesFocus FeaturesFocus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
- Pariah
- Fox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1998, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox...
- Another Earth
- Bengali Detective (remake rights)
- The Art of Getting By (Homework)
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- HBO
- Knuckle (remake rights)
- IFCIndependent Film ChannelThe Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
- BuckBuck (film)Buck is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Cindy Meehl. The film focuses on the life, career, and philosophy of the real-life "horse whisperer" Buck Brannaman.-Synopsis:...
(through Sundance Selects) - The Ledge
- Perfect Sense
- These Amazing Shadows
- Salvation Boulevard (with SPWA)
- Buck
- Liddell Entertainment
- Silent House
- LionsgateLions Gate EntertainmentLions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
- Devil's Double
- Magnolia PicturesMagnolia PicturesMagnolia Pictures is an American film distributor, and is a holding of 2929 Entertainment, owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films....
- I Melt With You
- Page One (with Participant Media)
- Maya EntertainmentMaya EntertainmentMaya Entertainment Group, Inc. is an independent multi-platform video distribution company. Moctesuma Esparza and Jeff Valdez founded the company in Los Angeles, California in 2007.Maya Entertainment procures and produces content that appeals to the new diverse American Latino and multi cultural...
- All She Can (Benavides Born)
- Motion Film Group
- Gun Hill Road
- National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
- Life in a Day
- Oscilloscope
- BellflowerBellflower (film)Bellflower is a 2011 American film written and directed by Evan Glodell. It was produced on a shoestring budget in Ventura, California and premiered in January 2011 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival....
- Bellflower
- ParamountParamount VantageParamount Vantage is the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures , charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, generally those with a more "art house" feel than films made and distributed by its parent company.Paramount Classics was launched in 1998 and...
- Like Crazy
- Participant Media
- Circumstance
- Roadside AttractionsRoadside AttractionsRoadside Attractions is a US film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2003, specializing largely in independent films.Lionsgate bought a partial stake in Roadside in 2007.-List of films released by Roadside Attractions:...
- Margin Call (with LionsgateLions Gate EntertainmentLions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
) - Project Nim (Lionsgate has DVD rights, HBO has overall rights)
- The Future
- Margin Call (with Lionsgate
- Sony Pictures ClassicsSony Pictures ClassicsSony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
- The Guard
- Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
- Take Shelter
- The Weinstein CompanyThe Weinstein CompanyThe Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
- The Details
- My Idiot Brother