For our last day at the festival, we spoke with two men, different in trade, age, and origin, but equally brilliant in their dedication to experimentation and fascinaion with performance. Actor Michael Pitt, speaks with us about working with the infamous French director Michael Haneke in the English-language remake of his 1997 film, Funny Games, a film about two psychotic young men who take a family hostage in their vacation cabin. Next Philippe Aractingi enlightens us about the process of making his second feature, Under the Bombs. The film, which Aractingi shot 10 days into the 34 days of bombings in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, follows a woman in the war-torn Lebanon in search of her children.
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Director Ari Gold knows how to roll with the punches. In regaling us with horror stories from the shoot of his new, hilarious feature Adventures of Power (breaking his arm on set, to name one), he managed to make us laugh while standing ankle-deep in snow. Filmmaker Nanette Burstein took us into the documentary realm with American Teen, an engrossing picture of the trials and tribulations of teen life in Indiana. The focus on America continued with Anywhere, U.S.A.; director Chusy Haney-Jardine with screenwriting partner and wife Jennifer MacDonald talk about Haney-Jardine's first feature, which captures the corkiest of moments of American life. Finally, the director/screenwriting team Mark and Jay Duplass go off on their new "non-mumblecore" comedy, Baghead.
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Enter a vibrant and politically-charged music scene with director Jackie Reem Salloum, who premieres her first feature-length documentary this year at Sundance. She talks with us about her motivations and obstacles in the making of Slingshot Hip Hop, a surprising story of resistance and courage told by Palestinian rappers. Next we move on to another story of breathtaking courage: directors Tia Lessin's and Carl Deal's doc Trouble the Water. In it, home footage taken during Hurricane Katrina brings the disaster terrifyingly close to home on the big screen. Water was the theme of the day as director Irena Salia discussed her widely lauded doc FLOW: For Love of Water, which takes a thorough look at this precious resource.
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Most filmmaking is an incredibly personal process, and for some, this involves a return to earliest childhood. Director/screenwriter Azazel Jacobs and actor Matt Boren shed light on the personal challenges and triumphs involved in the making of Momma's Man, Jacobs' feature shot in the home where he grew up. Moving from nostalgia to a sci-fi world of the future, director/screenwriter Alex Rivera, and leading actors- Leonor Varela and Jacob Vargas- speak with us about Sleep Dealer, a reflection on U.S. immigration and portrait of technological corruption. Actor Ray Romano and director/screenwriter Geoff Haley take us back to the world of Los Angeles in The Last Word, a dark comedic narrative about a man who makes a living assisting depressed clients compose their suicide notes.
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From time travel, to architecture on film, to dysfunctional relationships and social commentaries, the topics of today's discussions covered quite a spectrum. Director Nacho Vigalondo reveals the difficulties of constructing nonlinear narratives in his thriller, Time Crimes. Director Lance Hammer expounds on his first feature film, Ballast, and working with the non-actor members of his Mississippi Delta cast. Additionally, director Tom Kalin and actor Eddie Redmayne talk about sex and family and compare their experiences on the set of Savage Grace, while The Wave inspired director Dennis Gansel and actress Jennifer Ulrich to challenge assumptions and expectations.
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Sundance isn't only about features; it's about shorts and re-released indies as well. Director Gregg Araki shares his thoughts on film history and The Living End, a remastered version of his 1992 Sundance Film Festival release. We then spoke with three short filmmaking teams: Director John Magary and Producer Geoff Quan about their post-Katrina narrative short film, The Second Line; Director Myna Joseph and Producer Jessica Daniels about their sexually mature teen drama, Man; and Director Ben Campbell and Editor Merrill Sterrit for the coming-of-age drama, Lloyd Neck.
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Since it's our first day we thought we'd have a little fun. We dropped by the exclusive Main-Boost Marquis Suite, where we met with the ultimate Sundance swaggers, the jewelry sales company Lia Sophia. The team shared stories about their participation in the Sundance tradition and their reputation as one of the premier swag donors at the festival. We then met two women filmmakers who shared the stories behind their compelling documentaries. Filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian delivers the powerful Be Like Others, an exploration of the thriving gender reassignment industry in Iran. In Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), director Ellen Kuras uses stunning imagery to record the devastating story of her Laotian co-director, Thavisouk Phrasavath; a film which took 23 years in the making.
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