Thursday
04Dec2008
Sundance Announces List of Competition Films
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 2:24AM
The invasion of Park City, Utah will begin again in a
month, as journalists, celebutantes, interested patrons, and - oh yeah -
filmmakers descend on the resort town for the
Sundance
Film Festival. The complete list of competition films has been
released for the four categories, Dramatic, World Cinema Dramatic, Documentary,
and World Documentary.
Gilmore also believes audiences will really appreciate the diversity not just thematically but also among the personalities in front of and behind the camera. "This is a festival about which people in the future will say, ‘Wow, that was a year a lot of new talent came out of it.’"
The festival runs January 15th - 25th, and this year features the directorial debut of John Krasinski (Brief Interviews with Hideous Men) and a claymation dramedy featuring the voices of Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mary and Max). Cold Souls, a film about a Russian mobster trying to get his hands on the soul of an actor - whatever that means - that stars Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson, and Lauren Ambrose; and what sounds like the real highlight, Chris Rock appearing in a documentary about the history of black hairstyles called Good Hair. And if ABA legend Darnell Hillman isn't featured, I'll be outraged.
Below is the complete rundown of the U.S. dramatic category; please check out the rest of the films at Variety:
Adam (Max Mayer) - A strange and lyrical love story between a somewhat socially dysfunctional young man and the woman of his dreams. (Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison, Mark Linn-Baker)
Amreeka (Cherien Dabis) - When a divorced Palestinian woman and her teenage son move to rural Illinois at the outset of the Iraq war, they find their new lives replete with challenges. (Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat, Joseph Ziegler)
Arlen Faber (John Hindman) - A reclusive author of a groundbreaking spiritual book awakens to new truths when two strangers enter his life. (Kat Dennings, Lauren Graham, Olivia Thirlby, Jeff Daniels, Tony Hale)
Big Fan (Robert Siegel)—The world of a parking garage attendant who happens to be the New York Giants' biggest fan is turned upside down after an altercation with his favorite player. (Patton Oswalt, Michael Rapaport, Kevin Corrigan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Matt Servitto)
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (John Krasinski) - When her boyfriend leaves with little explanation, a doctoral candidate in anthropology tries to remedy her heartache by interviewing men about their behavior. (Julianne Nicholson, John Krasinski, Timothy Hutton, Dominic Cooper, Christopher Meloni, Rashida Jones)
Cold Souls (Sophie Barthes) - In the midst of an existential crisis, a famous American actor explores soul extraction as a relief from the burdens of daily life. (Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, Lauren Ambrose, Katheryn Winnick)
Dare (Adam Salky) - Three very different teenagers discover that, even in the safe world of a suburban prep school, no one is who she or he appears to be. (Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard, Rooney Mara)
Don't Let Me Drown (Cruz Angeles) - Two Latino teens whose lives are affected by the attack on the World Trade Center discover that love is the only thing that keeps them from drowning. (E.J. Bonilla, Gleendilys Inoa, Damián Alcázar, Ricardo Chavira, Gina Torres)
The Greatest (Shana Feste) - After the tragic loss of their teenage son, a family is again thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a young woman. (Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan, Johnny Simmons, Aaron Johnson, Mike Shannon)
Humpday (Lynn Shelton) - A farcical comedy about straight male bonding gone a little too far. (Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard)
Paper Heart (Nicholas Jasenovec) - Even though performer Charlyne Yi doesn't believe in love, she bravely embarks on a quest to discover its true nature--a journey that takes on surprising urgency when she meets unlikely fellow traveler, actor Michael Cera. (Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, Jake Johnson)
Peter and Vandy (Jay DiPietro) - Juxtaposing a couple's romantic beginnings with the twisted-manipulative-regular couple they have become, Peter and Vandy is a contemporary Manhattan love story with no beginning and no end. (Jess Weixler, Jason Ritter, Jesse L. Martin, Tracie Thoms)
Push (Lee Daniels) - Based on the acclaimed, best-selling novel by Sapphire, Push is the redemptive story of Precious Jones, a young girl in Harlem struggling to overcome tremendous obstacles and discover her own voice. (Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mo’Nique Imes, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey)
Sin Nombre (Cary Joji Fukunaga) - A teenage Mexican gang member maneuvers to outrun his violent past and elude unforgiving former associates in this thriller set among Central American migrants seeking to cross over to the United States. (Edgar Flores, Paulina Gaitan, Kristyan Ferrer, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Luis Fernando Peña, Diana García)
Taking Chance (Ross Katz) - Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming. (Kevin Bacon, Blanche Baker)
Toe to Toe (Emily Abt) - The story of an inter-racial friendship put to the test by the intense pressures of a competitive Washington, D.C. prep school. (Sonequa Martin, Louisa Krause, Silvestre Rasuk, Leslie Uggams, Gaius Charles, Ally Walker)
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Film Festivals, Sundance | Print Article | Email Article | 2 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (2)
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (John Krasinski)...
This guy hasn't really made the successful transition from TV star to movie-star yet. Now it turns out all he really wants to do is direct?
Yeah, it looks to me like that's a typo. Shouldn't Neil LaBute be the director? John Krasinski? In official Sundance competition?
Really?