News

All the news, reviews and interviews coming out of Park City.News

The Birth of a Nation

What were the buzz titles of 2016?

‘The Birth Of A Nation’, ‘Sonita’ rule Sundance awards

Sundance buyers wait to see if numbers add up

Six major deals signed in Park City

Fox Searchlight in record $17.5m deal for ‘Birth Of A Nation’

The Orchard snaps up ‘Wilderpeople’

Sundance unveils shorts winners

‘Indignation’, ‘Equity’ find Us homes

Amazon strikes $10m deal for ‘Manchester By The Sea’

Sundance director lambasts Chilean film support

Partners unite on ‘Under The Shadow’

Spc takes world on Frank Zappa doc

Mongrel International boards ‘Little Men’

Brainstorm Media sparks to ‘Resilience’

Buyers circle hot ‘Manchester’

Robert Redford addresses diversity

Curzon Artificial Eye acquires Whit Stillman’s ‘Love & Friendship’

‘Embrace Of The Serpent’ wins Sloan prize

Netflix acquires ‘Audrie & Daisy’

Magnolia takes ‘Lo And Behold’

Paramount Home Media in talks for ‘The Intervention’

Sundance Channel acquires five festival...

All the news, reviews and interviews coming out of Park City.News

The Birth of a Nation

Fox Searchlight in record $17.5m deal for ‘Birth Of A Nation’

The Orchard snaps up ‘Wilderpeople’

Sundance unveils shorts winners

‘Indignation’, ‘Equity’ find Us homes

Amazon strikes $10m deal for ‘Manchester By The Sea’

Sundance director lambasts Chilean film support

Partners unite on ‘Under The Shadow’

Spc takes world on Frank Zappa doc

Mongrel International boards ‘Little Men’

Brainstorm Media sparks to ‘Resilience’

Buyers circle hot ‘Manchester’

Robert Redford addresses diversity

Curzon Artificial Eye acquires Whit Stillman’s ‘Love & Friendship’

Interviews

The Lure

Babak Anvari, ‘Under The Shadow’Agnieszka Smoczynska, ‘The Lure’Alejandro Fernández Almendras, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’Elite Zexer, ‘Sand Storm’Felix van Groeningen, ‘Belgica’Mirjana Karanovic, ‘A Good Wife’Rebecca Daly, ‘Mammal’Yao Huang, ‘Pleasure. Love.’Doron Weber, The Sloan FoundationFEATURES

Source: Jemal Countess

Sundance 2016: the year starts hereSundance 2016: World Cinema film profilesNew Frontier strand...

Purposefully seeking to avoid the perceived physical sterility of mainstream Chinese films, Pleasure. Love. luxuriates in sensuality. Disappointingly, the sexual activity itself is still constrained below PG-13 levels. The characters still go for one another as though their starvation for contact is not figurative but a legitimate physical condition. In that regard, the movie pulls off one of its two big thematic aims very well. The best compliment I can pay director Yao Huang and cinematographer Liu Younian is that they make halogen lamplight feel lusty.

The other big idea concerns first love as felt with an older, more experienced partner. This is conveyed through two plots. The first half of the film is about a young man and an older woman (“joy”), and the second is about a young woman and an older man (“love”). The two arcs are connected via a series of odd coincidences that are more distracting than enlightening.

Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...

Titles include Tallulah starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney, and Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America (pictured); Next strand also announced.Scroll down for full list

Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.

Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.

Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.

The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...