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Plot: Donna (Jenny Slate) -a twenty-seven year old comedienne eking out a living in Brooklyn- finds herself pregnant after a one night stand. Review: I never thought I'd see the day when a feel-good comedy about abortion would be the breakout hit of the Sundance Film Festival. Sure enough, shortly after its premiere, The Obvious Child found itself picked-up by indie upstart A24 in one of the richest deals of the fest- with a theatrical release likely in the cards. Having finally seen...

Premiering at Sundance, “Obvious Child” is about would-be stand-up Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) and her decisions when a one-night stand results in an ill-timed unwanted pregnancy. “Obvious Child” began as a short in 20009, then hunted for crowdfunding, got it, and resulted in this feature-length Sundance 2014 debut for writer-director Gillian Robespierre. It’d be easy to make a crass joke about how, for a film about abortion, “Obvious Child” has had an unexpectedly long gestation period. That’s also about the only crass joke “Obvious Child” doesn’t make, but it’s also worth noting that despite its fearlessness and fake-tough bravado, the film never takes its circumstances or consequences lightly; Slate’s Donna Stern is cracking wise because if she didn’t, she’d probably just crack. Please note for but one example that even as Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” was praised for its realism about pregnancy, it only...

These young directors are turning heads with original scripts and winsome movies that manage to escape being twee (mostly)

Every year, the film-makers' gathering at Sundace launches several scrappy, talented and hungry creatives into the stratosphere. Last year gave us the tragic Fruitvale Station, which made Friday Night Lights star Michael B Jordan an overnight critical darling.

This year, the Guardian spoke to one such Sundance breakout: Justin Simien, the director of Dear White People. His film tells the tale of four black students trying to navigate life at an elite, predominantly white college, and it's already earning rave reviews.

But Simien is just one of the very young, very talented film-makers debuting at Sundance this year. Here, we spotlight five others you'll probably be hearing a lot about them between now and next year's Oscar season.

Damian Chazelle, Whiplash

This 29-year-old Harvard grad was well received by the Sundance...

Coming off the back of his acclaimed sophomore feature, All Is Lost, J.C. Chandor is about to go back behind the camera for his anticipated third film, A Most Violent Year.

Out in Park City, the film market has been heating up in recent days, and one of the biggest companies to make their mark so far has been A24.

The distribution/production company has been very much on the rise since their debut last year with Roman Coppola’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, with releases including Ginger & Rosa, Spring Breakers, and most recently The Spectacular Now.

So it should come as no surprise then that they are keen to cement their status, announcing that they have acquired U.S. rights to Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, led by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

The acquisition is their third at the festival, having already...

Jenny Slate stars in "Obvious Child"Our Sundance Film Festival coverage continues with Michael Cusumano on "Obvious Child".

If you have heard Tig Notaro’s astonishing comedy album Live you have some sense of the vibe Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child is aiming for. The album captures the already legendary set where Notaro hit the stage fresh from a cancer diagnosis and proceeded to spin that, and a slew of other recent misfortunes including the death of her mother and the disintegration of a long term relationship, into comedy gold.

The circumstances Obvious Child’s Donna Stern finds herself in are pretty rough, if not as dire as Notaro’s. In the space of a week Donna is dumped by her boyfriend, loses her job, and hits a new low on stage as a struggling NYC comedian. All this before the possibility of unplanned pregnancy enters the picture. The film...

Update: A24 had just confirmed Deadline’s scoop. I’ll attach press release at the bottom of this post. Earlier Exclusive, 8:48 am Pst: Coming into Sundance, many expected big things for upstart distribution company A24, and the label hasn’t disappointed. A24 is closing the biggest deal so far for the company, acquiring domestic distribution rights from Participant Media to A Most Violent Year, the drama written and directed by All Is Lost and Margin Call helmer J.C. Chandor. The film stars Inside Llewyn Davis‘s Oscar Isaac and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Jessica Chastain. I’m told the plan is to release the film wide, late this year, giving A24 a likely horse in the next Oscar race. It starts shooting shortly. I’m told it will be 1200 screens, minimum. This comes after A24 acquired two of the best liked films at this year’s Sundance: the Lynn Shelton...

A24 has already picked up two of the hottest comedies playing at the Sundance Film Festival: Lynn Shelton's Laggies and Jenny Slate's Obvious Child , and today, they've announced their trifecta by closing a deal for the domestic distribution rights to A Most Violent Year , the next movie from All is Lost and Margin Call director J.C. Chandor. Chandor has yet to start filming the movie, which will star Oscar Isaac ( Inside Llewyn Davis ) and Jessica Chastain ( Zero Dark Thirty ), playing an immigrant and his wife in 1981 New York City whose attempts to grow a business puts them in contact with the city's thriving criminal element. Chandor made waves when his debut feature Margin Call premiered at the Sundance Film Festival a few years back and got even more attention...

Updated: Mike Cahill's well-reviewed sci-fi "I, Origins" has been awarded the 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and will receive $20,000 cash from the Sloan Foundation at Sundance. A jury of film and science professionals selected the film for its focus on science and technology as a theme. Cahill and collaborator Brit Marling won the prize in 2011 for "Another Earth." Cahill joins an esteemed pack of past prize winners including Andrew Bujalski for "Computer Chess" (2013), Werner Herzog for "Grizzly Man" (2005) and Shane Carruth for "Primer" (2004). Earlier: Acquisitions continue up in Park City, as Fox Searchlight has snapped up worldwide rights to Mike Cahill's ("Another Earth") existentialist sci-fi premiere "I, Origins," starring Brit Marling, Michael Pitt, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Steven Yuen and Archie Punjabi. Meanwhile, A24 has taken North American rights to Gillian Robespierre's abortion rom-com "Obvious Child," starring Jenny Slate.  "I Origins" is a...

Obvious Child is a charming romantic dramedy about love and abortion in New York City. The humor feels like a mix of the crudeness and sharp teeth of Sarah Silverman’s comedy and the grounded snappiness of Lena Dunham’s Girls. At center stage is comedian Jenny Slate, with one of the breakthrough performances of this year’s fest. Slate’s career thus far has largely […]...

Lionsgate is closing a deal to acquire North American rights to the horror comedy "Cooties" which premiered Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival. Elijah Wood plays a struggling writer/substitute teacher whose first day at an elementary school sees him dealing with a virus that turns the kids into mindless killing cannibals.

Fox Searchlight has acquired worldwide rights to Mike Cahill's sci-fi film "I, Origins". Michael Pitt and Brit Marling star in the story of a group of biologists who make a discovery that has far-reaching consequences.

RADiUS-twc has paid low seven figures for North American rights to Timo Tjahjanto's "The Night Comes For Us". "The Raid" director Gareth Evans will produce while Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian will star in the story of a Jakarta mobster with a 2015 release planned.

Focus Features has paid around $2.8 million for North American, Poland and South African rights to Zach Braff...

With Sundance now in full swing, the distribution deals are coming out of the woodwork, and we.ll assume that woodwork will eventually go into building a nice cabin in Park City. Two of the more recent acquirements involve a highly anticipated follow-up and a directorial debut. Fox Searchlight Pictures has picked up Another Earth director Mike Cahill.s sci-fi drama I Origins, while A24 has snatched up the rights to the offbeat romantic comedy Obvious Child from director Gillian Robespierre. Hooray for indies! As ComingSoon reports, Fox Searchlight plans on putting out I Origins at some point in 2014. It.s a timeless enough tale, as it seems "science vs. faith" will probably always be meaty subject matter. In the film, Boardwalk Empire.s Michael Pitt plays a molecular biologist who is obsessed with finding a way to scientifically explain the human eye, which the faithful consider to be proof...

Update, 4:34 Pm: A24 has made its deal for the comedy official. Check out the release after the original break. Previous Exclusive, 3:54 Pm: In the second big deal of the Sundance Film Festival, A24 has acquired Obvious Child. Written and directed by Gillian Robespierre, the film stars Jenny Slate as a Brooklyn comedian who gets dumped, fired and pregnant just in time for the most chaotic Valentine’s Day of her life. The film also stars Jake Lacy, David Cross and Gabby Hoffman. Elisabeth Holm is the producer. Wme Global brokered the sale for the movie, which premiered Friday at the Prospector. The deal was for low seven figures. A24 was expected to be a strong buyer here at Sundance and it hasn’t disappointed. This is its second deal after acquiring the Lynn Shelton-directed Laggies. Hopefully, this will break the logjam for acquisition deals. Several films are in play,...

A24 is on a roll at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, making second major buy intwo days. The distributor acquired the North American rights to Gillian Robespierre’s comedy "Obvious Child," which featuring a performance by Jenny Slate that this review called "charismatic and funny as hell." "Child" was produced by Elisabeth Holm and executive produced by rooks nest entertainment, sundial pictures, votiv films, slate, Robespierre, and David Kaplan. The film premiered at the Sundance on Friday. A24 brokered the deal with Wme, and plans a theatrical release in 2014. The company also picked up Lynn Shelton's "Laggies" on Saturday.

Park City -- Two days after picking up Lynn Shelton's Laggies, A24 has acquired North American distribution rights to the comedy Obvious Child. A source pegs the deal at low seven figures. Starring stand-up comedian Jenny Slate, the film premiered Jan. 17 as part of the festival's Next section.  Photos: Sundance 2014: Exclusive Portraits of Aaron Paul, Kristen Stewart, Keira Knightley, Zoe Saldana and More in Park City Gillian Robespierre wrote and directed the film, dubbed an abortion comedy, which follows a 27-year-old Brooklyn comedian who gets dumped by her two-timing boyfriend and finds herself pregnant. As her

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A24 has acquired Gillian Robespierre’s comedy “Obvious Child,” which stars “Saturday Night Live” alum Jenny Slate, an individual familiar with the dealmaking process has told TheWrap. A24 is planning a 2014 theatrical release for the film, in which Slate stars as a stand-up comic who works at a bookstore in Brooklyn. When she gets pregnant, she struggles with the decision to have an abortion and whether to tell the father (Jake Lacy). Gaby Hoffman co-stars as Slate’s best friend, while Richard Kind plays her father. Also Read: Sundance: A24 Seals Deal for Keira Knightley, Chloe Moretz Comedy ‘Laggies’ Elisabeth Holm produced the film and.

Writer/Director: Gillian Robespierre

Cast: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman, Richard Kind

Performances

In Obvious Child, former SNL cast member Jenny Slate shines as a struggling stand-up comic whose life unravels when her boyfriend brutally dumps her for one of her friends. Things get worse when she has a rebound one-night-stand and becomes pregnant. Slate is known mostly for her often over-the-top characters on SNL and Kroll Show. In this film, however, she gives a wonderful and grounded performance, emerging as a relatable and irresistibly likable leading-lady.

Jake Lacy plays the straight-laced guy Slate has a one night stand with who is unaware that she is pregnant as he continues to pursue her. He plays to type as the nice guy the girl should obviously end up with — pretty much the exact same role he played on The Office -- but he’s damn good at it,...

Sundance: Amid a flurry of Park City announcements, Fox Searchlight has paid around $3m for world rights to I Origins. Separately, RADiUS-twc has picked up The Night Comes For Us and A24 has closed its second deal of the festival.

Fox Searchlight struck the I Origins deal with Wme Global and Andre des Rochers on behalf of the film and Shelley Surpin on behalf of the director following the January 18 world premiere.

Cahill’s follow-up to his directorial debut and Sundance 2011 premiere Another Earth stars Michael Pitt, Brit Marling and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey and tells of an eye research scientist who makes a profound discovery.

Cahill, Hunter Gray and Alex Orlovsky served as producers on the Verisimilitude / WeWork Studios Production and Searchlight plans a 2014 release.

RADiUS-twc has paid low seven figures for North American rights to The Night Comes For Us. Timo Tjahjanto will direct and Gareth Evens of The Raid fame will produce the film and handle...

A24 has made their second distribution deal of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, picking up the Jenny Slate comedy Obvious Child for North American distribution. The project began as a 2009 short of the same name and first-time writer-director Gillian Robespierre raised $37,000 via Kickstarter to help with the production costs of turning it into a feature film, which premiered on Friday as part of Sundance's Next competition. In the movie, Slate, a former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and recurring character on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," plays Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern, who is dumped, fired and pregnant just in time for Valentine's Day. The film also stars Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, Polly Draper, Richard Kind and David Cross. A24 also picked up...

The mixed-up heroine of this Sundance heartwarmer loves making jokes and hates romantic comedies. She's the unwitting star of the best one in years

"Everything is copy," Nora Ephron's mother used to tell her daughters, encouraging them to mine their private indignities in the service of art. It's a philosophy that the heroine of Obvious Child has clearly set her clock by. Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) is a self-flagellating stand-up comic, an empress of oversharing. She jokes about the stains on her pants and her flatulent arse; about her boyfriends and her Jewishness. When Donna books herself in for a Valentine's day abortion, it's inevitable that she will jump up on the stage and crack jokes about that too.

The Brooklyn clubbers who stumble in on Donna's set can't have been half so delighted as I was to meet Obvious Child, a glorious jumping bean comedy that moves from...

When it comes to film, perhaps no genre is harder to master than that of a comedy. It’s a genre that most people admit to liking, yet when you ask someone to name their favorite comedy, the conversation quickly turns into a ridiculously tough game of Jeopardy.

Action fans are easy to please, one part explosions mixed with two parts side-boob and a dash of aerial helicopter shots. Even a moderately entertaining dramatic film can garner intense adulation as long as it hits home with at least one scene (Captain Philips, I’m looking at you…).

As an audience, we have set the standard for what we consider to be “funny”, incredibly high – so high in fact – that few comedy classics are ever produced. For me, Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre’s hilarious new film Obvious Child, is one of those such classics.

The film centers around Donna Stern (Jenny Slate...

Gillian Robespierre, Elisabeth Holm and Jenny Slate are highly skilled comedians who are prone to self-deprecation and the bawdiest of humor that will make even the most sexually liberated feel prude. When I went to Robespierre’s apartment to take their photo, however, it was not a time for gag humor with kitschy props (condoms were, for example, off limits). Their film, Obvious Child, written and directed by Robespierre, produced by Holm and starring Slate, is both bold in its humor and also its intent: to make a comedy that talks about real issues that women face – something usually saved for […]...

Gillian Robespierre, Elisabeth Holm and Jenny Slate are highly skilled comedians who are prone to self-deprecation and the bawdiest of humor that will make even the most sexually liberated feel prude. When I went to Robespierre’s apartment to take their photo, however, it was not a time for gag humor with kitschy props (condoms were, for example, off limits). Their film, Obvious Child, written and directed by Robespierre, produced by Holm and starring Slate, is both bold in its humor and also its intent: to make a comedy that talks about real issues that women face – something usually saved for […]...

In every young filmmaking scene, there are always one or two up-and-coming DPs you want to shoot your movie. These are the guys, or women, who have shot award-winning student films, who have loyal crews, and who know how to bring extra style, assurance and compositional smarts to first-time features. In the New York independent film community, Chris Teague has been one of those folks, and this year his talents are receiving greater recognition at Sundance, where two of his narrative feature films are debuting. In the Premiere section is the debut of Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, a sly comedy […]...

In every young filmmaking scene, there are always one or two up-and-coming DPs you want to shoot your movie. These are the guys, or women, who have shot award-winning student films, who have loyal crews, and who know how to bring extra style, assurance and compositional smarts to first-time features. In the New York independent film community, Chris Teague has been one of those folks, and this year his talents are receiving greater recognition at Sundance, where two of his narrative feature films are debuting. In the Premiere section is the debut of Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, a sly comedy […]...

For her debut feature, director Gillian Robespierre has done the somewhat unlikely and crafted a warm, winning, genuinely funny romantic comedy that, oh yeah, is centered around an abortion. The story of Donna (the always charming Jenny Slate), a young comedian who, after a bad breakup and an alcohol-fueled one-night stand, finds herself pregnant, Obvious Child offers a refreshingly frank, true-to-life portrait of a woman dealing with an impending abortion. But the film is a lot more than just a comedy built around a hot-button issue – it’s an earnest, lived-in, and warm rom-com about navigating one’s aimless 20s, and […]...

For her debut feature, director Gillian Robespierre has done the somewhat unlikely and crafted a warm, winning, genuinely funny romantic comedy that, oh yeah, is centered around an abortion. The story of Donna (the always charming Jenny Slate), a young comedian who, after a bad breakup and an alcohol-fueled one-night stand, finds herself pregnant, Obvious Child offers a refreshingly frank, true-to-life portrait of a woman dealing with an impending abortion. But the film is a lot more than just a comedy built around a hot-button issue – it’s an earnest, lived-in, and warm rom-com about navigating one’s aimless 20s, and […]...

It’s that time again. The biggest American film festival is upon us, and this year the Ioncinema crew will be descending on Park City with eight feet on the ground and eight eyes on Park City’s various and plentiful screens. Eric Lavallee, Nicholas Bell, Caitlin Coder and I will be covering just about every inch of this year’s festival here at Ioncinema.com, as well as on that ever increasingly vibrant instanews network – Twitter. Be sure to follow @ioncinema and, as stated above, my personal handle @Rectangular_Eye, as we’ll be tweeting throughout the festival with breaking news, reviews, and sightings, all the while trying to keep up with the massive amount of content sure to be coming from this year’s Sundance filmmakers themselves, most of which have their own Twitter accounts and are listed at length below (minus the world & short programs). Whether you...

Gillian Robespierre is a Brooklyn-based, born and raised New Yorker. After attending college in Boston for a year she returned to New York City and graduated from the School of Visual Arts’ Film & Video Program."Obvious Child" showed as a short in 2009 in a series of festivals. She told Indiewire "It had a great Internet life which inspired and encouraged me to turn it into feature-length." She currently works at the Directors Guild of America. What it's about: "A comedy about what happens when Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern gets dumped, fired and pregnant just in time for the worst/best Valentine's Day of her life." What it's really about: "Donna, played by the very talented and hilarious Jenny Slate is a naturally funny, intelligent woman in her late twenties who is slowly shedding the remaining traits of her youth. The movie follows her through some pretty big life moments and things actually turn out okay…...

The last of our Twitterverse series, these are the films pushing the boundaries of independent cinema while keeping a pulse on cyber happenings. It seems most of Drunktown’s (@drunktown_movie) population is, if nothing else, keeping up with the times. Follow away! Full Twitterverse run-down to follow.

Next

Appropriate Behavior – @AppropriateFilm

Writer/Director/Actress Desiree Akhavan – @DesiMakesMovies

Composer Josephine Wiggs – @josephinewiggs

Actress Halley Feiffer – @HalleyFeiffer

Drunktown’s Finest – @drunktown_movie

Writer/Director Sydney Freeland – @sydneyfreeland

Producer Mateo Frazier – @nuevosoul

Actress Carmen Moore – @Carmen_Moore

Actress Morningstar Wilson – @starshinegypsy

Actor Kiowa Gordon – @CircaKiGordon

Actress Shauna Baker – @ShaunaBaker

Actress Elizabeth Francis – @efrances03

The Foxy Merkins – @FoxyMerkins

Writer/Actress Jackie Monahan – @jackiemonahan

Writer/Actress Lisa Haas – @lisahaas

Actor Alex Karpovsky – @alexkarpovsky

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night – @AGirlWalksHome

Writer/Director Ana Lily Amirpour – @Lilyinapad

Producer Sina Sayyah – @sinasayyah

Co-producer Sheri Davani – @Sheri_The_AD

Cinematographer Lyle Vincent – @lylevincent

Actor Arash Marandi...

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014

Bright Future

World Premieres

Above: The Pinkie

About Sarah (Elisa Miller, Mexico, United Kingdom)

Bella Vista (Vera Brunner-Sung, USA)

Creator of the Jungle (Jordi Morató (Spain)

La distancia (Sergio Caballero, Spain)

Dzma/Brother (Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade, France, Georgia)

L’éclat furtif de l'ombre (Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne, Belgium, Germany)

Edén (Elise DuRant, USA, Mexico)

Helium (Eché Janga, Netherlands)

History of Eternity (Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil)

Hotel Nueva Isla (Irene Gutiérrez & Javier Labrador, Cuba, Spain)

The Iranian Film (Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)

Jacky au royaume des filles (Riad Sattouf, France)

L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, USA, Mexico, France, Iceland)

Little Crushes (Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland)

Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Ismail Fahmi Lubish, Indonesia)

Oilfields Mines Hurricanes (Fabian Altenried, Germany, Iceland)

The Pinkie (Lisa Takeba, Japan)

The Quiet Roar (Henrik Hellström, Sweden, Norway)

Sitzfleisch (Lisa Weber, Austria)

The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad,...

Picks include the latest documentary from Ai Weiwei [pictured].

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).

Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.

Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.

Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.

Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another...

First of all, let’s not get confused. There are two films at Sundance next month with almost the same name. There’s The Obvious Child, a 12-minute animated short by Stephen Irwin (trailer here). And there’s the feature rom-com Obvious Child by Gillian Robespierre, which is the focus of this week’s column. To clear up more confusion, yes, there was already a film called Obvious Child by Gillian Robespierre. That 23-minute short from 2009 (which was once accessible on Vimeo but is now password protected — boooo!), is the precursor to this feature, which expands upon its story of a young woman who has an abortion and it’s not that big a deal. Like the original version, the new one stars Jenny Slate, the comedienne who infamously said the F-word on SNL on her debut episode. Now she’s maybe better known for her hilariously bonkers role as Mona-Lisa on Parks and Recreation. That...

The dearth of women-centric stories in the cinema landscape has been a frequent topic of discussion over the past few years. Disappointed by Hollywood’s inability to tell genuine stories about women, many filmmakers have taken up the challenge themselves in recent years. One such filmmaker is Gillian Robespierre, who felt that the portrayal of women going through pregnancies and maturing was not as varied as it could be. Spurred by a desire to tell a more authentic tale, Robespierre made a short film in 2009 titled Obvious Child. The ensuing reception the movie received motivated her to expand it to a full-length feature. Tackling both screenwriting and directing duties, Robespierre is working with a cast that features Saturday Night Live alum Jenny Slate in the leading role, working alongside Crystal Fairy‘s Gaby Hoffmann, A Serious Man and Luck‘s Richard Kind, and Arrested Development‘s David Cross. In addition,...

The odds of having your short film included in this year’s Sundance Film Festival are .008 percent. Out of the 66 short film line-up (selected among 8,161 submissions) we find actress Rose McGowan move behind the camera for her directing debut (Dawn), we have Ain’t Them Bodies Saints producer Toby Halbrooks shovel out Dig (see pic above) and Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) returns to the fest in between features with Rat Pack Rat. Filmmaker Magazine New Faces of Independent Film director Dean Fleischer-Camp rolls up his shirt sleeves with Catherine, Matthew Lessner returns to Park City with the helping hand Chapel Perilous while The Strange Ones (’11 accepted short) co-helmer Christopher Radcliff won’t be making a dissappearing act with Jonathan’s Chest. Finally docu feature-film helmer Lucy Walker moves into The Lion’s Mouth Opens. I’ll of course be covering several of these – look out for our coverage.

Here...

Short films can go a long way. Especially when they’re showcased at the Sundance Film Festival. The festival’s Shorts program, which was announced today, has a tradition of identifying remarkable filmmakers as well as introducing stories that ultimately make it to the big-screen as features. For example, David O. Russell brought his first film, a short titled Bingo Inferno to Sundance in 1987, while Half Nelson, which earned Ryan Gosling his first Oscar nomination, grew out of Ryan Fleck’s 2004 Sundance short titled, Gowanus, Brooklyn. “If you look back at the directors who got their start by having a short at Sundance,...

The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its 2014 Competition lineup, made up of several categories. The 30th edition of the event will take place between January 16th-26th in the new year.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Camp X-Ray (Peter Sattler)

Cold in July (Jim Mickle)

Dear White People (Justin Simien)

Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)

John's Pocket (John Slattery)

Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg)

Hellion (Kat Candler)

Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes)

Jamie Marks is Dead (Carter Smith)

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner)

Life After Beth (Jeff Baena)

Low Down (Joe Preiss)

The Skeleton Twins (Craig Johnson)

The Sleepwalker (Mona Fastvold)

Song One (Kate Barker-Froyland)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

U.S. Documentary Competition

Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory (Michael Rossato-Bennett)

All the Beautiful Things (John Harkrider)

Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart (Jeremiah Zagar)

The Case Against 8 (Ben Cotner, Ryan White)

Cesar's Last Fast (Richard Ray Perez, Lorena Parlee...

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is right around the corner, and the Sundance Institute has released the full line-up for the competition films that will be premiering!

This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.

The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.

“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.

“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.

Sundance Film Festival continues to be one of the most popular, and arguably one of the most important, events on the industry calendar, launching as it does some of the most prominent independent films at the start of each year.

This year will be no different, with Sundance announcing last night the initial line-up of films screening in competition, led by Song One, starring Anne Hathaway; Camp X-Ray, starring Kristen Stewart; Infinitely Polar Bear, with Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana; Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas, starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, and Swanberg himself; The Skeleton Twins, with Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell; Life After Beth, with Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, and John C. Reilly; Listen Up Philip, with Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss; Whiplash, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons; and many, many more.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films,...

God’S Pocket

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute said, “That the Festival has evolved and grown as it has over the past 30 years is a credit to both our audiences and our artists, who continue to find ways to take risks and open our minds to the power of story. This year’s films and artists promise to do the same.”

For the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 118 feature-length films were selected, representing 37 countries and 54 first-time filmmakers, including 34 in competition. These films were selected from 12,218 submissions (72 more than for 2013), including 4,057 feature-length films and 8,161 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international. 97 feature films at...

Rolling out it’s fifth edition and growing beyond just Park City (Los Angeles hosted a summer event this year) the Next section has grown in size, has found plenty of distrib buyer interest and has a strong voice of its own. Becoming a home for low budget indie we like: smaller budgets sometimes bring out impressive creative outputs, in 2011 we had Sound of My Voice, Restless City and Bellflower. 2012 saw Compliance, I’m Not a Hipster and Sleepwalk With Me, while last year we were impressed by the likes of It Felt Like Love and Blue Caprice. This year we have eleven, instead of ten selections – the plus one bump might have to do with Madeleine Olnek’s The Foxy Merkins – she got to show off her film this summer in the Next Weekend L.A event (we mentioned above). In the coming-of-agers working with a different vibe and...

The U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competition lineups for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival were announced today and just below I have featured pictures from the 16 films that will be competing in the U.S. Dramatic competition and they feature a lot of names you're going to recognize. The titles begin with Camp X-Ray, which stars Kristen Stewart as a guard in Guantanamo Bay, where she forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Jim Mickle made an impact earlier this year with We Are What We Are and he returns with Michael C. Hall with Cold in July. Fishing Without Nets looks to tell a story similar to that of Captain Phillips, only this time from the Somali side of things; God's Pocket is "Mad Men" star John Slattery's writing and directorial debut and he's lined up an impressive cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins,...

Festival top brass announced on December 4 the Us and world cinema dramatic and documentary competition entries as well as 11 Next titles for the upcoming 30th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, set to run in Utah from January 16-26 2014.

The Us dramatic strand features work from independent auteurs Joe Swanberg and Jim Mickle as well as the feature directorial debut of Mad Men star John Slattery, Anne Hathaway in Song One and Rinko Kikuchi in Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter.

Several titles including Kat Cander’s Hellion and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash – a Day One Film – previously screened at Sundance as shorts.

Festival director John Cooper and director of programming Trevor Groth said genre was no longer the sole preserve of the Park City At Midnight section and had percolated into the broader selection. Cooper added that genre was often a good device for film-makers to hook audiences on a story.

World cinema...

If the Sundance Film Festival has always been the place to discover tomorrow’s biggest stars in front of and behind the camera during the past 30 years, it seems to have become even more fruitful in recent years. From young filmmakers like Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) to ready-to-launch superstars like Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) and Dane DeHaan (Kill Your Darlings), Hollywood has quickly found its future in the snowy peaks of Park City. “One of the biggest changes in the last 30 years is how independent film...

Kids. Such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape or Reservoir Dogs before it, and such as Winter’s Bone, Blue Valentine and Fruitvale Station after it, Larry Clark & Harmony Korine’s seminal film is forever connected in “spirit” to the lieu where it received its secret midnight premiere screening in 1995. The Sundance Film Festival might be known as the birthplace of U.S indie filmmaking innovation, avant-gardism, a larger definition of the low budgeted film response to Hollywood in not only narrative but in the non-fiction form, but it is a festival made strong by its renewal and familiarity. That close acquaintanceness exists in Kids‘ starlets Rosario Dawson and Chloë Sevigny filmography/career path trajectory and connection to Park City (both have several indie films slated for ’14 – of which I’ve included in our predictions list) and it is that “familiarity” that is visibly noticeable in how I map out my annual predictions list.

If you aren't already familiar with Jenny Slate from her stint on "Saturday Night Live," you probably know her as the voice behind the title character in "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On," the stop-motion short she made with her husband Dean Fleischer-Camp that became a viral smash and screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Then there are her zany, impossible-to-forget appearances on "Parks and Recreation," as "total klepto, nympho and pyro" Mona-Lisa Saperstein, or as Jason Schwartzman's food co-op love interest Stella in "Bored to Death," or as the title character in Jash web series "Catherine." Slate's soon to appear alongside performing partner Gabe Liedman in Gillian Robespierre's upcoming indie "Obvious Child," but in the meanwhile she can be seen playing Amelia Gordon in Stephen Merchant's HBO series "Hello Ladies," an actress who loves rubbing her success in the face of the still-struggling Jessica (Christine Woods). The pair's.

The Tribeca Institute’s artist program Tribeca All Access, now 10 years old, today announced 11 new projects that it is supporting. Two of these are by 2012 “25 New Faces” alums: Long Year Begin, a doc project co-helmed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu), and Terence Nance’s political thriller The Lobbyists, a very intriguing follow-up to An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. Other promising projects already on my radar that Taa is funding include Roots & Webs, a mushroom-themed doc produced by Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Josh Penn; Obvious Child, Gillian Robespierre’s edgy rom com; and Pilgrim Song director Martha Stevens’ third feature, Papaw Easy. Commenting on Tribeca All...

Hi. My name is Gillian Robespierre. I’m a writer/director attending the 2011 Ifp Emerging Narrative project forum with my script Obvious Child. It’s a romantic comedy with an abortion. Yes, it’s a comedy.

I just got home from three crazy days of m-f’ing meetings. I’m hopped up on caffeine and adrenaline. I won a grant, thank you Rooftop! And a picture of me meeting with Sundance Institute’s Rachel Chanoff made it into the Filmmaker Magazine Blog! It looks like Rachel is telling my fortune. I hope she sees a puffy Northface jacket in my future to wear at Sundance. I averaged five meetings a day and thought I would be a total mess, but I discovered I love meetings! I had no idea I was a closet meeting junkie. I love the rush of shaking a stranger’s hand, hopefully washed. I love gesticulating...

We’re halfway through Independent Film Week, and time has started to play tricks. Days seem to stretch on forever, but at the same time, hours go by like minutes. Today I accidentally said to someone, “I’ll see you yesterday.”

Here are some more snapshots of Film Week in action:

The creative forces behind Ifp’s 2011 Narrative and Documentary Lab projects share the stage at the end of Tuesday night’s Lab Showcase at the Walter Reade Theater.

Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre discusses her screenplay Obvious Child with the Sundance Institute’s Rachel Chanoff.

Writer/Director Harrison Witt (Sister Sarah) helps actor Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire) prepare for his role in Tuesday afternoon’s Emerging Narrative reading series.

Filmmakers Ron Eyal and Eleanor Burke, whose Slamdance Grand Jury Prize winner Stranger Things continues to rock the festival circuit, attend a reception at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.

More...

New York summer screening series Rooftop Films has announced the grantees for its 2011 Filmmaking Fund. Grantees are filmmakers whose feature or short film work has been shown at Rooftop Films. David Lowery ("St. Nick") will receive post-production support from Edgeworx through the Rooftop Films & Edgeworkx Post-Production Grant. Gillian Robespierre will receive 30 days of lighting and grip equipment from Eastern Effects Equipment to expand her short "Obvious Child" ...

Hi! My name is Gillian Robespierre. I’m a writer-director and so thrilled to be attending the 2011 Ifp Emerging Narrative project forum with my script Obvious Child. It’s a romantic comedy about a young woman living in Brooklyn who has just had her heart broken, and after a spontaneous one-night stand, finds that she’s pregnant. She decides to get an abortion and move on with her life. Yes, it’s a comedy!

Obvious Child was originally a short film I directed and co-wrote with Anna Bean and Karen Maine. After years of watching films that featured unplanned pregnancies ending in childbirth (Juno, Knocked Up, Waitress, etc.), we became disenchanted with the way young women’s experiences with pregnancy were being represented in the media. With Obvious Child we wanted to tell a story of a strong, funny woman who easily makes the decision to have an abortion without feeling guilty or traumatized.