During my 6 days at Sundance, I saw 20 films, so my Top 6: 6️. Trophy: a doc that uses incredible cinematography to flesh out issues around how to look after the animals of our world. Urgent, compelling & fascinating. 5️. Patti Cake$: a feel-good film with a breakout star. Get ready to know the name Danielle Macdonald – and also to have the catchy PBNJ song stuck in your head for days after seeing the film about a Jersey girl who spits rhymes & owns her sass through tough times. 4️. Wind River: from the man who wrote the Sicario & Hell or High Water scripts comes his directorial…
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Sundance 2014: Adventures in Park City
There are three things to know about going to the Sundance Film Festival: One – it’s very cold and there is a lot of snow. Two – you will not see all the films you want to see, no matter how well you plan ahead. Three – even if you’ve been before your brain will re-set itself so when you arrive back you will have forgotten how everything works, from accessing movie tickets to using the shuttle route. But it’s also one of the best festival experiences you will ever be lucky enough to have. In between, passing beanie-clad actors on the bustling Main Street, to chatting to complete strangers in…
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The 2014 Sundance Film Festival kicks off
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off today! It’s the festival’s 30th anniversary, and my third time here. Even though I feel like I know a bit about how to do things, it still takes some time to figure out the film timetable, and how to juggle movie screenings, with Q-and-As and the odd concert/party. It still tickles me pink to think I get to come to the fest now, after years of just watching from afar. Last year Fruitvale Station and Blood Brother were two of my top films out of the batch that I managed to see. Unfortunately, Fruitvale didn’t manage to ride the buzz it started receiving here…
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Richard Linklater’s Curious Case of Boyhood
Originally titled Growing Up, Richard Linklater’s ambitious project that’s been filming, quietly, each year for the past decade, will finally be shown to the public at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It’s one of those movies that has many fans eager to see what comes of this latest venture from the man who gave us the Before… series. We’re told it’s shot in documentary style, and it’s a drama about a couple, played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, who are raising a young boy – only we get to see the characters really age, unaided by Benjamin-Button theatrics. Ellar Salmon, pictured above, plays the boy who ages from 6 to 18…
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Sundance 2013: 14 Days, 4 Films, 3 Favourites
“A filmmaker is nothing without his audience, so thank you.” Ryan Coogler, director of Fruitvale, said these words even before his movie was given the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic competition portion of the Sundance Film Festival awards this past weekend. Although I was only able to attend this year’s fest for a short while (due to another engagement involving the US President), I’m so glad to have been able to travel to Park City, Utah, and been part of the audience for more than a dozen films that premiered there. Coogler’s Fruitvale seemed to be the biggest stand-out at this year’s event, although many people I spoke…
