PARK CITY, Utah—The filmmaking community—including numerous members of the commercial production industry—have descended upon Park City, Utah, for the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, which runs Jan. 15-25. The surf film Riding Giants, director Stacy Peralta’s sequel to his Sundance debut and award winner Dogtown and Z-Boys, opens the festival. It is a particularly notable achievement for Peralta, who directs commercials via Nonfiction Spots, Santa Monica, in that it marks the first time in the history of Sundance that a documentary has opened the festival.
Meanwhile, Peralta isn’t the only director with ties to the commercial production industry whose work will be showcased at Sundance. Other films set to premiere at Sundance include Never Die Alone, directed by Ernest Dickerson, who directs spots through BNJ Productions, New York; The Machinist, directed by Brad Anderson of Redtree Productions, Boston; and D.E.B.S., directed by Angela Robinson, with extensive visual effects work completed by post house Edgeworx, New York.
Among the entries in the festival’s dramatic competition are: The Best Thief in the World, directed by Jacob Kornbluth of Complete Pandemonium, San Francisco, and The Woodsman, helmed by Nicole Kassell, who is represented by Washington Square Films, New York.
The documentary competition includes I Like Killing Flies, helmed by noted music video director Matt Mahurin; and In the Realms of the Unreal, directed by Jessica Yu of Nonfiction Spots.
A mix of independent dramatic and documentary films will be showcased in the non-competitive American Showcase. Titles include Lbs., directed by Matthew Bonifacio and edited by Jim Rubino of Slingshot Post; Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who are repped for spotwork via bicoastal/international @radical.media.
The Special Screening category includes Dogville, directed by Lars von Trier of Zentropa Productions, Copenhagen. Von Trier also co-directed and co-wrote another film in the category, The Five Obstructions, with Jorgen Leth. And Chris Smith, who is repped by Independent Media, Santa Monica, co-directed The Yes Men along with Dan Ollman and Sarah Price.
Stander, directed by Bronwen Hughes of Independent Media, is one of the films that will be presented in the World Cinema category.
Among the shorts featured in the festival are Krug, directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/ international Hungry Man; Drop, directed by Robert Mowen of Zero 2 Sixty, New York; Krumped, directed by David LaChappelle, who is represented for spots via bicoastal HSI Productions; Nibble, directed by animation filmmaker Chris Hinton, who helms commercials through Acme Filmworks, Hollywood; The M Word, directed by Rocky Morton of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ); Twins, directed by Martin Bell of bicoastal Cohn+Co.; and Just A Clown, directed by Andrew Jarecki, who is available for spots through bicoastal Notorious Pictures.
SHOOT will provide more extensive coverage of the Sundance Film Festival upon its completion.
The Sundance Film Festival is produced by the Sundance Institute. Founded by Robert Redford in ’81, the Sundance Institute is dedicated to the development of artists of independent vision and the exhibition of their wo
