All posts tagged: Sundance

Together Producer Lia Buman on the State of Indie Film Production

Together Producer Lia Buman on the State of Indie Film Production

Published by skeptic

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival was largely seen as a mutated affair, with a line-up focused on discovery over commerciality. But for producer-financier Tango Entertainment, where credits run the gamut from Oscar-nominated Aftersun to Weird Al Yankovic movie Weird, and its head Lia Buman, the festival was particularly notable. With three films in the line-up, Tango landed the most moneyed deal to date out of Sundance, when Together, the supernatural horror starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco, sold to Neon for a reported $17 million. Another title, Sorry, Baby, the directorial debut from Eva Victor, became one of the best reviewed movies of the festival and landed distribution with A24. And then there was the Chloe Sevigny starrer Magic Farm, which was acquired by Mubi ahead of the fest. At a time in the industry, in particular in independent production, when market forces are causing many to pull back, the six-person team at Tango doubled down, financing and producing a slate of five features in 2024. Aside from Together and Sorry, Baby, there is the …

Star Sightings: Jennifer Lopez Stuns at Sundance Film Festival, Timothée Chalamet Hosts ‘Saturday Night Live’

Star Sightings: Jennifer Lopez Stuns at Sundance Film Festival, Timothée Chalamet Hosts ‘Saturday Night Live’

Published by skeptic

Here’s a look at what celebrities have been up to as of late! Jennifer Lopez posed in all-leather ensemble, featuring the Nina Leather Coat With Scarf by DUCIE, at Sundance Film Festival in Park rty, Utah. Millie Bobby Brown snapped a selfie for Instagram in the STAUD Cadence Dress. Pamela Anderson and UTOPIA celebrated the Golden Globe Award nominations for The Last Showgirl at The Hollywood Roosevelt in Hollywood, California featuring El Cristiano Tequila and Peroni Nastro Azzurro. Olivia Rodrigo enjoyed lunch with Lauren at Café Maud in New York City. The singer also starred in Lancôme’s Idôle Power Eau De Parfum Intense campaign. Selena Gomez attended the 2025 Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California with a manicure created by Tom Bachik using Olive & June products and the Tweezerman x Tom Bachik Ultimate Nail Care Set and a hair look created by celebrity hairstylist Renato Campora with Joico products and ghd hot tools.   Nicholas Galitzine was featured in the Emporio Armani Stronger With You Parfum campaign video to announce his role as their …

Nick Ut allegedly tried to stop Sundance from showing movie about him

Nick Ut allegedly tried to stop Sundance from showing movie about him

Published by skeptic

The retired Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who is credited with taking the famous “Napalm Girl” photo in 1972, tried to stop Sundance from screening a movie that asserts the real photographer is not him but a little-known Vietnamese stringer, filmmakers told THR on Sunday.  The Pulitzer-Prize winner’s lawyers recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to the festival and filmmakers behind the new movie The Stringer, they said; the film world-premiered on Saturday anyway. A festival representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment. A request for comment for Ut sent to the AP was not immediately returned. Ut could not immediately be located. The news about the documentary is the latest turn in a quickly escalating battle that has turned Sundance into nothing less than a referendum on the credibility of modern media. Ut has long been known as the man behind the image emblazoned on the collective brain —  the nine-year-old Kim Phuc running from the napalm attack in the nearby town of Trang Bang, her skin burning off from the chemical weapon. …

Benedict Cumberbatch in Grief Drama

Benedict Cumberbatch in Grief Drama

Published by skeptic

While many films have conjured terrifying physical manifestations of grief, one that set a notably high bar for hand-crafted horror exploring that fecund strand was Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook. The specter of that brutally effective 2014 shocker proves inescapable for writer-director Dylan Southern in The Thing With Feathers, right down to a malevolent figure haunting the main characters that looks like something out of Edward Gorey. The main salvation is the staggering commitment of Benedict Cumberbatch, hurling himself into the role of a bereaved husband in a performance touched by madness that holds nothing back. His wounds are gashes continually being reopened. The source material is Max Porter’s prize-winning 2015 novella Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, which yielded a solo stage piece three years later seen on both sides of the Atlantic, adapted and directed by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and starring a protean Cillian Murphy. The book is a short but densely packed experiment in polyphonic literature, defying categorization with its stylized mix of prose, verse, essays, jokes and fable. Such a linguistically …

Slamdance Leaving Park City Amid Sundance Potential Move

Slamdance Leaving Park City Amid Sundance Potential Move

Published by Sam

Weeks after the Sundance Film Festival announced that is was opening up exploratory conversations about leaving its longtime home of Park City, the Slamdance Film Festival has announced that its 2025 fest will not be taking place in the Utah resort town. Next year’s Slamdance — the more indie cousin of Sundance — will take place in Los Angeles, from Feb. 20 to 26. “The festival aims to be financially accessible,” said today’s announcement, addressing an oft cited concern that the festival’s Park City location has too high of a price point for the indie filmmaking community. The fest will take place in venues in and surrounding Hollywood, including the Landmark Theatres and the DGA Theater Complex, with in-person passes starting at $50.00 and many programs free to the public. Panasonic LUMIX will be the official sponsor of the 2025 fest; additional industry partners include the DGA, Landmark Theatres, and Joe and Anthony Russo’s AGBO. “Our journey in the film industry began at Slamdance, and our commitment to the festival and the opportunities it offers …

Sundance on the Move? Institute Opens Exploratory Process for Host Cities

Sundance on the Move? Institute Opens Exploratory Process for Host Cities

Published by Sam

During January’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente was asked to look to the future: Could the fest ever move from the beloved and snowy enclave it has called home for 40 years? “There is a negotiation coming up,” Vicente told Puck founding partner Matthew Belloni during a live taping of his Ringer podcast The Town. “We’re also spending time doing a lot of strategic thinking of where can we be most relevant. What’s the role of the festival? What’s the role of the institute? How do we evolve in a really ever-changing industry around us? Those are all of the considerations, but we love being here. So, that’s what I would say. We want to make this work. We know there are a lot of challenges.” Fast-forward three months, and the Sundance Institute — under new leadership after Vicente’s exit last month — has confirmed that it has launched a process to explore potential host cities for Sundance in 2027 and beyond. That process includes the opening of what’s called …

‘I feel free in Irish’: from the Oscars to the Baftas to Sundance – why Gaelic is everywhere | Culture

‘I feel free in Irish’: from the Oscars to the Baftas to Sundance – why Gaelic is everywhere | Culture

Published by skeptic

Grindr, Saghdar agus Cher is a modern play about hook-ups, dating apps and going on a bender. But the most current thing about it may be that the piece, staged by LGBTQ+ collective Aerach Aiteach Gaelach, is performed entirely in Irish. “We just wanted to show that these things are happening in Irish,” co-writer Ciara Ní É says of the drama, which lands in Dublin this week. “We have slang, we have messy nights, and it’s all as Gaeilge” – that is, in the Irish language. “It’s real in that sense,” she continues. “These things happen around the country regularly.” The title only barely needs translating (“saghdar” means cider), but the show itself is unapologetically in the native tongue. “It has English subtitles. We do try to be accessible,” says Ní É. Kneecap only rap in English when they want to be antagonistic – as in the track Get Your Brits Out   Across Ireland, English is playing second fiddle to Irish in emerging arts scenes. Even though fewer than 2% of the population speak …

Latino-owned Luz Films won Sundance with ‘In the Summers.’ What’s next?

Latino-owned Luz Films won Sundance with ‘In the Summers.’ What’s next?

Published by skeptic

Last month, “In the Summers,” a queer, Latinx coming-of-age tale about two sisters who spend their summers visiting their father in Las Cruces, N.M., won the U.S. grand jury prize in the dramatic competition at the 40th annual Sundance Film Festival. It was an impressive feat accomplished by a group of first timers. The film is the feature debut of writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, who also took home the directing award, becoming the first Latina in the festival’s history to do so. “In the Summers” also serves as the first acting vehicle for René Pérez Joglar, better known as Residente from Puerto Rican hip hop group Calle 13. The “Atrévete-te-te” singer portrays Vicente, the troubled patriarch of a fractured family. Similarly, the indie drama is the inaugural project for Luz Films, an L.A.-based upstart media company focusing on producing Latinx prestige pictures. The venture was launched in 2023 by co-CEOs Sergio Lira and Lynette Coll, along with CFO Cristobal Güell. Lira and Coll say that they set up their own shop because they wanted to …

Sundance Disney Muslim Artist Fellowship Announces 2024 Cohort

Sundance Disney Muslim Artist Fellowship Announces 2024 Cohort

Published by Sam

The Sundance Institute and Disney have selected the first cohort for their Muslim Artist Fellowship. Each of the four filmmakers will receive an unrestricted $15,000 grant as they participate in a year-round professional development program that will include personalized support, networking and community-building opportunities in service of their respective goals and projects. “Our partnership with The Walt Disney Co. will help further opportunities to uplift Muslim artists and their narratives,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Sundance Institute director of Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance Programs, in a statement. “Supporting these artists through a bespoke fellowship will not only elevate Muslim representation but also bring more visibility to their stories.” The fellowship is part of the Disney Future Storytellers initiative, which also includes investments in Ghetto Film School and Chicas en Tecnología, as well as scholarships with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, United Negro College Fund, Asian Pacific Islander American Scholars and the American Indian College Fund, in addition to the Disney Storytellers Fund at Howard University. “We are honored to join forces with the Sundance Institute to …

Netflix Nabs Sundance Doc ‘Daughters’

Netflix Nabs Sundance Doc ‘Daughters’

Published by Sam

The Sundance documentary Daughters has landed at Netflix. The feature follows four young girls as they prepare for a daddy daughter dance, which is a chance to reunite with their incarcerated fathers as part of a fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C. prison. Daughters took home the audience award in the documentary competition and earned the festival favorite award. Directors Angela Patton and Natalie Rae are behind the feature. Patton is the CEO of Girls for a Change, a non-profit that launched the Date with Dad Program, which holds a dance for the daughters of men incarcerated in a D.C. prison. The documentary details a ten-week program the men enter upon in preparation for the dance, as well as the anticipation the girls feel for the big day. “Daughters peaks an hour in with the father-daughter dance, which is astonishing and as potent as you could hope for. From the preparations for the dance, on both sides of the prison walls, to the moment at which the girls tentatively walk down the hallway to where …