Pantelion Films recently released some stills and the official poster for the upcoming film "Filly Brown". The film was an official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. It stars Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera, Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olmos. "Filly Brown" hits theaters in limited release on April 19th.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at:
http://fillybrown.com

Plot Synopsis:

FILLY BROWN is an inspiring and gritty portrait of a young artist’s striving to find her voice and seize her dreams without compromise. Majo Tonorio, a.k.a. “Filly Brown,” is a raw, young Los Angeles hip-hop artist who spits rhymes from the heart. With an incarcerated mother, and a father struggling to provide for his daughters, a record contract could be the ticket out for her family. But when a record producer offers Majo a crack at stardom, she is suddenly faced with losing who she is as an artist and the friends who helped her reach the cusp of success. Directed by Youssef Delara and Michael Olmos, fused with a fierce hip-hop score, and propelled by an exceptional cast which features Lou Diamond Philips, Edward James Olmos, and the legendary Jenni Rivera in her final on-screen performance, FILLY BROWN heralds the arrival of Gina Rodriguez in the electrifying title role.

The Sundance Film Festival this past saturday night announced the complete list of award winners for the 2012 Film Festival. "The House I Lived In" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" took the grand jury prizes for Best Documentary and Best Dramatic Film respectively. Check out the press release for all the winners at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Press Release:

Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience, NEXT <=> and other special awards of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by Parker Posey in Park City, Utah. An archived video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.sundance.org/live.

“Every year the Sundance Film Festival brings to light exciting new directions and fresh voices in independent film, and this year is no different,” said John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. “While these awards further distinguish those that have had the most impact on audiences and our jury, the level of talent showcased across the board at the Festival was really impressive, and all are to be congratulated and thanked for sharing their work with us.”

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “As we close what was a remarkable 10 days of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, we look to the year ahead with incredible optimism for the independent film community. As filmmakers continue to push each other to achieve new heights in storytelling we are excited to see what’s next.”

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards presented this evening were:

The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Charles Ferguson to:
The House I Live In / U.S.A. (Director: Eugene Jarecki) — For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet, drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. Where did we go wrong and what is the path toward healing?

The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Justin Lin to:
Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.

The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Nick Fraser to:
The Law in These Parts / Israel (Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz) — Israel's 43-year military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories unfolds through provocative interviews with the system’s architects and historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population.

The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented by Julia Ormond to:
Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos) / Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain (Director: Andrés Wood, Screenwriters: Eliseo Altunaga, Rodrigo Bazaes, Guillermo Calderón, Andrés Wood) — A portrait of famed Chilean singer and folklorist Violeta Parra filled with her musical work, her memories, her loves and her hopes. Cast: Francisca Gavilán, Thomas Durand, Luis Machín, Gabriela Aguilera, Roberto Farías.

The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura, was presented by Mike Birbiglia to:
The Invisible War / U.S.A. (Director: Kirby Dick) — An investigative and powerfully emotional examination of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, the institutions that cover up its existence and the profound personal and social consequences that arise from it.

The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura, was presented by Mike Birbiglia to:
The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O'Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist in an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy.

The World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary was presented by Edward James Olmos to:
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN / Sweden, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul) — Rodriguez was the greatest ‘70s US rock icon who never was. Hailed as the greatest recording artist of his generation he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context many miles away.

The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic was presented by Edward James Olmos to:
Valley of Saints / India, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Musa Syeed) — Gulzar plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future Cast: Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Afzal Sofi, Neelofar Hamid.

The Best of NEXT <=> Audience Award, Presented by Adobe Systems Incorporated, was presented by Tim Heidecker to:
Sleepwalk With Me / U.S.A. (Director: Mike Birbiglia, Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish) — Reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up, a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking. Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, Cristin Milioti.

The U.S. Directing Award: Documentary was presented by Fenton Bailey to:
The Queen of Versailles / U.S.A. (Director: Lauren Greenfield) — Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America – a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles – when their timeshare empire falters due to the economic crisis. Their story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

The U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic was presented by Lynn Shelton to:
Middle Of Nowhere / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ava DuVernay) — When her husband is incarcerated, an African-American woman struggles to maintain her marriage and her identity. Cast: Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Omari Hardwick, Lorraine Touissaint, Edwina Findley.

The World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary was presented by Jean-Marie Teno to:
5 Broken Cameras / Palestine, Israel, France (Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi) — A Palestinian journalist chronicles his village’s resistance to a separation barrier being erected on their land and in the process captures his young son’s lens on the world.

The World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic was presented by Alexei Popogrebsky to:
Teddy Bear / Denmark (Director: Mads Matthiesen, Screenwriters: Mads Matthiesen, Martin Pieter Zandvliet) — Dennis, a painfully shy 38-year-old bodybuilder who lives with his mother, sets off to Thailand in search of love. Cast: Kim Kold, Elsebeth Steentoft, Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard, David Winters, Allan Mogensen.

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award was presented by Anthony Mackie to:
Safety Not Guaranteed / U.S.A. (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly) — A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel. One employee develops feelings for the paranoid but compelling loner and seeks to discover what he’s really up to. Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni.

The World Cinema Screenwriting Award was presented by Richard Pena to:
Young & Wild / Chile (Director: Marialy Rivas, Screenwriters: Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano, Sebastián Sepúlveda) — 17-year-old Daniela, raised in the bosom of a strict Evangelical family and recently unmasked as a fornicator by her shocked parents, struggles to find her own path to spiritual harmony. Cast: Alicia Rodríguez, Aline Kuppenheim, María Gracia Omegna, Felipe Pinto.

The U.S. Documentary Editing Award was presented by Kim Roberts to:
DETROPIA / U.S.A. (Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) — The woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. This is the dramatic story of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.

The World Cinema Documentary Editing Award was presented by Clara Kim to:
Indie Game: The Movie / Canada (Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky) — Follow the dramatic journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.

The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary was presented by Tia Lessin to:
Chasing Ice / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski) — Science, spectacle and human passion mix in this stunningly cinematic portrait as National Geographic photographer James Balog captures time-lapse photography of glaciers over several years providing tangible visual evidence of climate change.

The Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented by Amy Vincent to:
Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.

The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary was presented by Jean-Marie Teno to:
Putin's Kiss / Denmark (Director: Lise Birk Pedersen) — 19-year-old Marsha is a model spokesperson in a strongly nationalistic Russian youth movement that aims to protect the country from its enemies. When she starts recognizing the organization’s flaws, she must take a stand for or against it.

The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic was presented by Alexei Popogrebsky to:
My Brother the Devil / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Sally El Hosaini) — A pair of British Arab brothers trying to get by in gangland London learn the extraordinary courage it takes to be yourself. Cast: James Floyd, Saïd Taghmaoui, Fady Elsayed.

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change was presented by Heather Croall to:
Love Free or Die / U.S.A. (Director: Macky Alston) — One man whose two defining passions are in conflict: An openly gay bishop refuses to leave the Church or the man he loves.

A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance was presented by Heather Croall to:
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry / U.S.A., China (Director: Alison Klayman) — Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.

A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing was presented by Cliff Martinez to:
Andrea Sperling and Jonathan Schwartz for Smashed and Nobody Walks

Smashed / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt) — Kate and Charlie are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and... drinking. When Kate decides to get sober, her new lifestyle brings troubling issues to the surface and calls into question her relationship with Charlie. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally.

Nobody Walks / U.S.A. (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young) — Martine, a young artist from New York, is invited into the home of a hip, liberal LA family for a week. Her presence unravels the family’s carefully maintained status quo, and a mess of sexual and emotional entanglements ensues. Cast: John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, India Ennenga, Justin Kirk.]

A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting was presented by Cliff Martinez to:
The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O'Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist in an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy.

A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision was presented by Clara Kim to:
Can / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer) — A young married couple live happily in Istanbul, but their decision to illegally procure a child threatens their future together. Cast: Selen Uçer, Serdar Orçin, Berkan Demirbag, Erkan Avci.

A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize for its Celebration of the Artistic Spirit was presented by Richard Pena to:
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN / Sweden, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul) — Rodriguez was the greatest ‘70s US rock icon who never was. Hailed as the greatest recording artist of his generation he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context many miles away.

The inaugural Short Film Audience Award, Presented by Yahoo!, based on online voting for nine short films that premiered at the Festival and are currently featured on Yahoo! Screen, was presented to:
The Debutante Hunters (Director: Maria White) — In the Lowcountry of South Carolina a group of true Southern belles reveal their more rugged side, providing a glimpse into what drives them to hunt in the wild.

The following awards were presented at separate ceremonies at the Festival:

The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded to: FISHING WITHOUT NETS / U.S.A. (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey). The Jury Prize in Short Film, U.S. Fiction was presented to: The Black Balloon / U.S.A. (Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie). The Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction was presented to: The Return (Kthimi) / Kosovo (Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj). The Jury Prize in Short Film, Non-Fiction was presented to: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom / U.S.A. (Director: Lucy Walker). The Jury Prize in Animated Short Film was presented to: A Morning Stroll / United Kingdom (Director: Grant Orchard). A Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling was presented to: The Arm / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis). A Special Jury Award for Animation Direction was presented to: Robots of Brixton / United Kingdom (Director: Kibwe Tavares).

The winning directors and projects of the Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world, are: Etienne Kallos / Vrystaat (Free State) (South Africa); Ariel Kleiman / Partisan (Australia); Dominga Sotomayor / Tarde Para Morir Joven (Late To Die Young) (Chile); and Shonali Bose / Margarita. With a Straw (India).

The Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker Award, honoring and supporting emerging filmmakers, was presented to Jens Assur, director of the upcoming film Close Far Away.

The inaugural Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award for a completed feature film was presented to The Island President, directed by Jon Shenk. The in-process feature film award was presented to Solar Mamas, directed by Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief. Each project received $25,000.

The inaugural Sundance Institute Indian Paintbrush Producer’s Award and $10,000 grant was presented to Dan Janvey and Josh Penn for Beasts of the Southern Wild.

The Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prizes, presented to outstanding feature films focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character, were presented to Robot & Frank, directed by Jake Schreier and written by Christopher Ford, and Valley of Saints, directed and written by Musa Syeed. The two films will split the $20,000 cash award by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival Jurors were: U.S. Documentary Competition: Fenton Bailey, Heather Croall, Charles Ferguson, Tia Lessin, Kim Roberts; U.S. Dramatic Competition: Justin Lin, Anthony Mackie, Cliff Martinez, Lynn Shelton, Amy Vincent; World Cinema Documentary Competition: Nick Fraser, Clara Kim, Jean-Marie Teno; World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Julia Ormond, Richard Pena, Alexei Popogrebsky; Alfred P. Sloan Award: Tracy Day, Helen Fisher, Dr. Robert J. Full, Gwyn Lurie, Alex Rivera; Short Film Competition: Mike Judge, Dee Rees, Shane Smith.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival presented 117 feature-length films, representing 30 countries by 45 first-time filmmakers, including 24 in competition. These films were selected from 4,042 feature-length film submissions composed of 2,059 U.S. and 1,983 international feature-length films. 91 films at the Festival were world premieres. The Short Film Program was comprised of 64 short films selected from a record 7,675 submissions.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs through January 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. A complete list of films and events is available at www.sundance.org/festival.

The Sundance Film Festival announced the winners in the short film categories this past week. Those award recipients will be honored at the Festival's Award Ceremony that takes place tomorrow night at 7 PM MT and it will be streamed live at www.sundance.org/live.

Here's the complete list of Winners and it's press release.

The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded to: FISHING WITHOUT NETS / U.S.A. (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey)

The Jury Prize in Short Film, U.S. Fiction was presented to: The Black Balloon / U.S.A. (Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie)

The Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction was presented to: The Return (Kthimi) / Kosovo (Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj)

The Jury Prize in Short Film, Non-Fiction was presented to: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom / U.S.A. (Director: Lucy Walker)

The Jury Prize in Animated Short Film was presented to: A Morning Stroll / United Kingdom (Director: Grant Orchard)

The Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling was presented to: The Arm / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis)

The Special Jury Award for Animation Direction was presented to: Robots of Brixton / United Kingdom (Director: Kibwe Tavares)


Press Release:

Sundance Institute this evening announced the jury prizes and honorable mentions in short filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The awards were presented at a ceremony in Park City, Utah. These award recipients will also be honored at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by Parker Posey on Saturday, January 28 at 7:00 p.m. MT and live streamed at www.sundance.org/live.

Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “The explosion of interest in the short form is evidenced by the record number of short films submitted to this year’s Festival. Our shorts programming team as well as audiences at the Festival have been struck by the depth of quality and uncompromised voices present in these stories from around the world. Our esteemed jury selected seven winners from a field of 64 that represent a talented group of artists who are sure to continue pushing the limits of creative filmmaking.”

The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded to:
FISHING WITHOUT NETS / U.S.A. (Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey) — A story of pirates in Somalia, told from the perspective of the pirates themselves. Said the Short Film Jury of the film, “By approaching a story of epic scope with an intimate perspective, this visually stunning film creates a rare, inside point of view that humanizes a global story.”

The Jury Prize in Short Film, U.S. Fiction was presented to:
The Black Balloon / U.S.A. (Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie) — The Black Balloon strays from the herd and experiences what life as an individual is like. He explores New York City in the deepest way, seeing all of its characters.

The Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction was presented to:
The Return (Kthimi) / Kosovo (Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Screenwriter: Shefqet Gjocaj) — A man comes back from a Serb prison to his wife and son. Much has changed since he was declared missing and continuing where they left off four years ago may not be as easy as it seems.

The Jury Prize in Short Film, Non-Fiction was presented to:
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom / U.S.A. (Director: Lucy Walker) — Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. A visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.

The Jury Prize in Animated Short Film was presented to:
A Morning Stroll / United Kingdom (Director: Grant Orchard) — When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.

The Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling was presented to:
The Arm / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis) — In an attempt to keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, Chance starts a texting relationship with Genevieve, a girl he meets at a yogurt shop.

The Special Jury Award for Animation Direction was presented to:
Robots of Brixton / United Kingdom (Director: Kibwe Tavares) — The trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment.

This year's Short Film program is comprised of 64 short films selected from a record 7,675 submissions.

The Short Film jurors are Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head for MTV and King of the Hill for FOX TV; Dee Rees, Sundance Institute Directing Lab Fellow and writer/director of the award-winning short film Pariah, which later debuted as a narrative feature at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival; and Shane Smith, Director of Public Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The Short Film program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival is presented by Yahoo!, the premier digital media company. As part of the sponsorship, a selection of nine short films that premiered at the Festival are currently featured on Yahoo! Screen, Yahoo's premium video destination. Through January 27, film aficionados can watch the films and vote for their favorite. Yahoo! will present the winning filmmaker with the inaugural Yahoo! Audience Award and $5,000 at the Festival’s January 28 Awards Ceremony. All featured films will remain accessible on Yahoo! Screen for six additional weeks, with the winning film given prominent placement on Yahoo!.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs through January 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. A complete list of films and events is available at www.sundance.org/festival.

BXR Productions has released stills for their film "Excision", which is playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film is debut feature from director Richard Bates Jr. It's based on the short film that Bates did back in 2008. "Excision" features an interesting cast that includes AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, Jeremy Sumpter, John Waters, Ray Wise and Malcolm McDowell

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at: http://www.excisionmovie.com/


Plot Synopsis:

Pauline isn’t your typical teen. She picks scabs, dissects road kill, and fantasizes about performing surgery on strangers. Her fascinations disturb her parents and her classmates. Pauline reserves special disdain for “the church” and her “therapist,” Reverend William, who, in Pauline's mind, is in no position to judge, or indulge in, her psychosexual fantasies. No one understands Pauline except for Grace, her younger sister, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. An outcast at school and at home, Pauline decides she is ready to lose her virginity. . . and this is when the weirdness really begins.

Upcoming Screenings:

1/28/2012  Midnight    Egyptian Theatre      Park City      Box Office Only

Nostromo Pictures recently has released stills for their upcoming film "Red Lights", which is playing at this years Sundance Film Festival. The film was recently picked up for U.S. Distribution by Millennium Entertainment. It's the third film for Rodrigo Cortes, who's last film "Buried" was released by Lionsgate in 2010. "Red Lights has an all-star cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Toby Jones, Joely Richardson, Elizabeth Olsen, Craig Roberts, Leonardo Sbaraglia and Adriane Lenox.

Plot Synopsis:

Two investigators of paranormal hoaxes, the veteran Dr. Margaret Matheson and her young assistant, Tom Buckley, study the most varied metaphysical phenomena with the aim of proving their fraudulent origins. Simon Silver, a legendary blind psychic, reappears after an enigmatic absence of 30 years to become the greatest international challenge to both orthodox science and professional sceptics. Tom starts to develop an intense obsession with Silver, whose magnetism becomes stronger with each new manifestation of inexplicable events. As Tom gets closer to Silver, tension mounts, and his worldview is threatened to its core.

Upcoming Screenings:

1/28/2012     5:15 pm      MARC      Park City        Box Office Only

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions announced recently that they've acquired the film "Arbitrage", which recently has its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film is directed by Nicholas Jarecki, who making his directorial debut. Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth star in the film.

Press Release:

LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, and Roadside Attractions have together acquired U.S. distribution rights to Nicholas Jarecki’s ARBITRAGE. The announcement was made jointly by Steve Beeks, President and Co-COO of Lionsgate, and by Roadside Attractions’ Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. The acquisition was made following the well-received world premiere of the film at the Sundance International Film Festival.

ARBITRAGE is a taut and alluring suspense thriller about love, loyalty, and high finance starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, and Nate Parker. The film was written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, and is his first narrative feature. It was produced by Laura Bickford (Traffic, Duplicity), Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi, and Robert Salerno (A Single Man), and executive produced by Brian Young, Mohammed Al Turki, Lisa Wilson, Stanislaw Tyczynski, Lauren Versel, Maria Teresa Areda and Ron Curtis.

ARBITRAGE will be a Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions release, continuing the strong partnership between the two companies that led to the success of last year's MARGIN CALL, also released by both companies.  Also acquired at Sundance, that film struck a chord in the zeitgeist and was a commercial success in both its theatrical and VOD release formats.  It was also nominated for an Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay.  The two companies have also jointly acquired EVERYTHING MUST GO and FRIENDS WITH KIDS.

“We are thrilled that we’ve found another film that is such a perfect fit for a Lionsgate / Roadside partnered release,” said Lionsgate’s President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Jason Constantine.” ARBITRAGE is an incredible directorial debut by Nicholas Jarecki.  Richard Gere gives one of the best performances of his extraordinary career.  Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Nate Parker, Brit Marling and Laetitia Casta all turn in incredible supporting performances.  The film is an intense thriller set against the backdrop of a very specific time and place on Wall Street, but it’s also more than that- it shows so poignantly how interconnected we all are, and how a series of choices by a few people can affect so many.”

"This is a knockout performance by Richard Gere in Nicholas Jarecki's smart and twisty Wall Street thriller. Following our great experience on MARGIN CALL, Roadside is thrilled to partner again with Lionsgate on another zeitgeisty film for grownups," said Roadside Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff.

Added director Nicholas Jarecki, "I am overjoyed to be working with Roadside and Lionsgate and their pioneering teams. From the first day of this film I've felt an invisible hand guiding our luck forward; it was the collective dedication of our actors, crew, and now our new releasing partners. I can't wait for people to see Richard and the cast's beautiful, hauntingly electric work on-screen."

Graham Taylor at WME Global negotiated deal on behalf of the filmmakers, with attorney Linda Lichter of Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler & Feldman. The deal was negotiated on behalf of Lionsgate by Beeks and Constantine with Eda Kowan, SVP of Acquisitions, Wendy Jaffe, EVP Business and Legal Affairs, and Ron Schwartz, General Manager and EVP of Home Entertainment Distribution.

About ARBITRAGE
ARBITRAGE, the feature directorial debut of writer Nicholas Jarecki, is a taut and alluring suspense thriller about love, loyalty, and high finance. When we first meet New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller (Richard Gere) on the eve of his 60th birthday, he appears the very portrait of success in American business and family life. But behind the gilded walls of his mansion, Miller is in over his head, desperately trying to complete the sale of his trading empire to a major bank before the depths of his fraud are revealed. Struggling to conceal his duplicity from loyal wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) and brilliant daughter and heir-apparent Brooke (Brit Marling), Miller's also balancing an affair with French art-dealer Julie Côte (Laetitia Casta). Just as he's about to unload his troubled empire, an unexpected bloody error forces him to juggle family, business, and crime with the aid of Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a face from Miller's past. One wrong turn ignites the suspicions of NYPD Detective Michael Bryer (Tim Roth), who will stop at nothing in his pursuits.  Running on borrowed time, Miller is forced to confront the limits of even his own moral duplicity. Will he make it out before the bubble bursts?

ARBITRAGE is written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki and stars Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta and Nate Parker. Stuart Margolin, Chris Eigeman and Bruce Altman co-star and Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter appears as James Mayfield.  Laura Bickford, Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi and Robert Salerno produced the project, with Brian Young, Mohammed Al Turki, Lisa Wilson, Stanislaw Tyczynski, Lauren Versel, Maria Teresa Areda and Ron Curtis serving as executive producers. The Arbitrage creative team includes director of photography Yorick Le Saux (I Am Love, Carlos), production designer Beth Mickle (Drive), editor Douglas Crise (Babel), costume designer Joe Aulisi (Charlie's Angels, Taking Woodstock) and composer Cliff Martinez (Drive, Contagion).

Mott Street Pictures has recently released stills and the official poster for their film "28 Hotel Rooms, which is playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film is the feature film debut for director Matt Ross, who has appeared as an actor in such TV shows as "Big Love" and "American Horror Story". The film stars Chris Messina and Marin Ireland.

Plot Synopsis:

While traveling for work in a city far from their homes, a novelist and a corporate accountant find themselves in bed together. Although she’s married, and he’s seeing someone, their intense attraction turns a one-night stand into an unexpected relationship and a respite from the obligations of daily life. Through a series of moments—some profound, some silly, some intensely intimate—we see a portrait of an evolving relationship that could become the most significant one of their lives.

Upcoming Screenings:

1/27/2012  6:00 pm      Egyptian Theatre    Park City      Box Office Only

Super Crispy Entertainment has recently released stills for their film "Smashed", which is playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film is the second feature film from director James Ponsoldt, who directed "Off the Black" starring Nick Nolte back in 2006. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer and Nick Offerman..

Plot Synopsis:

Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter . . . and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something’s got to give. But change isn’t exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.

Upcoming Screenings:

1/27/2012 3:30 pm Eccles Theatre Park City Box Office Only

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to the contemporary drama Pariah, the debut feature from writer/director Dee Rees. Pariah world-premiered In Competition this past week at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Spike Lee is among the feature’s executive producers. Pariah is produced by Nekisa Cooper.

In tandem with the Pariah acquisition, Focus has engaged Ms. Rees to write a screenplay. The script deal is for a new feature-length film that the writer/director would conceive.

Pariah is one of the Festival’s most acclaimed entries this year; Kyle Smith of The New York Post wrote that Pariah is “emotionally satisfying…with a likeable and believable heroine at its core.” Andrew Barker of Variety wrote that actress Adepero Oduye gives “a wonderful lead performance.”

The feature is an expansion of Ms. Rees’ short film of the same name, which screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Ms. Oduye, who had starred in the short film, portrays Alike (pronounced “ah-lee-kay”), a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell) and younger sister (Sahra Mallesse) in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the support of her best friend Laura (Pernell Walker), she is especially eager to find a girlfriend. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity – sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.

Focus Features CEO James Schamus said, “Dee Rees has made a debut film that celebrates with astonishing artistry the journey of a young woman who simply never gives up on the power of love. We’re thrilled to join her on this next step of a remarkable journey.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Focus Features. They’re such smart marketers and they love movies, so that we knew Focus was the perfect home for Pariah. We are excited for the film to reach the broadest audience possible,” said Ms. Rees.

The second film that be spotlighted today in our Sundance coverage is "Septien".

Film Synopsis:

Eighteen years after disappearing without a trace, Cornelius Rawlings returns to his family’s farm. While his parents are long deceased, Cornelius's brothers continue to live in isolation on this forgotten piece of land. Ezra is a freak for two things: cleanliness and Jesus. Amos is a self-taught artist who fetishizes sports and Satan. Although back home, Cornelius is still distant. In between challenging strangers to one-on-one games, he huffs and drinks the days away. The family’s high-school sports demons show up one day in the guise of a plumber and a pretty girl. Only a mysterious drifter can redeem their souls on 4th and goal.

Triple-threat actor/writer/director (and disturbingly gifted athlete) Michael Tully creates a backwoods world that’s only a few trees away from our own, complete with characters on the edge of sanity that we can actually relate to. A hero tale gone wrong, Septien is funny when it’s inappropriate to laugh, and realistic when it should be psychotic. Goooaaaaaaaaal!

"Septien": Official Trailer



"Septien" is also available On Demand thought Sundance Selects as part of "Direct from the Sundance Film Festival".

"Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" will be available for approximately 30 days on each cable system's main movies-on-demand channel in a special "Sundance Film Festival" branded section.

As the Sundance Film Festival is winding down, I have not one but two films that I'm going spotlight today. The first film is "Mad Bastards".

Film Synopsis:

TJ is a mad bastard, and his estranged 13-year-old son Bullet is on the fast track to becoming one, too. After being turned away from his mother’s house, TJ sets off across the country to the Kimberly region of northwestern Australia to make things right with his son. Grandpa Tex has lived a tough life, and now, as a local cop, he wants to change things for the men in his community.
Crosscutting between three generations, Mad Bastards is a raw look at the journey to becoming a man and the personal transformation one must make. Developed with local Aboriginal communities and fueled by a local cast, Mad Bastards draws from the rich tradition of storytelling inherent in Indigenous life. Using music from legendary Broome musicians the Pigram Brothers, writer/director Brendan Fletcher poetically fuses the harsh realities of violence, healing, and family.

Screenings:

Saturday January 29th. 4:30 PM Redstone Cinemas 7

"Mad Bastard" is also available On Demand thought Sundance Selects as part of "Direct from the Sundance Film Festival".

"Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" will be available for approximately 30 days on each cable system's main movies-on-demand channel in a special "Sundance Film Festival" branded section.

"Mad Bastard" Official Trailer

Paramount Pictures and Indian Paintbrush announced recently the worldwide acquisition of LIKE CRAZY for Paramount Pictures to release in 2011. The Super Crispy Entertainment production from co-writer and director Drake Doremus ("Douchebag"), producers Jonathan Schwartz ("The Way Back," "Douchebag," "Funny Games") and Andrea Sperling ("Kaboom," "Sympathy For Delicious") of Super Crispy Entertainment, and executive producers Audrey and Zygi Wilf had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday.

Starring Anton Yelchin ("Star Trek," and "Terminator Salvation"), Felicity Jones ("The Tempest") and Jennifer Lawrence ("Winters Bone"), LIKE CRAZY was written by Doremus and Ben York Jones ("Douchebag"). The story follows a British college student who falls for an American student, only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa. Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum said of the movie "Young love has rarely been so palpable or looked so real," while Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "LIKE CRAZY" brings a compelling intimacy and heart-stopping delicacy to showing the push and pull of love, longing and regret."

Adam Goodman, President of Paramount's Film Group and Matt Brodlie, Senior VP of Productions and Acquisitions for Paramount, along with Indian Paintbrush's President of Production Mark Roybal negotiated for the rights with the film's reps Rich Klubeck and David Flynn from UTA, along with Schwartz and Doremus' attorney Lawrence Kopeikin from Morris Yorn.

Said Goodman, "Along with our partners at Indian Paintbrush, we are extremely pleased to be a part of such a great movie, and look forward to working with Drake, Jonathan, Andrea and a tremendous cast of actors."

A spokesperson for Indian Paintbrush added, "Drake is a brilliant filmmaker, who has crafted a fresh, iconic film. With Paramount's unrivaled production and marketing teams, Drake, Jonathan, Andrea and their amazing cast are in great hands to share this jewel of a film with the world."

"Paramount and Indian Paintbrush's passion and commitment towards the film is incredibly exciting," said Super Crispy Entertainment President and producer Jonathan Schwartz.

Today on the Sundance 2011 spotlight, "Kaboom" It's is the latest film from director Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation)

Synopsis:

Smith’s everyday life in the dorms - hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor - all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.

Tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies he ate at a party, Smith is convinced he's witnessed the gruesome murder of an enigmatic Red Haired Girl who has been haunting his dreams. What he discovers as he tries to find out the truth leads him deeper and deeper into a mystery that will forever change not only the course of his young life but the destiny of the entire world.

The film stars Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Kelly Lynch, Haley Bennett, James Duval.

Screenings:

Sat January 29th 9:30PM Holiday Village Cinemas II

"Kaboom" is also available On Demand thought Sundance Selects as part of "Direct from the Sundance Film Festival".

"Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" will be available for approximately 30 days on each cable system's main movies-on-demand channel in a special "Sundance Film Festival" branded section.

"Kaboom": Official Trailer

Lands of Missing Parts recently send us over the official poster and screening information for their film " Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Titles", which will be playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Strangeness is afoot. Most people don't notice the hundreds of cryptic tiled messages about resurrecting the dead that have been appearing in city streets over the past three decades. But Justin Duerr does. For years, finding an answer to this long-standing urban mystery has been his obsession. He has been collecting clues that the tiler has embedded in the streets of major cities across the U.S. and South America. But as Justin starts piecing together key events of the past he finds a story that is more surreal than he imagined, and one that hits disturbingly close to home.


SYNOPSIS
Filmmaker Jon Foy and Philadelphia-based artist and musician Justin Duerr began planning a documentary film about the Toynbee Tiles in 2000. Five years later, they began filming their investigation of these strange street plaques embedded in the asphalt of major U.S. and South American urban intersections that had held Duerr's fascination for over a decade. Having appeared on hundreds of reported examples from the mid-1980s to present, the cryptic four-line message of the Toynbee Tiles read: "Toynbee Idea / In Kubrick's 2001 / Resurrect Dead / On Planet Jupiter". While the text on the plaques was clear enough, neither Duerr nor the numerous media outlets that had documented the phenomenon knew what these tiles meant, how or why they were installed, or who was responsible for them.


Sundance Screenings:

Monday, January 24th at 3:00pm - Holiday Village Cinema IV - Public Screening #1 (Premiere)

Monday, January 24th at 9:00pm - Holiday Village Cinema I - P&I Screening

Tuesday, January 25th at 5:30pm - Prospector Square Theatre - Public Screening #2

Wednesday, January 26th at 4:30pm - Broadway Centre Cinemas IV (SLC) - Public Screening #3

Thursday, January 27th at 9:00am - Yarrow Hotel Theatre - Public Screening #4

Saturday, January 29th at 12:30pm - Holiday Village Cinema II - Public Screening #5

For more information on this film, you can visit the official website at: http://www.Resurrect Dead.com

Sundance Selects, the theatrical and video-on-demand film label, Yesterday announced the second partnership with the not-for-profit Sundance Institute for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival (January 20th - 30th, Park City, UT). As part of the "Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" initiative, five films being screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival will simultaneously be available nationwide, on-demand, through Sundance Selects. The films include four world premieres recently acquired by Sundance Selects (Brendan Fletcher's MAD BASTARDS, Michael Tully's SEPTIEN, Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton's THESE AMAZING SHADOWS, and Joe Swanberg's UNCLE KENT) and one U.S. premiere (Gregg Araki's KABOOM). The films featured through the Sundance Institute and Sundance Selects partnership will begin screening on video-on-demand at the same time as their premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, and will be available in approximately 40 million homes on most major cable systems including Bright House, Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, and Time Warner Cable.

President of Sundance Selects Jonathan Sehring said, "Working with the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute has been an exceptional collaboration for us. We love being able to, once again, take some of the remarkable films that Sundance Film Festival has to offer this year, directly to the homes of millions of film lovers who won't be able to make the trek to Sundance."

John Cooper, Director, Sundance Film Festival said, "As part of the Sundance family, we have always been excited about discovering innovative ways to help our filmmakers find their audience."

Films selected for the 2011 "Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" program are:

Sundance veteran Gregg Araki returns to the festival with KABOOM, a hyper-stylized Twin Peaks for the Coachella Generation, featuring a gorgeous, super hot young cast. The film is a wild, sex-drenched, comical thriller that tells the story of Smith, an ambisexual 18-year-old college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California seaside town. Written and directed by Araki (who has shown eight films at Sundance from his breakthrough The Living End, to The Doom Generation to his masterpiece Mysterious Skin), and produced by Araki and his longtime producer Andrea Sperling, the film stars Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida, Andy Fischer-Price, James Duval and Kelly Lynch. The film made its world premiere in the Main Selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and had its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010. KABOOM will make its U.S. premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously on-demand on January 21, followed by a platformed national theatrical run beginning January 28th at the IFC Center in New York City and February 4th at Landmark's NuArt Theater in Los Angeles, with additional markets and theaters to follow. The film will be shown in the Spotlight section.

Brendan Fletcher's MAD BASTARDS follows TJ who is a "mad bastard," and his estranged 13-year-old son Bullet who is on the fast track to becoming one, too. After being turned away from his mother's house, TJ sets off across the country to the Kimberly region of northwestern Australia to make things right with his son. Grandpa Tex has lived a tough life, and now, as a local cop, he wants to change things for the men in his community. Crosscutting between three generations, the film is a raw look at the journey to becoming a man and the personal transformation one must make. Developed with local Aboriginal communities and fueled by a local cast, MAD BASTARDS draws from the rich tradition of storytelling inherent in Indigenous life. Using music from legendary Broome musicians "The Pigram Brothers", Fletcher (who wrote and directed) poetically fuses the harsh realities of violence, healing, and family. The film will make its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously on-demand on January 24. The film will be shown in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section.

Michael Tully's SEPTIEN follows Cornelius Rawlings who returns to his family's farm eighteen years after disappearing without a trace. While his parents are long deceased, Cornelius's brothers continue to live in isolation on this forgotten piece of land. Ezra is a freak for two things: cleanliness and Jesus. Amos is a self-taught artist who fetishizes sports and Satan. Although back home, Cornelius is still distant. In between challenging strangers to one-on-one games, he huffs and drinks the days away. The family's high-school sports demons show up one day in the guise of a plumber and a pretty girl. Only a mysterious drifter can redeem their souls on 4th and goal. Triple-threat actor/writer/director Tully creates a backwoods world that's only a few trees away from our own, complete with characters on the edge of sanity that we can actually relate to. A hero tale gone wrong, SEPTIEN is funny when it's inappropriate to laugh, and realistic when it should be psychotic. The film will make its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously on-demand on January 23. The film will have select national theatrical dates in 2011. The film will be shown in the Park City at Midnight section.

Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton's THESE AMAZING SHADOWS asks the question: what do films like Casablanca, Blazing Saddles and West Side Story have in common? As the government-appointed protector of our cinematic legacy, the National Film Registry selects culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant works for preservation in the Library of Congress. From award-winning features to music videos, experimental films to home movies, each Registry selection reflects a truth of its time or a standout artistic vision. Through interviews with Registry board members, archivists, and notable filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Rob Reiner, John Waters, John Singleton, John Lasseter and Barbara Kopple, the filmmakers demonstrate the way film documents artistic and societal milestones. Guided by a true cinephile's love of the medium and a treasure trove of archival footage, the film molds a cultural history from pieces of film, offering a microcosm of the work of the National Film Registry and making a powerful case for film preservation. The film will make its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously on-demand on January 22. The film will be shown in the Documentary Premieres section.

Joe Swanberg makes his first Sundance appearance with his most mature film, UNCLE KENT, an achingly true-to-life modern comedy about aging, loneliness, desire, and the awkward intimacies of online friendship. The film follows 40 year-old Kent (Kent Osborne) who is an unmarried children's-show writer living alone with his cat in Los Angeles. He spends his days sketching gag cartoons and bouncing ideas off his hyperactive friend, Kev (Kevin Bewersdorf), and his nights staving off loneliness in Internet chat rooms. When one of Kent's online acquaintances, environmental journalist Kate (Jennifer Prediger), crashes at his house for the weekend, he finds himself attracted to her coquettish manner and frank emotional openness but sexually frustrated by her fidelity to a distant boyfriend. Shot on location in Los Angeles, UNCLE KENT advances many themes and elements found in Swanberg's early films (Hannah Takes The Stairs, Nights and Weekends, Alexander the Last), including freely improvised dialogue, art-mirrors-life setups, and a renewed emphasis on how technology and other social media enable (or disable) human connection. The cast includes previous collaborators Kent Osborne and composer/actor Kevin Bewersdorf, director Josephine Decker, and newcomer Jennifer Prediger. The film, which marks Swanberg's Park City debut, will make its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and simultaneously on-demand on January 21. The film will be shown in the Spotlight section.

"Direct from the Sundance Film Festival" will be available for approximately 30 days on each cable system's main movies-on-demand channel in a special "Sundance Film Festival" branded section.

Treevenge
Year: 2008
Director: Jason Eisener
Studio: YerDead Productions
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 15 Mins
Official Website: http://www.treevenge.com/





If you thought “Splatter Disco” was the only Christmas themed horror film that I could come with, this year, I was sadly mistaken. There is another film that has the holiday theme and fits into the Christmas season, very well. The film that I’m talking about is Treevenge. This film could also be called, “Attack of the Killer Christmas Trees”, as that’s what I thought at the end of this short. The film has won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival, New York City Horror Film Fest and Toronto After Dark Film Festival and will be playing at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January.

“Treevenge” is the latest creation from the guys who came out last year during around the time that “Grindhouse” came out with the notorious grindhouse faux trailer “Hobo With a Shotgun”, which won the SXSW Grindhouse Trailer Cut contest, last year, in conjunction with Quentin Taratino and Robert Rodriquez’s “Grindhouse”. The film is about, the experiences and lives of the Christmas trees. After being chopped down to be sold and shipped from their homes, they aren’t happy being used for display purposes. This Christmas will be definitely be different, as the trees will fight back and try to end civilization and the Chirstmas hoiliday, as we know it.

‘Treevenge” is a holiday filled gorefest that’s so demented you’ll be shocked. The direction of this film has the same grindhouse type feel that made “Hobo with a Shotgun"faux trailer very entertaining and earned cult like status on myspace. I liked how, director Jason Eisener goes for that vibe again, with this project. It help makes this film very odd, from most films that I usually see, especially when you have trees talking with subtitles. I’m not kidding. The pace of the action was good, as Eisener (who’s also the editor) does a good job editing; as the action doesn’t take away the film’s story. He also makes the violence very gory. The gory effects were very good, as there were a couple of very graphic images that were gruesome to watch, as he replicates the violence that was seen in his previous project.

Eisener and Rob Cotterill’s screenplay was good and original. The writers did a great job making the action very shocking. They did that, by making the death horrifying, as it added to the film’s shock level. There were moments that were very gruesome. Their development of the characters was solid. They do a good job developing the time between when the trees get cut in the beginning of the film to Christmas day, where this is not a Christmas to remember. They also did a good job getting the tree’s perspective oddly enough. They did that, by making their dialogue subtitled, which made more than just the typical boring B-movie monster. In that same time, the writers did a good job developing the soon to be victims. They did that to make sure that you are shocked, when the trees attack.

Treevenge will definitely make you think twice, before deciding to put up a tree, this Christmas.

Review Rating: 4 Stars

Upcoming Screenings:

2008 Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah

Sat. Jan 17th, DEADS17EL Egyptian Theater, Park City
Wed. Jan 21st, DEADS21DN Redstone Cinemas, Kimball Junction
Fri. Jan 23rd, DEADS23EL Egyptian Theater, Park City
Sat. Jan 24th, DEADS24BN Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC

It is so great to see Melissa Leo doing so well in her career right now. She gave us one of the greatest female detectives ever to grace television in “Homicide: Life On The Street,” and no other actress on the show (however good they were) could match what she had brought to that show. But then she got kicked off the show which was painful to hear about, especially considering that she was dealing with a lot of shit from an abusive ex-boyfriend who had become overly concerned about their son. She seemed to disappear for awhile, and then she came back in a variety of guest spots on all sorts of TV shows before reappearing one last time as Sgt. Kay Howard in “Homicide: The Movie.” But then she was in “21 Grams,” and people started to give her the attention she has deserved all along. Much praise went to Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, and Naomi Watts, but Melissa was every bit as compelling as Benicio’s wife who is ever so conflicted about her husband and what he has done.

Now, Melissa finally has a starring role in “Frozen River,” the movie that won this year’s Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie was directed by Courtney Hunt, and it marks a very strong directorial debut of a movie based on one of her short films. Melissa stars as Ray Eddy, a woman who lives in a trailer with her two boys in upstate New York. When the movie opens, her husband has left her and the kids alone, and who has also taken the family savings to most likely gamble with in Atlantic City. The first shot of Melissa sitting alone in her car in the cold winter with a cigarette in her hand and tears streaming down her face is a great study in film acting. Her face is far from the botox-ravaged faces we see in most major movies today, and it shows the hard knock life she has been through up to this point. Youth-obsessed Hollywood should pay attention to this because while they attempt to craft the perfect body, they forget about the importance and the power of acting.

Thanks to her gambling-addicted husband running off with all that she had saved, Ray does not have the money to pay for the new double-wide trailer home, and she is in danger of losing her $1,500 deposit. Her situation is desperate as she has little money for much of anything, be it food or the final payment on the new wide screen TV. This is especially tough on the kids who are basically forced to eat popcorn for dinner. Ray’s sole source of income is a crappy job at one of those everything for a dollar shops that is on every other block in the town we live in. She is desperate to be promoted to assistant manager, but her boss considers her a “short timer” and does not take her all that seriously. This despite the fact that she has worked at the store for over 2 years.

Then she comes across her husband’s car which has been taken by a young Indian woman named Lila played by Misty Upham. She said that her husband left on a bus and left the keys in the car. Ray goes to Misty’s trailer, which is only a fraction of the size of hers, to get her car back. However, Misty tells her that she knows of a guy who can buy the car and give her more for it than it is worth. But this turns out to be a ruse as we come to see that Misty is part of a ring of people who smuggle illegal aliens across the border and into Canada. Ray is at first disgusted at being a part of this and really wants nothing to do with this, but then she sees how much money there is to be made. She ends up coming back to Misty’s trailer to do another smuggling run with her. What these two are doing is clearly illegal, but it is impossible to be angry with them as we completely understand why they are doing this.

Sony Pictures Classics, which is distributing the film in limited release, has promoted this film as a thriller. It is indeed a thriller, but at its core, it is really a movie about two very strong women who despite their cultural differences, are basically trying to get by and are desperately trying to keep their families together. We come to see that Lila has a baby boy that was “stolen” from her by her mother-in-law. It features two of the strongest roles for women that have been missing from many movies recently. These two roles are inhabited by very gifted actresses who give it their all. The movie feels almost like a small variation on “Thelma & Louise,” except for the fact that these women do not consider each other friends. But as the movie goes on, they move past the things that divide them and come to see who they really are.

Lila’s plight in life is also looked at in detail, as we see that she is trying to get a normal job, but her eye vision is not very good and keeps her from getting a decent job and keeps her from driving on a regular basis. She yearns to have her son in her life again, and to be done with smuggling as the police are on to her. Having Ray drive the car during their smuggling jobs helps because, as Lila points out, she is white. Lila comes across as a cold woman at the start of the movie, but that hard exterior melts away as we come to see her as a person thru Ray’s eyes instead of just another Indian. The laws of the Mohawk tribe in this film come across as pretty strict, and they have made Lila’s life tougher than it already is.

Courtney Hunt shot this movie on a Panasonic Vericam (high definition) in 24 days. The movie was shot on a bare bones budget, so any camerawork that has been seen by others as “amateurish” (that’s what I have been reading in reviews) should be forgiven. It gives the movie a strong sense of reality that makes the plight of these two women all the more vivid and unnerving. Being this poor is something I fear perhaps more than I should. How people manage to survive like this feels beyond me, especially in the cold and harsh New York winter.

Speaking of winter, the movie was shot in sub-zero temperatures in upstate New York, and that also adds to the already tough world that these two women have been left stranded in by their significant others. Well… Maybe they were not that significant. While watching this movie at Landmark Theaters in West Los Angeles (the seats there are so comfortable), I almost felt my teeth chattering. Watching the brutal weather these characters live through made me feel like I should have brought a sweater with me. I felt like I was freezing just watching this film. What is shown here feels so much colder than anything I saw in Werner Herzog’s documentary, “Encounters at the End of the World,” and that was shot in Antarctica near the South Pole! I can see myself standing out in this weather and saying to myself:

“So this is what it feels like to be a human ice cube!”


Everything about this movie feels so down to earth, and it makes all that goes on in the film all the more believable and all the more frightening. This is not a movie caught up in some fantasy world where everything will end on a happy note. What these characters go through is terribly real as they live in a world that is becoming more increasingly corporate and which continues to squeeze out the middle class. The movie questions what you would do if you were in this situation. How would you try to survive when you have no family outside of your own to rely on? How far would you go in breaking the law? How far would you go to keep your family together? These are questions that are also posed to the two women at the center of the story. While we might tell them to make a more “honest” living, you cannot help but wonder if you could do the same when you are living by the skin of your teeth.

Melissa Leo is a superlative actress who gives her all in this role, and she is also an actress who is so refreshingly free of vanity. She is not afraid of making herself look completely unglamorous in a movie, and the young film actors of today with their Noxzema clean faces need to take note of this. Melissa is able to convey raw emotion without saying a word as she shows in the movie’s opening scene. She goes for the gut of the role and never exhibits any faked emotions throughout. I hope and pray that she is remembered at Oscar time with a nomination that she should have gotten for her work in “21 Grams.” I can’t even think of another actress who could inhabit this character the way she does.

Misty Upham also does great work here as Lila, and she does a believable transition to what seems like a cold hearted woman to a woman who struggles through a heartbreakingly unfair world. The laws of her reservation constrict her almost fully, and she is not really allowed to lead as normal a life as possible. She finds that the one person who she thinks she cannot trust is actually the one who sticks up for her in the end. The last shot of her in the movie with Ray’s kids is a beautiful moment of unity that the movie strived hard for to get to.

Other excellent performances to be found in the movie come from Charlie McDermott who plays Ray’s oldest boy, TJ. When his dad is out of the picture, he takes on the added responsibility of looking after his little brother who cannot comprehend the fact that his dad abandoned the family. The things he does to help his family are foolish, not to mention seriously illegal. The blow torch he uses throughout the movie was a gift from his dad, and it becomes TJ’s closest and only real link to him throughout the film. Charlie never makes this character into your typical teenage kid, but instead gives us a kid who is forced to grow up a lot sooner than he should.

Courtney Hunt makes a strong impression here as a director, but a writer as well (she wrote the screenplay). It will be interesting to see where her career goes from here. She has a strong vision of what to show in her film, and she also writes great parts for women and men as this film shows, and that’s something I would like to see more of in the future.

The world of independent films took a huge hit last year, and seeing all these specialty film companies and New Line Cinema by the corporate world intent on remaking every film ever made is very depressing. “Frozen River” offers us the opportunity to help reenergize the independent film world, and reminds us of how much we need this in the world of cinema today. It is definitely one of the more exciting and enthralling films you can hope to see this year.

***1/2 out of ****