Lineup full of premieres and highlights first-time directors from around the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Italy and UK tackles subjects of redemption, agoraphobia, misfits, captivity, friendship and whistleblowers
The Slamdance Film Festival announced over the weekend their Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs for its 22nd Festival edition. As the premiere film festival by filmmakers for filmmakers, Slamdance's showcase of emerging artists includes 12 narrative and 8 documentary films. This 20-feature film competition includes 16 premieres – 12 World, 3 North American, and 1 US premieres. Slamdance is proud to present the best of first-time feature filmmakers pushing the boundaries of filmmaking with innovation and unique talent. All competition films are feature film directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million and without US distribution. All films were programmed entirely from blind submissions by the Slamdance filmmaking community.
Jury Awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for Audience Awards as well as the Spirit of SlamdanceAward, judged by the filmmakers themselves.
"The standard of DIY filmmaking around the world is the highest we've seen, and the diversity of storytelling is the most we've experienced. With a record breaking number of submissions to select from, the narrative and documentary feature line-up has never been so competitive or as exciting to program." states Co-founder and President, Peter Baxter.
The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 22nd - 28th, 2015 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060
Here are the Narrative Features Program (in pictures.)
All the Colors of the Night
(Brazil)
Director: Pedro Severien; Screenwriter: Luiz Otávio Pereira
Cast: Sabrina Greve, Sandra Possani, Brenda Ligia, Giovanna Simões, Rômulo Braga
Iris wakes up in her spacious seafront apartment, discovers a body in the living room and enlists the help of other women, setting off a spiral of redemption in an atmospheric drama of dark imagery and questionable reality.
Alvin’s Harmonious World of Opposites
(Australia/Indonesia)
Director & Screenwriter: Platon Theodoris
Cast: Teik-Kim Pok, Vashti Hughes, Dessy Fitri, Ailis Logan, Nitin Vengurlekar, Tina Andrews, Alicia O'Donnel
Agoraphobic Alvin prefers stuffed pandas and online shopping to the aggressive rantings of his neighbor Virginia, until the sludge seeping from his ceiling forces him to search for answers in this offbeat comedy with a tender heart.
North American Premiere
Chemical Cut
(USA)
Director & Screenwriter: Marjorie Conrad
Cast: Marjorie Conrad, Ian Coster, Leah Rudick, Michael Lucid, Stephen Saban, Deven Green, Nicolas Coster, Vicki Marlane
23-year-old Irene is an artistic misfit turned LA model busy searching for identity, inspiration and a kindred spirit while surrounded by competition, absurdity, and so many nude bras.
World Premiere
Driftwood
(USA)
Director & Screenwriter: Paul Taylor
Cast: Joslyn Jensen, Paul C. Kelly, Michael Fentin
A young woman washes ashore and is claimed and conditioned by an older man in this intricately layered, dialogue-free exploration of familial roles, isolation and captivity.
World Premiere
Honey Buddies
(USA)
Director: Alex Simmons; Screenwriters: Alex Simmons, David Giuntoli, Flula Borg
Cast: David Giuntoli, Flula Borg, Brian T. Finney, Claire Coffee, Jeanne Syquia
Jilted groom David is convinced by his excitable best man Flula to continue with his planned honeymoon, a backcountry trek in the mountains of Oregon, in a highly comedic ode to friendship and the great outdoors.
World Premiere
Hunky Dory
(USA)
Director: Michael Curtis Johnson; Screenwriters: Michael Curtis Johnson, Tomas Pais
Cast: Tomas Pais, Peter Van Norden, Jeff Newburg, Joy Darash, Edouard Holdener, Nora Rothman, Chad Borden, Chad Hartigan
After his ex disappears, Sidney, a dive bar drag queen, is forced to look after his 11-year-old son in a tale of unconventional fatherhood, the fear of mediocrity, and the pulsing reality of dreams deferred.
World Premiere
If There’s A Hell Below
(USA)
Director: Nathan Williams; Screenwriters: Nathan Williams, Matthew Williams
Cast: Conner Marx, Carol Roscoe, Paul Budraitis, Mark Carr
In a desolate landscape, an ambitious young journalist in a dusty car meets covertly with a national security whistleblower, and their roving exchange becomes increasingly cloaked in paranoia, tension and escalating threat.
World Premiere
Last Summer
(Italy)
Director: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli; Screenwriters: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli, Igort
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Bach, Daniel Ball, Ken Brady
Set on board a luxury yacht in sparkling international waters, this tense and stylish drama captures the four final days a mother is granted with her 6-year-old son to say goodbye after losing a custody battle.
US Premiere
The Lesson
(UK)
Director & Screenwriter: Ruth Platt
Cast: Evan Bendall, Robert Hands, Michaela Prchalova, Tom Cox, Rory Coltart, Dolya Gavaniski, Michael Swatton, Charlotte Croft
A grisly study of the relationship between a tormented teacher and the troubled teens who bear his wrath once he snaps; this morally challenging horror film is dark, claustrophobic, and shockingly eloquent.
North American Premiere
MAD
(USA)
Director & Screenwriter: Robert G. Putka
Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Maryann Plunkett, Eilis Cahill, Mark Reeb, David Sullivan, Conor Casey, Shaun Weiss, Chris Doubek
A matriarch past the point of a nervous breakdown, her two daughters that don't give a damn, and the heat-seeking missiles of resentment they toss at each other create a lively backdrop for this dark and dramatic comedy.
World Premiere
Neptune
(USA)
Director: Derek Kimball; Screenwriters: Derek Kimball, Matthew Konkel
Cast: Jane Ackermann, Tony Reilly, William McDonough III, Christine Louise Marshall, Dylan Chestnutt, Maureen Butler
Set in the late 1980s on an island off the coast of Maine, an orphan girl raised by the church becomes obsessed by the disappearance of a classmate, and her haunted dreams and visions propel her to push past her sheltered life.
The Tail Job
(Australia)
Directors & Screenwriters: Bryan Moses, Daniel Millar
Cast: Blair Dwyer, Craig Anderson, Laura Hughes, Kellie Clarke, Dorje Swallow, Grant Dodwell, Gary Waddell, Ursula Mills
Nicholas hires a taxi driver to follow his fiancé when he suspects her of cheating in this micro-budget comedy action tale that makes every wrong turn crackle with genuine humor and unexpected insight.
World Premiere
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES PROGRAM
1ha 43a
Director & Screenwriter: Monika Pirch (Germany)
After inheriting a plot of farming land near Dusseldorf, Monika explores the potential of her field through administrative, historic and poetic methods and manages to reconnect with the land and her ancestry in a beautiful and unexpected way.
North American Premiere
Art of the Prank
Director & Screenwriter: Andrea Marini (USA)
Legendary funny man Joey Skaggs has been pulling Americas chain since 1965. His next hoax? Film festivals.
Dead Hands Dig Deep
Director: Jai Love; Screenwriters: Jai Love, Spencer Heath (USA/Australia )
From the isolation of his secluded desert compound Edwin Borsheim, founder of the shock metal band Kettle Cadaver, ruminates on a life of violence, mayhem and personal destruction lived on the absolute edge of the known musical universe.
World Premiere
Fursonas
Director & Screenwriter: Dominic Rodriguez (USA)
Like any community, the Furry world is one with gossipers, dreamers, followers, whistleblowers and the one guy who wants to rule them all.
World Premiere
Los Punks; We Are All We Have
Director: Angela Boatwright; Screenwriter: Christine Triano (USA)
A cobbled-together family of Hispanic youth comprise the thriving backyard punk scene of South Central and East L.A.: bands, fans, and production are interwoven into a sub-culture of thrash, noise and pits.
World Premiere
The Million Dollar Duck
Director: Brian Golden Davis; Screenwriter: Martin J. Smith (USA)
Artists from different walks of life vie to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only art competition of its kind sponsored by the U.S. government.
World Premiere
Myrtle Beach
Directors: Neil Rough, Michael Fuller (Canada)
Myrtle Beach is a disturbingly intimate peek into the lives of the deviants, outcasts and forget-me-nows that inhabit this deformed stepsister of Coney Island.
World Premiere
Peanut Gallery
Director & Screenwriter: Molly Gandour (USA)
An intimate and unflinching exploration of one family's tragic loss and their attempt to heal after decades of silence.
All Access/Industry, Local's, and Student Festival Passes are available now online. Individual tickets will be made available later. To purchase, click here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Passes-and-Tickets
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Raymond Lo
