Category Archives: Sundance

Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction as its winter season closing film tomorrow, Tuesday, February 26: AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY

Terence Nance’s audacious exploration of the fine line between friend and lover had its world premiere last year at Sundance. Its extensive festival circuit has included, among others, Rotterdam, San Francisco, New Directors/New Films, Urbanworld, Sundance London, Cleveland, Traverse City, Montclair, and New Orleans.

Nance’s debut had its origins as a documentary project but ends up as something that’s neither fiction nor non-fiction. Remarkably personal and universal at once, the film is a record of a young man’s growing, but seemingly unrequited, love for his close woman friend. Laying his heart bare, Nance wildly blends verité footage of conversations with the object of his (or his character’s) desire, the charming Namik, with introspective voice over, various animation techniques, re-enactments, confessional interviews, and music to approximate what it means to be head over heels infatuated with someone just out of reach. It’s a daring, original, and deeply satisfying approach to storytelling – its blurring of documentary and narrative mirroring the obsessive close reading – and rewriting – of reality we all engage in when we’re completely crushed out.

Note: Director Nance will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.

Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens next Monday, February 25: AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY

Alison Klayman’s portrait of the famed Chinese artist/activist had its world premiere at Sundance last year, where it received a special jury prize. It had an extensive festival life, screening at Berlin, True/False, Miami, Full Frame, Silverdocs, Hot Docs, and Human Rights Watch, among many others, and was shortlisted for the Academy Award after a limited theatrical release.

I profiled the doc before Sundance here.

Coming to NYC’s Maysles Cinema as part of Filmwax’s Docularious! series this Saturday, February 9: WHY WE LAUGH: BLACK COMEDIANS ON BLACK COMEDY

Robert Townsend’s overview of the history of black comedy in America made its world premiere at Sundance in 2009. The documentary was acquired by Showtime for its cable broadcast premiere in 2010, and went on to tour at various festivals, film series, and college engagements.

Aided by a copious amount of entertaining clips, a who’s who of comedy weigh in on the development of their profession, and the specific influence black comedians have had, in Townsend’s entertaining and appreciative survey. Going back to the racially charged tradition of minstrel shows and blackface, to early performers like Bert Williams and Lincoln “Stepin Fetchit” Perry, the film explores the representations of black entertainment and entertainers as it moved from stereotypes like Amos ‘n’ Andy to more rounded, yet often still limited, figures over the past century. Cultural critics like Dr Cornel West offer their appreciation for those performers, like Richard Pryor, who candidly expressed a freer point of view, and achieved success because of it. Covering luminaries like Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, and Dave Chappelle, and exploring the impact of pioneering programming like the 1970s sitcoms THE JEFFERSONS and GOOD TIMES, as well as later showcases for black comedians such as IN LIVING COLOR, and DEF COMEDY JAM, Townsend cuts a wide swath, addressing the way black comics have used their talents to succeed in the face of societal barriers, employed humor to point out inequalities and rally mainstream support for change, and – perhaps for varying reasons – made us all laugh.

Sundance 2013 has wrapped and I’m back in NYC. I’m still paying back some hefty sleep debt, and trying to fight off the postdance cold, so Park City hasn’t completely left me yet. Before turning back to real life, I thought I would recap the 2013 awards for anyone who wasn’t following along Saturday night. With many films already acquired for distribution, and more deals to be announced in the coming weeks, w(n)td readers should have a chance to see a number of these titles in theatres, VOD, or broadcast, as well as other festival exposure, over the next few months.

The 2013 Sundance awards ceremony, hosted by a gregarious Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who had premiered his directorial debut, DON JON’S ADDICTION, to raves the week before, and generally functioned as a goodwill ambassador for the festival for the duration), quickly recapped awards announced earlier in the week – Shorts, Mahindra, NHK, Sloan – before getting down to the business at hand – US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, plus the Best of NEXT audience award: Continue reading →