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Sundance has become one of the most important venues for independent filmmaking. |
It’s that time of year again; it’s Sundance time. Once again, the independent film faithful are trekking to the winter ski resort town of Park City, Utah to see what the best and brightest independent filmmakers have to offer at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, which began January 16 and runs through January 26.
Begun by actor Robert Redford in 1978 as a venue for those producers and directors marginalized by the Hollywood movie system, Sundance has grown into an important alternative showcase; and each year several films that premier at Sundance go on to both critical and financial success.
So renowned has the festival become, that some of Hollywood’s biggest names in acting have become more comfortable seeking roles in independent films that ultimately show at Sundance. This year, major actors including Morgan Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Al Pacino, Kim Bassinger, Claire Danes, Dustin Hoffman, James Woods, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Danny Glover and Phillip Seymour Hoffman join the throngs of lesser-known and unknown actors to provide a range of noteworthy performances.
The sheer volume of material at Sundance (125+ films) makes judging the films a monumental task. Yet at the end of the two-week festival, only a handful of works will be singled out for the coveted awards that often signal continued success in wide release and video rental. Receiving awards is not what Sundance is about, though. Sundance is, as Robert Redford says, about “opportunity”.
Some of the films being given the opportunity to shine in 2003 include the following:
Comandante
Director: Oliver Stone
USA, 2002, 93 min.
Why this film is important: Fidel Castro is one of the most important figures of the 20th century. Having defied U.S. designs on hemispherical hegemony, he remains a bulwark of revolutionary idealism. Noted and controversial director Oliver Stone (J.F.K.) spent three days in Cuba obtaining some 30 hours of interviews with Castro who spoke candidly, and at length about his life, his politics and his legacy.
Legend of Suryothai
Director: Prince Chatrichalerm Yokal
USA, 2002, 142 min.
Why this film is important: Most people would be hard pressed to find either Thailand or Burma on a map, let alone identify a historical event related to either of the two countries prior to the Vietnam War era. This film tells the tale of Thai heroine Suryothai, the Queen who defended her kingdom against the Burmese in 1548. For the mere fact that the history of this part of the world is being brought to modern international cinema makes it important.
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
Director: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon
USA, 2002, 73 min.
Why this film is important: Chattel slavery is a blemish on the historical character of the United States that will never go away. The disadvantages imposed on slaves over the course of the institution’s 200+ years are just as great in magnitude as the gains the nation made on the backs of free labor during this period that allowed a superpower to be forged. The historical narratives of these previously nameless, faceless, people who descended from Africans are integral in understanding from whence the United States sprung and where the nation is currently headed.
Tupac: Resurrection
Director: Lauren Lazen
USA, 2002, 115 min.
Why this film is important: Before he died in hail of bullets while driving the streets of Las Vegas, Tupac Shakur had become one of the few authentic voices of Black youth in America. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Tupac was able to capture both the true promise and undeniable perversity of urban life in the 1990s. The son of a Black Panther activist, Tupac had the potential to grow into a musical force for social change. His ambition could be heard in his very own words, and this film is unique in that Tupac himself, through documentary footage and interviews, narrates it.
The Education of Gore Vidal
Director: Deborah Dickson
USA, 2002, 84 min.
Why this film is important: Gore Vidal is simply one of the more important independent literary voices of America today. He was one of the few to provide alternative perspectives on the 9/11 tragedies in the early days of the crisis. This film looks at the life and the man.
The Murder of Emmett Till
Director: Stanley Nelson
USA, 2002, 53 min.
Why this film is important: The Civil Rights movement in the United States arguably started with the brutal murder of Emmett Till. While visiting relatives in Mississippi in the summer of 1955, the 14-year-old Chicago boy was accused of whistling at white woman. The reaction to this alleged provocation was swift and fierce. Till disappeared in the night and was later found horribly mutilated. At the trial of the white men indicted for the murder, an all-white jury found them innocent. It was a turning point in U.S. history.
State of Denial
Director: Elaine Epstein
USA, 2002, 86 min.
Why this film is important: Put simply, AIDS threatens to kill Africa. With HIV running rampant through African nations, ravaging already stressed populations, there is the real possibility that some African countries could cease to exist as we know them. State of Denial examines the crisis in South Africa.
The Weather Underground
Director: Sam Green, Bill Siegel
USA, 2003 92 min.
Why this film is important: The image the United States projects of itself both internally and abroad is one of strength and unity. And whenever dissent happens in the United States, it is portrayed a loyal dissent fomented by citizens seeking to better their nation. Very rarely do instances of violent, anarchic opposition see light of day. This film explores a group called the Weathermen who, in the early 19070s, planned an armed insurrection against the United States government. But far from being the downtrodden and disenfranchised of society, the Weathermen were largely white and upper middleclass.
Bend It Like Bekham
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Great Britain/Germany, 2002, 112 min.
Why this film is important: It may be a whimsical tale of a young Indian girl in Britain with dreams of being a soccer star, but Bend it Like Bekham shows that people from the subcontinent are thinking about more than just Bollywood dance numbers.
The Death of Klinghoffer
Director: Penny Woolcock
Canada, 2002, 120 min.
Why this film is important: It’s about Palestinians and it’s controversial. This film is the screen adaptation of the 1991 opera of the same name. In its theatrical form, it evoked a range of emotions from audiences and critics with some labeling it as Zionist propaganda and others decrying it as too pro-Palestinian. The film, as did the opera, deals with the Palestinian hijacking of a cruise ship and the politics surrounding that event. Given the tensions that exist today in Palestine, this film should cause a great deal of controversy.
Iran, Veiled Appearances
Director: Thierry Michel
Belgium, 2002, 94 min.
Why this film is important: It’s about Iran and it’s about Islam. This film takes a rare look inside Iranian culture and looks at the divides and controversies that seem to be always near the surface in that country these days.
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