Sundance in 60 Seconds: Monday, January 19, 2009
Filed under: Sundance, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie
Deals. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group picked up Scott Sanders' Black Dynamite for a reported $2 million. The salute to 70s blaxpoitation pictures premiered at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday; negotiations continued into the "wee hours" of Monday morning, according to indieWIRE. The film will be released in theaters later this year. Late Monday night, Variety reported that Magnolia Pictures nabbed worldwide rights to Lynn Shelton's Humpday after a "protracted bidding war." Magnolia plans to launch it via video on demand "before an August theatrical opening." Erik Davis says that "its well-written script remains grounded with the type of real-people humor we've grown to adore over the years."
News. Five films playing at SXSW in March, including Joe Swanberg's newest, Alexander the Last, will also screen via IFC's Festival Direct on-demand platform, Scott Macaulay of Filmmaker Magazine covered the morning announcement and Q&A. In the afternoon, the nominations for the 2nd Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking were announced; Israeli animated doc Waltz With Bashir led the way with seven nominations. A.J. Schnack has the complete list of nominees at his site.
Reviews. Scott Weinberg checked out the music doc When You're Strange (archival footage of The Doors: "fascinating," the narration, not so much: "Doors for Dummies") and explained how Zooey Deschanel broke his heart (again). James Rocchi was "enthralled" with the fashion doc The September Issue. And Eric D. Snider says the premise of Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire is so "unsettling and bleak" that you might hesitate to see it, but if you do, "you'll find that it's compelling and artistic, punctuated with warm humor and masterful performances, and ultimately triumphant and hopeful."
All of our coverage can be found at the Sundance hub at Moviefone. After the jump: what other blogs are saying.
Blog Talk. Monday is the mid-point of the festival, and that was reflected in the blogs I visited today. Fatigue is starting to settle in -- completely understandable when someone's trying to watch and write about multiple movies, events, social gatherings, and "the scene" on little sleep while tramping around at the high altitudes in Park City. It makes me appreciate the good job our crew is doing. And other multi-contributor sites like indieWIRE and Movie City News are continuing to pound the pavement and file multiple reviews and stories every day.
All that to say I didn't find very many quotable quotes today, but I enjoyed these two:
Jeffrey Wells praised Lone Scherfig's An Education on Sunday evening ("The absolute shit ... a movie that has launched a genuine movie star [Carey Mulligan] ... If I was a buyer I would have left the theatre at the 45 minute mark and started offering whatever it takes. ... a sublime coming-of-age piece"). He followed that up with a brief interview on Monday with Mulligan, in which she mentioned she sat down with Warren Beatty to talk about a project.
Peter Sciretta of /Film found Charlyne Yi's "child-like nervous personality" to be "infectious" in Paper Heart, a "quasi-documentary with meta elements" that features Yi's real-life boyfriend, Michael Cera. How infectious is her personality? Sciretta says that "after the screening I was surprised to find a couple [of] critics that just didn't get her new-age quirky personality based comedy." That's the thing about personality-based comedy: if you don't like the personality, then you won't think the comedy is funny, which would seem to be a warning sign for a comedy looking for a distributor.
Live from Sundance 2009
Designer LisaBeth Weber smiles following the oath of office by President Barack Obama during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Katy Winn)
AP
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Writer/director Paul Saltzman of the film "Prom Night In Mississippi" pose for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Paul Saltzman
Getty Images
Daniel (L) and Taline Dinenberg of San Francisco, California, watch the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama on Main Street during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, January 20, 2009. REUTERS/Ramin Rahimian (UNITED STATES)
Reuters
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Producer Patricia Aquino and writer/director Paul Saltzman of the film "Prom Night In Mississippi" pose for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Patricia Aquino;Paul Saltzman
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Thuli Sibiya and Mildred Nycabo of the film "Rough Aunties" poses for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Thuli Sibiya;Mildred Nycabo
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Thuli Sibiya, director Kim Longinotto and Mildred Nycabo of the film "Rough Aunties" poses for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Thuli Sibiya;Kim Longinotto;Mildred Nycabo
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: (L-R) Director Jeff Lipsky, actor Donny Chiappetta, actress Maria Tucci, actor Chris Beetem and actor Chazz Palminteri of the film "Once More With Feeling" pose for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Lipsky;Donny Chiappetta;Maria Tucci;Chris Beetem;Chazz Palminteri
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: (L-R) Director Jeff Lipsky, actor Donny Chiappetta, actress Maria Tucci, actor Chris Beetem and actor Chazz Palminteri of the film "Once More With Feeling" pose for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Lipsky;Donny Chiappetta;Maria Tucci;Chris Beetem;Chazz Palminteri
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Actress Maria Tucci of the film "Once More With Feeling" poses for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Maria Tucci
Getty Images
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: Actress Maria Tucci of the film "Once More With Feeling" poses for a portrait at the Film Lounge Media Center during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Maria Tucci
Getty Images
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