duplass Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Hey, not everyone can afford to go to Sundance just for fun. If you don't live in or near Park City, it's pretty darn spendy to travel to the fest. Or maybe you've gone to Sundance in the past, and you'd just like to relive the memories. Sundance Channel is bringing you 31 days of Sundance, starting right ... about ... well, two days ago. But there's still plenty of good watching left. Every night at 9PM, the Sundance Channel will screen a film from past fests, and the lineup is pretty darn impressive, including some of my own fave films such as Adam's Apples by Anders Thomas Jensen (that one's tonight, so set your TIVO or DVR if you'll be out), and ... oh! Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy is on Sunday! Next Wednesday is So Yong Kim's In Between Days, and Ramin Bahrani's Man Push Cart airs January 16.

Thursday, January 17 you'll have a chance to catch the Duplass brothers' hilarious-yet-poignant Puffy Chair (their new film, Baghead, will be reviewed as part of our Sundance coverage this year), and Saturday, January 20 has Half Nelson (directed by Ryan Fleck, starring Ryan Gosling in a breakout role as a crackhead middle school teacher). There are some really good films showing all month long. Seriously, especially if you live in a city without a lot of access to indie film, this is your chance to catch up on a TON of great indie fare, for free.

The films above are just a smattering of the awesome lineup. You'll find the full schedule over at the Sundance Channel website, so make sure to mark your calendar for the ones you don't want to miss.

The Duplass brothers' feature The Puffy Chair, which first screened at Sundance in 2005, is finally seeing theatrical release. Our own Karina Longworth saw this movie last fall in Chicago and I caught it at SXSW 2005, where it won an audience award. The road-trip/relationship movie will have one more film festival showing this month in Seattle before it officially hits arthouse theaters on June 2.

To promote The Puffy Chair, Jay and Mark Duplass are returning to their former home of Austin on the eve of the film's theatrical run. On May 31, Screen Door Film is hosting a special screening of the film at St. Edward's University, followed by a discussion with the brothers about the indie filmmaking process. Two days later, Jay Duplass will attend a special opening-night premiere of the film at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, with an afterparty and possibly some surprise touches (like actual puffy chairs in the lobby ... but hopefully not actual bickering couples). Jay Duplass will stay in town for another day or two to hold Q&As after select screenings, while his brother Mark (who stars in the film) will be promoting the film in Portland. Meanwhile, the filmmakers have set up a MySpace page to help create more buzz about the film. Roadside Attractions and Netflix partnered to distribute the movie, so the way this release is received will be quite interesting to track in terms of Netflix's distribution future.

Let's see: a Richard Linklater double-feature, Pee-Wee Herman at midnight, a Black History Month film series, and an animated comedy about the Mansons, all in the same week. Yep. Must be Austin.

Speaking of Linklater, Filmmaker has a good interview with the director about A Scanner Darkly. It's going to be hard to wait until July.

• Live Freaky! Die Freaky! is an animated musical comedy film about the Manson—excuse me, the Hanson— family and their crime spree. Doesn't that sound charming? The voice talent includes members of Green Day, Asia Argento, Kelly Osbourne, and Jane Wiedlin (I loved you in Clue, Jane). Alamo Drafthouse Village is showing this controversial film at midnight on Friday and Saturday, 1/27-28. Austin Chronicle has an interview with director John Roecker in this week's issue.
• Lunafest, a mini-festival of eight short films by and about women, will screen at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown on Sunday 1/29. Suju Vijayan, who directed the short Blessing, will be in attendance.

The last deal of Sundance 2005 was announced the day we got to Park City for Sundance 2006. After a year-long tour of festivals worldwide, Mark and Jay Duplass have scored a deal with Roadside Attractions and Netflix to release their relationship comedy,The Puffy Chair. As I understand it, the deal is for both theatrical and DVD distribution, though not, as some are reporting simultaneously. Roadside plans to put the film in theaters next summer with both their logo and Netflix' on the print. Netflix will promote the release through their channels, but when the theatrical window closes and DVD distriubution begins, they'll not hold on to exclusive rights.

It's a pretty traditional deal, by the looks of it, which is sort of disappointing – the film is a cult classic waiting to be discovered, and seems like the perfect candidate for a Cuban-esque simultaneous release.