Sundance Film Festival line-up

The News

The Sundance Film Festival has listed the 64 films that will compete for awards at the 2010 edition of America’s premier event for independent films, the first since the departure of perennial artistic director Geoff Gilmore.

Behind the News

Backed by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in Utah, Sundance has long been a launch pad for first-time filmmakers and some of the best low-budget movies shown in art houses, including current Oscar hopeful Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire . A complete list of out-of-competition films will follow after the break and can also be found on the festival’s website. The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah, from Jan. 21 to 31.

PREMIERES

Abel : Mexico

Director: Diego Luna; Screenwriters: Diego Luna and Agusto Mendoza. A peculiar young boy, blurring reality and fantasy, assumes the responsibilities of a family man in his father’s absence. Cast: José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi, Carlos Aragon, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza. World Premiere

Cane Toads: The Conquest: USA

Director and screenwriter: Mark Lewis. In 3D, Mark Lewis explores one of Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent. World Premiere

The Company Men: USA

Director: John Wells. Three company men attempt to survive a round of corporate downsizing while trying to fend off its affects on their families and their identities. Cast: Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Rosemarie DeWitt. World Premiere

The Extra Man: USA

Directors: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini; Screenwriters: Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames and Shari Springer Berman. A down-and-out playwright who escorts wealthy widows in Manhattan’s Upper East Side takes a young aspiring writer under his wing. Cast: Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, Paul Dano, Kevin Kline, Alicia Goranson. World Premiere

Get Low: USA

Director: Aaron Schneider; Screenwriters: Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell. A film spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about a mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit plans his own rollicking funeral party… while still alive. Cast: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray. U.S. Premiere SALT LAKE CITY GALA FILM

Jack Goes Boating: USA

Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Screenwriter: Bob Glaudini. A limo driver’s blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples. Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tom McCarthy. World Premiere.

The Killer Inside Me: USA

Director: Michael Winterbottom; Screenwriter: John Curran. Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texan town; patient, polite and well liked, until he starts killing people. Cast: Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Simon Baker, Elias Koteas. World Premiere.

Nowhere Boy/UK

Director: Sam Taylor Wood; Screenwriters: Julia Baird and Matt Greenhalgh. A teenage John Lennon confronts wrenching family secrets and finds his musical voice in late 1950s Liverpool. Cast: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Thomas Sangster, Anne-Marie Duff, David Morrissey. International Premiere

Please Give: USA

Director and screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener. In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives next door. Cast: Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Sarah Steele. World Premiere.

The Runaways: USA

Director and screenwriter: Floria Sigismondi. In 1970s LA, a tough teenager named Joan Jett connects with an eccentric producer to form an all-girl band that would launch her career and make rock history. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O’Neal. World Premiere.

Shock Doctrine: USA

Directors: Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross. Based on the book by award-winning journalist Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine exposes how shock is used to implement economic policy in vulnerable environments. North American Premiere.

Sympathy for Delicious: USA

Director: Mark Ruffalo. A paralyzed DJ seeks out the world of faith healing. Cast: Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney. World Premiere.

Twelve: USA

Director: Joel Schumacher; Screenwriter: Jordan Melamed. A chronicle of the highs and lows of privileged kids on Manhattan’s Upper East Side involving sex, drugs and murder. Cast: Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, 50 Cent, Zoë Kravitz. World Premiere (Closing Night).

Welcome to the Rileys: USA

Director: Jake Scott. A damaged man seeks salvation by caring for a wayward woman. Cast: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo.

NEXT ()

A new section composed of eight American films selected for their innovative and original work in low- (and no-) budget filmmaking.

Armless

Director: Habib Azar; Screenwriter: Kyle Jarrow. In this off-kilter comedy, a woman comes to terms with her husband’s strange secret. Cast: Daniel London, Janel Moloney, Keith Powell, Laurie Kennedy, Matt Walton. World Premiere.

Bass Ackwards

Director and screenwriter: Linas Phillips. After ending a disastrous affair with a married woman, a man embarks on a lyrical, strange and comedic cross-country journey in a modified VW bus. Cast: Linas Philips, Davie-Blue, Jim Fletcher, Paul Lazar. World Premiere.

Bilal’s Stand

Director and screenwriter: Sultan Sharrief. Bilal, a Muslim high school senior in Detroit juggles his dysfunctional family, their taxi-stand, and an ice carving contest in his secret attempt to land a college scholarship. Cast: Julian Gant. World Premiere.

The Freebie

Director and screenwriter: Katie Aselton. A young married couple decides to give each other one night with someone else. Cast: Dax Shepard, Katie Aselton. World Premiere.

Homewrecker

Director: Todd Barnes and Brad Barnes; Screenwriters: Todd Barnes, Brad Barnes, Sophie Goodhart. The last romantic in New York City is an ex-con locksmith on work release. Cast: Ana Reeder, Anslem Richardson, Stephen Rannazzisi. World Premiere.

New Low
Director: Adam Bowers. A neurotic twenty-something struggles to figure out which girl he really belongs with: the best one he’s ever known, or the worst. Cast: Adam Bowers, Jayme Ratzer, Toby Turner, Valerie Jones. World Premiere.

One Too Many Mornings

Director: Michael Mohan; Screenwriters: Anthony Deptula, Michael Mohan, Stephen Hale) Two damaged young men recover their high school friendship by awkwardly revealing to each other just how messed up they’ve become. Cast: Anthony Deptula, Stephen Hale, Tina Kapousis. World Premiere.

The Taqwacores
Director: Eyad Zahra; Screenwriter: Michael Muhammad Knight. When a Pakistani-Muslim engineering student moves into a house with punk Muslims of all stripes in Buffalo, New York, his ideologies are challenged to the core. Cast: Noureen DeWulf, Dominic Rains, Rasika Mathur, Tony Yalda, Anne Marie Leighton. World Premiere

SPOTLIGHT

New for 2010, the Spotlight section is a tribute to the cinema we love. Regardless of where these impressive films have played throughout the world, the Sundance Film Festival is thrilled to light a marquee for them. Narrative films screening in the Festival’s Spotlight are:

Bran Nue Dae: Australia

Director: Rachel Perkins; Screenwriters: Reg Cribb, Rachel Perkins and Jimmy Chi. In the summer of 1965, a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome – fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. Cast: Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo. U.S. Premiere.

Daddy Longlegs: USA

Directors and Screenwriters: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie. A swan song to excuses and responsibilities, to fatherhood and self-created experiences, and to what it’s like to be truly torn between being a child and being an adult. Cast: Ronald North American Premiere.

Enter the Void: France

Director and Screenwriter: Gaspar Noé. A drug-dealing teen is killed in Japan, after which he reappears as a ghost to watch over his sister. Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Emily Alyn Lind, Jesse Kuhn. U.S. Premiere.

I Am Love (Io Sono L’amore): Italy

Director and Screenwriter: Luca Guadagnino). A tragic love story set at the turn of the millennium in Milan. Cast: Tilda Swinton, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Pippo Delbono, Alba Rohrwacher, Marisa Berenson. U.S. Premiere.

Louis C.K.: Hilarious: USA

Director: Louis C.K. Sharp-tongued comedian Louis CK pulls no punches in this visceral concert experience. World Premiere.

Lourdes: Austria/France/Germany

Director and Screenwriter: Jessica Hausner. A woman in a wheelchair travels to Lourdes in an attempt to escape her isolation. Cast: Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Bruno Todeschini, Gilette Barbier, Gerhard Liebmann, Irma Wagner. U.S. Premiere.

Mother & Child: USA/Spain

Director and Screenwriter: Rodrigo García. The lives of three women – a physical therapist, the daughter she gave up at birth three decades ago, and an African American woman seeking to adopt a child of her own intersect in surprising ways. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Naomi Watts, David Morse, Annette Bening, Amy Brenneman U.S. Premiere.

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