DAY January 21–30, 2005 • Printed On Recycled Paper • Available At Festival • Sunday, January 23, 2005 3 FREE

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H L H L H L Fred Hayes/Wireimage.com Fred 40 26 41 28 41 30

SCHEDULE UPDATES Each year the Festival attracts over 35,000 people. If you were in Park City yesterday, you might The following changes occured after the have thought each one of them Film Guide was printed: was driving. Take the shuttle! THURSDAY, JANUARY 27 Screening Change: Joy of Life replaces Tropic of Cancer 6:15 pm Finding Poetry in Confl ict Holiday Village Cinemas 3 { BY CLAIBORNE SMITH, STAFF WRITER } SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 Screening Change: Duane Hopwood replaces Kekexili affecting an individual, affecting a family, af- 6:00 pm An American accustomed to watch- fecting a village. There’s tremendous human- Trolley Theatre A ing the nightly network news could be ity in the work we’re seeing, even though forgiven for thinking that the war in Iraq is it’s dealing with something very harsh and by now a routinized engagement and not devastating.” Screening Change: Mitchellville replaces Live-in Maid the viciously uncertain confl ict that it is. 9:00 pm Reports of seven dead soldiers appear one It may seem obvious that human stories are day, fi ve the next, nine the day after that. the ones that end up at the Festival – those Trolley Theatre A It is a slow and unnerving trickle of death, kinds of movies, and not academic ones, but through the television, at least, the tend to be the ones we want to see – but the Screening Change: news from Iraq now has a humdrum qual- fi lmmakers at this year’s Festival who depict Swimmers replaces Grizzly Man ity to it. War, prolonged confl ict, occupa- war, occupation and prolonged confl ict 9:45 pm tion: America is now entangled in all three, have done everything they can to avoid ap- Broadway Centre Cinemas 5 but American news broadcasts can feel proaching those topics in a direct, stentorian removed and reassuring — as if war were manner. El Inmortal. waged by correspondents standing there INFO BOOTH in the sand with a microphone. British fi lmmaker Sean McAllister’s inroad to covering occupied Iraq arrived via the How to Wait List The war documentaries at Sundance this inscrutable logic of chance. Six months Hussein, and she adamantly disagrees Show up at a screening one hour before year, which are screening in the World after the fall of Saddam Hussein, McAl- with her father, an unabashed admirer of it begins to purchase one of the num- Documentary Competition, are a bracing lister (Working for the Enemy) decided that America in a place where being tagged as bered cards that is distributed on a fi rst- antidote to all that nightly cage rattling it might be useful to go to Hotel Baghdad, a Western collaborator invites death. There come, fi rst-serve basis. Each person can from the broadcast networks. Even calling amid the grenades and rocket launchers. “I is a world of commentary, as well as hu- receive two cards. Thirty minutes before them “war documentaries” seems odd: wanted to make a fi lm about what libera- man interest, in the impatient sighs of their the screening begins, any available tickets They do not feature archival footage from tion meant for ordinary Iraqis,” McAllister arguments. will be sold for cash only, based on card the wars they depict, and they do not edu- explains at the beginning of The Liberace number. Holding a card does not guaran- cate their audiences about the chronology of Baghdad. He was then “led astray,” as he “In the evenings I’d sit and have a drink,” tee a ticket and if seats are not available, or the battles of the wars they cover. says in the fi lm, by Samir Peter, a passion- McAllister said of the hotel where Peter wait list refunds are given immediately at ate, open-hearted Iraqi concert pianist who, had a room in the basement and would the theatres. All of them, though, are told from deep in his heyday, earned $10,000 a month from occasionally perform. “The tendency is within confl icts, in indelibly personal and his performances. for these people just to appear,” he said. idiosyncratic ways. It is not so surprising “That’s what I’ve learned. Instead of going that they are all made by European fi lm- The viewer immediately senses that McAllis- out to Falluja to fi nd a story, it’s right there, makers. Why We Fight by the American ter’s hunch to follow Peter rather than pursue really.” fi lmmaker Eugene Jarecki is a cogent anal- his earlier, more sociological notion is the 02 Stalking... ysis of war, but its topic is the American richer path. McAllister stumbled upon a tell- While Peter seemed to emerge from no- military-industrial complex. American wars ing family drama: Peter’s daughter supports where and, with the force of his personal- 03 Culture Wars Panel tend to happen far from American soil, and it seems natural that American documen- CONTINUED ON PAGE { 4 } 05 Romantico taries about war tend to be analytical. The idea that a documentary about war could 07 Q&A be poetic, incantatory, elliptical, unfl inch- ingly grim, or blatantly refuse to entertain 07 From the Street has not yet fl ourished in America. 10 Music Café “We received a lot of work that focused on confl ict and the aftermath of war, but not 12 Flotsam/Jetsam from the United States,” said DianeWeyer- man, Director of the Sundance Documen- 13 Seen & Overheard tary Program. The fi lms selected for this year’s Festival that cover confl ict are “very 14 The List human,” she commented. “They’re not Liberace of Baghdad. Wall. didactic; they’re about war and confl ict 2 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

Stalking... Shelby Knox, documentary subject

Each day The Daily Insider tracks a different person 4:15 am: The butterflies must find tea invigorating through the Festival. Today’s column was contrib- because they are flapping harder than before. I give uted by the dynamic young woman whose story is up. I am definitely awake now. I am going to go get documented in The Education of Shelby Knox. in the shower and try to calm down. I have never been so excited or nervous in my life. 2:58 am: I just woke up and ran to my suitcase to check that my black sweater is indeed tucked safely 5:45 am: I can’t get my suitcase closed. I have way inside. I am not sure why I thought it wasn’t, but too much stuff. I just don’t know what I’ll want to maybe I can sleep now. wear.

3:24 am: Now I am boiling water for some tea in 7:45 am: On board the plane now, still shaking with hopes of calming the butterflies in my stomach and excitement. I can’t believe I am finally leaving. I am salvaging any hope of sleep before my alarm goes headed to the Sundance Film Festival. I keep think- off at 5:00 am. ing things like “this don’t happen to little girls from Lubbock, Texas.” I am so lucky, so grateful and so Shelby Knox. excited.

11:00 am: I am in the air somewhere over Utah. The snowcapped mountains are beautiful. I’ve never seen so much snow. I am getting antsy and restless. I am so ready to be in Park City. I have redone my makeup, again. I want to look semihu- man when the Sundance Channel crew picks me up at the Salt Lake City airport.

11:36 am: Just landed, in the fog! It was really scary and really interesting landing. I am so ex- cited to finally be here. I have been waiting since November. The Sundance Channel crew picked me up, and now we are driving to Park City to meet the filmmakers, Marion and Rose, at the condo.

12:14 pm: It’s so fun to see Marion and Rose, and to see all this amazing snow. There are so many people in this condo and they all are going in dif- ferent directions at the same time. Rose and I are going to go swimming to escape all this craziness.

2:15 pm: We miss the pool hours. Now we’re heading over to headquarters so I can meet our publicist, Susan Norget. She gave me an update and schedule.

4:00 pm: I went to get a MAC makeover. It was so amazing. I got false eyelashes! I look older, I think. I hope I look like myself for the premiere!

5:55 pm: My screening starts in two minutes and we’re stuck in traffic.

6:19 pm: Arrive at the screening only to be ush- ered into a corner, so no one knows I am here. Problem is, there is a film crew following me and a guy trying to take my picture. I am shown to my seat after the theater is dark.

8:00 pm: I absolutely loved the film. I’ve seen a rough cut, but this is the first time I’ve seen the finished film. I am proud to be part of such a won- derful project. The Q & A is amazing. I love con- necting with an audience that just saw my film. I can’t wait to see what other audiences think.

10:30 pm: At some restaurant, trying not to fall asleep in my salad. It feels an hour later than it is to me, and I have been awake a long time. These people came up to me and said they had seen the film and had been watching me all through dinner. They wanted my autograph! I was very nice and signed their notebooks, but inside I was wondering why they would want the autograph of a teenage girl from Texas. Maybe this is all bigger than I thought. Whatever it is, I love it and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Shelby Knox is currently a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in political science. Her birthday is the same as Bill Clinton’s. 3 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

Are We at War With Ourselves?

{ BY ANDY BAILEY, STAFF WRITER }

The Sundance Film Festival on Saturday afternoon civil rights, new distribution channels for documentary union in Vermont with his companion of twelve years, launched the first of several panels scheduled this films and the eternal struggle for access to funding for surprised the audience by agreeing with Turk’s claim, week at the Yarrow Hotel Theatre exploring issues independent filmmakers. adding that he has not noticed any reductions in his pertaining to filmmaking and its impact on society. civil rights despite so much chatter from the Left indi- As introduced by Festival programmer Caroline Kaplan kicked off his argument with remarks made cating otherwise. “I feel perfectly fine and freer than I Libresco, The Culture Wars delved into the aftermath during President George W. Bush’s recent inauguration did when I was in my 20’s, when you were more free of last year’s presidential election, positing a gen- and questioned the President’s insistence that Ameri- to denigrate homosexuals,” Roos said, adding that he eral inquiry into how culture informs moral values cans are experiencing more personal freedoms right would still not patronize the states that would have in this country in the wake of an election that was now than at any other time in history. Turk, the lone denied him the right to marry his significant other. supposedly won on moral values. conservative panelist responded, “The state of civil liberties has been perfectly fine under Bush, consider- Later, after it was revealed by Podesta that the popular Marty Kaplan, associate dean of the Annenberg ing the aftermath of 9/11,” prompting vocal disagree- ABC series Desperate Housewives is just as popular School of Communications at the University of Cali- ment from some members of the audience. among so-called red states and blue states, the Los fornia and a former motion picture and television Angeles-based Roos proclaimed that all Americans producer, moderated a panel that included writer-di- Roos, who is openly gay and recently obtained a civil were sexual hypocrites. “It’s a very human thing,” rector Don Roos, whose current feature Happy End- ings opened this year’s Festival; best-selling novel- CONTINUED ON PAGE { 4 } ist Walter Mosley; musician and filmmaker Michael Franti; Byron Turk, the White House Correspondent for the National Review as well as the author of The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy; Hamburg Cell director Antonia Bird, a last-minute replacement for Killer Films producer Christine Vachon; and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, who is currently the director of the Center for American Wilshire Progress, a nonpartisan research and educational institute promoting civil liberties that co-sponsored the event. Screening Room The conversation opened with Kaplan’s insistence that the so-called cultural wars that have come to divide the country into red and blue factions are, in fact, wars that have existed for some time. “There An Official Provider for the are old themes, in our country and in all of thinking about society,” Kaplan said. “When we talk about 2005 Sundance Film Festival these wars, there are deep roots sunk.” Subjects examined during the 90-minute panel included such wildly diverse topics as F.C.C. censorship, the suc- cess of the African-American publishing industry, Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, same sex Dolby Digital with Surround-EX & E HD Digital Projection / 6-trk mag Plush / 6 feet between rows

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Staff Writers ANDY BAILEY Michael S. Hall, President ANN LEWINSON Cell (310) 701-8925 Phone (310) 659-3875 ANDREA MEYER 8670 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 112 CLAIBORNE SMITH Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Contributors JEFF HANSON BOB MOCZYDLOWSKY MIKE PLANTE Art Gallery and Reception Room ELIZABETH RICHARDSON

Photography generously provided by WireImage, the Official Photography Provider of the 2005 Sundance Film Fes- tival www.StudioScreenings.com

Volume 2, Issue 3 Official Press, Programmer and Jury screening Printed daily on recycled paper room for the 2005 IFP/LA Film Festival 4 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

CULTURE, CONTINUED FROM PAGE { 1 } ity, usurp McAllister’s original plans, being taken over by want to watch. But poetic documentaries, like other three sad sections (“longing,” “breathing” and “remem- a subject (or subjects) is precisely what Simone Bitton movies, can entertain. Mercedes Moncada Rodríquez bering”), and in each one Honkasalo portrays, with very had in mind when she began shooting Wall, her search- has learned that lesson well, but that may be because little dialogue, the ways in which confl ict works itself ing and spare examination of the Israeli construction of she doesn’t think of herself as a poetic documentary into daily life: a child playing in a gas mask even though a gargantuan and extended wall between its own nation fi lmmaker. El Inmortal, her incantatory and haunting por- there’s no evident war going on around him; a boy who’s and Palestinian territory. trait of a rural Nicaraguan family still reeling from that shunned at the Kronstadt Cadet Academy because the country’s civil war in the early 80s, reveals itself in ellipti- other boys think he’s Chechen. But the scenes that have The Israeli-Palestinian confl ict may be the most well-re- cal layers of increasing tension. After interviewing scores the power to make viewers shuffl e and cringe in their corded confl ict in modern history, but for many people, it of families in rural Nicaragua, Rodríquez found a family seats involve a group of young siblings who are taken is far from clear what either side demands from the other, whose siblings were forced to fi ght against one another from their mother because she is too sick to take care of or hopes to attain. “People see it on the media every day, in war. “So when I shot at someone, I would say, ‘Please them. They are very young, but they all seem to sense every night,” said Bitton, who has made more than 15 Lord, let my bullets never hit anyone in my family,’” one that they will probably never see their mother again. fi lms about the Middle East and North Africa. “They all of the daughters says. “That is what I would say, but I say, ‘We don’t understand anymore.’” The issue is com- had to defend myself.” Coming across the corpses of That particular drama – the kind that makes you want plex, “there’s no real explanation; the media makes things enemy soldiers on the battlefi eld, she would turn them to look away it’s so painful – can easily cross over into more complicated than they are,” Bitton said around if she couldn’t see their faces – that way she maudlin territory, but Honkasalo’s patient eye follows the could determine if one of them was her brother. children beyond that moment of crisis into the more set- So Bitton, an Israeli and French citizen who also speaks tled life that ensues. They were taken from their mother Arabic, decided to construct a document that would pro- Grim stuff, but El Inmortal is a visual wonder: Rodríquez, by a woman named Hadizhat, who “collects children” vide ruthless clarity on the matter. One of her techniques who lives in Madrid but grew up in Nicaragua, captures and gives them new homes. She is the quiet mover of while fi lming the land around the wall was to leave the the death rattle of a just-slaughtered pig, but rather than this fi lm, never interviewed or explained, although her camera and microphone on in long, long takes. People display the carnage, her camera sticks tight to the bloody work and her personality are gripping. Partly because of would approach the crew out of curiosity. “Oh, you’re knife the pig’s killer dangles eerily above its head. A its refusal to over-analyze what it depicts, The 3 Rooms fi lming the fence,” they would say. “What do you think strange and ominous bus named El Inmortal appears in of Melancholia has the power to leave a viewer quite about it?” the fi lmmaker would ask. And then the people odd spots in the village, and appears to call forth mala literally speechless. would begin talking about themselves and their own per- suerte, more insidious than mere “bad luck,” its English ceptions of the stark edifi ce before them. In many cases, translation. It almost goes without saying that “these are not fi lms Bitton decided not to fi lm their faces. Instead, she lets that will likely have a huge commercial potential,” as them talk. “They think about the wall and they meditate But do not call Rodríquez a poet. “I don’t think my inten- Weyerman pointed out. That may be the grim reality, about it with the spectator,” she pointed out. “It’s the truth tion is poetic; my intention is cinematic,” she said. “The all the more grim because all of the war documentaries of the shoot. It’s not an edited manipulation.” way I try to make a fi lm is to keep in the abstractions,” at the Festival this year manage to express something she said. “In some cases, if you are only fi lming the universal through the details of their subjects’ lives, and Bitton’s stylized take on the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict reality and talking heads, that’s very limited. I am talking deserve large audiences. does not feature any stock footage of the war, and its only with real people, and I have a responsibility to the things talking-head interview is left wholly intact, interspersed they are saying to me, but I can’t clearly separate the line But Weyerman thinks the future is positive for documen- throughout the fi lm in long, eerie takes. There is a spare between fi ction and documentary.” taries like these whose style may seem so foreign to poetry to it. “A poetic aesthetic has existed for a very long Americans. “Distributors are taking a chance on docs in time in documentary in certain parts of Europe,”Weyer- If there is one war documentary at the Festival this year general that are not commercial, but will appeal to a lim- man said. “But it hasn’t been exposed in this country that that is emblematic of a “European” sensibility, it is ited audience and are more artistic,” she said. “It would much.” Finnish fi lmmaker Pirjo Honkasalo’s The 3 Rooms of Mel- not be unlike many feature fi lms that are not going to ancholia, an unreservedly bleak, and affecting, portrait reach a large audience, but will reach a smaller, target To say that a fi lm is “poetic” makes it sound like it is of the children caught in the confl ict between Russia and audience. With the theatrical marketplace opening up, something you should watch rather than something you Chechnya. The three “rooms” of the title are the fi lm’s there is room for these kinds of fi lms.”

WAR, CONTINUED FROM PAGE { 3 }

chise those without access to power. “I’m not a fan of ShouldYou Be Taking Roos said. “We like to watch Desperate Housewives but if capitalism,” Bird said. “I don’t think it works and I’d like you quizzed us about it the next day, we’d say we object. Your Film Business to see it ended.” She also spoke out against the small We’re always at war with ourselves.” To New Mexico? number of media organizations who hold the power to determine what audiences can and cannot see. Mosley One of the more thoughtful questions that surfaced dur- Find out why it may not agreed with Bird, “There’s such a small group of people ing the panel was whether the majority of the country be such a great idea at who make those decisions that those decisions start to was more tolerant and open-minded than the current [resemble] a caste [system],” he said. www.hsus.org/ political climate would lead to believe. Could this percep- New_Mexico_cockfighting tion be more of an issue of grandstanding politicians Other topics addressed included the recent attack on trying to push a conservative agenda? In response to the Promoting the popular children’s cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants the protection ratings success of Desperate Housewives, Podesta indi- of all animals by the conservative Focus on the Family leader James cated that the so-called red states hardly seem offended Dobson, who claimed that the television series support- by the prime-time hit. “People aren’t exactly rising up and ed a pro-homosexual lifestyle rooted in personal choice demanding change,” he said of the program. and encouraged the idea of tolerance for other sexual identities. Amid laughter from the audience, Podesta Bird, a native Britain who holds a green card that permits reminded his fellow panelists that sponges do not have her to work in the United States, criticized the Ameri- even sexes and therefore could not be held accountable can media and the way it covers world events before to Dobson’s assertions. condemning capitalism and its tendency to disenfran-

Sundance Institute Presi- dent and Founder Robert Redford welcomed fi lmmakers and other guests to Sundance Village for the traditional fi lmmaker’s brunch yes- terday, emphasizing that Sundance is fi rst and foremost a fi lmmaker’s festival. On a Clear Day director Gabby Dellal, Juror Jehane Noujaim, and Sundance Docu- mentary Program Direc- Required Viewing tor Diane Weyermann Film Sales and Marketing were among those who 48 Perry Street suite 3E NY, NY 10019, (917) 287-1679 escaped the hustle and email: [email protected] bustle of Park City to attend the event. 5 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

BACK STORY Romántico

{ BY CLAIRBORNE SMITH, STAFF WRITER }

Like the Mexican mariachi singers in his docu- musical partner; in Mexico, he began “belting it out,” But that’s almost an accident; by the time he got to mentary Romántico, director Mark Becker (Jules at as Becker said. “There was something very moving Mexico, Becker knew that overt commentary about Eight) used to walk the streets of San Francisco’s about the beauty of having a revelation about Car- immigration was not what he was after. “When my Mission District. He would approach the mariachis, melo. Instead of having that be a voice-over, I let the film is working at its best,” he said, “it’s about Carmelo introduce himself, chat with them, and ask them viewer see it. I tried to make the whole film a series of striving to find peace and happiness.” if they would mind answering a few questions for revelations about Carmelo.” a short, character-based documentary he wanted to make about mariachis in the Mission District. Those revelations are small, specific, compelling, Becker, who co-edited The Lost Boys of Sudan, charming, and sometimes sad. “There’s no enormous wanted to comment on “the nature of how people drama in the film where something’s happening and risk their lives to come to the United States. And the you want to know what’s going to happen. Will they U.S. in so many ways encourages and also tries to live? Will they win the big basketball game?” Becker prevent it.” pointed out. The bittersweet little details of Carmelo’s life are, in fact, indicative of the confused immigra- tion policy between the United States and Mexico.

Carmelo Muñiz Sanchez.

Potential subjects were not difficult to spot —His- panic men loaded down with guitars; Hispanic men peering into restaurant windows to see if their services were needed; Hispanic men who may not have spoken a word of English. But pinpointing one trusting and engaging subject who would talk about his illegal status remained, for a time, elusive. “If I put myself in their shoes, it seems like it might be pretty random for them when I approached them,” Becker said. “I’m always a little shy about it.”

And then one afternoon, Becker came across Carmelo Muñiz Sanchez, a genial and earnest 57- year-old man who revealed to him that he had been waiting to tell his life story for some time. “I hope I don’t disappoint him,” Becker thought, because the filmmaker wanted to depict the ways in which U.S. immigration policy had fomented an “amaz- ing bachelor culture” of mariachis that Sanchez was only one member of — a group of men “all living together sort of like surrogate families.”

But personality quickly trumped any overt discus- sion of immigration policy in Becker’s formulation of his documentary. “It was definitely Sanchez’s openness that was the catalyst for the film being about him,” Becker said. And there were the “little surprises” Sanchez kept throwing Becker’s way: Sanchez disclosed that he had been cursed at one time, and used to think he was an awful father and husband. Even though he felt supremely in charge of his own destiny, he bathed in garlic water, just like the spiritual curandera adviser told him. San- chez —uneducated and wanting to carve out only a tiny niche in the world for himself — was becoming a poetically complex man.

Five days after Becker started shooting, Sanchez announced that he was going back to Mexico, torn between the good money he could make in the U.S. and his regret at being an absentee father and hus- band. Sanchez’s decision ruined Becker’s notion that Romántico would be “a film that was going to hold Mexico at bay” and changed it “to one that very much lets you experience Mexico.”

“I knew that I wanted to follow him, but I didn’t

have the money,” Becker recalled.Two months later, Chase/Wireimage.com Clayton after raising more funds, Becker watched as Sanchez revealed more aspects of himself in Salvatierra, his little hometown in the state of Guanajuato. In San Francisco, Sanchez was always la segunda voz, the back-up singer, when performing with Arturo, his 6 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

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Q&A FROM THE STREET The Talent Given Us { BY ANDREA MEYER, STAFF } Question: If you could meet one person at the festival, who would it be? Why? What would you { BY ANN LEWINSON, STAFF WRITER } say to them?

Judy and Allen Wagner’s quiet Upper West Side life of crossword puzzles and Zabar’s turns upside down when, during a contentious trip with daughters Emily and Maggie to their beach house, Judy suddenly decides they will drive cross-country to see their son Andrew. But wait, isn’t he the man behind the camera? In his fi rst feature, Andrew Wagner used the talent given him, casting his family and friends, actors Judy Dixon and Billy Wirth, in a road movie in which the Wagners are forced to confront their strained marriage and two very neurotic daughters. At an audience Q&A after the premiere of The Talent Given Us, Andrew Wagner and his cast spoke about the challenges of making the ultimate

home movie. Meyer Andrea by Photos

Q: How much was improvisation and how much was Andrew Wagner directing All the Talent Given Us. written? Doug Sadler, Director, Swimmers: Andrew Wagner: This is a scripted narrative. That being said, “Steve Buscemi and I would say, ‘Buy me a pint.’ there were moments when we certainly made discoveries. Emily Wagner: It wasn’t for me because I just think it’s fun. He would be a good guy to drink a pint with.” Particularly with my mom and dad, who are non-actors I really enjoy going to those places. The more weird and — whereas my sisters and Bumby [Judy Dixon] and Billy scary and challenging and uncomfortable, I think as actors are actors — I wanted to let them have some latitude in you kind of get more out of it. fi nding their way in the scenes. So rather than having my dad fi xated on the script, if he needed to fi nd some word for Maggie Wagner: For me it was just fun to be me in a movie. something, it was certainly okay. But from start to fi nish it’s I guess I’m kind of interesting, now that I watch myself. I a script. guess we all are — more than we really thought. It was fun just to be who you really are. You don’t really get that Q: How long did it take you to convince your parents to chance when you’re an actress —you’re playing parts, do this? you’re bringing yourself to the role, but you’re not really yourself. Andrew Wagner: The better part of three to four months. I think they said “no” about six different times. My mom’s Andrew Wagner: You are very interesting. I’ve always fi rst answer was, “Who wants to look at my fat face?” felt that.

Q: How was it directing your family?

Andrew Wagner: It is amazing because in the last 12 hours Chris Thrasher, Publicist, Billy's Dad is a of being here together, I have wondered how we did this Fudge-packer : “The lift ticket guy on the ski slopes. for 37 days. I can’t for the life of me imagine what was hap- ‘How ya doin'? Nice to get away from the festival for pening inside of me that drove me to pull this all together a change.’” and stay with it, but that’s with refl ection and time. In the making of it, it was a really dynamic and vital experience. Had I made this 10 years ago, I probably would have been much more blinded by all the emotional and psychologi- cal ties that we all have in the family, but at the ripe age of 41 – well, 40 when I was making this – I stepped back a bit and really treated it as a story. So it didn’t take long for me directorially to fi nd that observational posture and just see where this story would bring us — toward intimacy and exposure and possibly some revelation — and to that end I can only say that the actors just availed themselves in the most surprising and complete way. My mother, her style is to get hysterical about things before she does them but then just go totally into them, and from the moment we started shooting she had her script out and was memoriz- ing her lines and was very concerned about continuity and wardrobe. With my father I had some suspicion that Allen, Judy and Emily Wagner. if he could just forget that the camera was there, he might portray some of that beautiful and heartbreaking life force Rebecca Sekulich, event director, Queer and affl iction. It was just like life for him. And my sisters, Lounge: “Nicole Kidman, she’s the most beautiful Q: How much of it is autobiographical? they’re just pros, love to work, ready to just get busy and be person I’ve ever seen in my whole life. She’s amaz- involved in something creative and artistic. And of course ing. I’d say that she should come visit us, because Andrew Wagner: It draws heavily from an emotional and Bumby and Billy, I’ve worked with these guys for years, and she embraces the community.” a historical truth. Defi nitely for me it was genre-bending. they’re just always ready and always 100% there. Without a doubt, coming out of the gate our intention was to make a fi lm, and for it to survive as a creative work, but Q: Were there other fi lmmakers whom you looked to for in no uncertain terms it was very important to me that we inspiration? really try to be as vulnerable as possible to bring reality to that story. Andrew Wagner: When it came to using my family, no, I can’t say I looked to anyone for that — that came from Q: How come you’re not in the movie? pure desperation. You’re 40 years old and teaching public school — great kids, I love them — and I just could not Andrew Wagner: I did peek in at the end of the fi lm. I have a fi nd the door into my career. I’ve been at this for 20 years. mild confession of sorts — there was a smaller scene where There were certain circumstances that led me to this story, I tried a little bit to participate in the story, but I’m better but what came after that was, “My God, I have to use my behind the camera. And ultimately it’s not about me. I hope parents!” I fought that off for months until it proved irresist- it doesn’t seem like I’m taking potshots at anyone. In the ible, in spite of the warnings from all my friends. The second event that it seems that way, I have my ex-girlfriend bring- part of the answer is about my professional heroes, and ing me down a few notches. there’re so many, but I certainly look towards the fi lms of Mike Leigh and John Cassavetes in terms of their attention Q: Were some of the scenes you did diffi cult for your to the detail and intimacy, fi nding the extraordinary in the sisters, like talking about sex with your parents? Was it ordinary and celebrating small moments. I have a sneak- Germaine Lewis, aspiring actor and ever uncomfortable, or were you just in the mode of “I’m ing suspicion and hope that the aggregate of these small student: “I'd like to meet Mr. Robert Redford himself acting?” moments might lead to something that hopefully can make because he started it all. What would I say to him? you feel something. ‘Great job!’” 8 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005 9 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005 10 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

Music Café: Sunpants by Bob Moczydlowsky, Contributor

“Raz Mesinai, , and Pete Fitzpatrick are three be infl uenced by the musical processes of the program’s very different musical personalities and come together as accomplished creative advisors Osvaldo Golijov, Thomas performers in a unique way,” said Peter Golub, Director, Newman, and Bill Bernstein. Sundance Institute Film Music Program. “They each come from a different part of the present musical terrain, but each “Osvaldo Golijov is one of my favorite composers, so to has an uncanny ability to bring the narrative, storytelling work with him, and to take criticism from Thomas Newman element into their music.” after trying to score scenes from Road to Perdition, it was a great learning experience,” Mesinai said. “I’m a loner. That challenge—to sublimate individual expression in favor I work on my own. I never used to trust anyone with my of collaborative service to a director’s images and emo- ideas. But directors have to trust composers, and they are tions—is part of what attracted the three musicians to the going to let you know if it isn’t working. I understand that Composers Lab master class. That, and the opportunity to feeling, and learned that we musicians have a lot to learn

CONTINUED ON { 11 }

Pete Fitzpatrick.

It is not often that a band plays its fi rst-ever show in the Festival’s Music Café, especially with just a single rehearsal. But that is exactly what happens tonight when Gary Louris, Pete Fitzpatrick and Raz Mesinai—three of this year’s Film Music Program Composers Lab fellows— take the stage for a loose, experimental performance of each members’ songs and compositions. “It is going to be like what we were doing in the Lab, off the cuff,” said Louris when asked about the performance. “We may even, God forbid, just jam a bit. I don’t even know if I’m going to sing. We probably won’t have a set list.”

“The idea is to have a little show of how these three diverse guys can get together and make some beautiful harmony,” Fitzpatrick added. “We truly did infl uence each other during the Lab program. So we’re feeling some pressure to make music that represents the program. It’ll

Raz Mesinai (left) and Gary Louris.

be a party atmosphere. We want to get into some killer grooves, have fun, and ideally a few people will like it.”

But do not fret. These guys are not Johnny-come-lately indie rock darlings. Louris is a prodigiously gifted singer/ songwriter who helmed the pioneering alt-country band , enjoying a near 20-year run beginning with the rise of the No Depression scene and ending with the universally praised 2003 . He is also a founding member of the roots-rock super-group , loosely comprised of musicians from , , and The Replacements. Mesinai is a Middle Eastern-infl uenced composer, percussionist, and engineer who has released under the monikers Badawi and Sub Dub for John Zorn’s avant-garde label Tzadik. He also recently contributed to the score of direc- tor Mark Becker’s documentary Romantico, screening in the Festival’s American Documentary Competition. Fitz- patrick is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for the art pop outfit Clem Snide, and he also writes and records with his own band, The Pee Wee Fist. He recently added his signature bowed-banjo sound to the score of direc- tor Hank Rogerson’s Shakespeare Behind Bars (also screening in the American Documentary Competition), along with writing, directing, and scoring his own short film, Iris. 11 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

M U S I C C A F É , CONTINUED FROM { 1 0 } from directors. If we can let go of some ego and support what they’re doing, we can get a lot out of that process.” Sundance on Any Budget { BY ELIZABETH RICHARDSON, CONTRIBUTOR } For Louris, who found significant inspiration in the talents of the other fellows, the lab experience solidified his desire to work outside of a touring band’s constraints — hence, Sundance on 0 Dollars Sundance on Unlimited Dollars tonight’s adventurous and collaborative performance.

“When I was asked to perform at the Festival, I thought Lodging On the floor in the condos of The house where Greenlight put up we should exhibit the spirit of the lab,” Louris chuckled. “It push-over Sundance staff. J. Lo and Ben. was this intensive schooling — learning about the process, working with other lab — participants, and growing close to Transportation Trudging home at 3 am in Helicopter. them all. We learned to be a little more subservient, more frozen sneakers. of a complement to other ideas than our own self-centered expression, which can be hard for a songwriter, you know.” Dining Free party hors d’oeuvres Free party hors d’oeuvres and vodka. and vodka. Onstage tonight, Louris, Mesinai, and Fitzpatrick will at- tempt to “score” each other’s songs. Expect a dizzying array Pick-up Line Do you know where Naomi’s having a little get-together later. of sampled beats, electric banjo, guitar effects, and hand Albertson’s is? Want to come along? drumming. There will also be country-twinged vocal harmo- nies, an occasional electronic beep or blip, and a recurring Dayjob Selling popcorn at the ArcLight. Hollywood phony. Middle Eastern vibe. “We’re all contributing something, and we’re all ready to do some deconstructing,” Fitzpatrick said Role Model Sundance Directing Award winner. Whoever is currently top dog on with a laugh. EW’s A-List.

“We will sort of remix each other’s songs as we play live,” Accessory Jansport backpack (filled with Small dog wearing sheepskin coat. added Mesinai. “It’s going to be really diverse from one free energy bars). song to the next. We’ve never played together, and there will be only one day of rehearsing. It is really going to be Cell Phone Ring Tone Deathstar theme song. Can’t figure out how to change it. fun.” Gary Louris, Raz Mesinai, and Pete Fitzpatrick take up the wry new band name Sunpants for tonight’s 9:15 p.m. Favorite Sundance Venue Eccles (balcony). Eccles (lobby). performance at the Music Café. Festival Crush Volunteer distributing cute Festival Programmer with the Sunpants is playing tonight from 9:15 ro 10. Also scheduled headshots. disarming smile. are alaska!, Andy Tubman and The Jane Does, and Calexico. For evening events at the Music Café, credential holders Extracurricular Activity Boarding. Room service. and pre-paid tickets receive priority admittance (tickets can be purchased at the main box office). The general public will Skeleton in Closet Never saw Primer. Said Napoleon Dynamite would flop. be admitted on a space-available basis for a $10.00 cover charge. The Music Café is located at the Star Bar at Plan B, 268 Main Street.

THETHE FOLLOWINGFOLLOWING SPONSORSSPONSORS OFOF THETHE 20052005 SUNDANCESUNDANCE FILMFILM FESTIVALFESTIVAL HAVEHAVE BEENBEEN RATEDRATED

FOR GENEROUS PERSONS OF ALL AGES ATTENDING THE FESTIVAL G OWE THESE SPONSORS A BIG “THANK YOU.”

PRESENTING SPONSORS

LEADERSHIP SPONSORS

SUSTAINING SPONSORS 12 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

SHORT SHOT Flotsam/Jetsam

{ BY ANDY BAILEY, STAFF WRITER }

Merry multimedia pranksters with a fl air for the The Zellners are no strangers to rollicking absurdity in absurd, the Austin, Texas-based fi lmmakers Nathan both life and art. The siblings’ professional bio indicates and David Zellner dare you to question the veracity that both appeared as featured extras in Pasolini’s of their outrageous cinematic universe. In their short orgiastic 1976 “coming-of-age” drama, Salo, which fi lm Flotsam/Jetsam, a man adrift at sea suffers a gar- would have occurred when both were children. But wait, this is a true story. “Thanks in part to a summer fi lmmaking camp, Salo was our fi rst exposure to all the components that combine to create movie magic,” David boasted. “I was ‘Mangia Victim #17’ and Nathan was ‘Mangia Victim #11.’”

The brothers arrive in Park City with several short fi lms and two features to their name, including the self-fi - nanced 1998 drama Plastic Utopia, hailed by Film Threat as “David Lynch meets the Zucker Brothers meets the Coen Brothers,” and 2002’s Guy Maddinesque Frontier, in which the Zellners painstakingly (and side-splittingly) created the quasi-fi ctional kingdom of Bulbovia, nestled at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains. “We wanted Like the denizens of Linklater’s Slacker, the Austin fi lm to make an Eastern-European surrealist war movie,” scene is densely interwoven, with key players sharing insisted Nathan. “So we employed the language of actors, crew members, and equipment. In true Austin- the little-known country of Bulbovia, which is the most style, the Zellners obtained the services of star anima- downtrodden country in the history of the world — one tor Bob Sabiston (Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly) for a that has been occupied by almost every nation of any grueling day’s shoot in the Gulf of Mexico. The brothers David (left) and Nathan Zellner. signifi cance including Switzerland. It’s based on an old have also collaborated with actor Wiley Wiggins (Dazed folk tale we adapted for the big screen — the fi rst U.S.- and Confused) on several fi lms. “It’s an easy place to Bulbovian coproduction.” get stuff made on a small scale,” said Nathan of the duo’s home base.

ish freak accident that the actor/producer Nathan and Colorado born and Texas bred, the Zellners share a scant To view more of the Zellners’ work, visit their website writer/director David insists really happened during the year-and-a-half age difference that has fostered a close at www.forthq.com, their webzine POI at www.poi.cc/ shoot. “Naysayers challenge the notion of a cinema working relationship ever since Nathan joined David in or view their music video for Bulbovian technoclash verité, but we beg to differ,” David said, coyly. “Film is Austin after his brother completed a fi lm studies degree superstars Precarious Warehäus Dwellers at www. the purest, most truthful and untainted art form to have at the University of Texas. They started a production atomfi lms.com ever existed. The same goes for videotape, which some company, Fortifi ed, and threw themselves into the vi- studies indicate being 24% more pure and truthful even brant Austin fi lm scene that counts Richard Linklater and than fi lm.” Robert Rodriguez as founding fathers and patron saints. 13 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

SEEN AND OVERHEARD Jemal Countess/Wireimage.com Jemal William Greaves and Louise Archambault at the "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2" Premiere. Fred Hayes/Wireimage.com Fred Rebecca Sapp/Wireimage.com

Mark Duplass, writer/director of "Puffy Chair", Steve Lawson, executive Billy Boyd, Peter Mullan, Benedict Wong, Gaby Dellal, director of "On A director of the Williamson Film Festival, Jay Duplass, director of "Puffy Chair" Clear Day" and Brenda Blethyn at Opening Night Salt Lake. and Kathryn Aselton, at the Opening Night Reception. Randall Michelson/Wireimage.com La Nina, Miss Prissy, and Daisy at the Rize premiere. Clayton Chase/Wireimage.com Clayton Rebecca Sapp/Wireimage.com

Geoff Sands and David Cole at the Ziad Doueiri at the“Lila Says” Premiere. Sundance Patron Council Reception. Rebecca Sapp/Wireimage.com

Ken Brecher and Margaret Wilkerson. Rusty White/Wireimage.com Rusty Soren McCarty/Wireimage.com Soren

Joey Pantoliano and Martin Luther at the VW Music Party. Richard Edson and Sara Driver, producer of "Stranger Than Paradise" at the "Stranger Than Paradise" Sundance Collection Screening. Fred Hayes/Wireimage.com Fred

Jennifer Hathorne at Opening Night Salt Lake. 14 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

The List Panels and Events

The List: Sunday, January 23 and Saturday, January 24 All events take place in Park City unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, January 23

8:00 am – 9:30 am Yoga, offered by Aquafi na Sundance House

10:00 am – 2:00 pm Adobe Systems Incorporated Filmmaker Workshops Digital Center

10:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 am and 3:30 pm Filmmaker Workshops: Hewlett-Packard/Avid Digital Center

11:00 am – 12:30 pm Panel: The World is Watching Filmmaker Lodge

12:00 pm Panavision Filmmaker Workshop Digital Center

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Meet the Foreign Press Filmmaker Lodge

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Stella Artois beer, Aquafi na water, live music and a spon- sor giveaway from CESAR Food for Small Dogs Festivalgoers camping outside the Main Box Offi ce in order to be the fi rst in line for tickets the next morning. “We’ve Sundance House been here since 8:00 tonight and it opens at 8:00 in the morning. We want to see movies!” exclaimed Katie Field (far left). Michael Perez next to her continued, “Sundance movies are the best. We go to Hollywood Video and all we rent 2:30 pm are Sundance movies.” Dresden Dolls Music Café, Day Café programmed by ASCAP

3:00 pm Panel: Imaginary Worlds: Animation and Computer-Gen- w11:15 pm 2:00 pm — 4:00 pm erated Reality Calexico Stella Artois beer, water from the Aquafi na Hydration Sta- Egyptian Theatre Music Café (ticketed event) tion and live music Sponsor giveaway: DirecTV 3:00 pm Sundance House Online Frontier Project Presentations from the Sundance Monday, January 24 Online Film Festival (www.sundance.org) 2:30 pm Digital Center 8:00 am — 9:30 am Linda Perry Yoga, sponsored by Aquafi na Music Café, Day Café sponsored by ASCAP 3:10 pm Sundance House Nellie McKay 3:00 pm Music Café, Day Café programmed by ASCAP 10:00 am, 4:00 pm The Sex Stays in the Picture (ticketed panel) Adobe Systems Incorporated Filmmaker Workshops: Yarrow Theatre 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Digital Intermediate Workfl ow for Desktop PCs Stella Artois beer, Aquafi na water, live music and a spon- Digital Center 3:00 pm sor giveaway from Cingular Wireless Sundance Online Film Festival (SOFF) Sundance House 10:00 am — 12:30 pm Digital Center Meet and Greet the Commissioning Editors: U.S. and 3:50 pm International Documentary Strands (advance sign-up 3:10 pm Peter Cincotti required) Billy Currington Music Café, Day Café programmed by ASCAP Filmmaker Lodge Music Café, Day Café produced by ASCAP

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm 3:50 pm Wine Escape, hosted by PBS Hewlett-Packard/Avid Filmmaker Workshops Peter Cincotti Filmmaker Lodge Digital Center Music Café, Day Café produced by ASCAP

8:30 pm 12:00 pm 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm alaska! Forum: The New Digital Market Wine Escape, hosted by HBO Music Café (ticketed event) Digital Center Filmmaker Lodge

9:15 pm 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm 4:30 pm Sunpants (Gary Louris, Raz Mesinai, Pete Fitzpatrick) Sony Filmmaker Workshop Nellie McKay, Day Café produced by ASCAP Music Café (ticketed event) Digital Center 5:10 pm 10:00 pm 2:00 pm — to 3:30 pm Michael McDonald, Day Café produced by ASCAP Andy Tubman and The Jane Does Panel: The New Doc Market Music Café (ticketed event) Filmmaker Lodge 15 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005 VWAJTAP5134-C 16 2005 Sundance Film Festival Sunday, January 23, 2005

RED JETTA, concerned, turns to WHITE JETTA.

RED JETTA: Don’t let him get under your skin.

White Jetta motions toward Black Jetta.

WHITE JETTA: This town ain’t big enough for the two of us.

RED JETTA: Oh, please be careful. You don’t know what he’s capable of.

WHITE JETTA: What must be, must be.

Cont’d. tomorrow...

Introducing the new Volkswagen Jetta. A new character and proud participant of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. To meet our latest protagonist in person or get a ride, come by The 2005 Sundance Volkswagen Main Street Lounge at 301Main Street. While there check your email, charge your cell and maybe catch a celebrity interview as you relax in our cool space, designed in part by Todd Oldham. And oh yeah, we have s’mores.

Spice Red Jetta shown available in Canada only at time of launch.