Sundance Lab
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
(Gun Hill Road world premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, which is when the original version of this review was first published at Hammer To Nail. It was picked up for distribution by Motion Film Group and opens theatrically in New York City on Friday, August 5, 2011, and Los Angeles on Friday, August 12th. Visit the film’s Facebook page and official website to learn more.)
A late work by the Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea called Strawberry And Chocolate is one of the few films I’ve ever seen to confront the strange relationship of macho straight Latinos and openly gay Latino men. So I was very curious to see how it would be handled in this Sundance Lab debut feature by Rashaad Ernesto Green. Despite the predictable by-the-numbers plotting, Gun Hill Road ultimately is a real joy.
The set-up gets right to the core issue: A macho father, Enrique (Esai Morales) is released from prison, where in the opening scene it is implied that he was a bigger man’s “bitch.” He returns home to the Bronx where he slowly comes to discover that his wife, Angela (Judy Reyes), has a boyfriend and his only son, Michael (Harmony Santana), has a dresser full of panties and bras and no longer likes sports. What a great collection of conflicts, and the basic plot structure handles the dual character perspectives quite well. Gun Hill Road is both a coming-of-age story for the young transgender high school boy, and for the simple man father who was raised in another era.
The script suffers from what I call ‘Lab-itis,’ namely turning points that are overwritten and character dilemmas that are so overstated that their resolution becomes way too predictable and rote. But I was able to not be bothered by the predictable script; not just because plot is generally for me the least interesting aspect of the cinema experience, but because Gun Hill Road has so many other charms.
The Bronx is rarely a borough that we see represented well on screen and here in the hands … Read the rest
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Here is part two of Rachel Libert’s diaries from the Sundance Labs. Read part one here.
The busloads of people arriving at the Sundance Resort for the Creative Producing Summit signaled the end of the Creative Producing Lab. Twenty narrative producers, twenty documentary producers and dozens of high-level industry representatives are sequestered in the privacy of the Wasatch Mountains. We’re participating in an information marathon. We are a think tank in which our collective brainpower evaluates the industry and its future. For the Documentary Creative Producing Lab fellows there’s a palpable shift from our tight knit group discussions about the impact of our films to the business of financing and distribution.
Like many documentary producers I am also directing my project along with my co-director Tony Hardmon. When I’m with other documentary filmmakers our conversations gravitate toward subject matter and production anecdotes, not line items and complex financing models. The business focus of the Summit provides a much-needed opportunity to do a check-up on our projects.
Several pieces of advice resonate with me. The first is that we should include outreach as a line item in our documentary budgets in the same way that narrative projects include P&A in their budgets. Earlier in the week filmmaker Jennifer Arnold coined the term “Documentary Famous”. She described jetsetting around the world with her film A Small Act but reminded us that she doesn’t get paid for much of it. It sounds obvious but many of us are so don’t consider the financial strain a festival run places on the filmmaker. You also need to make sure that you budget and fundraise through completion. With dwindling acquisition fees you don’t want the cost of your prints, masters and dubs to come out of this money. Finally, it’s important to negotiate all of your music clearances and archival rights before you finish the film. Several people shared stories of great films whose release was halted or delayed by exorbitant outstanding music clearances. You are in a much better position to negotiate a reasonable rate before your film has premiered at a festival.
Several of … Read the rest
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Here is the first of two diaries from Rachel Libert, a producer and director who brought her project Semper Fi: Always Faithful to the Sundance Doc Film Creative Producing Lab.
I’m on my way home from the Sundance Documentary Film Creative Producing Lab and Summit and struggling to describe the experience.
Nearly four years ago I was researching a documentary film about a public health organization and, while the idea was intriguing, it was becoming increasingly obvious that it was an impossible film to make. Before I graciously made my exit from the project I went to lunch with the Communications Director of the organization. At lunch she told me that her brother was in the process of exposing a Marine Corps cover-up of a toxic water contamination and asked me if I knew any filmmakers who might be interested in his story. As we sat at the lunch table, she laid out this incredible story of intrigue, heartbreak and betrayal. Two weeks later my Co-Director Tony Hardmon and I showed up in Washington DC to meet a gruff retired Marine on the mission of his life.
In that moment, we couldn’t have imagined that this would lead to receiving grants and support from the Sundance Institute and ultimately bring us to a fabled Sundance Lab. We are nearing completion of our film, Semper Fi: Always Faithful and what we’ve discovered at the Lab is that the finish line looks a lot different than it used to.
The lab began with a contemplation of the role of a creative producer. The discussion was led by Cara Mertes, the Director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. Something that really stood out for me was the notion that documentary funding and distribution is migrating from traditional broadcasting sources to a range of multi-platform media and technology. In this new paradigm, public engagement is not just crucial to extend the life of a film but critical to the creation of a film in the first place. Basically it’s not enough to have a film, a website and if you are lucky, a … Read the rest
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Here is the first of two filmmaker reports filed from the just-finished Sundance Producer’s Lab. Reporting back here is Amy Lo.
The Sundance Lab was my rehab. In the most transformative, astonishing way.
Here we are, Day One, four fellow Fellows and me gathered up from parts east, west and south, hurtling up the hill, forward-pressing and fueled by anxious hope.
We come to a sudden stop, a moment to inhale and exhale. High-elevation, low-oxygen. Rising disorientation.
The Sundance Creative Producing Lab spans five days of project-focused tough love, naked honesty, catharsis and renewal. All framed by breath-taking mountainous isolation. (And near-zero cell phone reception, itself a wondrous thing.)
I came to this mountain with a script I love called Americano (a working title) written and to be directed by Jesus Beltran, a fantastic, impressive human being and talented emerging filmmaker.
It’s the story of a rebellious immigrant from Mexico after fifteen years living in the US illegally, whose faith in the American dream is tested when he falls for an older, white woman working at the local grocery.
An unexpected take on the traditional immigrant narrative, Americano is not a border-crossing tale, nor a sob story. It’s a distinctively human look at complex relationships and bold, very real characters.
Before the Labs, we’d worked the project with silent diligence and assiduous care, keeping our cards close to the chest during our fragile state of adolescence. We knew where we wanted to end up but were grasping our way forward. Lurching growth spurts, awkward questions and all.
The Labs forced it all out – all of it and all at once — but within a cocoon of safety spun around us with dizzying swiftness as we Fellows stood at the focal point, temporarily blinking with bewilderment and curiosity before leaping in to stuff ourselves silly at the all-you-can-eat buffet of wisdom and insight.
Each Advisor had read the entirety of our scripts, materials, and personal statements before arriving. They came prepared not just with a cursory understanding of what we were facing, but with deeply considered ideas specific to our … Read the rest
Wednesday, April 27th, 2005
If you pick up the new issue of Filmmaker, you’ll notice by reading our cover articles on Miranda July and her first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, the large role the Sundance Institute had in developing that film and supporting its production. July’s film was a Summer 2003 Sundance Lab project and it went to become a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and will open from IFC Films this June. And then there’s another Lab project I’m very interested in — David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley, which I thought was an amazing script and which will premiere in Cannes next month.
Now, Sundance has just announced its 2005 Summer Lab projects. (Off the bat, I’m excited to see Annemarie Jacir on the list as she was one of Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” of 2004.) From the press release:
“Over the course of the Filmmakers Lab, the selected eight filmmakers collaborate with professional actors and digital production crews, shooting and editing key scenes from their scripts. Through this hands-on process, the directors can do a ‘dress rehearsal’ of their material in an atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged. Filmmakers Lab participants also take part in the week-long Screenwriters Lab, when writers involved with five additional projects join the group to participate in one-on-one story sessions with established screenwriters.
“‘We’re excited to be supporting such a unique group of emerging filmmakers who bring their authentic voices to stories that are bold in content and aesthetic,’ said Michelle Satter, Director of the Feature Film Program. ‘We look forward to joining them on their creative journeys and see the June Lab as a centerpiece of our year-round program. Our commitment to including international work at the Labs continues with filmmakers from places as diverse as South Africa, New Zealand, the Middle East and Pakistan.’
“During the Labs, participants work with a group of accomplished creative advisors as part of a month-long mentoring process. Gyula Gazdag returns for his 9th year as Artistic Director for the Filmmakers Lab. This year’s creative advisors include: John August, Walter Bernstein, … Read the rest
