Backstage at Sundance : Films

Oscar Win for Once's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

amy brock — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:12:00 GMT

Angela LoSasso
Web Content Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, U.S.

Congratulations to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for their Oscar win tonight for Best Song, "Falling Slowly" from the film Once (the 2007 Sundance World Cinema Audience Award winner).

HP has a special place in its heart for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, as they were gracious enough to give HP a live performance of this Oscar-winning song on a snowy January day during the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Take a look and listen.

Technorati Tags: sundance, sundance film festival, sundance film 2007, hp, hewlett packard, robert redford, once, glen hansard, marketa irglova, columbia records, oscars

Need inspiration? Check out these women

amy brock — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:37:00 GMT

by Lisa Tucker
Interactive Marketing

As my colleague Kate Sheofsky pointed out in her earlier blog post, Game On, Sundance is a place to get inspired. I found inspiration in many different places – not the least of which was my meeting with two women who are making their way through the male-dominated area of documentary filmmaking, Susan Turley and Annie Roney.

Turley is a producer from Berkeley, California, who actually got into the business through her friend, Annie Roney, a documentary producer with Ro*co Films. Roney has the distinction of being the only documentary producer to have six of her films nominated for Academy Awards - including one win for Born into Brothels in 2004.

© Wireimage Pimentel
Lisa Tucker speaks to Susan Turley in the HP Broadcast Studio at Sundance.

It was Roney’s Oscar-nominated movie, Promises, which first got Turley into the business. After viewing the movie, Turley says she had an “epiphany”. With tears running down her face, she turned to her husband and said, “I have to do that.”

Turley started working for Roney soon after, offering to “lick stamps” just to get into the business. Her previous experience in sales in the clothing industry helped her work her way up to Vice President of World Wide Sales for five years, before going off on her own to be a producer. She did so to jump at the opportunity to work with Justine Shapiro, the filmmaker of Promises, on her new film project, “Global Moms: Iran” (working title).

Turley is also currently in production on a documentary called The Architect and the Painter: The Creative Lives of Charles and Ray Eames. The film features the Eames’ – perhaps the most important American designers of the twentieth century. Through their ground-breaking work in architecture, furniture, film exhibitions, toys and graphics, Charles and Ray brought Modernism to the American marketplace and America to the forefront of world design. The film starts production in March 2008.

For Roney, her passion continues through films that she “loves, are haunted by, and there is a market for.” Once such film is Girls Rock, a documentary about “girlhood” set at a rock and roll camp for girls in Portland, Oregon. Roney first saw the film at an IFP (Independent Feature Project) event and was so impressed by the two guys making it and the message of the film, that she wanted to do it immediately. Ironically, her own young daughter had recently expressed interest in playing the electric guitar.

Roney recommends that girls age 7 and up go see the film along with their parents.

“The film speaks to friendship, image, self-esteem, and it is not in-your-face,” she says.

Roney says often these types of documentaries don’t get made, due to the large number of males in the industry. Not saying there is a blatant gender bias in the industry, Roney suggests only that males “bring a different sensibility” than females to the industry. “You really pick what resonates with you,” she explains.

The film Girls Rock opens March 7 in seven major cities, a widespread opening for a documentary film. I for one will be taking my two daughters to see it – perhaps they will find their own inspiration there.

HP interviews Amy Redford

amy brock — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:25:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

Sundance's favorite daughter sat down with HP to talk about her new film The Guitar.

Watch the interview with Amy Redford

Amy Redford, daughter of Robert Redford grew up in New York City with Summers and holidays spent in Utah.

At 37 she has enjoyed an extensive acting career in films and on TV.
The Guitar marks her directorial debut.

The film, written by Amos Poe, is about a woman (played by Saffron Burroughs) who learns she has terminal cancer. She decides to spend her last days surrounding herself with her favorite objects.

We caught up with Amy on a bright tuesday morning and asked her about her film, her life under the Sundance kid and who she's listening to on her ipod.

Rooftop, fireside performance by The Submarines

amy brock — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:17:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

Red-hot L.A. band, The Submarines perform an exclusive new song called Swimming Pool.

The song will appear on their upcoming album Honeysuckle Weeks on Nettwerk Records.

The Submarines (Blake Hazzard & John Dragonetti) sat down fireside, on the rooftop of the posh Sky Lodge, in Park City. Overlooking the lights of Sundance and the surrounding snowy peaks they treated us to this sweet tune.

WATCH THE SUBMARINES PERFORM LIVE AT SUNDANCE

Hear more music from The Submarines on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/thesubmarinesmusic

HP Backstage at Sundance

Laços - Ties, Relationships, and the Winner of HP/YouTube's Project:Direct

amy brock — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:24:00 GMT

by Sibel Satiroglu
WW Interactive Marketing

Last night was the screening of Laços by Adriana Falcão, the beautifully poetic and melodic six-minute short film from Brazil with “something to say”. It is the winner of the first-ever international film contest called Project:Direct on YouTube, sponsored by HP. Under the umbrella of IPG’s What Do You Have to Say campaign, the requirements for film submission included a passing of a photo and the tag line, “What Do You Have to Say?”

At the screening, we had a chance to talk with Adriana Falcão about the making of the film - its title, its music, her interpretations of its conclusion, its colors ...

"Lacos," literally translated as "ties" from Portuguese, also has the connotation of "relationships".

Its beginning is as open and free to interpretation as its end.

Already a celebrated screenwriter and author in Brazil, Adriana was prompted to submit a film for the YouTube-HP film contest by her daughter Clarice who stars in the film. According to Adriana, the idea was to simply participate, and it was an extraordinary surprise to be chosen as the final winner by the YouTube community voters.

The winning announcement stirred amazing buzz and dominated front-page news in Brazil. Whilst Clarice could not join us in Sundance, she has been very busy focusing on her artistic career. She will appear on the cover of Vogue-Brazil next month, and has received acting offers from Brazilian soap operas!

The lovely melody, composed in a matter of just thirty minutes and performed by Clarice herself, was what initially enticed my interest. The film unfolds with a tearful Clarice running through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, against the backdrop of the comforting colors of subtle, sun-drenched walls and houses, of pastel hues of yellows, pinks, greens. With red carnations in her hand, she is escaping from something, something we know not. The carnation travels with us through the film – it is thrown, dropped, picked up, embraced, placed in a photo. The subtlety of the background music echoes the sentiments of the crying girl … escaping from something that is inescapable ….

I could go to Australia
I could fly to Japan
Could go to South America
Well, everybody can
Could run like hell to China

The end of the film offers a surprise. When asked about the interpretation of the end, Adriana says, "I prefer no closure.” She prefers to leave matters open to interpretation, and touch upon the mysterious and mystical and often unexplained elements of life. Indeed, the power of films is when it sparks such inspiring conversation and dialogue amongst the viewers.

As a result of winning the contest, we asked Adriana about her greatest learning as an artist. “The contest showed me a new media, a new way of communicating on YouTube,” she said. Indeed, such is the power of web 2.0 - to enable expression, creativity, participation and sharing easily and readily! For everybody has something to say! Sometimes experimental, other times powerful, joyful or thought-provoking, subtle or direct, poetic or prose ….

Need a Feel-Good? Henry Poole is Here

amy brock — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:31:00 GMT

by Lisa Tucker
WW Interactive Communications

I had an opportunity to see the movie, Henry Poole is Here the other day at Sundance. Before I could even blog about it, I heard that Overture Films just bought the rights to the film for a cool $3.5 million. So, it looks like everyone is going to get a chance to see this movie in your local theater. Would I recommend you do so? Well, it depends.

You see I went into the theater to see this movie by myself on a cold afternoon in Park City feeling a bit melancholy. I admit freely that I really needed a feel-good movie pick-me-up. Since I’m not an actual movie critic by trade, I figure it is okay to tell you that I enjoyed the movie if for no other reason other than my state of mind. (Perhaps that happens to all critics, but they just don’t tell us…)

Anyway, in a nutshell, the movie is about this guy, Henry Poole, played by Luke Wilson who finds out he has a terminal illness, so he quits his job, leaves his fiancé and mother and moves to a house on the street where he grew up. He does what many of us would do in that predicament – he eats Krispy Kremes (and other junk food) and drowns his sorrows in alcohol. He doesn’t want anything to do with his neighbors, or the local supermarket checkout girl, who all try to befriend him. His pesky neighbor, played by Adriana Barraza discovers a “miracle” on the wall of his house that leads multiple people (including her priest, played by George Lopez) to touch the wall in order to experience miracles in their own life. All the while, Henry remains skeptical that the wall is anything other than a bad stucco job.

The movie has many touching parts to the story – especially the story line around the little girl next door who no longer speaks due to trauma in her life. The equally charming supermarket checkout girl with the degenerative eye disease is also very touching.

The end of this movie is very predictable, even a little sappy. But the message is a good one, and there are many times in the movie where I laughed out loud. The pesky neighbor, played by Adriana Barraza perfectly personified the role of the modern-day Mrs. Kravitz. And the real estate agent, played by Cheryl Hines, absolutely steals the show. I can think of no one better to play a perpetually perky real estate agent than Hines – hilarious.

This movie contained a very different role for Luke Wilson – it was a serious role for him and he played it very well. After the movie, during the Q&A, Wilson was pretty low-key, trying to stay out of the limelight as much as possible. Screenwriter Albert Torres spoke a bit about why he wrote the film, explaining that he had stopped writing for a time, and found himself a bit lost. It was not until he picked up writing again – this time writing what he knew, and what he wanted to write about – that he began to feel good again about his craft.

So, all in all, if need a little a pick-me-up on a cold winters day, or a hot summer afternoon (depending on when this movie comes out), this movie could be for you.

One movie review you’ll never read

amy brock — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Kate Sheofsky
Web Content Manager

Let me start by saying I went to film school. And for several years I belonged to a screenwriting group. Then, to further prove my commitment to the art of storytelling, I emptied my bank account and went and got myself an MFA in creative writing. Writing movie reviews should be right up my alley. I should enjoy writing them, and probably even be good at it. Yet, when I sat down to try to write a review for Merry Gentleman, I felt my eyelids get heavy, my head tilt back and I woke up an hour later wiping drool off my chin. It shouldn’t be this way.

Perhaps it’s because I don’t have a very high tolerance for reviews conceived by other people. For years I used to read them in the paper or listen to people give their thoughts verbally. While they would speak passionately about the craft of filmmaking, all I would hear was “When the movie opens… blah blah blah… yet ultimately … meow meow… the end.”

It’s not that I don’t enjoy other people’s opinions; it’s just that I prefer to have the opportunity to form my own ideas before my brain gets filled with someone else’s. Because I try to think not just of my own brain, but of other brains as well, I find myself unable to write reviews. Happily, Robert Redford and the folks involved in the Sundance film festival also exhibit concern for other people’s brains. As Mr. Redford said at the festival’s opening press conference, Sundance is a place of discovery- discovery for filmmakers, many of whom are first-timers, but also for the people who come simply to watch movies. How many other opportunities are there to view a film before a full promotional campaign has been launched? Walking into a premiere screening at Sundance offered a rare chance to experience a movie all on my own, unencumbered by the thoughts of my predecessors, and I welcomed that.

For those of you who aren’t in Park City, the reviews will all roll in soon enough, but they won’t be coming from me.

Technorati tags: sundance, sundance film festival, 2008 sundance film festival, hp, hewlett packard, Robert Redford, Merry Gentleman

A comedy starring a man, his lost cat, and an HP All-in-One Printer.<br> HP interviews the directors of "Goliath".

amy brock — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:21:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

Film poster, Nathan Zellner & David Zellner - © Wireimage Rachel Thurston

"Hey, you know what?
An HP printer is prominently featured in our movie...
and it's a close up... it's like... totally free, hardcore product placement!

I mean, you see everything on this printer, it's practically a commerical.. and you know what? It's actually our printer... we use it every day."

This is how our interview with writer / director David Zellner and his brother Nathan (writer / actor) began.

An HP All-in-One printer is used to print out missing cat leaflets, which the main character posts around town.

Still from the film Goliath - ©Zellner

The Zellner brothers' wry comedy, "Goliath", centers around a man with a serious case of the blues. He has recently lost his wife and now his beloved cat.

The cat means everything to the man and he's determined to get it back.

David & Nathan Zellner at Sundance 2008 - ©Wireimage Rachel Thurston

HP sat down with the Zellner brothers and asked them about their new film, "Goliath."

HP: Tell us about your film?
It's about a man going through a bitter divorce and the only relic left of his marriage is this cat. The cat gets lost, so it becomes extremely important for him to recover the cat. The cat is really a way for him to hold onto his marriage... and, things go crazy from there!

HP: What was the spark that helped bring the idea for this film to light?
We've done Sundance before with some shorts for a few years in a row now. We've been trying to get some bigger projects going, but this was a story that had been sitting with David for awhile. We decided this summer to flesh it out. It was kind of an experiment for us.

The cat is the thing. Peoples passions aren't consistent. With cats, there seem to be extremes. They love them or they despise them. There's no middle ground.
We're playing with that. There are tons of dog movies, feel good things. Our film focuses on universal empathy... it's a little more ambiguous than that.

HP: How would you classify your films?
All our style straddles the line between comedy and drama. We like humor, but we strive to have some real human moments in them too. We try not to be condescending or too schmaltzy. That's what we're trying to work towards.

HP: When was the film shot?
Over this past summer, July.
We edited as we went along.
We had lots of help from our friends.

HP: You wrote it, directed it, acted in it, edited it and more. Do you have any tips or tricks for how you get it all done?

Spreadsheets! (laughing) Nathan is really good at organizing the schedule.
This is how we've always done film, so it comes naturally to us.

HP: While shooting this film, what's an average day like?
The night before was all about cameras. Charged and ready to go.
Next, we'd set out props and costumes. We did a lot of the shooting in our own homes in Austin, Texas. Some days we'd drive out and do scenes.

HP: In your film, what do you have to say?
First and foremost, we want to entertain and let people have fun with it. After that, we let the audience decide. We don't have an agenda. The audience will take away what they want. We learn a lot by watching the audience react.

HP Backstage at Sundance

Premiere: Sleepwalking starring and produced by Charlize Theron

amy brock — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:27:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

It was a packed house at the Eccles Theatre, in Park City, as the film "Sleepwalking" premiered.

© Wireimage Pimentel

Producer Charlize Theron introduced the film, thanking the cast and crew and delivering extra kudos for director William Maher who couldn't make it due to a sickness.

Nick Stahl ("Sin City", "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"), AnnaSophia Robb ("Bridge to Terabithia", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") and Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron ("Monster") star in "Sleepwalking", a moving drama about the deep familial bond that develops between a 30 year-old man and his young niece after the girl's mother suddenly leaves town.

© Wireimage Pimentel

Directed by William Maher from a screenplay by Zac Stanford ("The Chumscrubber"), "Sleepwalking" also stars Academy Award nominees Dennis Hopper ("Hoosiers", "Blue Velvet") and Woody Harrelson ("The People Vs. Larry Flynt").

© Wireimage Pimentel
After the film, stars Dennis Hopper and AnnaSophia Robb conducted interviews in the HP Broadcast Studio.

Mr. Hopper said of his young co-star:

"I believe that AnnaSophia is one of the finest young actresses, in all of film, at this time."

The creation of the film "Sleepwalking" got off to a slow start.

Writer Zac Stanford tossed the first draft in a drawer for 5 years and forgot about it. But when another of Stanford’s scripts generated interest in Hollywood, he met director William Maher who took an interest. The two friends knew creating the film would be difficult, but then Charlize Theron read the screenplay and signed on. With her backing, the film really took flight.

With a star studded cast set in the unique, gritty landscape of snowy Saskatchewan, Canada, "Sleepwalker" is a visually rich and original film.

Dennis Hopper in the HP Broadcast Studio

Dennis Hopper in the HP Broadcast Studio

HP Broadcast Studio

HP Broadcast Studio

HP Backstage at Sundance

2008 Oscar Nominations

amy brock — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:23:00 GMT

Angela LoSasso
Web Content Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, U.S

The 80th Annual Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, and two performers from films featured at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival earned nods from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Congratulations to Best Actress nominee Julie Christie in “Away from Her” and Best Actress nominee Laura Linney in “The Savages”.

Julie Christie

Laura Linney

Technorati tags: sundance, sundance film festival, 2008 sundance film festival, hp, hewlett packard, oscars, julie christie, away from her, laura linney, the savages, best actress

Sundance makes short films available online

amy brock — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Angela LoSasso
Web Content Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, U.S

No tickets? No problem. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival offers a selection of short films online, and a bunch of behind-the-scenes interviews with filmmakers and exclusive Festival coverage. All this content is available to online audiences free of charge at www.sundance.org/festival. New content premieres daily, including one new short film being made available for 24 hours.

In addition, a selection of 45 Festival shorts -- dramas, comedies, documentaries and animation-- is available for purchase and download on three platforms: Apple's iTunes Movie Store, Xbox LIVE (the online entertainment network for Microsoft’s Xbox 360), and Netflix.

Presented in collaboration with Sundance Channel, the shorts available online will launch simultaneously on all three services beginning January 18, 2008 and run through 2011.

Technorati tags: sundance, sundance film festival, 2008 sundance film festival, hp, hewlett packard

The band Califone performs live at Sundance 2008

amy brock — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:24:00 GMT

Califone performs live at Sundance

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

HP is a proud sponsor of New Frontier on Main, a social and creative space that showcases artist installations, live performances, and thought provoking panels.

New Frontier on Main is one interesting, avant garde place. Think technology meets modern art.

One of the most interesting acts here is a multimedia performance by animator Brent Green and the band Califone.

The performance, called God Builds like Frank Lloyd Wright, is a rustic, swirling, rich netherworld thanks to Green's unique animation style and Califone's post-Americana sounds.

Before their show on that Sunday night, we asked the members of Califone to perform for us.

In a quiet but cold back alley, just off of Main street, they treated us to an amazing ballad called Orchid.

CALIFONE LIVE AT SUNDANCE 2008

PHOTOS FROM THE SESSION:

Califone performs on Jan 21, 2008

Jim Becker

Tim Rutili

Filmmaker Michel Gondry on the Drums - at his own Premiere Party

amy brock — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:40:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

The French love Jazz. And they play it well.

French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep) surprised the crowd at his own premiere party on Sunday. People had gathered to celebrate the premiere of his new film "Be Kind, Rewind," and were treated to a surprise performance by the film's director/screenwriter.

He was also accompanied by a fantastic French piano player (who’s name we failed to get). The two played several traditional jazz songs for the delighted onlookers.

There’s a big buzz about Mr. Gondry’s new film Be Kind, Rewind. The film stars Jack Black and Mos Def as video store clerks who, through a freak accident, end up erasing their rental tapes. To make up for the lost movies, they recreate popular films like Ghostbusters, Driving Miss Daisy and Robocop themselves.

See Michel Gondry play the drums and more, in the popular HP Commercial.

A feel-good flick: The Great Buck Howard

amy brock — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:49:00 GMT

Angela LoSasso
Web Content Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, U.S.

Photo courtesy of WireImage/ Vespa

I didn’t go into the theater expecting The Great Buck Howard to “move” me – and it didn’t. But what it did well was entertain me for about and hour and half. And that’s a success in my book. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a feel-good movie that has solid performances from actors I enjoy watching.

“Mentalist” Buck Howard (John Malkovich) is a throwback to the golden age of television, an entertainer infamous for his 61 appearances on the Tonight Show – “with Carson”. His “great” days are behind him, but he’s the only person who doesn’t know it yet.

Colin Hanks (Orange County, Untraceable) plays the law school dropout Troy Gable who reluctantly accepts the position of Buck’s road manager/personal assistant. “Caring” for Buck initially involves the typical entry-level, earn-your-stripes stuff – such as arranging the rental car and acting as stage manager and running through preshow routines with whatever bush league venue they’re playing.

But as the story unfolds with predictable and some semi-predictable turns, I enjoyed how the “caring” evolved (the feel-good part). Malkovich nails the cheese factor – his head- and shoulder-tilt during the piano and singing portion of his road show reminded me all-too-well of real-life lounge lizards I’ve encountered in long-forgotten Holiday Inns – and yet conveys a vulnerability that’s entirely believable. Hanks builds on his foundation of solid performances to date. Much like his father Tom but very much in his own way, this Hanks exudes an “everyday” quality that makes him immediately acceptable in that there’s something there in his looks, in his voice, and in his reactions that elicit recognition of someone you know and like.

I wouldn’t say this movie is date-night material, but it is worthy of a pick-me-up matinee.

sundance, sundance film festival, 2008 sundance film festival, hp, hewlett packard, john malkovich, colin hanks, the great buck howard

Meeting the Independent Filmmaker

amy brock — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:39:00 GMT

Lisa Tucker
WW Interactive Communications

My favorite part of attending Sundance is meeting all of the amazing people who work in the film industry – the ones whose names I have never heard of before. Sure, it is always exciting to see celebrities – I would be lying if I told you that wasn’t the case. But it is the stories of people who have given their all to the craft of filmmaking that really interest me. I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who have gotten into the industry, often in really strange ways, and then struggled for years to catch a break.

One such story is that of Steven Barber of Santa Monica, California. Barber is here in Park City trying to secure funding for his documentary entitled “The Alaskan Challenge.” The documentary tells the story of the world’s longest wheelchair race – and follows three paraplegics who participated in the 267-mile, six day marathon on wheelchairs and hand-cycles through Alaska last summer.

A former ad-man, Barber felt compelled to tell this story after seeing a man (Geoffrey Erickson) in a wheelchair a few times every year for over ten years fixing cars in the apartment complex where he lives. He struck up a conversation with the Erickson, who told him he was gearing up for this marathon in Alaska. Barber was so intrigued by his story, that he became compelled to enter the film industry to tell the tale.

After purchasing $50,000 worth of camera equipment, Barber set out to raise funds for the project. A lucky connection to John Paul Mitchell founder, J.P. Dejoria, kick-started the funding. Subsequent funding has come from the likes of Pamela Anderson, Steve Forbes, and a $100 check from Larry Hagman. Famous funny man Dan Aykroyd has agreed to narrate the film, and Clint Black has provided his song, “Better Life” as the film’s soundtrack.

In post-production now, Barber is hoping to finish the film in time to submit to Sundance ’09. He still lacks a little over $200,000 in funding, however, and hopes to finds more benefactors for the film here in Park City.

If you would like to see more on Steven Barber, you can check out his site at www.vanillafire.com.