On Thursday, December 4, 2008, the Sundance Institute announced its 2009 Sundance FIlm Festival selections for the out-of-competition sections of Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight. Regardless of how “Hollywood” anyone thinks Sundance has gotten, no one can doubt they know how to put together a strong program. Including the competitive movies, the 2009 festival will screen 118 features culled from 3,661 submissions—1,905 from the United States and 1,756 international submissions. There will be 87 world premieres, 21 countries represented and movies from 42 first-time moviemakers.
From the look of things the lineup includes too many highlights to get into, but as always, the allure of Sundance are the surprises—the undiscovered gems that always seem to surface. Check out the entire list of selections below and visit http://festival.sundance.org for more information.
PREMIERES
500 Days of Summer / USA. (Director: Marc Webb; Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber)
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. World Premiere
Adventureland / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Greg Mottola)
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader. World Premiere
Brooklyn’s Finest / USA (Director: Antoine Fuqua; Screenwriter: Michael C. Martin)
Cast: Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, Ellen Barkin. World Premiere
Earth Days / USA (Director: Robert Stone)
Closing Night Film. World Premiere
Endgame / UK (Director: Pete Travis; Screenwriter: Paula Milne)
Cast: William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jonny Lee Miller, Mark Strong. World Premiere
I Love You Philip Morris / USA (Directors and Screenwriters: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa)
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro. World Premiere
The Informers / USA (Director: Gregor Jordan; Screenwriters: Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki)
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke. North American Premiere
In the Loop / UK (Director: Armando Iannucci; Screenwriters: Armando Iannucci and Jesse Armstrong)
Cast: Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander. World Premiere
Manure / USA (Director: Michael Polish; Screenwriters: Mark Polish and Michael Polish)
Cast: Téa Leoni, Billy Bob Thornton, Kyle MacLachlan. World Premiere
Mary and Max / Australia (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Elliot)
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman (voice), Toni Collette (voice), Barry Humphries (voice). Opening Night Film. World Premiere
The Messenger / USA (Director: Oren Moverman; Screenwriters: Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)
Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker. World Premiere
Moon / UK (Director: Duncan Jones; Screenwriter: Nathan Parker)
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey. World Premiere
Motherhood / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Katherine Dieckmann)
Cast: Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, Anthony Edwards. World Premiere
Rudo and Cursi (Rudo y Cursi) / Mexico (Director and Screenwriter: Carlos Cuarón)
Cast: Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Guillermo Francella. U.S. Premiere
Shrink / USA (Director: Jonas Pate; Screenwriter: Thomas Moffett)
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Keke Palmer, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts, Saffron Burrows. World Premiere
Spread / USA (Director: David Mackenzie; Screenwriter: Jason Dean Hall)
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche. World Premiere
SPECTRUM
A tribute to the abundance of compelling new voices and the creative spirit in independent moviemaking, the Spectrum program presents out-of-competition dramatic and documentary films from some of the most promising moviemakers in the world today.
Dramatic films screening in Spectrum are:
Against the Current / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Peter Callahan)
Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Tyler Moore, Michelle Trachtenberg. World Premiere
The Anarchist’s Wife (La Mujer del Anarquista) / Germany/Spain (Directors: Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr; Screenwriters: Marie Noelle and Ray Loriga)
Cast: Maria Valverde, Juan Diego Botto, Nina Hoss, Ivana Baquero, Jean-Marc Barr. North American Premiere
Barking Water / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo)
Cast: Richard Ray Whitman, Casey Camp-Horenik. World Premiere
Children of Invention / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Tze Chun)
Cast: Cindy Cheung, Michael Chen, Crystal Chiu. World Premiere
Everything Strange and New / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Frazer Bradshaw)
Cast: Jerry McDaniel, Beth Lisick, Rigo Chacon Jr., Luis Saguar. World Premiere
Helen / Canada/Germany (Director and Screenwriter: Sandra Nettelbeck)
Cast: Ashley Judd, Goran Visnijic. World Premiere
The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle / USA (Director and Screenwriter: David Russo)
Cast: Marshall Allman, Vince Vieluf, Natasha Lyonne, Tania Raymonde, Tygh Runyan. World Premiere
Johnny Mad Dog / France (Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Screenwriters: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and Jacques Fieschi)
Cast: Christophe Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy. North American Premiere
La Mission / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Peter Bratt)
Cast: Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Talisa Soto Bratt, Jesse Borrego. World Premiere
Lymelife / USA. (Director: Derick Martini; Screenwriters: Derick Martini and Steven Martini)
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon, Emma Roberts. U.S. Premiere
The Missing Person / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Noah Buschel)
Cast: Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan, Frank Wood. World Premiere
Once More with Feeling / USA (Director: Jeff Lipsky; Screenwriter: Gina O’Brien)
Cast: Drea de Matteo, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Susan Miser, Lauren Bittner. World Premiere
The Only Good Indian / USA (Director: Kevin Willmott; Screenwriter: Tom Carmody)
Cast: Wes Studi, Winter Fox Frank, J. Kenneth Campbell. World Premiere
Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al Mor wa al Rumman) / Palestinian Territories (Director and Screenwriter: Najwa Najjar)
Cast: Ali Suliman, Yasmine Al Massri, Ashraf Farah, Hiam Abbass. North American Premiere
The Vicious Kind / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Lee Toland Krieger)
Cast: Brittany Snow, Adam Scott, J.K. Simmons, Alex Frost. World Premiere
World’s Greatest Dad / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Bobcat Goldthwait)
Cast: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore, Tom Kenny, Geoffrey Pierson. World Premiere
The films screening in Spectrum: Documentary Spotlight are:
It Might Get Loud / USA (Director: Davis Guggenheim)
Cast: The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White. U.S. Premiere
No Impact Man / USA (Directors: Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein)
Cast: Michelle Conlin, Colin Beavan. World Premiere
Passing Strange / USA (Director: Spike Lee; Lyrics: Stew; Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald)
Cast: De’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Stew. World Premiere
Tyson / USA (Director: James Toback)
Cast: Mike Tyson. North American Premiere
Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy / USA (Director: Robert Townsend)
Cast: Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Steve Harvey, Dick Gregory. World Premiere
Wounded Knee / USA (Director: Stanley Nelson; Screenwriter: Marcia Smith)
World Premiere
The Yes Men Fix the World / France/ USA (Directors: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno and Kurt Engfehr)
Cast: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno. World Premiere
PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT
Park City at Midnight offers eight films that are likely to amuse, surprise or shock the bleary-eyed viewer and offer a lively last stop in the nightly film-going circuit.
The films screening in Park City at Midnight this year are:
Black Dynamite / USA (Director: Scott Sanders; Screenwriters: Michael Jai White, Scott Sanders, and Byron Minns)
Cast: Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Byron Minns, James McManus. World Premiere
The Carter / USA (Director: Adam Bhala Lough)
Cast: Lil’ Wayne, Brian Williams, Cortez Bryant. World Premiere
Død Snø (Dead Snow) / Norway (Director: Tommy Wirkola; Screenwriters: Tommy Wirkola and Stig Frode Henriksen)
Cast: Vegard Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan, Jeppe Beck Laursen. North American Premiere
Grace / USA(Director and Screenwriter: Paul Solet)
Cast: Jordan Ladd, Samantha Ferris, Gabrielle Rose, Malcom Stewart, Stephen Park, Serge Houde. World Premiere
The Killing Room / USA (Director: Jonathan Liebesman; Screenwriters: Gus Krieger and Ann Peacock)
Cast: Chloe Sevigny, Peter Stormare, Clea DuVall, Timothy Hutton, Nick Cannon. World Premiere
Mystery Team / USA (Director: Dan Eckman; Screenwriters: Dominic Dierkes, Donald Glover, and DC Pierson)
Cast: Dominic Dierkes, D.C. Pierson, Donald Glover, Aubrey Plaza, Glenn Kalison. World Premiere
Spring Breakdown / USA (Director: Ryan Shiraki; Screenwriters: Ryan Shiraki and Rachel Dratch)
Cast: Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, Will Arnett, Rachel Hamilton. World Premiere
White Lightnin’ / UK (Director: Dominic Murphy; Screenwriters: Shane Smith and Eddy Moretti)
Cast: Ed Hogg, Carrie Fisher, Muse Watson, Wallace Merck, Clay Steakley. World Premiere
FRONTIER
The festival’s Frontier section explores the experimental world of moviemaking. Utilizing new directions in and innovative aesthetic approaches, work in the Frontier category challenges and provokes audiences.
Lunch Break/Exit / USA (Director: Sharon Lockhart)
O’er the Land / USA (Director: Deborah Stratman)
Stay the Same Never Change / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Laurel Nakadate)
Cast: Dirk Cowan, Julie Potratz, Emily Boullear, Cyan Meeks, Tate Buck. World Premiere
Where is Where? / (Director: Eija Liisa-Ahtila)
World Premiere
Artist Spotlight: The Works of Maria Marshall / USA (Director: Maria Marshall)
You Won’t Miss Me / USA (Director: Ry Russo-Young)
Cast: Stella Schnabel, Rene Ricard. World Premiere
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