Park City, UT-Sundance Institute today announced the line-up of music-themed films and events at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s program features a diverse array of musical storytelling, past, present and future through soundtracks and scores, compelling documentaries, an eclectic live-music line-up and more. The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20-30, in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. A complete list of films and events is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Through its Film Music program and annual Composers Labs, to its esteemed appreciation for films that feature ground-breaking composers and original soundtracks, Sundance Institute continues to support and inspire innovative music in independent film. In that spirit, The Sundance Film Festival is a vibrant showcase for up-and-coming musicians.
The official 2011 Sundance Film Festival credential costs $200 online or at the box offices and allows admission for the holder to the Sundance House, Filmmaker Lodge, New Frontier at Miner’s Hospital, daytime admission to the Sundance ASCAP Music Café, and the Salt Lake City Café. All Ticket Packages include two credentials. Note: each credential holder MUST BE 21 to enter the Sundance ASCAP Music Café and special events held at the Filmmaker Lodge.
2011 promises to showcase a diverse mix of films that highlight musicians in many different mediums such as Troubadours, a documentary exploring California’s singer/songwriter scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Fight For Your Right Revisited, a short film by Adam Yauch (MCA) that picks up where the Beastie Boys left off; WIN WIN, with an original song by The National; the story of the Harry Belafonte legacy, Sing Your Song; five original songs from the Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner featured in Submarine, and an interactive musical adventure in Das Racists’ “Who’s That? Brooown!”. Sundance Institute Composers Lab alum include Gingger Shankar (Circumstance), iZLER (On The Ice), Todd Griffin (Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259), and Vivek Maddala (Kaboom). Other notable composers include Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend (The Sound of My Voice), Andrew Hewitt (Submarine), J. Ralph (Hell and Back Again), and Edisio Alejandro (Ticket to Paradise).
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for years has provided a showcase for attendees of the Festival to experience live music performances. The 2011 lineup includes St. Vincent, Guster, and artists from the film Pariah (featuring Tamar-Kali). BMI celebrates over 15 years of focusing on the role of music in film with its 13th annual “Composer/Director Roundtable” and a night of live music, mingling and spirits at “Snowball,” featuring Allen Stone, Brett Dennen, David Poe, Lucy Schwartz, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS AT THE 2011 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL INCLUDE:
CELEBRATION OF MUSIC IN FILM
Open to all Festival Credential Holders. Join us for a special evening to celebrate the art and imagination of film music. A night of musical achievement and appreciation, this year’s concert is sure to be an unforgettable Festival highlight.
Legendary artist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lou Reed headlines the annual and highly anticipated Celebration of Music in Film. Reed gained notoriety as a founding member and principle songwriter for influential rock band The Velvet Underground, before pursuing a successful solo career spanning decades across multiple genres. In addition to being a master musician, film music composer, photographer, playwright and poet, Lou Reed adds filmmaker to his list of talents and brings his inspiring short film Red Shirley to the Festival.
Opening the evening is Sundance Composer Lab Alumni Mark Orton and his San Francisco based acoustic-chamber band Tin Hat. Tin Hat’s unique musical style blends elements of jazz, folk and classical chamber music.
By featuring such celebrated artists as Lyle Lovett, Rickie Lee Jones, Mos Def, and Patti Smith in past years, Celebration of Music in Film has quickly become one of the most anticipated music events at the Festival.
Sunday, January 23, 8:00 p.m.
Sundance House Presented by H.P.
638 Park Ave (Kimball Art Center)
SUNDANCE ASCAP MUSIC CAFÉ
The Sundance ASCAP Music Café is a dynamic showcase for live performances by emerging and established artists and bands. For 2011 the ASCAP Music Café will be located in the Stanfield Fine Art space, 751 Main Street in Park City and will feature a range of exciting songwriters and artists from across the musical spectrum in an intimate Festival setting. Music Café is produced by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). This year’s lineup includes: Artists from the film Pariah (featuring Tamar-Kali), Bobby Long, Danko Jones, Elle Varner, Fall On Your Sword, Guster, Jared Evan, Josh Ritter, Julia Fordham and Paul Reiser, K’NAAN, Madi Diaz, Manchester Orchestra, Matt Nathanson, Nicole Atkins, St. Vincent, The Chapin Sisters, The Civil Wars, The Low Anthem, The Secret Sisters, Tim Meyers, Tin Hat, and more-TBA. Music Café is open to all Festival Credential Holders and general public (21 and over) as space allows. This venue has limited capacity.
January 21-28; everyday from 1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sundance ASCAP Music Café
751 Main Street (Stanfield Fine Art)
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: MUSIC AND FILM, THE CREATIVE PROCESS PRODUCED BY BMI
Open to all Festival Credential Holders and the general public as space permits.
The panel speaks to the questions: What goes into creating a successful film score? What makes for an effective director/composer relationship? Doreen Ringer Ross, BMI Vice President of Film/TV Relations moderates this inspired roundtable discussion. Participants include composers Nathan Barr, Jaynee Carpenter, George S. Clinton, Peter Golub, iZler, Nathan Larson, Vivek Maddala, Michael Mollura, Dustin O’Halloran, Gingger Shankar, Harry Gregson Williams, Alex Wurman, and Festival film directors Matthew Chapman (The Ledge), Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance). Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (On the Ice), Kurt Norton (These Amazing Shadows), Jesse Peretz (My Idiot Brother), George Ratliff (Salvation Boulevard), Susan Saladoff (Hot Coffee), Jill Sprecher (The Convincer), and Yoav Potash (Crime After Crime).
January 26, 11:00 a.m.
Sundance House presented by HP
638 Park Ave (Kimball Art Center)
MUSIC SHOWCASE: BMI SNOWBALL PRODUCED BY BMI
Open to all Festival Credential Holders.
Hosted by BMI for the ninth year, the event will feature Allen Stone, David Poe, Lucy Schwartz, Brett Dennen and Robert Randolph and the Family Band in a festive night of music, mingling and spirits. Part Jimi Hendrix, part Robert Johnson, Randolph brings a brand-new dimension to music with his exquisite pedal-steel guitar playing and magnificently diverse sound. Singer/Songwriters Allen Stone, Brett Dennen, David Poe, and Lucy Schwartz will bring their critically acclaimed pop/rock music to the Snowball, showcasing their unique and inspiring voices and observations. Cocktails and appetizers will be served.
Wednesday, January 26, 8:00 p.m.
Sundance House presented by HP
638 Park Ave (Kimball Art Center).
NEW FRONTIER AT MINER’S HOSPITAL
Admission is free and open to all Festival Credential Holders and the general public as space permits, unless otherwise noted.
The Johnny Cash Project and The Wilderness Downtown
Milk + Koblin (Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin)
In The Johnny Cash Project participants are invited to create a drawing that is woven into a collectively rendered, hand drawn animated music video tribute to Johnny Cash set to his song “Ain’t No Grave.” The work continues to grow and evolve as more people participate. http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com
The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive film using HTML5 programming and Google Maps to create startling individualized videos to the Arcade Fire song “We Used to Wait.” The interactive video was an online sensation, leading to 35 million hits and 5 million unique visitors. http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com
Thursday, January 20: 3.00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Friday, January 21-Friday, January 28: 10:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 29: 10:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
New Frontier at Miner’s Hospital
1354 Park Avenue
(Across from the Library Theatre at City Park)
FILMS WITH MUSICAL THEMES INCLUDE:
*Unless otherwise noted, the film is a world premiere.
Abraxas / Japan (Director: Naoki Kato; Screenwriters: Dai Sako and Naoki Kato) – After botching a speech on career guidance at a local high school, a depressed Zen monk with a heavy metal past realizes that only music can revive his spirit. Cast: Suneohair, Rie Tomosaka, Manami Honjou, Ryouta Murai, Kaoru Kobayashi. North American Premiere
Music by Yoshihide Otomo, Japanese performer and multi-instrumentalist formerly of noise rock group Ground Zero.
Another Earth / U.S.A. (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) – On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy irrevocably alters the lives of two strangers, who begin an unlikely love affair. Cast: William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, Flint Beverage.
Original soundtrack by Fall On Your Sword, winners of the Cannes Gold Lion Award (2008).
Brick Novax / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Matt Piedmont) – Penniless and now living in a seedy motel with only weeks to live, international super legend Brick Novax records his amazing tales as an astronaut, movie star, corporate CEO, and famous musician to preserve his legacy as the coolest guy in the history of the world.
Original music by Beacon Street Studios featuring tracks recorded on vintage equipment and microphones, using recording techniques popular in the 60’s.
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest / U.S.A.(Director: Michael Rapaport) – The story of the rise and influence of one of the most innovative and influential hip hop bands of all time, the collective known as A Tribe Called Quest.
Scored by Madlib, Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer
Bike Race / U.S.A. (Director: Tom Schroeder; Screenwriters: Tom Schroeder and Hilde De Roover) – Two friends decide to stage a bicycle race to determine who is the best racer of all time, Eddy Merckx or Lance Armstrong. A love triangle develops during the race and the stakes of winning grow in importance.
Scored by Dave King, a founder of the bands The Bad Plus and Happy Apple.
Circumstance / U.S.A., Iran (Director and screenwriter: Maryam Keshavarz) – A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession. Cast: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho.
Original score by Los Angeles based singer, composer and violinist Ginnger Shankar, Sundance Institute Composers Lab Project Alum ’07.
Das Racist “Who’s That? Brooown!” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Thomas De Napoli) – An epic quest through the streets of New York City made in the style of video games from the 1980’s.
The music video for Das Racist’s track “Who’s That? Brooown!” from the group’s mix tape “Shut Up, Dude”. Players of this interactive video join in the misadventures of band members Heems and Kool A.D. as they fight yuppie gentrifiers and dodge marriage-obsessed Indian aunties in their quest to fill in last minute for an ill fated Jay-Z/Justin Bieber concert.
Fight For Your Right Revisited/ U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Yauch) – After the boys leave the party… Cast: Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Jack Black.
Adam Yauch (MCA) picks up where the Beastie Boys left off in the classic video for 1986’s “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!).”
Hell and Back Again / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Danfung Dennis) – Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Afghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.S., we witness what modern “unconventional” warfare really means to the men who are fighting it.
American composer J. Ralph wrote the score, sound design and end-title song, performed by Willie Nelson. He is a fellow of Yale University and the only composer ever to win two consecutive A.I.C.P. awards. His scores are included in the Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Collection of Film and Media in New York City.
Kaboom / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Gregg Araki) – A science fiction story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students. Cast: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida, Juno Temple. U.S. Premiere
Original score by Ulrich Schnauss, Mark Peters, Robin Guthrie, and Vivek Maddala. Robin Guthrie co-founded the influential band, Cocteau Twins. Vivek Maddala is an international award-winning composer and multi-instrumental performer; Sundance Institute Composers Lab Project Alum (’08).
Love & Theft / Germany (Director: Andreas Hykade) – And I’m still carrying the gift you gave, it’s a part of me now, it’s been cherished and saved, it’ll be with me unto the grave, and then unto eternity.’ (Bob Dylan)
Scored by Heiko Maile; Music by Christoff Hofmann. Music Award Animator Festival, Poznan, 2010; Music Award, International Film Festival Annecy, 2010; Music Award, International Short Film Festival Hamburg, 2010; Music for Animation Award, Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart, 2010.
Mad Bastards / Australia (Director: Brendan Fletcher; Screenwriters: Brendan Fletcher in collaboration with Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait and John Watson) – In a frontier town of northern Australia’s Kimberley Region, an urban street warrior meets his match in a local cop. Performances and stories from real people in Kimberley are woven through the music of legendary Broome musicians, The Pigram Brothers. Cast: Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait, John Watson, Ngaire Pigram, Lucas Yeeda. International Premiere
Music by The Pigram Brothers, a seven-piece country folk/rock band from Broome, Western Australia and Alex Lloyd, an Australian singer/songwriter.
On the Ice / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) – On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder. Cast: Josiah Patkotak, Frank Qutuq Irelan, Teddy Kyle Smith, Adamina Kerr, Sierra Jade Sampson.
Original score by iZLER, composer and multi instrumentalist, Sundance Institute Composers Lab Project Alum (’08).
Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259 / U.S.A. (Director: Lance Weiler; Screenwriters: Lance Weiler and Chuck Wendig) – Bree and her little brother Tyler know that their parents awaken only at sundown and are capable of strange and dangerous nocturnal behaviors. Running low on supplies and forced to act, Bree plots their escape, but Tyler stands in her way, unwilling to leave their family home and give up on the parents he loves so much.
Original score by T. Griffin, Sundance Institute Composers Lab Project Alum (’08).
Pioneer / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: David Lowery) – A father tells his little boy the most epic bedtime story ever.
Original score by Daniel Hart, violinist for St. Vincent; stars acclaimed indie musician Will Oldham aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
Red Shirley/ Special Screening (Director: Lou Reed) Lou Reed sat down with his cousin Shirley on the eve of her 100th birthday for a tete-a-tete. Red Shirley is a portrait of the filmmaker’s 100-year-old activist, unionist, cousin, an articulate, living historical individual. A portrayal of a certain kind of genius, Red Shirley is an example of “how the west was won.” Photographed by portraitist Ralph Gibson and Directed by Lou Reed. Filmed in New York’s Chelsea Garment Worker Project.
Sing Your Song / U.S.A. (A film by Susanne Rostock) – Most people know the lasting legacy of Harry Belafonte, the entertainer; this film unearths his significant contribution to and his leadership in the civil rights movement in America and to social justice globally.
Belafonte’s breakthrough album Calypso (1956) became the first LP to sell over 1 million copies; He was the first African American man to win an Emmy, with his first solo TV special Tonight with Belafonte (1959); Belafonte received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994 and he won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Sound of My Voice / U.S.A. (Director: Zal Batmanglij; Screenwriters: Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling) – A young couple infiltrates a cult that meets in a basement in the San Fernando Valley. Cast: Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, Brit Marling
Scored by Rostam Batmanglij of the indie-rock band Vampire Weekend.
Submarine / United Kingdom (Director: Richard Ayoade; Screenwriter: Richard Ayoade from the novel by Joe Dunthorne) – Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate has two big ambitions: to save his parents’ marriage and to lose his virginity before his next birthday. Cast: Craig Roberts, Paddy Considine,Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins, Yasmin Paige. U.S. Premiere
Original score by BAFTA nominated composer Andrew Hewitt. Five original songs by Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys.
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 / Sweden, U.S.A. (Director: Göran Olsson) – From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew. World Premiere
Original score by Questlove of The Roots; commentaries from activist musicians including Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Erykah Badu.
The Legend of Beaver Dam / Canada (Director: Jerome Sable; Screenwriters: Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion) – When a ghost story around the campfire awakens an evil monster, it’s up to nerdy Danny Zigwitz to be the hero and save his fellow campers from a bloody massacre.
A rock musical horror film, The Legend of Beaver Dam is the first musical film of Montreal based musical theatre duo Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion. Sable and Batalion is best known for the musical J.O.B. The Hip-Hopera, a retelling of the biblical Book of Job through hip-hop.
The Music Never Stopped / U.S.A.(Director: Jim Kohlberg; Screenwriters: Gwyn Lurie and Gary Marks, based on the story “The Last Hippie” by Oliver Sacks) – A father struggles to bond with his estranged son who suffers a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. He learns to embrace his son’s choices and to try to connect with him through the power of music. Cast: J.K. Simmons, Julia Ormond, Cara Seymour, Lou Taylor Pucci, Mia Maestro.
The film features music from The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, Bob Dylan, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Ticket to Paradise (Boleto al Paraiso) / Cuba (Director: Gerardo Chijona Valdes; Screenwriters: Gerardo Chijona Valdes, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez and Maykel Rodriguez Ponjuan) – A teenage girl running away from her father’s sexual harassment meets a young rocker who has escaped to Havana with his misfit group of friends. Set in 1993, during a period of acute shortages in Cuba, the local AIDS hospice begins to look like an unlikely refuge to the hopeless teens. Cast: Miriel Cejas, Héctor Medina, Dunia Matos, Jorge Perugorria, Luis A. Garcia. International Premiere
Music by renowned Cuban composer Edesio Alejandro.
Troubadours / U.S.A.(Director: Morgan Neville) – A musical journey tracing the lives and careers of James Taylor and Carole King, pillars of the California singer/songwriter scene, which converged in and around LA’s Troubadour Club in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Weaves together archival footage, rare performances, and interviews from a veritable who’s who, including Elton John, Steve Martin, and Bonnie Raitt.
We Were Here / U.S.A.(Director: David Weissman) – A deep and reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of this unimaginable crisis.
Portland, Oregon based composer, singer and performance artist Holcombe Waller (also of Holcombe Waller & the Healers) composed the score for the film.
Win Win / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Tom McCarthy, based on the story by Tom McCarthy and Joe Tiboni) – When a disheartened attorney moonlighting as a high school wrestling coach stumbles across a star athlete, things seem to be looking up. That is, until the boy’s mother shows up fresh from rehab and flat broke, threatening to derail everything. Cast: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor.
Indie rock band The National composed the original theme song.
!Women Art Revolution / U.S.A. (Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson) – One part of a transmedia project that includes the interactive video installation RAW WAR presented at New Frontier, this seminal documentary depicts the history of women artists who have used art as an activist practice to fight oppression and protest gender and racial exclusion – creating what many historians feel is the most significant art movement of the late-20th century. U.S. Premiere
Original score composed by Carrie Brownstein, formerly of indie rock band Sleater-Kinney. In 2006, Brownstein appeared on the Rolling Stone reader’s list of the 25 “Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time” as the highest-rated woman.
Festival Sponsors
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors-Entertainment Weekly, HP, Acura, Sundance Channel and Chase SapphireSM; Leadership Sponsors-Bing™, Canon, DIRECTV, Honda, Southwest Airlines and YouTube™; Sustaining Sponsors-FilterForGood®, a partnership between Brita® and Nalgene®, L’Oréal Paris, Stella Artois®, Timberland, and Trident Vitality™. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations will defray costs associated with the 10-day Festival and the nonprofit Sundance Institute’s year-round programs for independent film and theatre artists. In return, sponsorship of the preeminent Festival provides these organizations with global exposure, a platform for brand impressions and unique access to Festival attendees.
About Sundance Film Festival
Supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex, lies, and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious, Trouble the Water and Napoleon Dynamite and, through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julian, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp and Matthew Barney. www.sundance.org/festival
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. www.sundance.org
For images go to http://press.sundance.org/press.
