Park City, UT – Sundance Institute today announced the fall lineup of its Film Series, which includes seminal Sundance Film Festival films, as well as new work supported by Sundance Institute. The Film Series kicks off September 8 at the Park City Library with Rocket Science, a film about a stuttering teen recruited to be on the high school debate team, followed by an October screening of the horror film that broke all the rules –The Blair Witch Project. In addition, the Film Series will showcase Camp Victory, the true story of U.S. National Guardsmen and the Afghan officers they are assigned to work with, and Catfish, one of the most talked about documentaries of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
“This fall, we wanted to showcase films that continue to make their marks on our cultural history and are part of our social commentary,” said Virginia Pearce, Sundance Institute’s Associate Director of Artist Relations and Community Programs. “We chose films that have fostered conversations about independent film and have proved to be benchmarks over the past decade, and films that are a snapshot to what is going on now — whether it is following soldiers across a cultural divide, or exploring the complicated nature of internet relationships.”
These screenings are made possible by support from Principal Sponsor Zions Bank; Major Sponsors Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau; Salt Lake County; Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks; and Summit County Recreation, Arts, and Parks Program; with in-kind support from City Weekly, KRCL 90.9 FM Community Radio, Park City Film Series, Park City Marriott; and Community Supporter Promontory Foundation.
The fall Sundance Institute Film screenings includes:
Rocket Science
2007 Sundance Film Festival, Directing Award Written and Directed by Jeffrey Blitz (will be in attendance) Wednesday, September 8, 7:00 p.m. Park City Library, 1255 Park Avenue, Park City
Hal Hefner is an ordinary, shy 15 year-old boy struggling to make it through high school. On top of his parents’ recent divorce and an obsessive- compulsive, kleptomaniac older brother, Hal has a stuttering problem. In spite of this speech impediment, the high school debate team star, Ginny Ryerson, brilliantly played by Up In The Air’s Anna Kendrick, invites Hal to join the team. For Ginny, debate is life; for Hal, it quickly becomes apparent that life is Ginny. So it seems a good match. Until it isn’t. According to NPR’s Bob Mondello, “The smarts and charm of Rocket Science are simply not open to debate.”
Rated R
Sundance Institute Film Series Heads into Fall September 1, 2011
The Blair Witch Project
Directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick (will be in attendance) Friday, October 15, 9:00 p.m. Tower Theatre, 76 East 900 South, Salt Lake City
As part of Tower Theatre’s MONTH OF HORROR, directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick will attend the screening of the horror film that changed all the rules at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
Blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, The Blair Witch Project is a first-hand account of three student filmmakers who venture into Maryland’s remote Black Hills to investigate stories of the mythic Blair Witch. After the trio disappears without a trace, their footage is unearthed one year later, revealing a terrifying account of the events which marked their final days.
Camp Victory
2009 Documentary Fund Grantee Directed by Carol Dysinger Thursday, November 4, 7:00 p.m. Park City Library, 1255 Park Avenue, Park City
The U.S. National Guard has been deployed to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Army. Camp Victory follows several soldiers—Afghan and American—who across the divide of language, culture and religion must accomplish a near impossible task: crafting a modern army to serve a struggling nation.
Catfish
2010 Sundance Film Festival Thursday, December 2, 7:00 p.m. Park City Library, 1255 Park Avenue, Park City
When a young New York City photographer is contacted on MySpace by an 8-year-old painting prodigy from rural Michigan, he becomes deeply enmeshed in her life, even falling in love with her older sister — that is, until a crack appears in her story.
Sundance Institute invites you to step inside the world of independent filmmaking each month with the Sundance Institute Film Series. Part screening, part discussion, we’ll showcase work supported by Sundance Institute and give you an opportunity to meet the filmmakers and discuss the films.
Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, An Inconvenient Truth and Angels in America. www.sundance.org
