Park City, UT — Sundance Institute today announced a trio of screenings for local Utah audiences bringing the best summer has to offer — timeless southern storytelling, the search for the “perfect wave,” and the warm twang of Appalachian mountain music. Always free of charge, the screenings are highlights from previous Sundance Film Festivals and are part of the Sundance Institute Film Series, a year-round community event program that offers works that best represent the Institute’s spectrum of programs. The films in this summer’s screenings showcase some of the memorable artists and talent to emerge from Film Festival — Amy Adams’s role in Junebug led to her Hollywood fame, while Riding Giants director Stacy Peralta first came to the Festival with Dogtown and Z-boys in 2001 and became a three-time Festival alum in 2008 with Made in America.
In addition to July 1 screening of Junebug at the Park City Library, Sundance Institute will be offering two outdoor screenings in Park City and Salt Lake City during August. Audiences are invited to watch Riding Giant’s waves swallow surfers on a 25-ft screen on Monday, August 3 at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake City. Songcatcher, with its lush visual backdrop and rich musical score, will screen under the stars at City Park in Park City on Wednesday, August 5. Al fresco dining is encouraged; picnics are welcome, Red Rock Brewing Company will be selling refreshments, and Coach’s Sports Bar and Grill will have food available for purchase.
All summer screenings are made possible by support from Principal Sponsor Zions Bank, Major Sponsors Summit County Recreation, Arts, and Parks Program, Salt Lake County and the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, with in-kind support from City Weekly, KRCL 90.9 FM Community Radio, KXRK “X96” 96.3 FM, Park City Film Series, Park City Marriott, ParkCityWeek.com and UtahFM.
The films selected for this summer’s screenings are:
Junebug Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | 7:00 p.m.
Park City Library
(Director: Phil Morrison; Screenwriter: Angus MacLachlan)
Junebug tells the story of a Southern homecoming of an expatriate, who brings his urbanite wife from Chicago to meet his wary and damaged family in rural North Carolina. Junebug features a breakout role for Amy Adams, who won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for Acting for her portrayal of the sweet, pregnant sister-in-law. Stephen Holden of the New York Times described Junebug as “a wise, bittersweet, beautifully acted comedy.”
Riding Giants Monday, August 3, 2009 | 8:30 p.m. or dusk
Gallivan Center, 239 South Main, Salt Lake City
(Director: Stacy Peralta)
A documentary directed by former Z-boy Stacy Peralta, Riding Giants closely chronicles the sometimes-life-and-death drama that big-wave surfing entails and takes viewers into the history and culture of surfing (both pre-Gidget and post-Gidget). A selection from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, the film focuses on the persistent desire to surf bigger and gnarlier waves. Screening outdoors at the Gallivan Center, footage of surfers gracefully navigating 50-foot waves is sure to give a bit of an adrenaline rush, albeit vicariously.
Songcatcher Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | 8:30 PM or dusk
City Park, 1354 Park Ave, Park City
(Director/Screenwriter: Maggie Greenwald)
Set in the early nineteenth century, musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric is spurned for a promotion at her male-dominated university and sets out to visit her sister, who runs a school in Appalachia. With a lush visual backdrop, Lily discovers a hidden musical world of Irish and Scottish folks songs passed down for generations. She begins recording the rich history, while becoming involved in the community’s struggles and falling for a local musician. A selection of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Songbird has a rich soundtrack with performances from Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, Hazel Dickens and Taj Mahal.
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don’t Cry, Sin Nombre and Born into Brothels.
