Category: Now Playing

First-time filmmaker Peter Sattler got the inspiration for Camp X-Ray, a gritty drama about soldiers watching over suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, after he watched documentary footage of a guard and a detainee discussing the books on a library cart.“It was the most surreal, absurd interchange I’ve ever seen in my life,” Sattler told the audience at the film’s Sundance Film Festival premiere last January. “I saw this vision of a two-hander, one room-type of movie where these two characters just talk.

Five award winners from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival make their way to theaters this October, led by the Grand Jury Prize winner Whiplash, starring Miles Teller as a tenacious drum virtuoso training under the tutelage of a notoriously demanding mentor in J.K. Simmons.

Prior to its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, The Skeleton Twins had been billed as a non-comedy starring Saturday Night Live vets Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as estranged siblings. As it turns out, this description isn’t quite accurate. While the film is at times a very affecting and penetrating drama, it also contains as many genuine laughs as any “drama” in recent memory.

As we collectively lament the closing days of summer, a handful of new releases help usher in a promising fall season for indie film. The ever-enigmatic singer-songwriter Willis Earl Beal offers a captivating portrayal of a musician caught in the trap of creative inertia in Memphis, and Belle & Sebastian front man Stuart Murdoch officially makes his foray into filmmaking with the pensive musical drama God Help The Girl. Bringing some levity to the month’s releases – though still sharp and thoughtful – is Craig Johnson’s The Skeleton Twins, which tracks the reunion of estranged twins expertly played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.

How do we really know that it’s Michael Fassbender behind that lollipop-shaped fake head in Frank? Frankly (sorry), the evidence is equivocal – but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Beyond that playfully absurd film that casts Fassbender as a Daft Punk-esque musician (that is to say, full of enigma), August is a breakout month for Sundance films of all shapes and sizes. Fan-favorite and Audience Award winner Dinosaur 13 retains the childlike wonder of our dinosaur-loving days with a tension-filled documentary about the legal battle over the largest T-rex ever discovered, and indie film veterans Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss suffer through the throes of a combusting relationship in The One I Love.

In January, Festival Director John Cooper called Life Itself “absolutely, positively the easiest film to program.” As declarations go, that one could draw allegations of hyperbole. That is, until you view Steve James’ raw, often difficult-to-watch but nonetheless faithfully directed portrait of legendary critic Roger Ebert, which continues its journey to theaters Friday, July 4.

“Remember from before when we did sex to each other?” asks Jenny Slate’s character in Obvious Child, a rom-com redux that follows one crude comedian’s ungainly reaction to being “dumped up with.” After making waves in the NEXT section at this year’s Festival, Obvious Child makes its formal theatrical debut this month alongside another NEXT standout and charismatic ’80s throwback Ping Pong Summer. William Eubank’s The Signal offers a change of pace in the form of a striking sci-fi drama that delivers the tension of a classic hostage thriller, and there’s even more to discover in this month’s Now Playing blog.

May is brimming with a full crop of films from the 2014 Festival making their theatrical releases. Among them, Jim Mickle’s U.S.

A pair of films that screened in the Spotlight section at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival make their wide releases in the U.S. this month.

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres, coming to DVD, or showing through #ArtistServices this month.
In Theatres
March 7
In Fear,  Directed by Jeremy Lovering
March 14 
Ernest & Celestine, Directed by Stéphane Aubier, Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar

March 21
It Felt Like Love, Written and Directed by Eliza Hittman 

Anita, Directed by Frieda Mock 
A Birder’s Guide to Everything, directed by Rob Meyer
March 28
Breathe In, Co-Written and Directed by Drake Doremus 

The Raid 2, Directed by Gareth Evans
DVD and On-Demand
March 5
Pit Stop (Netflix), directed by Yen Tan
March 18 
Kill Your Darlings, directed by John Krokidas
March 25
The Truth About Emanuel, Co-Written and Directed by Francesca Gregorini
#ArtistServices Netflix Launch
March 25
Breakfast with Curtis , directed by Laura Colella
Dear Mandela, co-directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza
The Happy Sad , directed by Rodney Evans
L.I.

As we gear up to premiere more than 200 films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, audiences are ready to be replenished with new indie films for the new year. But there are still some titles harvested from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival making the theatrical rounds, along with a number of films coming to DVD and Blu-Ray this month. In Theaters Friday, January 10The Truth About Emanuel, directed by Francesca GregoriniSaturday, January 19Life Itself, directed by Steve James.

Surely Spike Lee knows that the “remake” is the most hazardous terrain for a director to explore. Beyond the usual critics, there lie an obsessive and carping band of film fans ready to lambaste any rethinking of the original vision—and often before a script has even surfaced. 
On that note, Spike Lee’s Oldboy recently hit theaters, which reimagines Park Chan-wook’s 2005 Sundance Film Festival selection of the same name.