PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Two documentaries that cast eyes back to South African apartheid and speak to music’s healing power have shared the spotlight at the Sundance Film Festival this week among a wide selection of movies about songs, singers and musicians.

Nonfiction films “Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap,” in which rapper and actor Ice-T interviews Eminem, Nas, Snoop Dogg and others about the roots of hip hop, and “Shut Up and Play the Hits,” about LCD Soundsystem’s last concert in New York, have focused on music.

“Filly Brown,” about a female hip hop artist, “California Solo” in which Robert Carlyle plays a washed up rock star, and “I Am Not A Hipster,” about a tortured singer songwriter, were among fictional films about the lives of musicians.

But it was singer-songwriter Paul Simon who captured the media spotlight with the premiere of documentary “Under African Skies,” and another nonfiction film “Searching for Sugar Man” that wowed crowds here. Both of them are linked to South Africa.

“Under African Skies,” recounts the making of Simon’s groundbreaking 1986 album “Graceland” and shows Simon returning to South Africa where he recorded much of the acclaimed record that sparked controversy for breaking a cultural boycott of that country due to apartheid policies.

The film shows footage of original recording sessions from “Graceland” in South Africa and chronicles Simon’s 2011 reunion with the album’s musicians for a 25th anniversary concert.

The film makes the case that the album and resulting concert tour were overwhelming forces in bringing together people of various races and that political attacks against Simon by groups including the African National Congress were unwarranted.

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Back in 2007, actress Julie Delpy brought to theaters a comical love story, “2 Days in Paris,” that she also wrote and directed, starring Adam Goldberg as her on screen boyfriend in a romance set in the City of Light.

The movie earned positive reviews, and roughly five years later, she has returned with “2 Days in New York,” only this time her character Marion has replaced Goldberg with a new beau, played by comedian Chris Rock. The two are living together in the Big Apple when her family, including a father who hardly showers and an oversexed sister, come to visit.

The amusing farce premiered on Wednesday at the Sundance Film Festival to a warm reception. And Delpy, who directed, co-wrote and stars in the film, sat down with Rock to talk about it, writing the role specifically for Rock and how it was better that he really didn’t understand French when they were filming.

Q. Chris, why did you want to work with Julie? You can do any films you like?

Rock: “Really? Tom Cruise can do whatever he likes.”

Delpy: “Not anymore.”

Rock: “Maybe Shia LaBeouf can? I just liked the script and that is all I need. I don’t get into, you know how people are like, ‘I see myself as a brand and does this help my brand’ and all that nonsense. If I am in a good movie, it will be good for me. I thought the story was really good. I thought the script was great and I trusted Julie and that was enough for me. I don’t think I asked her another question. I had seen her other films. I loved her other films. You know, character stuff, not ‘movie’ stuff.,”

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Stories of Americans learning the effects of greed and excess or struggling in a weak economy have tried to captivate audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival but without one standout, sweeping success.

As the event crossed its midway point by Wednesday, several movies had sold to distributors yet some that came with media buzz and star appeal into the top U.S. festival for independent film have failed to win acclaim or shown commercial appeal.

The focus on dark subjects is typical of indie filmmaking, but it contrasts to the escapist fare and hopeful tales for which audiences haved longed at theaters in recent years of recession and joblessness. That fact had distributors concerned.

“We have seen a lot of films that we like, but there is a question on the commerciality of most of them. There is a lot of deliberations going on with what they are worth,” said Michael Barker, co-chief of Sony Pictures Classics

Barker expects brisk business in the festival’s second half with the number of deals possibly equaling last year’s robust market, “but in dollar amounts, no. People are more cautious.”

Still, there are some films hoping to break big here by urging audiences to greater personal and corporate responsibility. “Arbitrage,” starring Richard Gere, is among the few movies seen as having commercial appeal with its timely morality tale borne of the financial crisis.

In the film, which also stars Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth, Gere plays a billionaire hedge fund magnate whose personal life crumbles amid a plot that is similar in parts to the Bernie Madoff scandal. Gere’s character lies about company assets as he races to make even more money and save his family business.

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – British actress Rebecca Hall spent a year convincing director Stephen Frears she should star in his new film, playing the comedic role of a free-spirited, seemingly ditzy Florida stripper aspiring to make it as a cocktail waitress in Vegas.

But she had two big problems: one, she never performed in a role like it before, and two, Frears was looking for an actress who was exactly the opposite of Hall. Her gamble appears to have paid off, however. Reviews of “Lay the Favorite” following its Sundance Film Festival premiere on Sunday have been mixed, but Hall has earned much praise.

“I had not shown that kind of range,” Hall told Reuters in an interview with Frears following the debut of “Lay The Favorite.” “I thought, I love this part, I would kill to do it. But I don’t believe that anyone is going to cast me in it.”

Hall, 29, captured Hollywood’s eye playing an uptight American in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” and later in crime thriller “The Town,” but her first meeting with British director Frears did not go so well.

“He said, ‘You are everything I am not looking for and I will never cast you.’ And then I was like a dog with a bone after that. That was it.”

Sitting beside her, Frears smiled. “It’s a humiliating story,” he agreed.

ROLL OF THE DICE

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – A new documentary film offers a glimpse into the life of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, conveying a creative, brave, yet humble man who has become more cautious following his 81-day government detention in 2011.

“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” which premiered at the Sundance film festival on Sunday, features interviews China’s leading artists and activists and people who surround Ai in is life.

It includes footage that humanizes the man, showing suprising tears from his mother worried about his safety, the artist playing with his young son, and highlights from his projects such as a poor response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Ai, who was named the world’s most powerful artist by U.K-based ArtReview magazine in October since his release, appears in interviews only before his detention, but not after his release.

The 54-year-old bearded, burly Chinese artist wanted to attend the Sundance screening “but felt it was just going to invite too much trouble,” the film’s director Alison Klayman told the audience after a standing ovation in Park City, Utah, where the festival takes place.

Ai became a symbol for China’s crackdown on artists and dissidents when his disappearance and secret detention after battling Chinese authorities sparked an international outcry.

Last November he paid a bond of 8.4 million yuan (then $1.3 million) on a tax evasion charge, which he denies, while his supporters continued to raise the full, combined bill of 15 million yuan (then $2.4 million.)

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival was set to open on Thursday night with four features, including a documentary examining America’s housing crisis, the fractured American dream and values humbled by today’s lackluster economy.

The documentary, “The Queen of Versailles,” follows self-made billionaires Jackie and David Siegel who at first glance may not seem in touch with many Americans who have struggled in the current, downbeat economy. The film opens with the couple constructing their dream house: A 90,000 square foot mansion named “Versailles” inspired by the French palace.

But director Lauren Greenfield told Reuters the story eventually came to resemble many of the lessons learned by those who have lost their homes, jobs and experienced the effects of the economic crisis.

“The American dream has always been this idea of home ownership,” Greenfield said, but the film shows the Siegels dealing with the impact of the economy, like many in the United States, and “how they downsize and cope with the situation,” eventually rediscovering what is important to them.

“They do take on this everyman quality that ends up putting them nearer to us in terms of the overreaching of America and downsizing and getting back to core values,” said Greenfield.

“Versailles” is one of several high-profile films here that show Americans tackling problems associated with the downturned economy and broken dreams.

“It’s no secret that times are dark and grim,” Robert Redford, whose Sundance Institute for filmmaking backs the festival, told reporters on Thursday.

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, starting ten days of movie screenings and providing the launching pad for some of the world’s top low-budget features and documentaries at the largest U.S. gathering for independent filmmakers.

The 117 movies to be screened at the festival held in the ski resort of Park City, Utah were selected from 4,042 features submitted, including 24 in competition.

Festival director John Cooper, Sundance’s chief programmer, spoke to Reuters about the tone of the films selected and how first time filmmakers can be hopeful with new technology making films easier to turn around and offering a variety of platforms for films to reach audiences.

Q. What are you seeing that’s different in the overall tone of the films selected this year?

A. “What I am seeing in general is that the independent film movement or community is maturing a little bit. The bar gets set higher each year. It doesn’t seem to be leveling off. Each year the films are coming in with more depth of quality and over arching completeness and vision. This bar is set and other filmmakers coming up through the ranks know that is there.”

Q. Some thought that with technology improving cameras and editing and sometimes making it cheaper to make indie films it might go the other way — that quality might diminish with a more crowded field, why do you think quality is improving?

A. “There are a lot of factors. There is more of a community base now as to how they work. I am noticing much more a sharing of cinematographers, of actors and ideas.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – “The Descendants,” starring George Clooney as a family man, and the silent black and white movie “The Artist,” were among 10 movies earning Producers Guild Award nominations Tuesday.

“Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s cinematic bow to the French capital, and the surprise summer box office hit “The Help,” which tells of black maids in Mississippi dealing with racism, also built upon their nods from other major film awards as the Hollywood awards season gathers momentum.

High-profile names including Martin Scorsese for 3D-adventure movie “Hugo,” Brad Pitt for the baseball film “Moneyball,” George Clooney for political drama “The Ides of March” and Steven Spielberg for the family film “War Horse” were also nominated for those films, along with their fellow producers.

Completing the list in the main fiction film category were producers for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” adapted from Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of hit novels, and the raunchy summer female comedy “Bridesmaids.”

The Producers Guild Awards, a key indication of Hollywood sentiment ahead of the Oscars in February, will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan 21.

In other categories, Spielberg as well as Peter Jackson were nominated for donning their producer hats in the animation category “The Adventures of Tintin.”

In a year of numerous Hollywood sequels, “Cars 2,” and “Kung Fu Panda 2″ also received nods in the animation category along with “Puss In Boots” and western comedy “Rango” in which Johnny Depp lends his voice as a pet chameleon.

KABUL (Reuters) – The looming exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan will force the United Nations to take a larger role fighting poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and trafficking into neighboring countries, the top U.N. anti-narcotics official said on Monday.

But Yuri Fedotov, the head of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime also highlighted rare, and increasing cooperation on anti-narcotics work between Afghanistan and its neighbours Iran and Pakistan, who have troubled relationships marked more often by distrust than cooperation.

Unprecedented regional steps that have taken place so far include sharing radio frequencies which were once kept secret.

“The level of mistrust was so high and the countries have a long history of mutual suspicion,” Fedotov told Reuters in an interview in Kabul to bolster trilateral drug-control efforts.

“When we started it was difficult to talk about intelligence sharing, joint operations. It took a long time for them to realize that is in their common interest,” he said of the “triangular initiative”, which began in 2007.

At the latest meeting of top officials from all three countries they agreed to increase joint intelligence, raids, and border patrols in areas where opium flows out of Afghanistan.

But with foreign combat forces, and much of their cash and air power, expected to be gone from the country by the end of 2014, the Afghan government will likely need more help fighting poppy cultivation, which rose over the last year.

KABUL (Reuters) – The looming exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan will force the United Nations to take a larger role fighting poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and trafficking into neighboring countries, the top U.N. anti-narcotics official said on Monday.

But Yuri Fedotov, the head of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime also highlighted rare, and increasing cooperation on anti-narcotics work between Afghanistan and its neighbours Iran and Pakistan, who have troubled relationships marked more often by distrust than cooperation.

Unprecedented regional steps that have taken place so far include sharing radio frequencies which were once kept secret.

“The level of mistrust was so high and the countries have a long history of mutual suspicion,” Fedotov told Reuters in an interview in Kabul to bolster trilateral drug-control efforts.

“When we started it was difficult to talk about intelligence sharing, joint operations. It took a long time for them to realise that is in their common interest,” he said of the “triangular initiative,” which began in 2007.

At the latest meeting of top officials from all three countries they agreed to increase joint intelligence, raids, and border patrols in areas where opium flows out of Afghanistan.

But with foreign combat forces, and much of their cash and air power, expected to be gone from the country by the end of 2014, the Afghan government will likely need more help fighting poppy cultivation, which rose over the last year.