Fan Fare

Lauryn Hill battles unruly VIPs at Sundance

Often called America’s best ever female rapper, Lauryn Hill got no respect from a group of self-important VIP’s at a concert on the sidelines of the Sundance Film Festival Wednesday night. So Hill, who is known for not mincing her words, asked her security to remove the people and their roped-off, Very Important Person section that was set-up just meters from the stage.

As she performed the latest concert on a current small tour — a comeback of sorts after a hiatus from the music scene — she had to contend with the VIPs, whoever they were, as they mostly ignored her set, often with their backs to the stage while swilling champagne and at times blocking the view of and distracting ticket-paying concertgoers.

For the record, Hill’s show was not affiliated with the festival itself, but was just one of many performances set up by party and corporate promoters that Sundance has long battled. For years, the sort of circus atmosphere created by the marketers has irked Sundance’s backers, including Robert Redford.

While there is little Sundance can do about private enterprise at work, there was plenty that Ms. Hill (as she apparently likes to be called) could do about the rowdy crew in the velvet-rope section. In fact, she asked her security “to move the crowd, you understand me?”. Bravely she carried on despite the strange set-up, playing new versions of her songs from the Grammy-winning “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and  finishing with the Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly,” and “Doo Wop (That Thing)

We note that many other music events taking place outside the festival, such as  Cee-Lo Green performing at the Bing Bar, were tastefully done, albeit invitation only.

And in a struggling music industry where singers must find new ways to make money, many singers in recent years all over the country –  from Jewel to Rufus Wainwright — now perform private sponsored events to rude crowds who turn out for the sponsors, free booze and party.  (Another note: earlier in her career, Ms. Hill often complained about the corporate demands of the music industry and the compromises they placed on artistic integrity). But when a ticket-paying public and even performers on stage have to contend with roped off sections of rowdy VIPs who got in free, we wonder what is the future of live concerts?

Sundance’s unheralded short film and grant winners

The Sundance Film Festival reaches its climax on Saturday when winners of best feature films and their directors, writers, cinematographers and sometimes actors are announced. And make no mistake, those winners will go on to claim movie glory both outside and inside Hollywood.

Don’t believe us? Take one quick look at last year. What was the Sundance 2010 jury prize winner for best dramatic film? “Winter’s Bone.” What is a 2010 best film Oscar nominee? “Winter’s Bone.” What was the Sundance 2010 jury prize winner for best documentary? “Restrepo.” What is a 2010 best documentary Oscar nominee? “Restrepo.”

Tuesday night at separate events, Sundance gave out awards to individuals who often go unheralded at the festival: makers of short films and, for the first time this year, winners of a filmmaking grant from Indian company Mahindra Rise.

First, the short films. Sundance uses a panel of film industry jurors to pick  winners and the jury prize for U.S. shorts went to “Brick Novax pt 1 and 2″ by writer/director Matt Piedmont. It tells of a faded superstar named Brick Novax who is now down-and-out with only weeks to live. The jury prize for internationals shorts went to “Deeper Than Yesterday” from Australian writer/director Ariel Kleiman. It’s the story of a crew trapped aboard a submerged submarine for three months. Honorable mentions went to “Choke,” “Diarchy” and “The External World” “The Legend of Beaver Dam,” “Out of Reach” and “Protoparticles.” You can watch the awards ceremony here.

Separately, at the Sundance Institute/Mahindra Rise Filmmaking Award ceremony, four filmmakers were given a $10,000 grant to help develop their scripts into feature films, will be invited to the Sundance labs where they will be mentored, and they will be introduced to industry pros who can help them get their movies made and, possibly, distributed. They were Bogdan Mustata with his “Wolf” from Romania, Ernesto Contreras and “I Dream In Another Language” from Mexico, Seng Tat Liew with “In What City Does it Live?” from Malaysia, and Talya Lavie for “Zero Motivation” from Israel.  There is no video of that event, believe us, the filmmakers were excited — Mustata had to wipe away a few tears.

Mahindra Rise and the Sundance Institute also unveiled plans to conduct a screenwriters lab in Mumbai, called the Mumbai Mantra/Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. Mumbai Mantra director Rohit Khattar explained to Reuters that while India has a huge and thriving film industry with its Bollywood musicals, western-style dramas that explore human dilemmas are less common and the labs will be designed to nurture filmmakers who can tell those types of stories.

Sundance rebels?

If you’ve been reading our coverage of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (and we certainly hope so, otherwise our boss won’t pay for a return trip in 2011), you know by now that this year event organizers were promoting a return to a rebelliousness among independent filmmakers — those people making movies outside Hollywood’s major studios. The words “rebel,” “rework,” “rebirth,” and others figure prominently on Sundance posters, t-shirts, film trailers and the like. If you haven’t been reading about it, click here and here.

So the natural question all week has been, “do this year’s films exemplify a renewed indie spirit?” The answer depends on how you look at it. In the opening day press conference, even Sundance founder Robert Redford and festival director John Cooper seemed to disagree with Redford calling it a festival of rebirth for that independent spirit and Cooper thinking it was more a renewal of Sundance’s pledge to promote fresh, new voices in cinema. Rebirth or renewal? … TomAIto or TomAUto.

Here’s what we think. Sundance is first and foremost about films and filmmaking, say it’s organizers. So, what about the movies? Many are about the same, and a few will always be different — as different as the people who made them and how audiences perceive them. We ask: how was “Buried,” about a Iraq war contractor buried alive, any different from 2003′s “Open Water,” about a pair of scuba divers stranded in the middle of the ocean when their tourist boat leaves them? Both take us on horrific journeys that lead to personal introspection, but “Buried” also preys upon our feelings about the years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So that’s a little different, yes. Movie watching is subjective and, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt (you can call him Joe) told us, a new movie is often about taking an old idea and “putting your own, unique spin on it.” Read our Q&A with Joe here.

The marketplace for buying and selling movies here has changed, somewhat. Gone is the notion that the “indie” label could sell anything, and it has been replaced by a more pragmatic business sense. And, after a tough 2009 market, several movies including “Blue Valentine,” “happythankyoumoreplease,” “Hesher” and “Winter’s Bone” found distributors in the festival’s final days.  The investor money is out there to fuel the market, industry veterans here say, but the players at the table are making smarter decisions about how much to invest and where to put their money. Read about that here.

The “indie spirit” is still alive at Sundance, but it never truly went away. In recent years, one just had to clear away the surface clutter to get to it. After Sundance  became a corporate circus for promoting products in the 2000s, some — certainly not all — of those corporate marketers have gone, and the ones that are here are less aggressive. This year (and in 2009 to a great extent, too) the recession cleared the clutter away for audiences. That’s good. And  while some industry watchers complained about the number of stars showing up in independent films in the late 1990s and 2000s, those observers should get over it. The indie world has more challenging material and characters, and that attracts actors and actresses. The stars are here to stay, and that’s just the nature of major studio vs. indie moviemaking heading into a new decade.

You can see the “indie spirit” among winners in the video above — a sort of mash-up of acceptance speeches from Saturday night’s awards. (Read about the winners here). And below, just for fun, is David Hyde Pierce and John Cooper performing a rap to loosen up the crowd — a couple of middle-aged, white hip hoppers, now that was rebellious. Or just plain funny. Click below.

A Sundance filmmaker tell-all?!

The Sundance Film Festival is nothing if not about discovering new filmmakers and fresh voices in the world of cinema. Most of these writer/directors, of course, want their movies to make some sort of impact on audiences, but what impact does Sundance have on them beyond just selling their films into distribution or starting a career? We talked to some of them at a filmmaker meet-and-greet on Wednesday. Click on the video to see what they had to say.

“A Small Act” brings big gift at Sundance

It is not unheard of, but certainly is uncommon. After film documentary “A Small Act,” which tells of the plight of kids struggling just to get an education in Kenya, debuted here at the Sundance Film Festival this week it became a cause celebre — not for starpower, rather for charitable giving to send kids to school.

To here director Jennifer Arnold tell it, after the second screening a woman stood up in the audience and offered a $5,000 donation to help the kids. She challenged the audience to give, too, and her $5,000 was quickly matched by another check for $5,000. Midway through the festival, the amount raised and pledged had grown to $80,000. That’s a lot of schooling. According to the documentary, in Kenya secondary school can cost less than $10 a week.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen,” Arnold told Reuters. She said she knows that sounds cliche, but it’s true. Arnold said she had heard from one other documentary director who, in the past, had a similar experience but with all that’s happening in Haiti, she reckoned any donations might be slow in coming, if at all. Little did she expect people would be giving her cash out of their pockets. “We never set out with (raising money) as a mission,” she said.  “It’s really overwhelming…to know some of these kids will go through school is the best thing that could happen.” (That’s Arnold at left in a picture by Kristen Schaffer/HBO.)

The documentary, which Arnold said is expected to air in the United States on cable TV channel HBO this summer, tells how Chris Mburu, a top student in rural Kenya, had little hope of an education until a  Swedish pre-school teacher, Hilde Back, decided to sponsor him. He went on to Harvard Law School and then became a United Nations human rights advocate who has dedicated his life to battling genocide. Little did he know that Back’s parents were Holocaust victims. In the documentary, the two get together in Kenya where Mburu has started a scholarship fund in Back’s name to help other kids get through school. Back learns that her “small act” has blossomed into educations for many kids. Arnold captures it on her cameras, and you can learn more at www.asmallact.com .

Adrian Grenier: celebrity stalker

Adrian Grenier would know better than most — Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and a few others excepted, of course — about what it’s like to be stalked by aggressive photographers and celebrity hounds. On “Entourage”, he plays actor Vincent Chase, who faces flashbulbs and autograph seekers at every turn. As the show has gained popularity, life has begun to imitate art for Grenier, who is  now a celebrity in his own right and faces the same attention that Vince deals with.

In his new documentary “Teenage Paparazzo,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Grenier turns the tables on the paparazzi, following the picture takers with a camera and focusing on 13-year-old snapper Austin Visschedyk. (Read about it here.) But Grenier also succeeded in turning the tables on himself, as he tried to chase down celebrities to get their takes on the paparazzi.  Stars  including Lindsay Lohan, Matt Damon and Hilton herself weigh-in on their own experiences. Still, Grenier said, he had to work hard to get the access to the stars,  despite his own Hollywood credentials.

“I’d go to a party specifically so I could meet a celebrity so I could get an interview, and they’d be elusive or hard to reach,” he said told Reuters at Sundance. “It became very frustrating. I found myself at parties stalking celebrities.” In the video above, he talks in greater depth about his experiences.

David Hyde Pierce at Sundance: Not exactly Niles Crane

Usually, actors will do almost anything to avoid being typecast, or too closely associated with a particular character they’ve played in the past (Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, we’re looking at you here, among many). But sometimes having that extra baggage can be useful for an actor.

In Sundance movie “The Perfect Host”, David Hyde Pierce — or Niles Crane to anybody (and it’s nearly everybody) who’s ever seen 1990s sitcom “Frasier” — makes use of his public perception as the timid little brother of Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane in his portrayal of Warwick Wilson. In the film, directed by Nick Tomnay, Wilson is a “consummate host” who unwittingly invites a career criminal to dinner. As the dinner progresses, the audience finds that appearances can be deceiving.

“When you first see (Wilson) in the movie he’s not all that different from the way people have seen me on television,” Pierce said at the Sundance Film Festival this week, where the film screened. “Then he goes on a very different journey, so I get to sort of escort people away from the way they know me (as Niles Crane) into someplace else.”

Indeed, the Sundance web page for the film (click here) shows an image of Hyde Pierce’s character in a bathrobe, brandishing a fireplace poker (much unlike the effeminate Niles), so his fans may be very  interested to see where his new journey goes in “The Perfect Host.” Hyde Pierce talks a little more about it in the video, above.

Joan Jett, “The Runaways” rock Sundance

So, maybe you thought the Sundance Film Festival was just about movies? Think again.

A big part of a successful movie is a good score, hit song or great soundtrack. Any director or producer will tell you music can make or break a film, and each year the festival promotes music seminars to help filmmakers learn the ins-and-outs of creating or picking good tunes. Also, the festival will screen a few films dealing with musicians, bands or the recording industry, and this year is no exception.

“The Runaways,” which tells the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll story of the all-girl 1970s-era band of the same name led by Joan Jett, brought youthful energy and starpower to  Sundance 2010′s opening weekend. You can read about the movie here. Stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart were in town for the movie’s premiere.  Fanning portrays Cherie Currie, whose career as the Runaways lead singer flamed-out as a teenager due to alcohol and drug use, and Stewart is Joan Jett. Jett, with her band The Blackhearts, continues to rock into her 50s and while the movie does not open until March, she was at Sundance playing a Saturday night gig at Harry O’s. We were there and put together the brief video clip above.

Sundance surprises: Banksy and Bill @ Bing

Every year at the Sundance film festival — and journalists can pretty much count on it — during the opening weekend an unexpected celebrity will show up in town and captivate the media’s attention. Whoever that is or (whatever he or she has done) becomes a “must-have” story. This year, the title was shared by British grafitti artist Banksy — who evidently turned up, although characteristically no one has seen him — and businessman Bill Gates.

On Thursday, the word on the snowy streets of Park City was that Banksy had tagged several buildings with his art. And in fact he — or someone — did. That’s a picture at left.

Why was he here?  A film dealing with his stealthy artistry, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” screens on Sunday night and a little advance publicity goes a long way. That certainly has been true and to be sure, on Sunday night reporters will turn out en masse for the movie.

But we have to hand it to Bill Gates. When he showed up on Friday, he did so with a cause beyond just movies and he did show his face (we might add that he was looking pretty relaxed, laughing and joking and seeming pleased to be at Sundance. He said he’d always wanted to come). Yes, he was here promoting a film, too — “Waiting for Superman” the new Davis Guggenheim documentary about education — and you had to get him at the Bing Supper Club, obviously affiliated with Microsoft. Can’t blame him. He’s a businessman.

But more than that, Gates was promoting his belief that the U.S. educational system is in shambles and needs to change. His Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given millions to the cause, and giving’s a good thing. We had a few minutes to talk to him at the Bing and you can read about that here. We also enjoyed his sense of humor. If only we could say the same thing about Banksy. But we’ll never know because we, like a lot of others, haven’t had the chance to chat. To that end, we’re still looking.

Update:  We saw the Banksy movie Sunday night. It’s interesting. Essentially, it traces the artistic zeal of Frenchman Thierry Guetta, who lives in Los Angeles and  became obsessed with videotaping street art, which led him to Banksy. Thierry wanted to make a documentary about street art, but couldn’t finish it. In stepped Banksy to help him, and what emerges is a documentary that questions what is art and who decides its merit.

The movie is both funny challenging and, of course, Banksy never really appears. He is only in hoodie, dark silhouette, and his voice is altered. …. sorry, Sundancers. You can see his grafitti art, but you can’t see him.

2009: The year of the Sundance correction?

Since August, most of us have become all to familiar with the concept of a financial market “correction” in which prices for the stocks and bonds in 401K and other accounts were too high and so they “corrected” downward. The financial cost to many was on the order of 30 percent or more in those portfolios, many of us lost our jobs, and the pain continues.

We don’t mean to trivialize the personal cost of the current recession by comparing it to a film festival. No. We just bring it up because much of the talk on the snowy streets (this year, it seems there’s been more rain than snow) of Park City, Utah where the Sundance Film Festival is located, has been of a Sundance correction.

Since it took the name Sundance in 1985 with the backing of Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, the festival has grown every year. At least two things have happened: 1) the films have changed by broadening their subject matter and including more stars to appeal to wider audiences, and 2) more and more companies have set up shop in Park City during the festival’s 10-day run making the goings-on around the festival — the parties, the suppers, the ”gift” giveaways — a sort of circus sideshow to serious filmgoing.

This year, amid the financial doom and gloom, many of those corporations pulled out, and while final attendance figures won’t be tallied until well after the festival officially ends today, Sunday, Jan. 25, local merchants anecdotally say business is down 30-40 percent, Daily Variety reported hotel bookings were down 12 percent. But oddly, Sundance has said ticket sales were up. — and this year it added a venue. By all accounts, it seems much of the circus sideshow failed to come to town, yet serious filmgoers turned out in the numbers they always do. And they were glad.

A slower festival: “That’s  been a common commentary (this year), but not in the screening rooms,” Cary Joji Fukunaga, director of “Sin Nombre,” told Reuters after winning the award for best director of a film drama, “And so much the better. It’s all about people who want to go to films.” His sentiment seemed widespread. Most of the festivalgoers never paid for a ticket to the sideshow and didn’t want to see it.

The films: Sundance is the launch pad for many of best indie films that will be seen in theaters this coming year. “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Little Miss Sunshine” were just two examples of past Sundance hits that went on to mainstream success. But in 2008, indie films had a hard year, and a lot of pundits and industry watchers have said it was because the poor quality of movies coming out of festivals like Sundance, and Toronto, Telluride (Colo.), Cannes, Venice, Berlin and others. But at a mid-festival panel, industry veterans said it had more to do with a glut of “indie” films in the market after so many years of success, as well as the cost of production and marketing rising too high, too fast. In short, the indie film market was due for a “correction.”

Were the movies of Sundance 2008 bad? “Look at what happened at the Oscars and other awards,” program director Geoffrey Gilmore told Reuters. “I’m going to look at the Oscars next year, and I think we’ll see a lot of great (festival) work there.” What was he taking about? Last year, Sundance opened with comedy “In Bruges,” and it earned star Colin Farrell a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor. At this past Thursday’s Oscar nominations, Melissa Leo earned a nod for her work in “Frozen River,” also a Sundance film. Richard Jenkins was nominated for best actor in “The Visitor,” which premiered at Toronto, and the documentary nominees featured Sundance films “Man on Wire” and “Trouble the Water.” And “Slumdog Millionaire” was a Telluride premiere.