Naz Kawakami appears in Every Day in Kaimuk by Alika Tengan.
By Vanessa Zimmer
Basil Tsiokos and his fellow programmers had the pleasure, and the challenge, of planning a mini Sundance Film Festival this year.
They chose eight feature-length films from the 85 accepted into the 2022 Festival program to represent, as Tsiokos puts it, the breadth and diversity of our lineup, for seven partner locations around the country. The sites (Satellite Screens, if you will), at communities from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Seattle, Washington, were selected with an eye toward extending the love of independent film and supporting like-minded arthouse theaters.
We were very interested, and so were the Satellite Screen venues, about really reflecting the diversity and having an inclusive look at filmmakers and subject matter - meaning there was a great desire to have films coming from creators of color, with characters of color, and stories that deal with different populations, says Tsiokos in a Zoom interview. It's not just a homogenous look at the world.
Tsiokos thinks the Satellite program, now in its second year, has a promising future.
It's really about discovering these films and helping shepherd them out into the world in some way. And being able to do so in venues across the country makes a lot of sense for us, he says. I do know that there's strong support by the venues themselves. They love this program, and people are clamoring to be part of it.
To mirror the Festival proper, the Satellite selections include a hefty percentage of documentaries, a selection from the bold NEXT category, some World Cinema, a couple of films from the competitions, and a genre film.
Here, Tsiokos takes us through the thought process in selecting these films.
Camilla Souza and C cero Lucas appear in Marte Um (Mars One) by Gabriel Martins.
Alice - This U.S. Dramatic Competition film filled the need for a genre element. Alice (Keke Palmer) is a slave who escapes a Georgia plantation - and walks into 1973. On one level, it is this story about race. And it's a story about the legacy of slavery, says Tsiokos. But it's also an action film, it's also a revenge film, and there's a lot of other really creative and fun ways of this story being told, even though it's dealing with a really heavy subject matter. But there's a lightness to elements of it that make it just a really fun audience watch. The rapper/actor Common stars opposite Palmer.
Emergency - Also a competitor in the U.S. Dramatic category, this is a story of two Black college students, Kunle and Sean, who, with their Latino friend Carlos, find a white woman passed out on the living room floor. Do they call the police and face potentially life-threatening complications? The feature film is an expansion of a short film that played the Festival in 2018. [Emergency] shows what Sundance can do in terms of helping artists develop their careers, Tsiokos explains. It also deals with really important social issues of the time, notably the experience of being a person of color,the interactions with police, and what can spiral out of control from those kinds of interactions. So there are elements there that are really timely. Unfortunately timely.
Every Day in Kaimuk - Naz, a 20-something, has spent his life in O'ahu, Hawai i, skateboarding with his friends and hosting a nightly radio show. Now he's preparing to move to the bustling confines of New York. A film in the NEXT category, known for bold and innovative works, it is basically a character study. This is just a sweet lovable film that we fell in love with, says Tsiokos. This one feels like a Sundance film. It is sweet, honest, earnest, really smart, well-written, well-acted.
Free Chol Soo Lee - This U.S. Documentary is about a young Korean man whose wrongful murder convictionin 1973 sparked an Asian American activist movement. It's something that exposes a larger audience to a story that they should know, but is just not told anymore, says Tsiokos. It's a really well-made film as well, but it tells a story that everybody should know - about how this miscarriage of justice against this immigrant, Chol Soo Lee, helped to galvanize a larger sense of Asian American identity, a Pan Asian American grassroots movement, and really mobilized people to become activists and to become engaged with social justice issues.
Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul - This satire on for-profit religion in the Premieres section stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown in the lead roles of First Lady and Pastor. Honk for Jesus is a fun film, another one that has marquee names in it, Tsiokos says. It's a comedy, it's a mockumentary. So again, dealing with genre in a different way. And again, dealing with some serious subject matter, absolutely, but taking a lighter spin on it in the way it's telling the story. It's a fun film, and it's an enjoyable adventure to go on with these characters.
La Guerra Civil - Also in the Premieres section is this documentary on the 1996 ultimate glory match between Oscar De La Hoya, the charismatic boxer from East LA, and Mexican-born boxing legend Julio C sar Ch vez. It is the feature directing debut of well-known actress Eva Longoria Bast n. A strong film, with recognizable characters attached, It's also a Latinx story by a Latinx director about Latinx subject matter. [La Guerra Civil] really interrogates and looks at these questions around Mexican identity and Mexican American identity.
Marte Um (Mars One) - This World Drama entry is about a family with two children: Deivinho, who follows his father's ambitions despite secretly aspiring to study astrophysics and colonize Mars, and older daughter, Eunice, who falls in love with a free-spirited young woman. We rarely see stories
North America Stories
14/05/2022
Critics of the $8 billion-plus purchase of Tegnas TV station group by investment fund Standard General have told the FCC it needs to collect more data on the pr...
14/05/2022
Comedies Kenan and Mr. Mayor, and drama The Endgame will not return on NBC. Kenan lasted two seasons, as did Mr. Mayor. The Endgame lasted one....
14/05/2022
Gray Television said it named Ron Bartholomew as general manager of WNDU-TV, South Bend, Indiana....
14/05/2022
Nielsen, which has agreed to be acquired by a private-equity group led by Elliott Investment Management, said that its go-shop period has expired without an alt...
14/05/2022
The FCC, Department of Agriculture, National Telecommunications & Information Administration (all of which oversee broadband subsidy programs) and the Treasure ...
14/05/2022
Lisa White has been named vice president and news director at KPIX-KBCW San Francisco Bay Area, which are part of the CBS News and Stations group. She has been ...
14/05/2022
CBS has ordered three dramas for the 2022-2023 season, cop drama East New York, firefighter drama Fire Country and private investigator drama So Help Me Todd....
14/05/2022
Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. Networks Group will be reorganized under Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer, with long-time Discovery executiv...
14/05/2022
Natasha Lyonne will host the season finale of Saturday Night Live on NBC May 21. It is her first time hosting....
14/05/2022
ABC has renewed unscripted series America's Funniest Home Videos, American I...
14/05/2022
BRISTOL, Conn. ESPN has unveiled a record-setting 23-game NFL slate for the 2022 Season that includes 21 regular season games, plus the Monday night Super Wild ...
14/05/2022
SAN FRANCISCO Veteran local news executive Lisa White has been named vice presid...
14/05/2022
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision's audio network Uforia has announced that it is expanding its podcast offerings....
14/05/2022
ATLANTA Gray Television has named Ron Bartholomew the new general manager of WNDU, the NBC affiliate in South Bend, Indiana (DMA 99)....
14/05/2022
FREMONT, Calif. Blackmagic Design has announced that a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film camera was used to capture visual effects (VFX) plates for the ...
14/05/2022
MUNICH Rohde & Schwarz has announced that its high-performance intelligent storage network, as well as its media servers for content preparation have been deplo...
14/05/2022
NEW YORK The NFL and Amazon Prime Video have unveiled the schedule for the Thursday Night Football (TNF) games that will be streamed exclusively on Prime Video....
14/05/2022
Kendrick Lamars New Album Is Full of Berklee Collaborators Berklee alumni played significant roles in every step of the creation of Kendricks double album, Mr...
13/05/2022
-- John Nein is a senior programmer for the Sundance Institute....
13/05/2022
Ryan Coogler and Ludwig G ransson have worked together on several films, including Fruitvale Station.
By Vanessa Zimmer
Why do people say they watched a movie...
13/05/2022
Nations around the world - from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea - are facing increasingly aggressive actions from adversarial superpowers and terrorist orga...
13/05/2022
Imagine the scene: it's midday, and, somewhere in eastern Europe, a special operations team patrols through thick woodland to find and fix enemy positions c...
13/05/2022
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that its most powerful streaming player, the Roku Ultra, will include Roku's top-of-the-line remote, the Roku Voice Remo...
13/05/2022
LOS ANGELES Scener, a destination for finding and sharing streaming entertainment, has announced the launch of a new mobile application designed to enhance and ...
13/05/2022
TEL AVIV, Israel Radcom has announced that it was selected by Dish Wireless to provide its Radcom Ace solution to monitor customers experience across Dishs 5G S...
13/05/2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. The NAB Leadership Foundation (NABLF) has announced that it is now accepting applications for the 2023 Technology Apprenticeship Program (TAP)....
13/05/2022
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. Gaian Solutions unveiled its Mobius Marketplace NextGen TV monetization platform, an AI-based ATSC 3.0 spectrum planning tool intended to e...
13/05/2022
Blackbird plc announced the appointment of Sumit Rai as chief product officer. He will join the company in June, to lead the strategic development and direction...
13/05/2022
STAMFORD, Conn. & PHILADELPHIA, Penn. Charter Communications and Comcast Corporation have selected Marcien Jenckes as president of their recently announced stre...
13/05/2022
Julius P. Williams Composes Song for 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial Rededi...
13/05/2022
At BroadcastAsia 2022, Broadpeak will highlight how pay-TV operators, content providers, and OTT players can provide a compelling video streaming experience to ...
13/05/2022
Rohde & Schwarz, a global leader in broadcast media technologies, has today anno...
13/05/2022
Zero Density is proud to announce that its AI-powered, talent-tracking system, TRAXIS talentS, has won a Product of the Year award at this year's NAB! The a...
13/05/2022
The way I found out about Studio One and PreSonus: I had lunch with Bob Moses (president of the Audio Engineering Society at one time) and I asked him some que...
13/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Cobalt Digitals Suzana Brady on Foreseeing the Challenges...
13/05/2022
BT Group forms a new premium sports joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery an...
13/05/2022
SVG Returns to Sydney for SVG Australia Summit on June 1 Register now to attend event at Telstra Customer Insight Centre in Sydney By SVG Staff
Friday, May 1...
13/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Vizrt CTO Gerhard Lang on the Future of Adaptive Graphics...
13/05/2022
Families in Recovery: Susan Ford on Her Mother's Legacy and the Founding of ...
13/05/2022
BURLINGTON, Mass., May 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), the trusted provider of infrastructure software, today announced that Anthony Folge...
13/05/2022
Recently, I did some mix consulting on a 60-track project centered around Ukrainian relief-and as someone who usually works with far fewer tracks, it reminded m...
13/05/2022
When it comes to safety, efficiency and sustainability, autonomous vehicles are delivering a clean sweep.
Autonomous vehicle company and NVIDIA Inception membe...
13/05/2022
Tune in to watch the final show of Brain Game s 26th season on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at noon on WRAL-TV.
WRAL-TV Local Production Producer Scott Reid wrote t...
12/05/2022
-- Pilot Program Directs Individual Support to Pandemic-Affected Nonfiction St...
12/05/2022
As the global leader in tactical radio, broadband networking and integrated vision solutions, L3Harris Technologies is well positioned to provide advanced capab...
12/05/2022
2:40 - 3:00 PM PT in room 520c
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) is a Hubble-size telescope with a large field of view for large surveys of the sky, ...
12/05/2022
L3Harris Technologies has led the way in offering solutions for converging traditional Land Mobile Radio (LMR) communications and LTE carriers with the latest i...
12/05/2022
GoPro Family member Shon Bollock recently set out to document he and his father ...
Naz Kawakami appears in Every Day in Kaimuk by Alika Tengan.
