-- Slamdance recently announced its Special Screenings, Beyond, and Shorts programs for their 23nd Film Festival. It is a bold selection of films from visionary filmmakers from across the globe. This year the festival will host 35 World, 9 North American and 10 US premieres within these programs.
This year Slamdance's Special Screenings selections are hard-hitting, revelatory films that deserve exposure in Park City, says Paul Rachman, Special Screening Programmer. Averting trends and remaining premiere agnostic this program reflects the gut instinct Slamdance programmers rely on in their singular choices.
Last year the festival presented EMBERS, a sci-fi indie directed by Claire Carre. Carre was recently nominated by the 32nd Film Independent Spirit Awards for the Kiehl's Someone To Watch Award.
The support of Slamdance has had a powerful impact on my first feature from selecting the film as the festival's Closing Night film, through releasing it theatrically with Slamdance Presents, shares Carre. Its challenging making a low budget indie movie on your own, and its easy to get lost. Slamdance has championed EMBERS in monumental ways.
This year, several Slamdance Alumni return with highly anticipated presentations in the Beyond Program. These selections are made be emerging narrative and documentary filmmakers working beyond their first features.
The films in the Beyond section exhibit bold directorial vision and singular characters that introduce audiences to exciting and uncharted new worlds, says Beyond programmer Josh Mandel. These emerging filmmakers are beacons of light in a sea of darkness that will continue to forge new paths in the years to come.
Films in this program are eligible for the Audience Award. Additionally, the filmmakers are eligible for the Spirit of Slamdance Awards, which is voted upon by their festival filmmakers peers.
Our slate of short films this year is one of the most daring we have been privileged to showcase, says Narrative Shorts programmer Taylor O. Miller. Fellow programmer Breven Angaelica adds, We continue this year with short films that fit into their own category, or none at all, and bring a rawness and and originality to the future of filmmaking that we are humbled to recognize and share.
The 2017 Oscar Qualifying Shorts competition showcases 51 US and 20 International productions in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and Experimental sections. All Slamdance films are programmed entirely by the Slamdance filmmaking community from blind submissions.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS PROGRAM
After Adderall (USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Stephen Elliott
In 2010 James Franco optioned the rights to my memoir, The Adderall Diaries. In 2015 The Adderall Diaries starring James Franco and Ed Harris premiered at the TriBeca Film Festival. This is a movie about James Franco making a movie about me.
Cast: Stephen Elliott, Mickaela Tombrock, Bill Heck, Michael C. Hall, Ned Van Zandt, James Urbaniak, Lili Taylor, Jerry Stahl
A Narrative Film (USA)
Director: Michael Edwards
The most narrative narrative never narrated. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end . It is at once both a three-act assault on the conceit of the traditional narrative, and also perhaps, a futile attempt to escape the narrative impulse of cinema.
What Lies Upstream (USA) World Premiere
Director: Cullen Hoback
In this detective story, filmmaker Cullen Hoback investigates the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation. But something is rotten in state and federal regulatory agencies, and through years of persistent journalism, we learn the shocking truth about what's really happening with drinking water in America.
Cast: Dr. Marc Edwards, Dr. Rahul Gupta, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Cullen Hoback, Randy Huffman, Dr. David Lewis, Maya Nye, Dr. Andrew Whelton
You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski* (Italy/Mexico/USA) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Matteo Borgardt
A night of drinking and talking about sex, literature, childhood and humanity with the irreverent writer poet Charles Bukowski in his California house in 1981. A story of tapes lost, found and brought back to life.
Cast: Charles Bukowski, Linda Lee Beighle, Silvia Bizio
*Animated Short Preceding You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski
BEYOND PROGRAM
Automatic at Sea (USA/ Denmark) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Lessner
Eve, a young Swedish traveler, finds herself stranded on a private island with Peter, a wealthy heir whom she hardly knows. While waiting for other guests to arrive, Eve becomes trapped in an unstable reality punctuated by feverish visions, dimensional shifting and secret soft drinks. How can she escape if shes not even sure shes there?
Cast: David Henry Gerson, Livia Hiselius, Breeda Wool
The Erlprince (Poland) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Kuba Czekaj
Its the end of the world for a teenage genius, the feverish approach of the apocalypse - adulthood.
Cast: Staszek Cywka, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Sebastian ach,
Future 38 (USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Greenberg
1938 screwball comedy set in the far-off future year of 2018
Cast: Betty Gilpin, Nick Westrate, Robert John Burke, Ethan Phillips, Sean Young, Tom Riis Farrell, Sophie von Haselberg, Tabitha Holbert
Future 38
Neighborhood Food Drive (USA) World Premiere
Director: Jerzy Rose; Screenwriter(s): Halle Butler, Mike Lopez, Jerzy Rose
A group of awful idiots fail at throwing a party over and over.
Cast: Lyra Hill, Bruce Bundy, Ruby McCollister, Ted Tremper, Marcos Barnes, Jared Larson
Suck It Up (Canada) World Premiere
Director: Jordan Canning; Screenwriter: Julia Hoff
Faye lost the love of her life, Ronnie lost her brother. These two best friends take off on a debaucherous journey into
