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List Of Films At The 2008 Sundance Film Festival
The following films were shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Documentary Competition * '' An American Soldier'' * '' American Teen'' * '' Bigger, Stronger, Faster*'' * '' Fields of Fuel'' * '' Flow: For Love of Water'' * '' Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson'' * '' The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo'' * '' I.O.U.S.A.'' * '' Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)'' * ''The Order of Myths'' * '' Patti Smith: Dream of Life'' * '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' * '' Secrecy'' * '' Slingshot Hip Hop'' * '' Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North'' * ''Trouble the Water'' Dramatic Competition * '' American Son'' * '' Anywhere, U.S.A.'' * ''Ballast'' * '' Choke'' * '' Downloading Nancy'' * ''Frozen River'' * ''Good Dick'' * '' The Last Word'' * ''The Mysteries of Pittsburgh'' * '' North Starr'' * ''Phoebe in Wonderland'' * '' Pretty Bird'' * '' Sleep Dealer'' * '' Sugar'' * '' Sunshine Cleaning'' * ''The Wackness'' World Cinema Documentary Competition * '' Alo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 Sundance Film Festival
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was ''In Bruges'' and the closing night film was '' CSNY Déjà Vu''. Films Out of 2,021 U.S. and 1,603 international feature-length films submitted for consideration, 121 were selected to be shown at the festival. For a list of films that were shown at the festival, see List of films at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - ''Trouble the Water'' *Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - ''Frozen River'' *Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary - ''Man On Wire'' *Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Dramatic - '' The King of Ping Pong (Ping Pongkingen)'' *Audience Award: Documentary - '' Fields of Fuel'' *Audience Award: Dramatic - ''The Wackness'' *World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary - ''Man on Wire'' *World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic - ''Captain Abu Raed'' *Directing Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunshine Cleaning
''Sunshine Cleaning'' is a 2008 comedy-drama film written by Megan Holley and directed by Christine Jeffs. It stars Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin. The story revolves around two sisters who start a crime scene cleanup business and the various events that occur in their respective lives. Produced by Big Beach, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2008, was purchased by Overture Films for distribution, and opened in limited release in the United States on March 13, 2009. ''Sunshine Cleaning'' garnered positive reviews from critics and was a minor box-office hit, grossing $17.3 million against a $5 million budget. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 25, 2009. Plot Rose Lorkowski is a 30-something single mother and full-time house cleaner. Her underachieving and unreliable sister Norah, lives with their father Joe and is fired from her most current job. Rose's hyperactive and disruptive 8-year-old son Oscar upsets his school officials ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar (2008 Film)
''Sugar'' is a 2008 sports drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It follows the story of Miguel Santos, also known as ''Sugar'' (Algenis Perez Soto), a Dominican Republic, Dominican pitcher from San Pedro de Macorís, struggling to make it to the Major League Baseball, big leagues and pull himself and his family out of poverty. Playing professionally at a Dominican Summer League, baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, Miguel finally gets his break at age 19 when he advances to the United States' Minor League Baseball, minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life's ambition. Plot Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Perez Soto) spends his weekends at home, passing from the landscaped gardens and manicured fields on one side of the guarded academy gate to the underdeveloped, more chaotic world beyond. In his small village outside San Pedro de Macorís, Miguel enjoys a kind of celebrity status. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleep Dealer
''Sleep Dealer'' is a 2008 futuristic science fiction film directed by Alex Rivera. ''Sleep Dealer'' depicts a dystopian future to explore ways in which technology both oppresses and connects migrants. A fortified wall has ended unauthorized Mexico-US immigration, but migrant workers are replaced by robots, remotely controlled by the same class of would-be emigrants. Their life force is inevitably used up, and they are discarded without medical compensation. Plot ''Sleep Dealer'' is set in a future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor, and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, where three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the technology barriers. Memo Cruz works at a factory, one of several sleep dealers. Here, workers are connected to the network via suspended cables that plug into nodes in their arms and back, allowing them to control the robots that have replaced them as unskilled labor on the other sid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pretty Bird
''Pretty Bird'' is a 2008 American comedy film. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was released on DVD in the United States on June 29, 2010. Plot A sweet-natured guy enlists his best friend, and an engineer who lost his job and has an attitude problem, to help him create and market his idea for a rocket-powered belt. The entrepreneur never loses his confidence the idea will work even though he runs into problems that include finding investors and disagreements with his engineer. Cast *Billy Crudup as Curtis Prentiss *Paul Giamatti as Rick Honeycutt *David Hornsby as Kenny Owenby *Kristen Wiig as Mandy Riddle *Elizabeth Marvel as Tonya Honeycutt *Denis O'Hare as Chuck Stutters *Garret Dillahunt as Carson Thrash *James Wetzel as Dennis *Anna Camp as Becca French * Nate Mooney as Randy Pendler *Aasif Mandvi as Ted the Banker * Adam LeFevre as Phil the Neighbor *Lennon Parham as Woman with Beef Reception Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a sco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoebe In Wonderland
''Phoebe in Wonderland'' is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Daniel Barnz. It stars Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Fanning (in her first leading role), Campbell Scott, and Bill Pullman. It was screened in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and the RiverRun International Film Festival in 2008. The film received a limited theatrical release on March 6, 2009. Plot Nine-year-old Phoebe Lichten has Tourette syndrome and obsessive–compulsive disorder. She thrives with her family at home, but struggles in school. Her mother, Hillary, and father, Peter, misinterpret Phoebe and her younger sister, Olivia, as child prodigies; Phoebe's mother, an author, pretentiously remarks that her daughters' poetry is reminiscent of E. E. Cummings. Phoebe tries to fit in with the other kids at school, befriending an effeminate boy named Jamie who is frequently bullied, but teasing on the playground leads to an incident where Phoebe spits at another stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Starr
''North Starr'' is a 2008 film directed by Matthew Stanton. It was scheduled to compete in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Plot A young African American man living in Houston, Texas, Houston witnesses his best friend's brutal murder, then flees to the small, racially intolerant, backwater town of Trublin. Cast * Jerome Hawkins as Demetrious * Matthew Stanton as Darring Clements * Chris Sullivan (actor), Chris Sullivan as Sprit * Isaac Lamb as T.J. * Zack Johnson as Justin * Wayne Campbell as Wayne Reception Justin Chang of ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' described the movie as "a messy Texas stew of racial tension, personal liberation and murder-in-retrospect detective story." He praised the likable characters but criticized the "self-indulgent" first-time director's work. James Greenberg of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called it "long on passion and somewhat lacking in execution," stressing the lack of experience on the part of the producer-director-wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh (film)
''The Mysteries of Pittsburgh'' is a 2008 comedy-drama film based on Michael Chabon's 1988 novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It was produced by Michael London and executive produced by Omar Amanat. Shooting in Pittsburgh ended in October 2006, with the film set for release in 2008. It made its world premiere in January 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival. Set in 1980s Pittsburgh, the film follows the affairs of two young men with one woman, and later also with each other. Cast *Jon Foster as Art Bechstein: The well-mannered, intelligent son of a Jewish gangster who gets caught up in a tangled love triangle with Jane and Cleveland. *Sienna Miller as Jane Bellwether: Cleveland's girlfriend. In the novel, Jane is a minor character but is elevated to leading lady in Thurber's adaptation. *Peter Sarsgaard as Cleveland Arning: Jane's rebellious bisexual boyfriend, with whom Art becomes involved. In the novel, Cleveland is entirely het ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Word (2008 Film)
''The Last Word'' is an offbeat romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Geoffrey Haley. It stars Winona Ryder and Wes Bentley. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008 and was released on DVD on April 21, 2009. Plot Evan Merck, an odd but gifted poet, makes his living writing suicide notes for the soon-to-be departed. At the funeral for a client, he meets Charlotte, the free-spirited sister of the deceased. When Charlotte asks how Evan knew her brother, he lies and says he was an old college friend. Evan's evasiveness only sparks Charlotte's curiosity and she romantically pursues him. Evans finds himself falling for her but cannot bring himself to reveal his true profession. Meanwhile, Evan must deal with Abel, a sarcastic new client and music composer whose career has been reduced to making jingles for phone messages. Cast Critical reception Reviews criticized the romantic subplot and the film's underdeveloped characters. James Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Dick
''Good Dick'' is a 2008 film written and directed by Marianna Palka. Palka also stars in the film, opposite Jason Ritter. ''Good Dick'' premiered in the Dramatic Competition of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Plot A video store clerk stalks, spies on and manipulates a reclusive woman, who often comes to the video store where he works to rent soft-core porn. Eventually, despite his strong optimism, her dislike of sex and resulting defensiveness drives them apart. It is revealed toward the end of the film that her dislike of both sex and relationships was fueled by sexual abuse at the hands of her father. The film ends with a confrontation with her father, and ultimately Ritter's character reuniting with her. Festivals and competitions The film competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Release The film was released on October 10, 2008 by Gravitas Ventures. Reception ''Good Dick'' has a Metacritic average of 54 based on 11 reviews, which the site ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frozen River
''Frozen River'' is a 2008 American crime drama film written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants from Canada to the United States. The film received two Oscar nominations: Best Actress (Melissa Leo) and Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt). Plot The film is set shortly before Christmas in the North Country of Upstate New York, near the ''Akwesasne'' ('Where the Partridge Drums') St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the border crossing to Cornwall, Ontario. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is a discount store clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a Mobile home, double-wide mobile home. While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a Mohawk nation, Mohawk Bingo (U.S.), bingo-parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |