Sundance Outdoor Film Festival Presents Free Outdoor Screenings

This summer the Sundance Outdoor Film Festival presents some of the most memorable work to come out of the Sundance Film Festival in recent years. The free weekly outdoor screening series runs July 7 – August 23 in Salt Lake City, Park City, and at Sundance Village. Films begin at dusk (between 8:30 – 9:00 p.m.).

Salt Lake City Venue: Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main St.
Park City Venue: City Park, 1354 Park Avenue

Following are descriptions of each of the films presented during the run of the Outdoor Film Festival.

Week One
When We Were Kings, rated PG
Directed by Leon Gast, this Academy Award-winning documentary had its world premiere at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Prize for Artistic Merit. This remarkable film chronicles the 1974 Muhammad Ali-George Foreman heavyweight boxing match in Zaire. Known as the “rumble in the jungle,” the bout was more than a fight; It was an event that marked the beginning of a new age of black culture and identity. Gast and co-editor Taylor Hackford used never-before seen images to create a fascinating discourse on what it meant to be black in America during a tumultuous time.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Me and My Mustache, directed by Jordan Vance, explores friendship, commitment, and personal strength through the story of John Hinton, a Viet Nam Air Force Pilot, who made a promise that he’s kept for 30 years.
And
From Somalia to Salt Lake, directed by Mohamed Alinur, a personal film that explores the filmmaker’s life as he moves from his home in war-torn Somalia to his new home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Week Two
The Secret of Roan Inish, rated PG
Directed by indie film legend John Sayles, The Secret of Raon Inish screened at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. The film is a rich and atmospheric Celtic fairy tale, set in the wilds of Ireland’s rugged northwest coast, where we meet feisty 10-year old Fiona Coneelly. Fiona has been sent to live with her grandparents in a tiny fishing village in post-WW II County Donegal. There she and her older cousin Eamon learn about their family’s folkloric past, particularly the fable of a selkie, a mythical sea creature that is half seal, half human. This is a film of universal appeal and is sure to please all audiences.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Voices Beyond the Barn, directed by Lauren Brown, is a documentary about animal rights that focuses on the Faith Ching Animal Sanctuary in Salt Lake City.

Week Three
Songcatcher, rated PG-13
Directed by Maggie Greenwald, Songcatcher screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. In 1907, musicologist Doctor Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer) leaves the male-dominated environment of academia and heads to Appalachia to study the music of the area. She soon discovers that the folk songs of Scotland and Ireland have been preserved and passed on through generations of the secluded Appalachian residents. These fiercely insular people are protective of their mountain ways and are wary of the doctor and her motives until she meets Tom (Aidan Quinn), a rough local musician. Songcatcher’s haunting music is raw and moving, and the songs complement the glorious setting of the Appalachians. The film presents a powerful portrait of the age-old struggle between progress and preservation.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Measure of Success, directed by Melissa Mullen, is a series of interviews with street musicians in which Mullen examines their ideas of success. The musicians lead the filmmaker to reflect and to re-evaluate her own notions of success.

Week Four
Real Woman Have Curves, rated PG-13
Directed by Patricia Cardoso, Real Women Have Curves received the Dramatic Audience Award at the 2002 Festival. The performances of America Ferrera and Lupe Ontiveros were also recognized with Special Jury Prizes for Acting. Real Women Have Curves is a humorous and warm look at a Mexican American teenage girl who is coming of age in a boiling cauldron of cultural expectations, class constrictions, family duty and her own personal aspirations.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Not Just Another Pretty Face, directed by Jessica Shurtleff, is a behind the scenes exploration of beauty pageants and the hard work that the talented contestants put in to them.

Week Five
One Night The Moon, Not rated
Directed by Aboriginal filmmaker Rachel Perkins, One Night The Moon is an award-winning musical that was screened at the 2002 Festival. Set in 1932, this is an eloquently sung true story of a curious little girl lured into the rugged Australian Outback by a hypnotizing moon. When the police suggest that an Aboriginal tracker lead the search effort, the girl’s father insists that no Aboriginal is to set foot on his land. Instead, he gathers together as many white men as he can find to search the desolate plains for his child. Their search produces no results, and the girl’s mother finally enlists the Aboriginal tracker to find her daughter.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Ofa He Lei ~ The Love of the Lei, directed by Michael Kinikini, is a personal film about self expression and cultural diversity, which explores public policy regarding Pacific Islander’s cultural tradition of the lei.

Week Six
Kolya, rated PG-13
Screens in Czech with English Subtitles
Winner of the Best Foreign Film Academy Award in 1997, Kolya had its U.S. premiere at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Jan Svêrák, Kolya is set in 1989 Prague as it is occupied by the Russians and is on the brink of enormous political changes. A once-renowned cellist, Frantisek Louka is convinced to marry a beautiful Russian who needs Czech papers. Once the marriage is official, everything changes and Frantisek is left with a five-year old boy – Kolya. Kolya is a warm and funny portrait of man who, as the Iron Curtain crumbles around him, experiences a revolution of his own.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
El Otro Lado de America ~ The Other Side of America, directed by Sonia Caraveo, tells the story of one Mexican immigrant who crossed the border illegally in search of a better life in the United States.

Week Seven
Bend It Like Beckham, PG-13
Directed by Gurinder Chadha, Bend It Like Beckham was an international hit that screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Bend It Like Beckham is an enjoyable coming of age film that follows a young Indian girl who has a passion for soccer and for British soccer superstar David Beckham. Her traditional family doesn’t share her passion and she is forced her to hide and limit her soccer playing to pickup games in the park – until she’s asked to join a competitive team and has to choose between tradition and her beloved sport.

In Salt Lake City, preceded by:
Ice, directed by Joel Ackerman who set out to make a film about for the simplest, most obscure thing, and in the process learns how ice really can affect our lives.