The Latest

Surprises in Jordan: Ligiah Villalobos Reflects on the Unexpected

Read Part 1 and Part 2 also.
It’s been exactly one week since we’ve been back from Jordan so I’ve had a chance to reflect back on this amazing trip.  As I was thinking about what I would write about for my last blog post, I started to remember, not just the big things that made this trip so special – the beautiful people of Jordan, my quick but unforgettable visit to The Citadel, the incredible response to our movies at all the screenings, or our magical day in Petra – but also all the random and unexpected little things that made the trip unique, hilarious, delicious…and so much fun!  So let me tell you about those things:
1) John Stewart was on the same flight as me from JFK to Amman.

Barbara Kopple Shines Light on Mental Illness in Running From Crazy

‘Running From Crazy’ makes its UK premiere at the Sundance London film and music festival this week at the O2. Click here for screening times and to purchase tickets.
Fighting in Italy on the front lines of World War II, dueling with a charging bull in Pamplona, wrangling with a marlin off the deep-sea coast of Cuba—these are larger-than-life images frequently conjured up by the mention of the name Hemingway.

Open Flexible Minds: Laura Nix Reflects on the Last Two Days in Jordan

Read Part 1 and Part 2 also.
On the 4th day of the program, our public screening in downtown Amman at the Rainbow Theater is nearly full with close to 250 people attending. After the film, the Q&A starts and immediately it feels electric, I think because so many Syrians have come.

May Sundance Now Playing

Check out these Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival supported films hitting theatres, coming to DVD, or showing through #ArtistServices and the YouTube Screening Room this month.
Theatrical Releases
Friday, May 10
Stories We Tell, directed by Sarah Polley
Sightseers, directed by Ben Wheatley

Friday, May 17
Black Rock, directed by Katie Aselton
Friday, May 24
Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater

Fill the Void, directed by Rama Burshtein
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, directed by Alex Gibney
Friday, May 31
Kings of Summer, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

The East, directed by Zal Batmanglij

Watch On TV
Wednesday, May 1
Manhunt, 8 p.m.

Q&A: Roger Ross Williams Exposes the Effect of American Fundamentalism in Africa in ‘God Loves Uganda’

While Roger Ross Williams was in Zimbabwe filming the 2010 documentary short Music by Prudence, which would make him the first African American to win an Academy Award for directing and producing a film, he was already wondering about his follow-up project.“I noticed how intensely religious and conservative Africa is,” he recalls. “There’s an evangelical religious hold on sub-Saharan Africa, and that was in the back of my mind when I was thinking of what to do next.

Shorts Break: A Pair of Poetic Short Docs From Eva Weber

British documentarian Eva Weber has made short poetic docs something of a specialty. With a wide range of topics, her astute, ethereal gaze brings prominence and grace to otherwise invisible objects. Her work evokes comparisons to bite-sized symphonies and visual tapestries.

Francesca Gregorini Dispels Demons in ‘Emanuel’ and ‘The Truth About Fishes’

Last January, as audience members inquired about arguably the most artistically liberated film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Francesca Gregorini explained, “It’s pretty dark up here. I figure I’d try to get it out, make it a little lighter, give some of my darkness to you.” A few short months later, with the UK premiere of Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes at Sundance London only days away, that sentiment holds true for Gregorini.

Sundance Earth Day Selections: 2013 Edition

In this eco-conscious age of hybrid vehicles, carbon-cutting cleaning products, and urban composting, Earth Day appears to have ascended the holiday hierarchy—to heights that perhaps even the crunchiest of its 1970’s creators couldn’t have envisioned. This Monday, April 22, marks the 43rd Earth Day, and Sundance Institute’s #ArtistServices program is currently offering some special documentaries for home viewing that confront vastly different (but equally alarming) stories addressing urgent threats to the environment. To observe Earth Day this year, we’re offering hand-picked selection of sustainability-themed Sundance favorites for you to enjoy.

The Commonalities That Exist Between Us

Read Part 1 and Part 3 also.It is Wednesday, April 17, 2013, and my first time on this trip talking to students who are not filmmakers or college age. Over the last few days I’ve had an opportunity to have in depth discussions with film students at the Royal Film Commission and at the ASE Institute (Audio Sound Engineering Studio) and with college students at the American University of Madaba.

Best Wins Sundance London Short Film Competition

The O2, 18 April 2013 — Best, a five-minute film from Surrey filmmaker William Oldroyd, was announced today as the winner of the Short Film Competition for the second Sundance London film and music festival, 25-28 April at The O2. The film will screen as part of the official Short Film Programme at the festival, and Oldroyd will receive a three-night stay at The Langham, London as well as additional prizes.
The Short Film Competition was organized by a small team of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication students, in collaboration with Sundance London organizers, including Sundance Institute, which annually hosts the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.

Jordan and Mexico: Under the Same Moon

The disparities that demarcate life in Mexico and the landlocked Arab country of Jordan are, ostensibly, vast and boundless. The two are quite literally half a world from one another, inhabited by starkly dissimilar populations and only thinly united by their rich histories and cultures. Even still, it’s those contrasts that make screening a film like Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), written by Film Forward participant Ligiah Villalobos, such a rewarding experience for both the artist and audiences.

Shorts Break: An Elfin Equine & A Fuel Famine

In The Screening Room this week a past festival winner and a miniature horse that will win your heart.
First we have GASLINE, which won Best Short for the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Set in the New York suburbs of 1979 amidst the gas crisis, this poignant and exuberant drama follows a gas station owner throughout the course of a very, very bad day, shot with panache and a keen sense of observation.