2006 Sundance Film Festival Announces Diverse and Eclectic Short Film Program

2006 Sundance Film Festival Announces Diverse and Eclectic Short Film Program

Sundance Film Festival Online to Feature the Same Shorts in Festival Bringing the Festival Experience to a Global Audience

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- In the final of four program announcements, Sundance Institute today announced the Short Film Program at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 19-29, 2006, in Park City, Utah. The same short films and Festival highlights will be available globally at the Sundance Film Festival Online at (www.sundance.org) starting January 19, 2006 through June 19, 2006. The Sundance Film Festival is the only major film festival to create, free of charge, a real time Festival experience online where a film enthusiast anywhere in the world can see films the same day as festivalgoers in Park City, Utah. The Short Film Program, both at the Festival and online, is presented by Festival sponsor, Adobe Systems.

The Festival selected 73 short films -- dramatic, documentary, and animated -- from a total of 4,327 submissions. Forty-two films are American and 31 are international representing 17 countries. As the premier showcase for the best new work of American independent and international filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival screens films that embody creative risk-taking, diversity and aesthetic innovation.

"Short films have always had an important role in cinema and at the Sundance Film Festival," said John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. "As the tools required to create films have become more accessible, new voices have emerged, and short films are a place to discover some of the most creative and challenging work being done today."

The Sundance Film Festival has always screened shorts and instituted the Short Film Program in 1991. The Festival has presented shorts by later feature film directors including: Todd Haynes, Spike Jones, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Todd Field, Lisa Kruger, Peter Sollett, Patricia Cardosa, Alison Maclean, Tamara Jenkins, Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Engaging narrative, compelling documentary, and cutting-edge animated short films will be presented before feature-length films, while others will be seen together as part of six short film programs, a special program of animated shorts and in the Festival's Frontier category. A Short Film Jury will award prizes based on outstanding achievement and merit in American and International Short Filmmaking under 30 minutes in length.

"These films embody the creativity, spirit and freedom of expression that have become synonymous with the Sundance Film Festival," said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer. "Increasingly, short filmmakers are embracing the form for its intrinsic value, not as a calling card or jumping off point for features, which is an exciting development. From harrowing documentaries, poetic narratives on artists and their work, to novel use of animation, there are some powerful surprises in these films."

The Sundance Film Festival is a core program of Sundance Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated year-round to the discovery and development of independent film and theatre artists and audiences. 2006 marks the 22nd year of the Festival and the Institute's 25th anniversary. Anniversary-related activities will take place throughout 2006 and will be announced at the Festival.

The Short Films selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival are:

U.S. SHORT FILMS

This year's short films take all the chances and push boundaries. From highschoolers with sinister psychedelic bugs, holiday homecomings gone awry and Batman and Robin on a date to documentaries on the latest election imbroglios, candid conversations with Basquiat at the end of his life, to animated gopher tales and mariachi scholars -- this collection of American short films captivate the viewer as never before.

Dramatic Shorts

BUGCRUSH (Director: Carter Smith
COMMON PRACTICE (Director: Marcos Efron)
DEALBREAKER (Director: Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore)
THE DEBT / USA/Republic of Georgia (Director: Levan Koguashvili)
DIVORCE LEMONADE (Director: Justin Hayward)
FIRST DATE (Director: Gary Huggins)
FOURTEEN (Director: Nicole Barnette)
GESTURE DOWN/I DON'T SING / USA/Mexico (Director: Cedar Sherbert)
HA HA HA AMERICA (Director: Jon Daniel Ligon)
HELLO, THANKS (Director: Andrew Blubaugh)
HOLD UP (Director: Madeleine Olnek)
LA MUERTE ES PEQUENA / USA/Brazil (Director: Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa)
LIGHTEN UP (Director: John Viener)
MARJOUN AND THE FLYING HEADSCARF (Director: Susan Youssef)
MAX AND JOSH (Director: Kathryn Ann Busby)
MOMMA'S BOY (Director: John Bryant)
ONE SUNG HERO (Director: Samantha Kurtzman-Counter)
THE PITY CARD (Director: Bob Odenkirk)
REDEMPTITUDE (Director: David Zellner)
ROBIN'S BIG DATE (Director: James Duffy)
TRANSACTION (Director: Jacques Thelemaque)
YOU TURNED BACK AND HELD MY HAND (Director: Gabriela Tollman)
YOUR DARK HAIR IHSAN / USA/Mexico (Director: Tala Hadid)

Documentary Shorts

THE ALUMINUM FOWL (Director: James S. Clauer)
BEYOND IRAQ (Director: Annalisa Hodgkins)
A CONVERSATION WITH BASQUIAT (Director: Tamra Davis)
LOSING LUSK (Director: Vance Malone)
LOT 63, GRAVE C (Director: Sam Green)
MIND OVER MATTER (Director: Scott Gerow)
NO UMBRELLA - ELECTION DAY IN THE CITY (Director: Laura Paglin)
PREACHER WITH AN UNKNOWN GOD (Director: Rob VanAlkemade)
RANGE (Director: Bill Basquin)
THROUGH THE ICE (Director: Jennie Livingston)
THE TRIBE (Director: Tiffany Shlain)
TRUE STORY (Director: Stephanie Via)
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DYING (Director: Silas Howard)

Animated Shorts

FABLE (Director: Daniel Sousa)
FUMI AND THE BAD LUCK FOOT (Director: David Chai)
GOPHER BROKE (Director: Jeff Fowler)
HADACOL CHRISTMAS (Director: Brent Green)
LOS ABCS: QUE VIVAN LOS MUERTOS! (Director: John Jota Leanos)
THE WRAITH OF COBBLE HILL (Director: Adam Parrish King)

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS

This year's collection of shorts from around the world offers a compelling look at stories about leaving home, crossing borders, fitting in, living with war, meditations on poetry and life, Aboriginal culture and cow tipping.

Dramatic Shorts

ANTONIO'S BREAKFAST / UK (Director: Daniel Mulloy)
ARUBA / Canada (Director: Hubert Davis)
BAWKE / Norway (Director: Hisham Zaman)
THE BEGINNING OF THE END / Brazil (Director: Gustavo Spolidoro)
BE QUIET / France (Director: Sameh Zoabi)
BEFORE DAWN / Hungary (Director: Balint Kenyeres)
DESEJO / Brazil (Director: Anne Pinheiro Guimaraes)
EXOTICORE / Belgium (Director: Nicolas Provost)
LE ROUGE AU SOL / Canada (Director: Maxime Giroux)
MONSIEUR ETIENNE / France (Director: Yann Chayia)
THE NATURAL ROUTE / Spain (Director: Alex Pastor)
A SUPERMARKET LOVE SONG / UK (Director: Daniel Outram)

Documentary Shorts

RAPE FOR WHO I AM / South Africa (Director: Lovinsa Kavuma)
SMUDGE / Canada (Director: Gail Maurice)
UNDRESSING MY MOTHER / Ireland (Director: Ken Wardrop)

Animated Shorts

AT THE QUINTE HOTEL / Canada (Director: Bruce Alcock)
BOB LOG III'S ELECTRIC FENCE STORY / Germany (Director: Stock 'n' Wolf)
CLARA / Australia (Director: Van Sowerwine)
FLESH / France (Director: Edouard Salier)
A HALF MAN / Canada (Director: Firas Momani)
THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO / Australia
(Director: Anthony Lucas)
YESTERDAY, I THINK / UK (Director: Becalelis Brodskis)

FRONTIER SHORT FILMS

The Festival's Frontier short section presents nine films that represent new directions in filmmaking. Utilizing experimental and innovative aesthetic approaches, work in the Frontier category challenges and provokes.

THE BLEEDING HEART OF IT / Canada (Director: Louise Bourque)
FANTOME AFRIQUE / UK (Director: Isaac Julien)
HIGH PLAINS WINTER / USA (Directors: Cindy Stillwell)
INSTRUCTIONS FOR A LIGHT AND SOUND MACHINE / Austria (Director: Peter
Tscherkassky)
QUIMERA / Brazil (Director: Eryk Rocha)
SITE SPECIFIC_LAS VEGAS 05 / Italy (Director: Olivo Barbieri)
TRUE NORTH / USA (Director: Isaac Julien)
UTEN TITTEL / Norway (Director: Anja Breien)
VISCERA / USA (Director: Leighton Pierce)

Festival Sponsors

The 2006 Sundance Film Festival sponsors help sustain Sundance Institute's year-round programs to support independent artists, inspire risk-taking and encourage diversity in the arts. This year's Festival community includes: Presenting -- Hewlett-Packard Company, Entertainment Weekly, Volkswagen of America, Inc., and Adobe Systems Incorporated; Leadership Sponsors -- American Express, Delta Air Lines, DirecTV, Intel Corporation and Sprint; Sustaining Sponsors -- Aquafina, Blockbuster Inc., CESAR Food For Small Dogs, L'Oreal Paris, Moviefone, The New York Times, Sony Electronics Inc., Starbucks Coffee Company, Stella Artois(R), Turning Leaf Vineyards, and the Utah Film Commission.

Source: Sundance Institute

CONTACT: Jody Arlington or Irene Cho, +1-801-328-3456, both for Sundance
Institute

Web site: http://www.sundance.org/

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