“With a determinedly global outlook, the 2007 Sundance Film Festival awarded Padre Nuestro, Christopher Zalla’s drama of Mexican nationals making their treacherous way in New York City, the grand jury prize for dramatic feature. The documentary jury awarded its prize to Manda Bala, chronicling political violence in Brazil. Announced at Saturday’s closing ceremony, the Park City, Utah, festival audience award for best dramatic feature went to Grace Is Gone, starring John Cusack as the widower of a soldier killed in Iraq.”
Author: sbergman
The Weird And Wonderful World Of Sundance
The Sundance Festival hands out its awards this weekend, and Geoff Pevere has a few of his own to add to the mix. How about “Most Overhyped” for the Dakota Fanning rape movie? Or the “Mouthy Git Award” for a documentary featuring the late frontman of punk band The Clash? Or the “Make Him Squirm Award” for Teeth, a fanciful romp about a teenage girl who has a full set of chompers located somewhere south of the usual location.
Doctor Delayed
“The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has announced that the world premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony, scheduled for this coming March, has been postponed for a season, because Adams won’t be able to finish the adaptation from his recent opera in time for the premiere.
Why Can’t Anyone Criticize Israel?
Accusations of anti-Semitism have been flying with shocking regularity in the last few years, and while some of those accused clearly do hate Jews as a race, many others appear to have committed only the sin of having criticized the policies of the state of Israel. But the deliberate equating of the policies of Israel with the security of Jews around the world seems to be “alienating Jews critical of Israeli policies, who say the label silences legitimate, nonviolent opposition to Israel and that Jews should target hatred and discrimination.”
Small Publishers Hit Hard By Bankruptcy
“More than 130 independent publishers across the country were hurled into financial crisis on Dec. 29 with the bankruptcy of the parent company of Publishers Group West, the Berkeley firm that distributes books from much of the small press world… The bankruptcy hit these small presses at the worst possible time — when Publishers Group West was holding onto its sales revenues from the three months before Christmas, its most profitable time of the year.”
The Art Of Sex In Art: Credit The French
“No one is claiming that the French actually invented erotic art. It existed in Egyptian, Roman, pre-Columbian, Indian and African cultures. There is no shortage of sexual charge in paintings by, say, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rubens or Velázquez. Even religious art was frequently sensual as well as solemn. The case for 18th-century France is that the death of Louis XIV in 1715 set in motion a social revolution marked initially by licentiousness and then by intellectual liberation and philosophical inquiry. And it was in this context that love — and, yes, sex — came to be closely re-examined in art and literature.”
Once More, With Feeling
“Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, the original – and the best – Leo and Max in The Producers, have been asked to reprise their roles one last time before the show ends its seven-year run in June… They haven’t accepted the offer yet.”
Everyone Loves The New Digs In Orange County
The Southern California-based Pacific Symphony has been doing awfully well since it moved into its fancy new concert hall. “Subscriptions are up 10%, and the orchestra is expecting a 20% revenue boost for its first season in the 2,000-seat Cesar Pelli-designed hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.” Most importantly, the orchestra’s concerts have been playing to a 92%-capacity house.
Wanna Freeze For Free At Sundance? Get In Line.
A job at the Sundance Festival is considered quite the plum appointment for film students, even if that job mainly involves standing around outside in single-digit weather and making exactly no money. The waiting list for such thankless volunteer gigs is shockingly long, especially considering the major restrictions on self-promotion: “no talking to celebrities, no asking for autographs, no pitching their own film projects. Violators who are found out will not be accepted back.”
Andrews To Receive Lifetime SAG Award
“Julie Andrews, whose career spans 50 years, takes center stage again this week as she is honored with the Screen Actors Guild’s 43rd Life Achievement Award, given for acting excellence and humanitarian accomplishment.”