(LOS ANGELES - May 4, 2015) Slamdance DIG (short for Digital, Interactive & Gaming) is a new program from the Slamdance Film Festival dedicated to emerging independent artists working in new, hybrid and immersive forms of digital media art. If your work pushes, breaks, or defies the boundaries of storytelling through digital media in any way, we would like to see it. We are primarily interested in a diversity of form and content. If you think your work fits, it likely does. Artists are encouraged to submit either works in progress or completed projects for consideration. From these submissions, judges will program a showcase that will open in Los Angeles, California in 2015. Selected final works will also have the opportunity to exhibit at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Submissions are free and open to the public. For more information on submission materials and to send us your project, click through to our online form: http://bit.ly/1Dz6TIY

Submissions open for the 2016 Film Festival, Slamdance Alumni returns for Manager Position, and programs expand through Slamdance Cinema Club, Slamdance Studios on HULU, and beyond.   (LOS ANGELES, CA---May 29, 2015) Following last year's record breaking submission numbers, Slamdance Film Festival is now open for 2016 entries with a new program called DIG and the return of alumni Clementine Leger as festival manager. At the same time, the organization's distribution arm Slamdance Studios, is showing major year-round growth for its online and live event enterprises. This month, Slamdance Studios on Hulu premieres Slam Collective’s I Want To Be an American based on the exquisite corpse parlor game, and the wildly successful ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club screens Pavan Moondi's & Brian Robertson's Diamond Tongues and Chris Furbee's Huntington's Dance.  Slamdance invites filmmakers to take the first step in their filmmaking careers by submitting to the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival now. Submissions open June 1st and continue through October 15th. Filmmakers may submit through the newly added platform FilmFreeway, Withoutabox, as well as through the festival’s alternative submission form at http://showcase.slamdance.com/Film-Submissions.   Slamdance continues to support independent filmmaking and Slamdance alumni with the expansion of year-round programming such as Arclight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, the premiere of the Slam Collective’s collaborative documentary feature I Want To Be An American through Slamdance Studios on Hulu. Another new filmmaker partnership with Digital Bolex has created the Slamdance x Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Competition that will present selections from the inaugural program at Cinegear, LA on June 5th at Paramount Studios.   Taking over the pivotal role of Manager of the Slamdance Film Festival during this time of expansion is Slamdance alumni, Clementine Leger, who has rejoined Slamdance Film Festival as festival manager after two seasons as programming coordinator for the Florida Film Festival.   Slamdance programs and competitions continue for filmmakers at all stages of their career, including the Slamdance Screenplay Competition, and the newly launched Slamdance Digital, Interactive & Gaming showcase, DIG.   “Right now, our Slamdance programs are growing at an unprecedented rate and we are very fortunate Clementine Leger has returned to manage them. Our purpose of breaking boundaries for independent artists to reach audiences globally at live events and online is steadily and surely being realized and we have great partnerships to thank for that,” stated Peter Baxter, Slamdance President & Co-Founder.   Ongoing and upcoming Slamdance programs of note:   - Slamdance and Digital Bolex will present a showcase of films created for the inaugural Slamdance x Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Competition. This screening will take place on June 5, 8:15pm as part of the Cinegear Expo at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, and registration is free through May 30. All films in the showcase were shot on the Digital Bolex D16 Digital Cinema Camera.   - Slamdance Studios recently premiered I Want To Be An American on VOD within its Hulu slate. I Want To Be An American is a collaborative, international documentary experience made by the SlamCollective. It is available to watch: http://hulu.com/companies/slamdance.   - Slamdance Digital, Interactive & Gaming, or DIG, is now accepting entries, and will close August 31, 2015. FREE to enter for artists and filmmakers working in contemporary digital art, virtual reality, augmented and expanded cinema, and gaming: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Slamdance-DIG   - The Slamdance Screenplay Competition continues through July 28. Late Deadline June 10th, 2015; Withoutabox Extended Deadline July 28th, 2015. More information can be found here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Screenplay-Competition   - ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club continues with summer titles including: Huntington’s Dance on June 14th, Diamond Tongues  on June 15th, Yosemite (starring James Franco) on July 12th, On Her Own on July 13th, They Look Like People on August 9th, and 20 Years of Madness on August 10th. To learn more about this program and to buy tickets go to: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club   About Slamdance Slamdance is a year-round organization and film festival that serves as a showcase for the discovery and development of emerging independent talent and innovative filmmaking. Slamdance is the only festival programmed entirely by filmmakers and is a fertile ground for new filmmakers to begin their careers. The festival began as an alternative to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and they continue to run concurrently.   Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli  (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.   Slamdance's On The Road events and Slamdance Studios' developing commercial distribution platform continue to increase opportunities for filmmakers both internationally and domestically. Slamdance Studios launched a film collection on Hulu in January 2015, including 12 feature films and 1 documentary short from Slamdance alumni which are available to stream now, with new films to be added throughout the year. Viewers can access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance   Over 2,500 submissions competed for prizes in the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. This year’s Grand Prize winner was the Original Teleplay Search For Life by Andrea Janakas, which was awarded a total of $7,000 in cash prizes. Submissions for the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition will open on February 23rd.   2015 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors included Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Directors Guild of America, Pierce Law Group, CreativeFuture, Writers Guild of America West, Different By Design, Carhartt, Festival Scope, Final Draft, Park City's Treasure Mountain Inn, and Salt Lake City's BlueStar Juice Bar & Cafe, Beehive Distilling, and Xmission. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and push the boundaries of independent filmmaking.   Additional information about the Slamdance Film Festival, Slamdance Studios and Screenplay Competition is available at www.slamdance.com   Connect with Slamdance:   http://twitter.com/slamdance  http://www.facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival Instagram: @Slamogram   ###   PRESS CONTACT:   Annie Jeeves/Cinematic Red Phone: 323.834.9733 annie@cinematicred.com

July 12
Slamdance Cinema Club Presents: Yosemite
starring James Franco, with Director Gabrielle Demeestere and Gia Coppola in attendance for Q&A.
Arclight Hollywood, 8pm.
Find Tickets

July 13
Slamdance Cinema Club Presents: On Her Own
with director Morgan Schmidt-Feng in attendance for live Q&A.
Arclight Hollywood, 8pm.
Find Tickets

July 21
Slamdance Screenplay Competition
Late Submissions Deadline
Submit your script

July 24
Slamdance Film Festival
Early Submissions Deadline
Submit your film now

August 9
Slamdance Cinema Club Presents: They Look Like People
with filmmakers in attendance for Q&A.
Arclight Hollywood, 8pm.
Find Tickets

August 10
Slamdance Cinema Club Presents: 20 Years of Madness
with filmmakers in attendance for Q&A.
Arclight Hollywood, 8pm.
Find Tickets

August 31
Slamdance DIG
Final Entry Deadline
Submit Your Project Now


...and remember, Slamdance Studios is always live, on demand
Can't make it out to these events? Be sure to catch excellent independent films from Slamdance Studios, streaming now on Hulu:
hulu.com/companies/slamdance


Slamdance Is A Year-Round Organization with programs, events, and competitions designed By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers. Follow us on social media to get our daily updates:

This year we welcome Bristol, UK's Rosie Lea to the already impressive list of artists who have contributed to Slamdance including Shepard Fairey, Kii Arens and David Flores.

Rosie is a graphic artist and writer who has done gig posters for Queens Of The Stone Age, Swans, and L7. You can find more of Rosie's work here www.birdbrains.club and here rosie-lea.com, and Jacknife Prints.

This year's theme is Saints & Sinners. With our showcase you're sure to get plenty of characters who are the best of the best, some who are the worst of the worst, and a whole bunch who are duplicitous surprises -- wolves in sheeps' clothing, snakes in the grass, smooth operators with well-concealed daggers, &c.

The new artwork is a playfully proto-interactive way to decide whether you're good, bad, or both at the same time. Looking one way, you see an Angel. Looking the other way, a demon. Depending on how you see the image, or with one a quick turn, you'll go from saint to sinner and then back again.



There's always been something unexpected and mischievous about Slamdance. Yet Slamdance is bolstered by the saintly good will of its programmers, filmmakers, and partners alike. Visual references for the artwork were medieval manuscripts, early renaissance painting, early tattoo art, and matchbook cover art.

Art direction by Peter Baxter but all credit goes to Rosie. Says Baxter, "Rosie is exactly the type of emerging artist we want to support and with her excellent artwork I think she has given us a great deal to appreciate and enjoy."

Connect With Rosie
Twitter: @rosie_lea
Instagram: @rosielea__

Connect With Jacknife Prints
Twitter: @JacknifePrints

Connect With Slamdance
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

INNOVATIVE DISTRIBUTION PLAN BEGINS WITH A THEATRICAL LAUNCH AT THE PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL ON SEPTEMBER 2nd, 2015

LOS ANGELES, CA (August 14, 2015) – Slamdance joins forces with the creators of The Resurrection of Jake the Snake for the multi-city theatrical release of the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival favorite documentary beginning in Portland, Oregon on September 2nd. The Portland Film Festival will host the film's release with a special event screening of the documentary and a Q&A session moderated by UFC superstar Chael Sonnen with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Diamond Dallas Page and director Steve Yu. The event format is a key element of the film's continuing theatrical release with personal appearances by Jake “The Snake” Roberts, filmmakers and special guests.



The theatrical release marks the initiation of Slamdance Presents, a new distribution moniker for Slamdance's world premier programs dedicated to creating theatrical and other innovative commercial opportunities for independent filmmakers.

As an unprecedented promotional venture between distributor and filmmaker, the partnership is the perfect combination of two underdogs teaming up to take on the fierce theatrical film marketplace. The inspiring documentary feature opened the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and went on to win critical acclaim as well as this unique theatrical distribution partnership with Slamdance Presents. When The Resurrection of Jake the Snake screens at Portland Film Festival, it may very well be the first time two festivals have come together to support a nationwide release of an independent film.

Directed by Steve Yu, The Resurrection of Jake the Snake documents one of the most famous professional wrestlers in the world, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, as he battles his personal demons in a struggle to reclaim his life and the family that had given up on him. The feature-length documentary is also features Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon). Diamond Dallas Page is the film’s producer.

We’re thrilled that Slamdance believes enough in our documentary to pursue this innovative theatrical strategy," said the film’s director Steve Yu, "As filmmakers we were fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and capturing Jake’s incredible story was as compelling as any fictional narrative – except this was 100% real.”

Theater bookers’ response to the venture has already proven successful with twelve venues scheduled throughout the fall in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Dallas, Nashville, Chattanooga, Tampa, Yonkers as well as Portland. Other cities are resently being added to the schedule. Each venue will offer a hosted Special Event Screening with personal appearances by Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Diamond Dallas Page, filmmakers and special guests at a hosted Q&A.

The plan to collaborate on a theatrical release between Slamdance and the filmmakers was based on the filmmakers’ unrivaled knowledge and connection to a large, eager and devoted subculture and based on their mutual success at Slamdance 2015. The blueprint for the Special Event Screenings came from Slamdance's Cinema Club at Hollywood's ArcLight Theater in March 2015 where film showings included a hosted Q & A with the filmmakers, special wrestling guests and moderated by Slamdance alumni Joe Manganniello. This model will be used throughout the release of The Resurrection of Jake The Snake.

"We hope to enter the challenging theatrical arena with a strong showing, knowing that the festival and the film embody the true spirit of independent film," said Peter Baxter, President and Co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival, "Audiences love our screening events with filmmakers. It’s great to receive the support of Portland Film Festival to help our launch. I hope more festivals can help one another like this in the future."

"As fellow mavericks, we are excited to present “The Resurrection of Jake The Snake” at this year’s festival,” said Josh Leake, Executive Director of the Portland Film Festival. “Teaming with Slamdance to help launch their new distribution arm with the film’s theatrical release is groundbreaking in the world of independent film. We are pleased to be a part of this terrific collaboration.”

Find Tickets Now
Portland Film Festival. Portland, OR.
Wednesday September 2, 2015. 8:15pm.
Mission Theater
1624 NW Glisan
Portland, OR 97219
Tickets Here

Living Room Theater. Portland, OR.
September 6-11, 2015.
341 SW Tenth Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
Tickets Here

Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. Atlanta, GA.
September 18-24, 2015.
931 Monroe Dr NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
Tickets Here

The Magnolia Theater. Dallas TX.
September 28, 2015.
3699 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX, 75204
Tickets Here

Villagio Cinemas. Tampa, FL.
September 29, 2015.
11778 N. Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa FL 33618
Tickets At The Box Office

Landmark Ritz 5. Philadelphia PA.
October 1, 2015.
214 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tickets Here

AMC Empire 25. New York, NY.
October 2-8, 2015.
234 W 42nd St
New York, NY 10036
Tickets Here

Alamo Drafthouse. Yonkers NY.
October 2 - 8, 2015.
2548 Central Park Ave
Yonkers, NY 10710
Tickets Here

The Charles Theater. Baltimore MD.
October 3, 2015.
1711 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21201
Tickets Here

Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema. Greensboro NC.
October 16-22, 2015.
2134 Lawndale Drive
Greensboro, NC
Tickets Here

About Slamdance
Not just a film festival, Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established by a wild bunch of filmmakers in 1995 who were tired of relying on a large oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots film communities can do it themselves.
 
Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the following year’s festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than another’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.
 
Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli  (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.
 
In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The Slamdance Cinema Club, a monthly cinema club based out of the ArcLight in Hollywood.

In January, 2015 Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at: 
http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance 

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical release. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company.
 
The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 21st - 28th in Park City, Utah.
 
Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com
 
Connect with The Resurrection Of Jake The Snake:
www.jakethesnakemovie.com

Connect With Slamdance
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

Slamdance is delighted to announce the 32 semi-finalists for the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Congratulations to these writers for making it to the final 32! The finalists will be announced on September 30th, and the competition winners will be announced on October 8 at the WGA West. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our website!

2015 SEMI-FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order)Feature: Chennai 2070 by Vishnu Sekar
Daedalus by Gareth Peevers
Drift by Librado Lozano & Manuel Luis Martinez
Heart of a Killer by Elias Markos
Ignorant by Anita J. Justice
Jacksonville by Jeffrey Field
Looking for Nirvana by Robert Ian Simpson
The Delegation by Shane Andries
Horror: 77 Minutes by Shani Grewal
Room Service by Yedidya Gorsetman and Mark Leidner
Rumpelstiltskin by Chris Ritvo and Craig Stewart
Seep by Tom Bailey and Davidson Cole
Silver Moon by Travis Stevens
Speak of the Devil by Jesse J. Cook
The Shut-Ins by Jose Roman
The South Rises Again by Jonathan J. Williams
Short: Deep Storage by Susan Earl
Hardware by Julia Cilli
Holding On by Alex Jones
Minstrel Boy by Colin Scott
Shift Work by Josh Bartolome
Suicide Falls by Peter LiPera
The Contract by Sean Corrigan
When Pigs Fly by Andrew Wood
Original Teleplay: Castle Rock by Jamie King
Drought by Steve Armour
Escape/Artist by Alan R. Baxter
HITS by Jeffrey King
Pass/Fail by Caitlin McCarthy & Jim Forbes
Shock Talk by Jake Bottiglieri
Tinfoil Hats by Francis Stokes
Young Winston by Robert Tetlow

Slamdance is delighted to announce the 12 finalists for the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Congratulations to these writers for making it to the final 12! The winners will be announced on October 8th. Keep an eye out for the announcement on our website!



2015 FINALISTS (in alphabetical order)Feature:Ignorant by Anita J. Justice
Jacksonville by Jeffrey Field
The Delegation by Shane Andries
Horror: 77 Minutes by Shani Grewal
Silver Moon by Travis Stevens
Speak of the Devil by Jesse J. Cook
Short: Deep Storage by Susan Earl
Minstrel Boy by Colin Scott
The Contract by Sean Corrigan
Original Teleplay: Castle Rock by Jamie King
Escape/Artist by Alan R. Baxter
HITS by Jeffrey King

Los Angeles, CA - October 9, 2015 — The Delegation, written by Shane Andries, has won the 2015 Slamdance Screenplay Competition Grand Prize. Andries was awarded $7,000 in cash prizes for his feature script at the annual awards ceremony hosted by the Writers Guild of America, West on October 7, 2015.

The Delegation tells the story of a rookie congressional staffer who convinces a maverick congressmen to send a delegation to the jungles of South America to investigate the truth behind infamous cult leader Jim Jones.

Slamdance recognizes four categories in its Screenplay Competition and has established a reputation for finding production worthy screenplays. Each winner received additional cash prizes. The top three Slamdance screenplays in each prize category are as follows:

FEATURE:
1st Place - The Delegation by Shane Andries
2nd Place - Ignorant by Anita J. Justice
3rd Place - Jacksonville by Jeffrey Field

HORROR/THRILLER:
1st Place - Speak of the Devil by Jesse J. Cook
2nd Place - 77 Minutes by Shani Grewal
3rd Place - Silver Moon by Travis Stevens

SHORTS:
1st Place - Deep Storage by Susan Earl
2nd Place - The Contract by Sean Corrigan
3rd Place - Minstrel Boy by Colin Scott

TELEPLAYS:
1st Place - Castle Rock by Jamie King
2nd Place - Escape/Artist by Alan R. Baxter
3rd Place - Hits by Jeffrey King

“With nearly 3,500 total submissions, a 50% increase over last year, finding these twelve was no easy task,” says Screenwriting Manager, Summre Garber. “We feel truly honored to receive so many wonderful submissions and thank all of the entrants for entrusting your work with us. Hopefully our feedback service provided with each submission contained useful and constructive criticism so that no one feels like they’re leaving empty handed. Congratulations to our winners,
we can’t wait to see these scripts get made and what you write next.”

“As WGAW's President, and as a proud member of the independent film community, I'm delighted to join Slamdance in supporting emerging writers. Slamdance's annual Screenplay Competition has always found writers of talent and promise, and has helped expose deserving work to the larger community. It's a mission the WGAW is honored to support,” states WGAW President, Howard A. Rodman.

Slamdance received nearly 3,500 submissions for the Screenplay Competition, which strives to bring attention to the most talented emerging screenwriters and introduce them to the industry.

The Slamdance Screenplay Competition has established a reputation for finding production-worthy screenplays written by emerging talent. Andrea Janakas’ 2014 teleplay Search for Life has been optioned by eOne and Laurence Fishburne’s company, Cinema Gypsy and is currently looking for a network home. Janakas says about her Slamdance experience “After winning the Slamdance Grand Prize for my teleplay Search for Life it was optioned immediately, opening up a year of meetings with great companies and building a network of terrific producers, not only for this project, but for the other projects I've been working on. Thanks, Slamdance for jump-starting my career!”

Cash and service prizes for the 2015 Writing Competition amounted to $20,000. Pierce Law Group, LLP, a long standing sponsor of Slamdance, provided a total $7,500 in legal services to the category winners.

Other examples of how the Screenplay Competition connected screenplays to production include Maria Full of Grace from writer/director Joshua Marston and The Woodsman co-written by Nicole Kassel and Steven Fechter, directed by Kassel. Recent winners that have gone on to be produced include 100 Bloody Acres written by co-writers/directors Colin and Cameron Cairn and Jug Face written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle.

The success of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition over the past twenty years and the writers it has discovered continues to attract the attention of industry professionals searching for the best new independent writing talent. As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision. The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will
run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 22-28, in Park City, Utah. Slamdance still lives by its mantra: "By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers." No other festival is fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance is proud to count among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the festival, including such cinematic luminaries as Christopher Nolan, Marc Forster, Jared Hess, Oren Peli, Lena Dunham and Benh Zeitlin. New filmmakers and writers today realize that Slamdance is a place to launch their careers.

Contact:

Annie Jeeves/Cinematic Red
Phone: 323.834.9733
annie@cinematicred.com
C: 310-995-3834

(LOS ANGELES, CA – October 30, 2015) The Slamdance Film Festival and Digital Bolex have opened submissions for the second edition of their Fearless Filmmaking Showcase to be screened at the 2016 festival in January.
 
The showcase offers Digital Bolex users and Slamdance alumni the opportunity to premiere new films in Park City in a curated shorts block that features projects shot entirely on the Digital Bolex D16 cinema camera.

"We’re proud to be continuing our partnership with Digital Bolex and together support filmmakers who are making innovative work by taking great risk,” said Slamdance Film Festival Co-founder and President Peter Baxter.
 
"We're excited to continue our partnership with Slamdance and offer their alumni the chance to shoot with a cutting-edge camera for the first time," said Digital Bolex Creative Director Elle Schneider. "While many of last year's selected filmmakers were experienced visual artists, a handful were premiering their very first films, and we're proud to provide an outlet where both veteran and beginner filmmakers in the growing Digital Bolex community can showcase their work."
 
The sold-out first edition of the showcase in January 2015 featured 15 diverse short films—seven by women directors—and included work by Slamdance alumni Marie Jamora, Ntare Mwine, Nedra McClyde, Paul Rachman, Fernando Frias, and Jeremy Osbern.
 
"The raw punk spirit of the Digital Bolex and the Slamdance community inspired me to take the camera to my third world country and shoot on New Year's Day, amidst the chaos and the fireworks, with a two-person crew and a budget of nothing," said filmmaker Marie Jamora of last year's showcase. "The end result is priceless."
 
A jury of Slamdance alums selected the winner of the 2015 showcase, Lindsey Haun, who walked away with a D16 camera for her one-take drama Coming To, which has played at more than twenty festivals since premiering at Slamdance.


 
"When our little 5-minute, single-shot, $250-budget short got accepted into Slamdance I was thrilled […] we were totally welcomed into the Slamdance community by the other filmmakers and by the incredibly friendly staff," said filmmaker Lindsey Haun, who heads the jury for 2016. "We truly never expected to win. The other films in our block were very strong and memorable, and we were proud just to be among them."

Other jurors for 2016 include Paste Magazine editor Michael Dunaway, cinematographer Ben Kasulke (We Go Way Back), and directors Leah Shore (I Love You So Much) and Tina Mabry (Mississippi Damned).
 
The 2016 competition will select films from an open submission process through the Digital Bolex website. Short narrative, experimental, and documentary films under 8 minutes and shot on D16 are welcome to apply. The final submission deadline is December 23rd, 2015. All rules as well as the submission application are available online at www.digitalbolex.com/slamdance
 
D16 camera kits will also be made available for Slamdance alumni to borrow on a first-come, first-serve basis through December 8th. Those chosen to premiere at Slamdance will be notified by the end of December.
 
The winner and selected films from the 2016 showcase will receive a Digital Bolex prize package and online distribution through Seed&Spark.
 
About Digital Bolex
 
The Digital Bolex D16, the only 16mm digital cinema camera on the market, is the camera of choice for many film-loving and aesthetically minded filmmakers working in Hollywood and on independent sets. A robust cinema tool affordable even for emerging filmmakers, the D16 camera is currently in use on ABC’s Scandal and NBC’s Empire, and shot segments of 2015 festival favorites Brand: A Second Coming, in theaters now, and Can You Dig This?, winner of the LA Muse section of the 2015 LA Film Festival. The first narrative feature shot primarily on the D16, #Horror, premieres in theaters and on VOD on November 20th through IFC Midnights.
 
About Slamdance
 
Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots film communities can do it themselves.
 
Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the following year’s festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than another’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.
 
Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli  (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.
 
In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based out of the ArcLight in Hollywood, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month at: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club
 
In January, 2015 Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at: 
hulu.com/companies/slamdance
 
The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 21st - 28th, 2016 in Park City, Utah.

Media Contact:
Annie Jeeves / Cinematic Red
annie@cinematicred.com

DIG: New Digital, Interactive & Gaming Showcase for Emerging Artists Launches In Los Angeles on December 5th 2015 at Big Pictures Los Angeles

(LOS ANGELES, CA—November 16, 2015) DIG (Digital, Interactive and Gaming) is a new showcase from Slamdance dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive, and developing forms of digital media art.

Ten works will feature in the inaugural DIG show, hosted by Big Pictures Los Angeles (2424 West Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90018). DIG opens December 4 from 5-9pm, and runs consecutive weekends, December 5th & 6th and 12th &13th from 12-6pm. Admission is free and open to the public. The show will also be featured at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City that runs from January 22nd through January 28th 2016.
Collectively, DIG represents a discovery of unique experiences. The new showcase features meta-narrative iPad applications, short films made for virtual reality, cubist-inspired video art pieces and video games being developed for PlayStation and the personal computer. Projects are reflective and bombastic by turns, allowing attendees to be surprised by a variety of different interactions. DIG projects emphasize touch, personal visual perspective, innovative connections between space and movement and finding sense in uncertainty. The program is the result of a chaotic entry process that told artists simply, "if you think your work fits, it likely does."

DIG was co-curated by Big Pictures Los Angeles founder Doug Crocco, along with Slamdance's Deron Williams and Peter Baxter.

“We deleted the rules and regulations to help encourage and find emerging artists pushing and breaking the boundaries of interactive storytelling through digital media and technology. We hope people coming to the show will find as much curiosity, fun and appreciation interacting with the work as we did programming it,” said Slamdance President and co-founder Peter Baxter.



2015 / 2016 DIG program:

Pry
by Tender Claws
Six years ago, James – a demolition expert – returned from the Gulf War. Explore James’ mind as his vision fails and his past collides with his present. Pry is an app hybrid of cinema, gaming and fiction that reimagines how we might touch, close and pry into a text, moving seamlessly among words and images to explore layers of a character's consciousness.




The Visitor
Directed by James Kaelan; Cinematography by Eve Cohen; with Aaron Ramzi and Sarah Himedah
At an austere compound in the desert, a woman waits for her greatest fear to arrive.




SLEIGHTING
by Rachel Ho
Sleighting is an unprecedented approach to multimedia performance using motion capture and previsualization tools to enable a new breed of performer. It is about showmanship, hype and the future of entertainment.




Woman Without Mandolin
by Fabiano Mixo
The artwork rethinks cubism as a film medium by using digital motion compositing, combined with a visual concept that captures several perspectives of the same subject using different camera angles. In the film, the choice of Picasso’s ‘Girl with Mandolin’ confronts the European art context with the evident influence of African art and the vigour of black culture. As a portrait it displays the formalistic methods and aspects of Cubism, expressed through a strong woman: the conscience, the feelings and the memories of different cultures and history.

Lineup full of premieres and highlights first-time directors from around the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Italy and UK tackles subjects of redemption, agoraphobia, misfits, captivity, friendship and whistleblowers

(LOS ANGELES, CA – November 30, 2015) The Slamdance Film Festival today announced their Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs for its 22nd Festival edition. As the premiere film festival by filmmakers for filmmakers, Slamdance's showcase of emerging artists includes 12 narrative and 8 documentary films. This 20-feature film competition includes 16 premieres – 12 World, 3 North American, and 1 US premieres. Slamdance is proud to present the best of first-time feature filmmakers pushing the boundaries of filmmaking with innovation and unique talent. All competition films are feature film directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million and without US distribution. All films were programmed entirely from blind submissions by the Slamdance filmmaking community.
Jury Awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for Audience Awards as well as the Spirit of Slamdance Award, judged by the filmmakers themselves.

"The standard of DIY filmmaking around the world is the highest we've seen, and the diversity of storytelling is the most we've experienced. With a record breaking number of submissions to select from, the narrative and documentary feature line-up has never been so competitive or as exciting to program." states Co-founder and President, Peter Baxter.

The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 22rd - 28th, 2015 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060


NARRATIVE FEATURES PROGRAM
All the Colors of the Night
Director: Pedro Severien; Screenwriter: Luiz Otávio Pereira
(Brazil)
Iris wakes up in her spacious seafront apartment, discovers a body in the living room and enlists the help of other women, setting off a spiral of redemption in an atmospheric drama of dark imagery and questionable reality.
Cast: Sabrina Greve, Sandra Possani, Brenda Ligia, Giovanna Simões, Rômulo Braga

Alvin’s Harmonious World of Opposites
Director & Screenwriter: Platon Theodoris
(Australia/Indonesia) North American Premiere
Agoraphobic Alvin prefers stuffed pandas and online shopping to the aggressive rantings of his neighbor Virginia, until the sludge seeping from his ceiling forces him to search for answers in this offbeat comedy with a tender heart.
Cast: Teik-Kim Pok, Vashti Hughes, Dessy Fitri, Ailis Logan, Nitin Vengurlekar, Tina Andrews, Alicia O'Donnel

Chemical Cut
Director & Screenwriter: Marjorie Conrad
(USA) World Premiere
23-year-old Irene is an artistic misfit turned LA model busy searching for identity, inspiration and a kindred spirit while surrounded by competition, absurdity, and so many nude bras.
Cast: Marjorie Conrad, Ian Coster, Leah Rudick, Michael Lucid, Stephen Saban, Deven Green, Nicolas Coster, Vicki Marlane

Driftwood
Director & Screenwriter: Paul Taylor
(USA) World Premiere
A young woman washes ashore and is claimed and conditioned by an older man in this intricately layered, dialogue-free exploration of familial roles, isolation and captivity.
Cast: Joslyn Jensen, Paul C. Kelly, Michael Fentin

Honey Buddies
Director: Alex Simmons; Screenwriters: Alex Simmons, David Giuntoli, Flula Borg
(USA) World Premiere
Jilted groom David is convinced by his excitable best man Flula to continue with his planned honeymoon, a backcountry trek in the mountains of Oregon, in a highly comedic ode to friendship and the great outdoors.
Cast: David Giuntoli, Flula Borg, Brian T. Finney, Claire Coffee, Jeanne Syquia

Hunky Dory
Director: Michael Curtis Johnson; Screenwriters: Michael Curtis Johnson, Tomas Pais
(USA) World Premiere
After his ex disappears, Sidney, a dive bar drag queen, is forced to look after his 11-year-old son in a tale of unconventional fatherhood, the fear of mediocrity, and the pulsing reality of dreams deferred.
Cast: Tomas Pais, Peter Van Norden, Jeff Newburg, Joy Darash, Edouard Holdener, Nora Rothman, Chad Borden, Chad Hartigan

If There’s A Hell Below
Director: Nathan Williams; Screenwriters: Nathan Williams, Matthew Williams
(USA) World Premiere
In a desolate landscape, an ambitious young journalist in a dusty car meets covertly with a national security whistleblower, and their roving exchange becomes increasingly cloaked in paranoia, tension and escalating threat.
Cast: Conner Marx, Carol Roscoe, Paul Budraitis, Mark Carr

Last Summer
Director: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli; Screenwriters: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli, Igort
(Italy) US Premiere
Set on board a luxury yacht in sparkling international waters, this tense and stylish drama captures the four final days a mother is granted with her 6-year-old son to say goodbye after losing a custody battle.
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Bach, Daniel Ball, Ken Brady

The Lesson
Director & Screenwriter: Ruth Platt
(UK) North American Premiere
A grisly study of the relationship between a tormented teacher and the troubled teens who bear his wrath once he snaps; this morally challenging horror film is dark, claustrophobic, and shockingly eloquent.
Cast: Evan Bendall, Robert Hands, Michaela Prchalova, Tom Cox, Rory Coltart, Dolya Gavaniski, Michael Swatton, Charlotte Croft

MAD
Director & Screenwriter: Robert G. Putka
(USA) World Premiere
A matriarch past the point of a nervous breakdown, her two daughters that don't give a damn, and the heat-seeking missiles of resentment they toss at each other create a lively backdrop for this dark and dramatic comedy.
Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Maryann Plunkett, Eilis Cahill, Mark Reeb, David Sullivan, Conor Casey, Shaun Weiss, Chris Doubek

Neptune
Director: Derek Kimball; Screenwriters: Derek Kimball, Matthew Konkel
(USA)
Set in the late 1980s on an island off the coast of Maine, an orphan girl raised by the church becomes obsessed by the disappearance of a classmate, and her haunted dreams and visions propel her to push past her sheltered life.
Cast: Jane Ackermann, Tony Reilly, William McDonough III, Christine Louise Marshall, Dylan Chestnutt, Maureen Butler

The Tail Job
Directors & Screenwriters: Bryan Moses, Daniel Millar
(Australia) World Premiere
Nicholas hires a taxi driver to follow his fiancé when he suspects her of cheating in this micro-budget comedy action tale that makes every wrong turn crackle with genuine humor and unexpected insight.
Cast: Blair Dwyer, Craig Anderson, Laura Hughes, Kellie Clarke, Dorje Swallow, Grant Dodwell, Gary Waddell, Ursula Mills


DOCUMENTARY FEATURES PROGRAM
1ha 43a
Director & Screenwriter: Monika Pirch
(Germany) North American Premiere
After inheriting a plot of farming land near Dusseldorf, Monika explores the potential of her field through administrative, historic and poetic methods and manages to reconnect with the land and her ancestry in a beautiful and unexpected way.

Art of the Prank
Director & Screenwriter: Andrea Marini
(USA)
Legendary funny man Joey Skaggs has been pulling Americas chain since 1965. His next hoax? Film festivals.
Cast: Joey Skaggs, Robert Forster, Peter Maloney, Charlie Todd, Richard Johnson, Buck Wolf, Sarah Farrell, Jeff Cohen

Dead Hands Dig Deep
Director: Jai Love; Screenwriters: Jai Love, Spencer Heath
(USA/Australia ) World Premiere
From the isolation of his secluded desert compound Edwin Borsheim, founder of the shock metal band Kettle Cadaver, ruminates on a life of violence, mayhem and personal destruction lived on the absolute edge of the known musical universe.

Fursonas
Director & Screenwriter: Dominic Rodriguez
(USA) World Premiere
Like any community, the Furry world is one with gossipers, dreamers, followers, whistleblowers and the one guy who wants to rule them all.

Los Punks; We Are All We Have
Director: Angela Boatwright; Screenwriter: Christine Triano
(USA) World Premiere
A cobbled-together family of Hispanic youth comprise the thriving backyard punk scene of South Central and East L.A.: bands, fans, and production are interwoven into a sub-culture of thrash, noise and pits.
Cast: Gary Alvarez, Nacho Corrupted, April Desmadre, Jennie Oi, Alex Pedorro, Natalie Rodriguera

The Million Dollar Duck
Director: Brian Golden Davis; Screenwriter: Martin J. Smith
(USA) World Premiere
Artists from different walks of life vie to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only art competition of its kind sponsored by the U.S. government.
Cast: The Hautman Brothers, Rebekah Nastav, Tim Taylor, Dee Dee Murry, Rob McBroom, Adam Grimm

Myrtle Beach
Directors: Neil Rough, Michael Fuller
(Canada) World Premiere
Myrtle Beach is a disturbingly intimate peek into the lives of the deviants, outcasts and forget-me-nows that inhabit this deformed stepsister of Coney Island.

Peanut Gallery
Director & Screenwriter: Molly Gandour
(USA)
An intimate and unflinching exploration of one family's tragic loss and their attempt to heal after decades of silence.
Cast: Jackson Gandour, Mary Jane Gandour, Molly Gandour, Aimee Gandour

Film stills are available for press use only and can be downloaded below:

Narrative Features: http://bit.ly/1HtvGXQ
Documentary Features: http://bit.ly/1If8rRb

All Access, Industry, Local's, and Student Festival Passes are available now online. Individual tickets will be available shortly. To purchase, click here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Passes-and-Tickets

The 2015 Slamdance Artwork was created by festival alumnus Rosie Lea.


About Slamdance
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established by a wild bunch of filmmakers in 1995 who were tired of relying on a large oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the following year’s festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than another’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.

In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based out of the ArcLight Hollywood, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month at: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

In January 2015, Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at: http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical release. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company.

In November, 2015, Slamdance announced DIG, a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works will feature in the inaugural DIG show that will open in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 5th and run through December 13th, 2015. Admission is free and open to the public. The show will also be featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, Writers Guild Of America West, and Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers.

The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 22nd - 28th in Park City, Utah. Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Connect With Slamdance:
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

Press Contact:
Annie Jeeves / Cinematic Red
annie@cinematicred.com

From Adam Rifkin and Penn Jillette to "Embers" and "Deep Gold," Slamdance Film Festival to showcase daring new filmmaking from four continents.

(LOS ANGELES, CA - December 8, 2015) – Slamdance today announced its Special Screenings, Beyond, and Shorts programs for their 22nd Film Festival. The programs present bold DIY films by a variety of acclaimed and visionary filmmakers from all over the world and include 23 World, 13 North American, and 13 US Premieres. This year, several Slamdance Alumni return with strong feature presentations in the Beyond Program, including Axel Ranisch’s Alky Alky and Daniel Martinico’s Excursions. The Festival will open with a Special Screening of Adam Rifkin and Penn Jillette’s Director’s Cut, starring Missi Pyle, Penn Jillette, Harry Hamlin, Hayes MacArthur, Lin Shaye, Gilbert Gottfried, and Nestor Carbonell. Special Screenings also include sci-fi features Let's Be Evil from Martin Owen and Embers from Claire Carré, which will close the Festival.

The 2016 Oscar® Qualifying Shorts competition showcases 39 American and 32 International productions in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy, and Experimental sections. All Slamdance films are programmed entirely from blind submissions by the Slamdance filmmaking community.

“The Slamdance Special Screenings section this year is a mix of higher profile work, remarkable talent and a film we thought truly deserved further exposure. Our closing night choice of Claire Carre's Embers is not a premier but so what. We're far more interested getting behind a visionary film from a woman director we are excited to support and help expand her career and audience reach,” states Special Screenings Programmer and Slamdance Co-Conspirator Paul Rachman.

Films in the Beyond program, made by emerging narrative and documentary filmmakers working beyond their first features, are eligible for the Audience Awards. Jury Awards are presented to short films in all categories and every 2016 Slamdance filmmaker is eligible for the Spirit of Slamdance Award, judged by the filmmakers themselves.

Beyond Programming Captain, Josh Mandel, elaborates, “In the Beyond section at Slamdance, narrative and documentary films share center stage. This year’s Beyond films push boundaries in story, character, and directorial vision, and ultimately bring a greater worldview into focus.”

"Slamdance democratically selects a slate of short films exclusively from blind submissions with the goal of identifying unknown short film artists comprising both skilled visionaries and raw talents. We are privileged to play a role in launching the work of such an exciting group of filmmakers from around the globe who will continue to make vital, challenging work for years to come," said Randall Good, Shorts Programmer.

The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 22nd - 28th, 2016 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS PROGRAM
Director's Cut - Director: Adam Rifkin; Screenwriter: Penn Jillette
(USA) World Premiere
This ultimate meta-movie is an insane genre-bending cinematic sleight of hand trick about a cineaste stalker who kidnaps his favorite actress and forces her to star in his amateur movie.
Cast: Missi Pyle, Penn Jillette, Harry Hamlin, Hayes MacArthur, Lin Shaye, Gilbert Gottfried, Nestor Carbonell

Embers - Director: Claire Carré; Screenwriters: Charles Spano, Claire Carré
(USA, Poland)
After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory.
Cast: Jason Ritter, Iva Gocheva, Greta Fernández, Tucker Smallwood, Karl Glusman, Silvan Friedman, Roberto Cots, Dominique Swain

Let's Be Evil - Director & Screenwriter: Martin Owen
(UK) World Premiere
Contained within a secure, underground facility, three chaperones are tasked with supervising an advanced learning program for gifted children, pioneering Augmented Reality Glasses. Events quickly spiral out of control.
Cast: Elizabeth Morris, Elliot James Langridge, Kara Tointon, Isabelle Allen

BEYOND PROGRAM
Alky Alky - Director: Axel Ranisch; Screenwriters: Heiko Pinkowski, Axel Ranisch, Peter Trabner
(Germany) North American Premiere
Tobias and DeBottle are classic cases of arrested development – one knows his lifelong relationship with the other is no longer good for him, but it's already too late in this boozy tale of revelry and reality.
Cast: Heiko Pinkowski, Peter Trabner, Christina Große, Thorsten Merten, Iris Berben, Oliver Korittke

Excursions - Director: Daniel Martinico; Screenwriters: Hugo Armstrong, Daniel Martinico
(USA) World Premiere
During an idyllic weekend getaway in the woods, two couples partake in a series of ritualistic purges that unleash their primal selves.
Cast: Jacqueline Wright, Hugo Armstrong, Mandy Freund, Cody Henderson

How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town - Director & Screenwriter: Jeremy LaLonde
(Canada) US Premiere
When a famous sex columnist attempts to host an orgy with old high school acquaintances in her conservative hometown, keeping secrets becomes the least of her problems.
Cast: Jewel Staite, Ennis Esmer, Lauren Lee Smith, Katharine Isabelle, Mark O'Brien, Jonas Chernick, Kristian Bruun, Tommie-Amber Pirie

My Enemies - Director: Stéphane Géhami; Screenwriters: Stéphane Géhami, Héloïse Masse
(Canada) US Premiere
Furious after losing his girlfriend and his publishing deal, Cédric, a young novelist, is captivated by the piano playing of Isabelle, a much older alcoholic living in a home full of lost souls.
Cast: Louise Marleau, Frédéric Lemay, Hubert Proulx, Jean-François Casabonne, Étienne Pilon, Maxime Gaudette, Francis La Haye, Maxime Mailloux

The Successor - Director: Mattia Epifani; Screenwriters: Mattia Epifani, Francesco Lefons
(Italy) North American Premiere
A former arms manufacturer travels to Bosnia to reflect upon the legacy of the land-mine business he inherited from his father and pay penance for the destruction it caused.
Cast: Vito Alfieri Fontana, Nijaz Memic, Senaid Abdihodeic, Rarija Besic

NARRATIVE SHORTS PROGRAM
And Nothing Happened - Director & Screenwriter: Naima Ramos-Chapman
(USA) World Premiere
A young woman juggles between the mundane and the extraordinary in an attempt to leave her NYC apartment.
Cast: Naima Ramos-Chapman, Jamilya Ramos-Chapman, Angela Silverio, Carl Rube

The Beast - Director & Screenwriter: Daina Oniunas Pusic
(Croatia)
A hundred year old woman and her 75-year old daughter have a tense but familiar relationship. A bat flies in to their home and the equilibrium will be forever changed.
Cast: Marija Kohn, Doris Šaric Kukuljica

Black Swell - Director: Jake Honig; Screenwriter: David Rysdahl
(USA) World Premiere
A man tries to kill himself in a motel room.
Cast: Richard Kind, David Rysdahl

Darkest Moon - Director: Kasper Skovsbøl; Screenwriters: Amalie Næsby, Kasper Skovsbøl
(Denmark) World Premiere
Anna must decide whether she wants to protect her daughter, and risk of being ostracized, or believe in the accusations of her being a witch and sentence her own child to death.
Cast: Karen-Lise Mynster, May Simón Lifschitz, Anders Hove, Peter Plaugborg,

De Smet - Directors & Screenwriters: Thomas Baerten, Wim Geudens
(Netherlands)
The brothers 'De Smet' have created a system to live their lives as singles in the most comfortable way possible.
Cast: Tom Audenaert, Sven De Ridder, Stefaan Degand, Jessica Zeylmaker

Deep Gold - Director & Screenwriter: Julian Rosefeldt
(Germany) North American Premiere
An exuberant and voluptuous homage to Luis Buñuel's surrealist (and back then scandalous) masterpiece The Golden Age, relocated to the roaring Berlin 20's.
Cast: Franz Hartwig, Janaina Pessoa, Suse Wächter, Ronni Maciel

Discontinuity - Director & Screenwriter: Lori Felker
(USA) World Premiere
A short film about losing things in the edits of life.
Cast: Ben Johnson, Sam Howard, Henry Comerford

Family Trip - Director & Screenwriter: Oscar Oldershaw
(UK)
A purgatory on Wheels!
Cast: Ian Gain, Vita Oldershaw

GANG - Director & Screenwriter: Clayton Vomero
(USA)
Three young people in Staten Island, New York, search for meaning and identity over the length of a single day.
Cast: Mela Murder, Infinite Coles, Denasia Moore

Goodnight Birdy - Director: Zara Zerny; Screenwriters: Morten Pape, Zara Zerny
(Denmark) North American Premiere
When Greta's husband dies, she is convinced she will die from sorrow. But the heart has its ways of surviving.
Cast: Elsebeth Steentoft

Lewis - Director & Screenwriter: Fantavious Fritz
(Canada) US Premiere
A missing cat witnesses the intersections of human life in a neighbourhood and meets an elderly widow living in solitude.
Cast: Aldona Zalnieriunas, Jean Luc Piccard (the cat), Kyle Andrews

NASTY - Director: Prano Bailey-Bond; Screenwriter: Anthony Fletcher
(UK)
A boy uncovers the nasty truth about his family after finding a VHS tape.
Cast: Albie Marber, Madeleine Hutchins, James Cutler, Kimberley Adams

The Panty Symphonic - Director: Zach Strum; Screenwriters: Zach Strum, Micah Vassau
(USA) World Premiere
When Arnold dies before finishing his will, a rat race ensues for his most prized possession--a pair of panties.
Cast: Steven Jones, Sydney Shepherd

Red Folder - Director & Screenwriter: Ben Kallam
(USA) World Premiere
Fourteen-year-old Joseph sets out to find his teacher’s elusive red folder, only to discover the unsettling implications of his task.
Cast: Gregory Barnes, Pepper Binkley, Phil Bernadin, Chris Jarell

Savasana - Director & Screenwriter: Brandon Daley
(USA) World Premiere
A man in the midst of a midlife crisis attempts to sooth his existential concerns by practicing the age old art of yoga.
Cast: Paul Gordon, Amy Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Bernie Rybarczyk

The Sea Within - Director: Wong Wai Nap; Screenwriters: Wong Wai Nap, Ho Tze Ki
(Hong Kong) US Premiere
A poetic and quiet look into the lives and relationship of a Fishermen couple.
Cast: Wong Kam Shing, Ng Mei Wah

Shitty Drum! - Director & Screenwriter: Pascal Plante
(Canada) US Premiere
An aging punk rock band has an existential crisis.
Cast: Jason Roy-Léveillée, Jérôme Bédard, Joseph Martin

SKANK - Director & Screenwriter: Sophie Francesca
(New Zealand, UK) US Premiere
In a cheap living room in small-town New Zealand a children’s birthday party is in full swing. While the kids are caught up in the ecstasy of the party, young mum Hayley is entangled in more ‘adult’ affairs.
Cast: William Alexander, Bella Baughan, Vincent Andrew-Scammell, Sophie Francesca

Tampoon - Director: Jeanne Jo; Screenwriters: Jeanne Jo, Nick Musurca
(USA)
When Miranda makes bad decisions about her love life, a possessed TAMPON enters to take care of business.
Cast: Alexandra August, JJ Dunlap

Tisure - Director: Adrian Geyer; Screenwriter: Proyecto JFS
(Venezuela) North American Premiere
In the lonely mountains of Venezuela, a couple’s problems are both diminished and brought to the surface by the vastness of their surroundings.
Cast: Alcione Guerrero, Daniel Isaac

Under the Sun - Director & Screenwriter: QIU Yang
(China, Australia)
An incident occurs, two families become entangled. There’s nothing new under the sun.
Cast: ZHU Ping, SUN Zhongwei, BAI Lihong, GONG Weiming

Video - Director & Screenwriter: Randy Yang
(USA)
A woman's racist remark is captured on video by two teenage black girls.
Cast: Mars Williams, Reilly Brooke Stith, Alyson Schacherer, Ron Scott

Winter Hymns - Director & Screenwriter: Dusty Mancinelli
(Canada) US Premiere
Ten-year-old Joshua’s dull afternoon is shattered when his volatile older brother shepherds him through the countryside in search of adventure.
Cast: Sam Ashe Arnold, Kyle Peacock

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM
Becoming Blair - Director: Bri Barsalou
(USA) World Premiere
Blair is a transgender young adult living in Texas and transitioning with mixed reactions from his conservative parents.
Cast: Blair Hanner, Sue Hanner, Karl Hanner

The Bullet - Director: Jordan Bahat
(USA) World Premiere
A portrait of David 'The Bullet' Smith Jr., the world's greatest human cannonball.
Cast: David "The Bullet" Smith Jr.

Heavy Fog Tonight - Director: Nathan Reich
(USA)
Conrad Milster is an 80 year old chief engineer at New York's oldest running steam power plant, preserving an era long forgotten while adjusting to the digital world around him.
Cast: Conrad Milster

If Mama Ain't Happy, Nobody's Happy - Director: Mea de Jong
(Netherlands)
“If you want to make a film about independent women, shouldn’t you make a film about our family?” And so mother and daughter embark on a journey together to make a portrait about the four generations who all managed without a man.

In Crystal Skin - Director: Michaela O'Brien
(USA) World Premiere
Conflict arises between mother and daughter when a young girl with a rare disease in Bogotá, Colombia refuses to attend school.
Cast: Maria Alejandra Peña Giraldo, Jackeline Giraldo Hurtado, Angel Gustavo Peña Sanchez, Carlos Andrés Peña Giraldo

A Passion of Gold and Fire - Director & Screenwriter: Sébastien Pins
(Belgium)
A beekeeper in Belgium worries about the future of his apiary school.
Cast: Fontignie André

Repoman - Director: Giacomo Gex; Screenwriters: Giacomo Gex, Bruno Gex
(USA)
A day in the life of a repoman in Los Angeles, USA.
Cast: Andrew De Palma

Rotatio - Director: Ian McClerin
(USA) World Premiere
A young woman transforms her experience of trauma into a powerfully poetic meditation, challenging her transgressions and the purpose of art.
Cast: Shannon May Mackenzie

Stems - Director & Screenwriter: Ainslie Henderson
(UK) US Premiere
For a brief moment, stop motion puppets crafted from found objects make beautiful music and then as quickly as they came to life, return to being inanimate objects.

Superunit - Director & Screenwriter: Teresa Czepiec
(Poland)
A peek inside a few doors in a Polish “housing machine” comprised of 15 floors and 762 stories where emotions throb, expectations build and desires come true…or not.

Temporary Color - Director: John Wilson
(USA) World Premiere
A filmmaker hired to follow David Byrne on tour finds a capable and better equipped documentary crew already in place and decides to take a more whimsical behind the scenes look while musing about the escaped convicts potentially looming nearby in upstate New York and Canada.
Cast: David Byrne, Bill Ross, Turner Ross

The Tricks List - Director: Brian Bolster
(USA)
A gay man's journey to memorialize and document every sexual encounter he has ever had.

Water Ghost* - Director & Screenwriter: Wen Li
(USA) North American Premiere
A stranger jumps off a bridge, committing suicide, setting off a journey to find the men who fish bodies out of the Yuanjiang River and the meaning of death, loss and life.

The Wear of Agony - Director: Mariano Rentería Garnica
(Mexico) US Premiere
A visual waltz through the spaces, people and objects of the working class in Mexico, where reality and dreams dance in dialogue.

*out of competition

ANIMATION SHORTS PROGRAM
Bottom Feeders - Director & Screenwriter: Matt Reynolds
(USA)
Two fictional species try to make it through the day in this bleak parody of the natural world.

Flaws - Director: Josh Shaffner
(USA)
An autobiographical, surreal rant about years spent in the service industry.

Heila Ormur - Director: Rose Stark
(Iceland, USA)
The slow savoring of horrible flavors in the body of a love gone bad.
Cast: Andi Kristins

Here There - Director & Screenwriter: Alexander Stewart
(Croatia, USA) US Premiere
A graphic form to memory’s malleable, straying lines.

Lazy Daze - Director: Brian Smee
(USA) World Premiere
Dog in the land where the good life takes you.

Leftover - Directors & Screenwriters: Tibor Banoczki, Sarolta Szabo
(France) US Premiere
Remains of food, remains of human relationships.
Cast: Jerry di Giacomo, Odile Cohen, Matthieu Saccucci, Marie-Sohna Conde

Life is Rugged - Director & Screenwriter: Simon Schnellmann
(Germany)
Five short sequences of line-drawing life are linked together by a black point.

Mirror in Mind - Director: SeungHee Kim
(South Korea)
A woman looks into her mind, chasing her ideals on a tightrope.

My Dad - Director: Marcus Armitage
(UK) US Premiere
A boy's vividly-colored memories of learning everything from his dad, including racially-motivated violence.
Cast: Divian Ladwa

Pangs - Director: Wendy Cong Zhao
(USA) World Premiere
Wading through bodily and emotional pangs.

The Past Inside the Present - Director & Screenwriter: James Siewert
(USA) World Premiere
An allegorical tale of a couple who attempt to renew their dying relationship by plugging directly into recordings of their memories.
Cast: Schuyler Helford, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

Ripple - Director: Conner Griffith
(USA) North American Premiere
The shapes we make. An advertisement for planet earth.

Still Life - Director: Kevin Eskew
(USA) North American Premiere
Et tu doggy? Synchronicity strikes in the suburban Midwest.

Worm - Director: Becky James
(USA) North American Premiere
Wrapped in chains, a worm languishes in prison.
Cast: Amanda Salane, Holden Miller

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM
After Muybridge - Director: Spencer Holden
(USA) World Premiere
A Non-Cinema performance after Muybridge.
Cast: Spencer Holden

Cup of Stars - Directors: Ryan Betschart, Tyler Betschart
(USA) US Premiere
A vivid tableau of tenderness finds two brothers under a cool night sky fishing for stars and supernovas.
Cast: Ryan Betschart, Tyler Betschart

Gray Hairs - Director: Annapurna Kumar
(USA)
In 2013, the Apache helicopter's targeting systems were updated from standard definition black and white to high-resolution color video, touted as a boost to pilot safety and US military dominance.

Infrastructures - Director: Aurèle Ferrier
(Switzerland)
A journey through infrastructures that are common to an everyday reality of routine, but presented as completely deserted.

JUS SOLI - Director: Somebody Nobody Collective
(UK) North American Premiere
This film opens up a discourse on the Black British experience, interrupting the emotional transition between generations and questioning what it means to be British.
Cast: Nicholas Pinnock

The Neutral Zone - Director: LJ Frezza
(USA) World Premiere
A historical survey of the utopias described in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994). This catalog of doorways, walls, and rooms might define our understanding of possible futures.

Notes from the Interior - Director: Benjamin Balcom
(USA)
How do you describe the complexities of being a body? A wandering through the self, an associative search for secrets.

Novaciéries - Directors: (LA)HORDE Collective, Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, Arthur Harel
(France) North American Premiere
A combination of cinema, performance, and home video that transcends dance films and presents a choreographed and metaphysical portrait of the post-industrial world by reinterpreting post-internet dance.
Cast: Eve Coquart, Ylva Falk, Kevin Martinelli, Edgar Scassa

Pudding - Director & Screenwriter: Ryan Betschart
(USA)
Pudding describes through auditory and visual wonder two children exploring their body curiosity through the telling of false memories regarding 1970's pop icons.
Cast: Aiden Griner Riley as Boy, Evee Griner Riley as Girl

ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM
The Bulb - Director & Screenwriter: Calvin Reeder
(USA) World Premiere
Strangers meet in a motel room and observe a peculiar television broadcast.
Cast: Frank Mosley, Linas Phillips

Carnal Orient - Directors & Screenwriters: Mila Zuo, Angela Seo
(USA) World Premiere
A dark and strangely surreal snapshot of sexual desire aimed at the exotic.
Cast: Akemi Look, West Liang, Joey Halter, Peter Lucas, Stephan Smith Collins

Ceiling Finger - Director: Sean Kelley; Screenwriter: Dalton Price
(USA)
A family of four lives in a suburban household with a giant finger called Ceiling Finger.
Cast: Jesse Price, Jen Greenfield, David Parrish, Eleanor Greenfield

Disco Inferno - Director & Screenwriter: Alice Waddington
(Spain)
A weary hell minion is on a mission to rescue her boss. But the Devil is not willing to return to her daily routine.
Cast: Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Ana Rujas, Olivia Baglivi

Double-Blind No.1 - Director: The Double-Blind Experiments
(Australia)
Five VFX artists set out to test the theory that a fine-art technique relying on chance could be applied to a motion piece.
Cast: Samantha Roy, Zenon Kohler, Ricky Marks

Gwilliam - Director: Brian Lonano; Screenwriters: Brian Lonano, Victoria Cook, Kevin Lonano
(USA)
A recently released criminal can forget his sins, but he can never forget...Gwilliam.
Cast: William Tokarsky, Paul Painter, Wanda Morganstern

Hi How Are You Daniel Johnston? - Director: Gabriel Sunday; Screenwriters: Daniel Johnston, Gabriel Sunday, David Lee Miller
(USA)
Iconic musician/artist Daniel Johnston stars in this psychedelic short film about an aging artist coming to terms with the dreams of yesteryear.
Cast: Daniel Johnston, Gabriel Sunday, Soko

Something About Silence - Director & Screenwriter: Patrick Buhr
(Germany) North American Premiere
You are here because you are boring
Cast: Vanja Smiljanic, Sina Seifee

The Wayward Carnality - Director & Screenwriter: Joanna Maria Wójcik
(Poland) North American Premiere
Grandma visits her teenage grandson and discovers a change of his interests.

Film stills are available for press use only and can be downloaded below.

Special Screenings: http://bit.ly/21HmDJj
Beyond: http://bit.ly/1YRUexW
Narrative Shorts: http://bit.ly/1ONUcCD
Documentary Shorts: http://bit.ly/1ONU8CK
Animation Shorts: http://bit.ly/1YRUahy
Experimental Shorts:http://bit.ly/1ObCUfV
Anarchy Shorts: http://bit.ly/1m59EAN

All Access, Industry, Local's, and Student Festival Passes are available now online. Individual tickets will be available shortly. To purchase, click here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Passes-and-Tickets

ABOUT SLAMDANCE
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established by a wild bunch of filmmakers in 1995 who were tired of relying on a large oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the following year’s festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than another’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday), and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.

In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, and a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based out of the ArcLight Hollywood, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month at: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

In January 2015, Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at: http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance


Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical release. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company.

In November, 2015, Slamdance announced DIG, a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works are currently featuring in the inaugural DIG show that opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 4th running through December 13th, 2015. Admission is free and open to the public. The show will also be featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include BlackMagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group, Writers Guild of America West, and Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine and

(LOS ANGELES – January 18, 2016) – The Slamdance Film Festival announced today Jury members for its 22nd edition, which includes the minds behind “William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe,” “Curfew,” “The Resurrection of Jake The Snake”, the novel AGAINST CONTROL, Clever Fox, Caucho Technology, the Montclair Film Festival and the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival to name a few. Juries of leading industry experts and esteemed filmmakers determine the Slamdance Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. These awards will be presented on Thursday, January 28th, during the Festival’s Awards Ceremony.
“We are fortunate to have such acclaimed industry members and alumni join our juries and we welcome the Digital Bolex fearless filmmakers to round out our festival program,“ states Peter Baxter Co-Founder and President of the Slamdance Film Festival.

Tuesday, January 26th, Digital Bolex will present the second edition of FEARLESS FILMMAKING: ART ON YOUR OWN TERMS, a block of shorts shot on the D16 camera that bring together the Slamdance and Digital Bolex filmmaking communities in Park City for Festival audiences.

The 90-minute showcase features the work of fourteen filmmakers from Croatia, Australia, Romania, France, and the USA, including two films created at the 2015 Résidence Audiovisuelle Francophone in Slon, Romania, and a University of Connecticut thesis film that received the Digital Bolex Grant for Women Cinematographers.

"We're thrilled that for the second year we've been able to give users of our camera the opportunity to premiere their work on the big screen at such an esteemed celebration of independent cinema," said Digital Bolex Creative Director Elle Schneider. "We're grateful to Slamdance for partnering with us to give back to our incredible user community, and that the filmmaker initiatives we began to support in 2015, such as the Women Cinematographer's Grant and the Slon Residence, are already producing festival-quality work."

2015 Showcase filmmakers Jeremy Osbern and Misti Boland will be joining fellow 2015 alum Lindsey Haun, Paste Magazine editor Michael Dunaway, cinematographer Ben Kasulke, and directors Leah Shore and Tina Mabry as jurors for the 2016 FEARLESS FILMMAKING SHOWCASE, which takes place at Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters, Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City, UT, at 5:15PM on Tuesday, January 26th.

Haun, who received a D16 cinema camera as a prize for winning the 2015 Showcase with her one-take film Coming To, is currently shooting her first feature, Hanky Panky, exclusively on the camera in Heber, UT, starring Coming To's Jacob Demonte-Finn, Clare Grant, Ashley Holliday, Christina Laskay, Anthony Rutowicz, Nick Roth, Toby Bryan, Azure Parsons, and several puppets.

Narrative Features Jury:
Damon Russell grew up in the Atlanta suburbs. After graduating from Georgia State University, he began working in documentary television, as a Producer on the A&E show The First 48. In 2012 he wrote and directed the critically acclaimed feature film, Snow On Tha Bluff, about the real-life Atlanta crack dealer and robbery boy, Curtis Snow. The film was Executive Produced by Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, 12 Years A Slave) and acquired by Screen Media. The following year, Damon produced the 2013 Oscar winning short film, Curfew. He went onto Produce and Edit the feature version of Curfew, entitled Before I Disappear, which won the audience award at SXSW (2014) and was acquired by IFC.

Erik Jambor co-founded the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, Alabama in 1999. He served as Director for Sidewalk's first eight years and in 2006 developed and produced the organization's inaugural Birmingham SHOUT, the first LGBTQ film festival in Alabama. Erik ran the 2007 BendFilm Festival in Bend, Oregon, and from 2008-2014 was Executive Director of Indie Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. He has served on festival juries including SXSW, Atlanta, Nashville, Oxford, RiverRun, and the Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy. He was last on the Slamdance narrative features jury in 2008.

Julie La'Bassiere became CEO of BAFTA New York in June 2015. Prior to joining the BAFTA New York team, La’Bassiere founded Tall Bird Marketing & Strategy – a strategic brand, marketing and indie film distribution consultancy for filmmakers and content creators. As a senior strategist, British-born La’Bassiere has been at the forefront of innovative 360° entertainment brand strategy and marketing for the past 2 decades. La’Bassiere was the Head of Marketing for FilmBuff where she oversaw Title PR, Marketing and Theatrical Distribution Strategy for all films. La’Bassiere was the Director of Marketing & Industry for Tribeca Enterprises, where she oversaw the industry program at Tribeca Film Festival as well as brand marketing initiatives for Tribeca Film. La’Bassiere holds a degree in Educational Anthropology from Stanford.

Documentary Shorts and Features Jury:
Vanessa Hope started her film career in China while teaching a graduate course on law and society at People's University and completing her PhD at Columbia University. Fluent in Chinese, she has produced multiple films in China, including Wang Quanan's The Story Of Ermei, Chantal Akerman's Tombee De Nuit Sur Shanghai, and her own short films- China In Three Words and China Connection: Jerry. She directed and produced a web series for NYU's U.S.-Asia Law Institute called Law, Life & Asia. Her U.S. producing credits include the Oscar short-listed feature documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe. Vanessa's feature documentary directorial debut, All Eyes And Ears, premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

Steve Yu is a documentary filmmaker and digital marketing consultant with a passion for capturing inspiring stories on film. His past success creating viral video shorts have garnered over 100 million views on social media, and his first documentary feature, The Resurrection of Jake The Snake, a film that chronicles an attempt to save the lives of two broken-down professional wrestlers (Jake The Snake Roberts and Scott Hall), premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2015. After multiple acquisition offers, Steve and his team chose to self-distribute, partnering with Slamdance Presents for multiple sold-out theatrical event screenings, and an early 2016 VOD release using the Distribber business model. Steve is currently working on several inspirational projects including another feature doc.

Skizz Cyzyk is a filmmaker, musician, and film festival careerist Skizz Cyzyk has held positions at MicroCineFest, Maryland Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival, and serves on juries and advisory boards at many other festivals, including Slamdance (20 years as projectionist; 13 years on advisory board; 8 non-consecutive years on the jury). He is a board member for Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and performs music with Go Pills, The Jennifers, Garage Sale, Half Japanese and Mink Stole & Her Wonderful Band.

Experimental and Anarchy Jury:
Jack Sargeant has numerous books including Against Control, Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground and Naked Lens: Beat Cinema (like Deathtripping now in its third English language edition). His forthcoming book Flesh and Excess: On Underground Film is due for publication in late 2015. He has written on film and underground culture for numerous anthologies and journals, and has written introductions for books by Lydia Lunch, photographer Romain Slocombe and artist Joe Coleman, among others. He writes a regular column for FilmInk, and has written for The Wire, Xochi 23, Fortean Times, World Art, Real Time, Metro and many other publications. His writings have also appeared in the booklets accompanying numerous DVDs in the USA and UK.

He has frequently appeared as a documentary interviewee in films including Blank City, The Advocate For Fagdom and Llik Your Idols. In addition to writing, Sargeant has lectured on underground film and culture, beat culture, William Burroughs and many other topics across the world. Sargeant is also Program Director for the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, which takes place annually in Western Australia. He has curated numerous film and art events across the globe.

Dekker Dreyer is a filmmaker and video artist. As chief creative officer at immersive media studio Clever Fox he oversees branded and original content made for virtual reality devices. Previously, Dekker was with Participant Media where he was on the launch team for their television network Pivot and headed special projects that married new technology with storytelling. In 2005 he founded Illusion On Demand, a cable VOD network where he produced original scripted and unscripted series and oversaw all acquisitions. Dekker is also the host of the Movie Cult vodcast and live show series and the creator of the touring festival Anime After Dark celebrating the best in Japanese animation.

Wally Chung is a filmmaker-animator living in New York. Originally from the Midwest, he grew up drawing ninjas, swords, and places for ninjas to fight. He started making weird animations and music in high school and college. It was not until after graduate school that he started screening his films at festivals, including his animated short, The Eater, which was well received on the festival circuit and also screened at Slamdance in 2013. He won a few awards at some of these festivals, including the Spirit of Slamdance Award in 2015. He is currently in pre-production for his first animated feature.

Narrative and Animation Short Jury:
Steve Montal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Caucho Technology. He has collaborated with over 100 film festivals serving as board member, programmer, jury, organizer and panelist. Montal developed the AFI Docs Film Festival. His producing credits include "Viva Terra Viva," a television concert for UNICEF that was broadcast to over 100 countries. Montal was the founding associate dean of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking. He also launched the Graduate Producers Program at Chapman University and served on the faculty of San Diego State University. He wrote the “Film Festivals and Markets” chapter of The Movie Business Book and has written for Animation Journal and Variety.

Ina Pira joined the Montclair Film Festival as Senior Programmer in November 2014. She is also the Programmer and Program Manager at the Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton, NY (2012-2015). In addition to her film programming duties Ina has helped manage and select scripts for the 14th Annual Hamptons Screenwriters Lab and other year-round programs. Her programming experience also includes the 2014 Sarasota Film Festival. In addition to festivals, Ina has worked as a freelance editor and research assistant on feature length documentaries. Prior to her work in film, Ina has enjoyed work as a professional photographer, photo editor, and union organizer.

Mark Shapiro diverse marketing and communications career has taken him across the United States, working in brand development, advertising, public relations, film production and writing for companies including Nike, Town & Country Magazine and Upper Deck. In 2007, he joined LAIKA, where he manages brand strategies, including the marketing efforts for LAIKA’s corporate identity as well as the company’s feature films. A native of Seattle, Mark attended Emerson College in Boston and received his Bachelor of Arts in English from The Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He also completed education studies at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

2016 Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking selections:
Tracking Alewives for the Passamaquoddy - Kurt Lancaster, USA (World Premiere)

Sketches - Savannah Rogers, USA (World Premiere)

God Wrest His Soul - JT Seaton, USA (World Premiere)

Charades - Jimmy Nguyen, USA (World Premiere)

Small Talk - Hilary Campbell, USA (World Premiere)

Sun Valley - Sasha Gransjean, USA (World Premiere)

Devin Fair is King - Skizz Cyzyk, USA (World Premiere)

B+A - Connor Rickman, USA (World Premiere)

Girl with a Moustache - Vanja Svilicic, Croatia (North American Premiere)

Eyes of the City - Luke Randall, Australia (World Premiere)

Glenda - Puppett, USA (World Premiere)

You Will Find A Way - AJ Molle, USA (World Premiere)

Sans Titre - Eva Pervolovici, Romania/France (North American Premiere)

The Treeples - Sarah Nolen, USA (World Premiere, Women Cinematographer's Grant Recipient)

The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 22nd - 28th, 2016 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.

All Access/Industry, Local's, and Student Festival Passes are available now online. Individual tickets will be available starting December 28th. To purchase, click here: http://showcase.slamdance.com/Passes-and-Tickets

Film stills & behind the scenes videos are available for press use only and can be downloaded below:
Digital Bolex Film Stills: http://tinyurl.com/j7ypg2f
Jury Film Stills: http://tinyurl.com/gs3tupz

About Digital Bolex:
The Digital Bolex D16, the world's only 16mm digital cinema camera, is the camera of choice for many film-loving and aesthetically minded filmmakers working in Hollywood and on independent sets. A robust cinema tool affordable even for emerging filmmakers, the D16 camera is currently in use on ABC’s Scandal and NBC’s Empire, and shot segments of 2015 festival favorites Brand: A Second Coming and Can You Dig This?, winner of the LA Muse section of the 2015 LA Film Festival, in addition to major commercials for brands like Capital One, Subaru, Coca Cola, Pepsi, AirBnB, and more.

About Slamdance:
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established by a wild bunch of filmmakers in 1995 who were tired of relying on a large oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the following year’s festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than another’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have accumulated over $11.5 billion in the Box Office to date.

In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, and a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based out of the ArcLight Hollywood, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month at:

(PARK CITY, UT – January 28, 2016)– The 22nd Slamdance Film Festival tonight announced the feature and short film recipients of this year's Sparky awards in the Audience, Jury, and Sponsored Categories. The award winners were announced at the festival’s annual Awards Ceremony at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, UT.

As in previous years, juries of leading industry experts and esteemed filmmakers determined the Slamdance Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. The Audience Awards as well as the Spirit of Slamdance, an award given by the filmmakers of Slamdance 2016 to the filmmaker who best embodies the spirit of the Festival, were also bestowed. Additional sponsored awards included this year’s Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Grand Prize. The feature competition films in the Documentary and Narrative Programs are limited to first-time filmmakers working with production budgets of less than $1 million.

“Congratulations to all of the filmmakers this year. Outside of winning a Sparky, as a collective they showed us the power of real independent film and how much it enriches our lives,” stated Peter Baxter, Slamdance President and Co-founder.

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Audience Award for Narrative Feature:
HONEY BUDDIES dir. by Alex Simmons
When David is dumped just days before his wedding, Flula, his upbeat and very German best man, convinces him to go on David’s honeymoon together: a seven-day backpacking trip through the Oregon wilderness. On the trail, the two friends meet a conspiracy theorist, a friendly backpacker, and a bloodthirsty predator, on an unrelenting trek that tests their friendship and their lives.

Audience Award for Documentary Feature:
THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK dir. by Brian Golden David
The Million Dollar Duck dives into the wonderfully eccentric world of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government. The Duck Stamp is among the most successful conservation tools ever created, spawning a uniquely American subculture brimming with talent, big money, and migratory birds. The film follows the artists who competitively paint waterfowl in their obsessive quests to win the “Olympics of wildlife art.”

JURY AWARDS - NARRATIVE

This year's Slamdance Narrative Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Julie La'Bassiere, Erik Jambor, & Damon Russell.

Jury Award for Narrative Feature:
DRIFTWOOD dir. by Paul Taylor
“A thoroughly original outsider voice that leaves us eager to see what the filmmaker creates next.”
The award winner was granted $3,500 in legal services from Pierce Law Group.

Jury Honorable Mention for Acting-Narrative Feature:
HUNKY DORY dir. by Michael Curtis Johnson, starring Tomas Pais and Edouard Holdener
“Two breakout performances; a heartfelt story about love and families, both biological and chosen."

JURY AWARDS - DOCUMENTARY

This year's Slamdance Documentary Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Skizz Cyzyk, Vanessa Hope, & Steve Yu.

Jury Award for Documentary Feature:
THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK, dir. by Brian Golden Davis
"With humor and empathy, The Million Dollar Duck looks into the little-known world of avid, nature-loving duck painters who seek to win the glory and financial dividend of being on a federal stamp. Artfully shot and edited, with a colorful cast of characters, the film weaves these human stories into the larger picture of how the annual competition has served to create and protect America's many wildlife refuges. It's about more than the duck."
The award winner was granted $3,500 in legal services from Pierce Law Group.

Jury Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature:
ART OF THE PRANK, dir. by Andrea Marini
"Shining a spotlight on an interesting person whose mission isn’t likely to get exposure from the media, since the media is his deserving victim. Told with a mischievous glee, the artfulness of this film mirrors its content."

Jury Award for Documentary Short:
IF MAMA AIN'T HAPPY, NOBODY'S HAPPY, dir. by Mea de Jong
"Multi-generational traditions examined from two very different perspectives within a family. Charming sweetness and comedic sadness, all rolled into one thought-provoking short film. A film that makes clear the power of women who go it alone and take charge of their lives when men disappoint."
The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

Jury Honorable Mention for Cinematography- Documentary Short:
THE BULLET, dir. by Jordan Bahat, cinematography by Mike Gioulakis
"Beautiful cinematography offering a peek into a profession most of us would never consider. And who doesn’t love the circus?"

JURY AWARDS - SHORT FILMS

The below Short Film Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Steve Montal, Ina Pira, and Mark Shapiro.

Jury Award for Narrative Short:
WINTER HYMNS, dir. by Dusty Mancinelli
“A story where innocence, mischief and brazen confidence abruptly meet at a tragic crossroads. There is beauty and sadness here, and the director handles both with natural, unpretentious skill.”
The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

Jury Honorable Mention for Narrative Short:
THE BEAST, dir. by Daina Oniunas Pusic
"The Beast, produced in Croatia, portrays the strained and codependent relationship of two aging women. It is a sophisticated and elegant portrayal of anger and despair."

Jury Award for Animation Short:
MY DAD, dir. by Marcus Armitage
"My Dad expresses compelling universal themes -- the director's powerful, heartbreaking message and the film's bold, colorful palette are perfectly suited to his experimental animation format.”
The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

Jury Honorable Mention for Animation Short:
FLAWS, dir. by Josh Shaffner
"Flaws brilliantly portrays the trajectory of life and death within a world of helplessness. It beautifully interlaces images, icons, words and music to deliver a powerful piece of thought-provoking cinema in under three minutes."

The below Short Film Jury Prizes were selected by esteemed industry members Wally Chung, Dekker Dreyer, & Jack Sargeant.

Jury Award for Experimental Short:
INFRASTRUCTURES, dir. by Aurèle Ferrier
“A pensive and serene vision that challenges the audience to consider and reevaluate not just the structure of film, but also the world in which we live.”

Jury Honorable Mention for Experimental Short:
CUP OF STARS, dir. by Ryan Betschart, Tyler Betschart
"The beauty of the mutable universe and the individual; finding the transcendent in the everyday."

Jury Award for Anarchy Short:
DISCO INFERNO, dir. by Alice Waddington
“An emerging voice with a powerful aesthetic that pays homage to classic cinema while simultaneously affirming a future for visionary film.”

Jury Honorable Mention for Anarchy Short:
GWILLIAM, dir. by Brian Lonano
“Fucking visceral. A fresh take on goblin fun.”

Jury Honorable Mention for Anarchy Short:
HI HOW ARE YOU DANIEL JOHNSTON? dir. by Gabriel Sunday
“A dream meditation on music creativity, mental health, and lost love. A poignant journey into the psyche of the creative mind.”

SPECIAL AWARDS

Spirit of Slamdance Award:
Cast and crew of FURSONAS, dir. by Dominic Rodriguez
The Spirit of Slamdance is awarded by the filmmakers of Slamdance 2016. It goes to the filmmaker who best embodies the spirit of the festival, creatively promoting their film, joyfully participating in screenings and events, and generally putting good energy into the festival.

The Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking awards were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Jeremy Osbern, Misti Boland, Lindsey Haun, Michael Dunaway, Ben Kasulke, Leah Shore & Tina Mabry.

Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Grand Prize:
SMALL TALK dir. by Hilary Campbell

Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Honorable Mention:
YOU WILL FIND A WAY dir. by A.J. Molle

Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Honorable Mention:
EYES OF THE CITY, dir. by Luke Randall

To continue following the Festival, join us for the ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club screening of DIRECTOR’S CUT at the ArcLight Hollywood February 2nd at 8pm followed by a filmmaker Q&A with director Adam Rifkin and Penn & Teller, and Slamdance Studios on Hulu will premiere CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY on February 3rd. This year’s films that sold out of Festival that audiences will be seeing globally include: FURSONAS (Gravitas Ventures), THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK (Animal Planet/Discovery and Lionsgate).

About Slamdance
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers who were tired of relying on a large, oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than any other’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $11.5 billion at the Box Office to date.

In addition to the festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, the traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club – a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based at the ArcLight Hollywood, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

In January 2015, Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company. The documentary is now number one on iTunes.

In November, 2015, Slamdance announced DIG, a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works were featured in the inaugural DIG show that opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 4th, running through December 13th, 2015. Admission is free and open to the public. The show was also featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, G-Technology, Media Storage Group, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine, Beehive Distilling, and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers.

Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Connect with Slamdance:
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram
 
PRESS CONTACT:
Annie Jeeves/Cinematic Red
Phone: 323.834.9733
Annie@CinematicRed.com

Partnership expands to ArcLight Chicago with new series

LOS ANGELES (March 1, 2016) — ArcLight Cinemas and Slamdance are building on the success of the first year of the Slamdance Cinema Club at ArcLight Hollywood by expanding into ArcLight Chicago. Films featured in the upcoming series include award winning and audience favorites from the Slamdance Film Festival: “Fursonas,” “Honey Buddies,” “Art of the Prank,” “Los Punks; We Are All We Have,” “Chemical Cut,” “Hunky Dory,” “Dead Hands Dig Deep,” and “How To Plan An Orgy In A Small Town.”

ArcLight Chicago is a perfect fit for the national expansion of this film series. Not only is ArcLight Chicago at the heart of where many Slamdance filmmakers come from and create their work, its audience embraces the unique cinematic voices and theatrical sea change that Slamdance and ArcLight Cinemas offer. Both ArcLight locations will screen two films each month from the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival, followed by a filmmaker Q&A, with high-profile surprise guests and moderators.

“We are proud to bring these fascinating films to our ArcLight guests, knowing that these exclusive global cinema selections direct from this year’s Slamdance Film Festival will find an equally excited audience among the culturally rich moviegoers in Chicago,” said Gretchen McCourt, Executive Vice President, Cinema Programming, ArcLight Cinemas.

The first dual national screenings kicking-off in March will be “Fursonas” from filmmaker Dominic Rodriguez, the 2016 Spirit of Slamdance winner, and the following night, ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club will screen “Honey Buddies” by Alex Simmons starring Flula Borg (“Pitch Perfect Two”) and David Giuntoli (“Grimm”), the 2016 Audience Award winner for narrative feature.

“Slamdance's partnership with ArcLight Cinemas is proving to be a great way to increase audiences for independent film and serve our filmmaking community across the country,” states Slamdance President & Co-Founder, Peter Baxter.

ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club upcoming dates for both locations:

March 20th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollwood)
March 30th at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Fursonas”
*2016 Spirit of Slamdance winner*
Synopsis: Like any community, the Furry world is one with gossipers, dreamers, followers, whistleblowers, and the one guy who wants to rule them all. The furry fandom is a closely-knit network of people interested in anthropomorphic animals. Many of these people purchase or create fursuits—life-size animal costumes of their “fursonas.” The film presents four years of research into their society from the inside out. What begins as a series of humanistic portraits evolves into an exploration of the complicated question concerning community representation in the fandom.

March 21st at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
March 31st at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Honey Buddies”
*2016 Audience Award winner for narrative feature*
Synopsis: When David is dumped just days before his wedding, Flula, his upbeat and very German best man, convinces him to go on David’s honeymoon together: a 7-day backpacking trip through the Oregon wilderness. On the trail, the two friends meet a conspiracy theorist, a friendly backpacker, and a bloodthirsty predator, on an unrelenting trek that tests their friendship and their lives.

April 10th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
April 20th at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Art of the Prank”
*2016 Jury Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature*
Synopsis: Art of the Prank is an emotional and humorous journey following the evolution of Joey Skaggs, Godfather of the media hoax, as he tries to pull off the most challenging prank of his career. This is interwoven with amazing archive footage of his earlier escapades—all reported as fact by prestigious journalists. The resulting twists and turns provide unprecedented insight into Joey’s work as an artist, activist and social satirist.

April 11th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
April 21st at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Los Punks; We Are All We Have”
Synopsis: Punk rock is thriving in the backyards of South Central and East Los Angeles. A cobbled-together family of predominently Hispanic teens and young adults comprise the scene: bands, fans, production, marketing, and security interwoven into a sub-culture of thrash and noise and pits. The sense of belonging is palpable, emotional bonds fostered among good families and those broken, poverty and wealth, adolescence and maturity, with the music emanating a magnetic chorus for all to sing together. 'Los Punks: We Are All We Have” is a documentary feature film honestly and sincerely portraying this vibrant, 'DIY' community.

May 10th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
May 18th at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Chemical Cut”
Synopsis: Irene, a twenty-three-year-old artistic misfit, pursues a modeling career to escape her dead-end retail job but is quickly disillusioned by the cutthroat nature of the Los Angeles fashion world. Searching for identity and a kindred spirit while surrounded by competition, absurdity, and so many nude bras, Irene flounders until a mysterious woman's performance ignites her imagination.

May 9th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
May 19th at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Hunky Dory”
*2016 Jury Honorable Mention for Acting – Narrative Feature*
Synopsis: A grifting glam rock dilettante is forced to look after his 11-year-old son full-time after his ex vanishes. His "cool dad" facade crumbles as he struggles to let go of his rock-and-roll lifestyle.

June 12th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
June 22nd at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “Dead Hands Dig Deep”
Synopsis: Edwin Borsheim of the band Kettle Cadaver was once known for his brutal on-stage self-mutilation. Years after the bands demise, Borsheim has fallen in to complete seclusion on his acre of land in which he is surrounded by the horrible things he has created. As Edwin spirals further in to a hole of self-destruction, those closest to Borsheim dissect his mental complexes as he himself reflects on his dark past.

June 13th at 8pm (ArcLight Hollywood)
June 23rd at 8pm (ArcLight Chicago) – “How To Plan An Orgy In A Small Town”
Synopsis: In highschool Cassie Cranston was slut-shamed out of the wholesome and repressed town of Beaver’s Ridge following a humiliating attempt at losing her virginity. Now, years later, a big city sex columnist, Cassie returns home to bury her mother and finds a chance for revenge when her prudish childhood nemesis insists she helps her old fiends plan an orgy.

To reserve seats and learn more about upcoming titles visit ArcLight Cinemas at: www.arclightcinemas.com/news/ArcLight-Presents-Slamdance-Cinema-Club

ABOUT ArcLight Cinemas
ArcLight Cinemas, created by Pacific Theatres, a privately owned, Los Angeles based company with 60 years of theatrical exhibition history throughout California, Hawaii and Washington is a premiere moviegoing experience with an unparalleled commitment to bringing a variety of rich cinematic content to moviegoers in all markets. ArcLight Cinemas operates eight theaters in California including Hollywood, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks, El Segundo, Santa Monica, Culver City and La Jolla, as well as one theater in Bethesda, Md, Chicago and Glenview, Ill. ArcLight also owns and operates the historic Cinerama Dome and programs the TCL Chinese Theatre and IMAX in Hollywood. Pacific Theatres currently operates theaters in Los Angeles that include The Grove and The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif. Additional information about ArcLight Cinemas is available at www.arclightcinemas.com

Follow ArcLight Cinemas:
www.facebook.com/arclightcinemas
www.twitter.com/arclightcinemas
www.youtube.com/arclightcinema
www.instagram.com/arclightcinemas

ABOUT Slamdance
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers who were tired of relying on a large, oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than any others, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (“Interstellar”), Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity”), Marc Forster (“World War Z”), Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”), Lena Dunham (“Girls”), Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), Anthony & Joe Russo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), Jeremy Saulnier (“Blue Ruin”), Seth Gordon (“Horrible Bosses”), Lynn Shelton (“Humpday”) and Matt Johnson (“Operation Avalanche”). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $11.5 billion at the Box Office to date.

Slamdance serves emerging artists and audiences alike with several year-round ventures. In addition to the ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club, they include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition that has just opened its submissions for 2016 http://showcase.slamdance.com/Screenplay-Competition, and the Anarchy Workshop, an education program that travels around North America for student filmmakers.

In January 2015, Hulu entered a commerical partnership with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from festival alumni. Viewers access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance. Slamdance Studios latest release is Crimes Against Humanity by Chicago filmmaker Jerzy Rose which premiered on February 3rd.

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm providing a broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers commercially by incorporating a theatrical release. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake was the first film to be released Slamdance Presents. In January 2016 The Resurrection of Jake The Snake reached number one on iTunes.

The inaugural DIG show opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles in December 2015, and select works from DIG were also featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, G-Technology, Media Storage Group, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City'sSlug Magazine, Beehive Distilling, and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers.

Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Connect with Slamdance:
Facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram
 
PRESS CONTACT:
Annie Jeeves/Cinematic Red
Phone: 323.834.9733
Annie@CinematicRed.com

Partnership extends lineup to the end of 2016

LOS ANGELES (June 8, 2016) — ArcLight Cinemas and Slamdance continue to bring audiences independent films direct from the Festival circuit in the ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club through the end of 2016. Now in its second year, the monthly series screens films across the country at both the ArcLight Hollywood and ArcLight Chicago locations. Films featured in the upcoming series include award-winning and audience favorites from the Slamdance Film Festival and beyond, including: Excursions, If There's A Hell Below, MAD, Embers, Driftwood, Before The Sun Explodes, Alvin's Harmonious World Of Opposites, Myrtle Beach, Neptune, Slamdance Anarchy Shorts, and SMASH. Both ArcLight locations will screen two films each month followed by a filmmaker Q&A, with surprise guests and moderators.

“We are excited for audiences to embrace these incredibly diverse independent films, as well as showcasing Slamdance Anarchy Shorts program. It’s partnerships like this that continue to make ArcLight’s programming unique,” said Gretchen McCourt, Executive Vice President, Cinema Programming, ArcLight Cinemas.

Upcoming dates for ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club in Hollywood and Chicago:

Excursions
by Daniel Martinico
Hollywood – July 10th
Chicago - July 20th

In the hopes of revitalizing their marriage, a husband and wife retreat to a remote cabin getaway with some longtime friends. Their pleasant interaction quickly assumes a relentless intensity as they push one another, mentally and physically, towards transcendence. The shortcut to enlightenment, however, has unexpected consequences.
 
If There’s A Hell Below
by Nathan Williams
Hollywood - July 11th
Chicago - July 21st

Abe is an ambitious young journalist. Debra claims to work in national security with a serious revelation to leak. She insists on meeting Abe in a desolate place in the American West—perhaps because it is near her undisclosed work site, or perhaps because she will only reveal her information in absolute isolation. In minutes they will meet. An hour later, one of them will be dead.

MAD
by Robert Putka
Hollywood - August 14th
Chicago - August 24th

After a late-in-life divorce, and compounded by bi-polar disorder, Mel finds herself in a psych ward. Her two daughters, Connie and Casey, facing varying problems of their own, would rather dodge the responsibility than care for her. Personal grievances, both petty and pointed, bubble to the surface.
 
Embers
by Claire Carré
Hollywood - August 7th
Chicago - August 25th

After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. Five interwoven stories each explore a different facet of life without memory in a future that has no past.
 
Driftwood
by Paul Taylor
Hollywood - September 18th
Chicago - September 28th

A young woman washes ashore and is claimed by an older man in this intricately layered, dialogue-free exploration of familial roles, isolation and captivity.

Before The Sun Explodes
by Debra Eisenstadt
Hollywood - September 19th
Chicago - September 29th

Ken Cooper was a successful comedian in the 1990's, but his single-guy jokes are irrelevant twenty years later. Now he's an anxiety ridden, stay-at-home dad, clinging to a TV show dream that his breadwinner wife doesn't believe in. Tonight could be a big break for Ken- a final shot at selling his pitch. But after an epic fight with his wife, Ken's no longer welcome home. Their clash alters everything- on stage and off. Ken’s crushed, with nowhere to turn, until he meets Holly; a bright, charismatic comedienne, who lures him out of his shell and into her bizarre world. Their very real connection leads to a somewhat surreal, unforgettable and possibly unforgivable night.

Alvin’s Harmonious World Of Opposites
by Platon Theodoris
Hollywood - October 9th
Chicago - October 19th

Alvin spends his days working as a Japanese translator, carefully creating the illusion of everyday normality. But then there is all that panda stuff, the good- looking girl downstairs that Alvin spies on but can't summon the courage to approach and the mysterious substance that just keeps dripping from the ceiling. When his crazed and angry neighbor goes on a crusade to rid the block of units of a suspected flea infestation and with tensions in his life and home increasing - Alvin is forced into the ceiling to investigate. In order to bring back peace and harmony Alvin must face his captive emotions and accept the stains that permeate his sheltered existence.

The Million Dollar Duck
by Brian Golden Davis
Hollywood - October 10th
Chicago - October 20th

MILLION DOLLAR DUCK dives into the wonderfully eccentric world of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest—the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government. The Duck Stamp is among the most successful conservation tools ever created, simultaneously spawning a uniquely American subculture brimming with talent, ego, art, controversy, big money, and migratory waterfowl.  Following six wildlife artists striving to win “the Olympics of wildlife art,” THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK brings to life the high tension competition as one by one each is eliminated, leaving a winner whose life will be changed forever.

Myrtle Beach
by Neil Rough & Michael Fuller
Hollywood - November 13th
Chicago - November 23rd

Like a darker, less whimsical version of Vernon Florida, Myrtle Beach profiles a charismatic cast of local eccentrics, survivors, and lone wolves. Disarmingly quiet and visually arresting, these candid monologues and conversations gently coax disparate world views to the fore a fix a circumspect gaze on the uncharted flip side of life in resort towns.

Neptune
by Derek Kimball
Hollywood - November 14th
Chicago - November 24th

Raised in a church by the island’s insular priest, Hannah Newcombe has led a sheltered life. She plans on attending a prestigious boarding school on the mainland at the summer’s end, but the sudden disappearance of a classmate, swallowed by the sea, leads her to reexamine her ambitions. Hannah’s quiet obsession with the missing boy grows, leading to haunting dreams and visions. To pacify them, she vies to fill the missing boy’s role as a stern-man on his father’s lobster boat.  Now, torn between her commitment to the man who raised her and the man she hopes to save, Hannah is confronted with questions of her own identity for the first time.
 
Slamdance Anarchy Shorts
Hollywood - December 11th
Chicago - December 21st

Slamdance was born out of an oppositional, D.I.Y. gesture, and Anarchy is our attempt to recapture the early spirit of the festival. The casual cinephile might associate the Anarchy program with avant-garde, transgressive, or underground cinema. It is all of these things and none of them. We like to think of Anarchy as an anti-genre. It is a form of resistance to dominant cultural paradigms. The films value innovation of form, violation of taboo, and disdain for institutional modes of representation.

SMASH
by Kevin J Burroughs
Hollywood - December 12th
Chicago - December 22nd

In a small town, tucked deep in rural Florida, a group of blue-collar folks gather to participate in a bi-annual wild event, Figure-8 School Bus Racing! Nineteen full size busses pack a 3/8 mile figure-8 track and race twenty harrowing laps to crown a victor. Smash follows three drivers and the track promoter during a three-week push to prepare for race night.

To reserve seats and learn more about upcoming titles visit ArcLight Cinemas at: www.arclightcinemas.com/news/ArcLight-Presents-Slamdance-Cinema-Club
 

About ArcLight Cinemas
ArcLight Cinemas, created by Pacific Theatres, a privately owned, Los Angeles based company with 60 years of theatrical exhibition history throughout California, Hawaii and Washington is a premiere moviegoing experience with an unparalleled commitment to bringing a variety of rich cinematic content to moviegoers in all markets. ArcLight Cinemas operates eight theaters in California including Hollywood, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks, El Segundo, Santa Monica, Culver City and La Jolla, as well as one theater in Bethesda, Md, Chicago and Glenview, Ill, with a new location in Boston for early 2018. ArcLight also owns and operates the historic Cinerama Dome and programs the TCL Chinese Theatre and IMAX in Hollywood. Pacific Theatres currently operates theaters in Los Angeles that include The Grove and The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif. Additional information about ArcLight Cinemas is available at
ArcLight Cinemas

Follow ArcLight Cinemas:
www.facebook.com/arclightcinemas
www.twitter.com/arclightcinemas
www.youtube.com/arclightcinema
www.instagram.com/arclightcinemas


About Slamdance
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers who were tired of relying on a large, oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than any other’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.
 
Submissions are currently open for the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival that will run 20-26 January in Park City, Utah.  

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $11.5 billion at the Box Office to date.

In addition to the Festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, the traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club – a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based at the ArcLight Hollywood and ArcLight Chicago, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

In January 2015, Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from Festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company. The documentary reached number one on iTunes in December, 2015.

In November, 2015, Slamdance announced DIG, a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works were featured in the inaugural DIG show that opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 4, running through December 13, 2015. The show was also featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival. Slamdance is currently accepting DIG submissions for its next showcase that will open November 26 - December 3, 2016 and form part of the 2017 Film Festival.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, G-Technology, Media Storage Group, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine, Beehive Distilling, and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers.

Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Connect with Slamdance: 
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram
 
Additional References:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slamdance_Film_Festival
 
Press Contact:
Annie Jeeves / Cinematic Red
annie@cinematicred.com

Festival Showcase Transitions to ArcLight Cinemas and The Orchard

(Los Angeles, CA – June 9, 2016) Claire Carré's directorial debut, Embers, which closed the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival, is to be released by Slamdance's theatrical distribution enterprise Slamdance Presents.

Written by Claire Carré & Charles Spano, and starring Jason Ritter and Iva Gocheva, the acclaimed sci-fi feature will begin its theatrical release at ArcLight Hollywood on August 5, 2016. Embers is the first narrative feature to be released by Slamdance Presents, which is dedicated to creating innovative theatrical and commercial opportunities for independent filmmakers.

Embers reflects on the collective loss of memory after a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. An award-winning favorite at many festivals, and named one of the best undistributed films of 2015, Embers will now introduce ArcLight's theatrical audiences to its innovative and personal twist on science fiction and genre conventions. Embers has won awards from New Orleans Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival, and Sarasota Film Festival.

"Slamdance is known for supporting and launching new filmmakers, and they live up to their reputation, " said Claire Carré. "I'm thrilled for my first feature to be chosen as the first narrative released theatrically by Slamdance Presents. From screening my film at the festival even though it wasn't a premiere, to breaking new ground to bring it to the ArcLight for a week, I feel so fortunate to have Slamdance in my corner, pushing to make it possible for my film to be seen on the big screen."

"Claire's brilliant vision and production nous combine with a great team of filmmakers to make Embers an unforgettable cinematic experience. Yet, it appeared exactly the opposite was going to happen in the world of distribution for this sci-fi gem. Slamdance wanted to stand up and get behind this amazing directorial debut both commercially and for new passionate supporters", said Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter.

Embers will be released online by The Orchard on VOD during the same week as its theatrical play.

The theatrical release of Embers at ArcLight will involve a week-long program of Q & A's following each evening screening with the filmmakers and special guests focusing on themes from the film. Program subjects include Indie Science Fiction: Big Ideas, Small Budget, The Act of Forgetting by the cast of Embers, Women in Genre and Science Meets Fiction.

Slamdance's announcement of Embers' release coincides with the organization's opening of submissions for the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival that will run January 20-26 in Park City, Utah. Entries are also open for the 2016 Slamdance Screenplay Competition and the Digital, Interactive and Gaming (DIG) program.

Slamdance's film submission opening coincides with the announcement that Withoutabox will be the exclusive third party online system provider. In addition to Withoutabox's submission service, entrants can also submit their work via slamdance.com.

About Slamdance
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers who were tired of relying on a large, oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than any other’s, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

Submissions are currently open for the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival that will run 20-26 January in Park City, Utah.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $11.5 billion at the Box Office to date.

In addition to the Festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, the traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club – a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based at the ArcLight Hollywood and ArcLight Chicago, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

In January 2015, Hulu partnered with Slamdance Studios to offer a new film collection from Festival alumni. The nascent but already profitable venture allows viewers to access Slamdance Studios on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/companies/slamdance

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films made or acquired by Slamdance Studios. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake is the first film to be released by the company. The documentary reached number one on iTunes in December, 2015.

In November, 2015, Slamdance announced DIG, a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works were featured in the inaugural DIG show that opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 4, running through December 13, 2015. The show was also featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival. Slamdance is currently accepting DIG submissions for its next showcase that will open November 26 - December 3, 2016 and form part of the 2017 Film Festival.

2016 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Kodak, Digital Bolex, The International Fusion Doc Challenge, Carhartt, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, G-Technology, Media Storage Group, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine, Beehive Distilling, and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers.

Additional information about the Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Connect with Slamdance:
Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

Additional References:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slamdance_Film_Festival

About ArcLight Cinemas
ArcLight Cinemas, created by Pacific Theatres, a privately owned, Los Angeles based company with 60 years of theatrical exhibition history throughout California, Hawaii and Washington is a premiere moviegoing experience with an unparalleled commitment to bringing a variety of rich cinematic content to moviegoers in all markets. ArcLight Cinemas operates eight theaters in California including Hollywood, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks, El Segundo, Santa Monica, Culver City and La Jolla, as well as one theater in Bethesda, Md, Chicago and Glenview, Ill, with a new location in Boston for early 2018. ArcLight also owns and operates the historic Cinerama Dome and programs the TCL Chinese Theatre and IMAX in Hollywood. Pacific Theatres currently operates theaters in Los Angeles that include The Grove and The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif. Additional information about ArcLight Cinemas is available at
ArcLight Cinemas

Follow ArcLight Cinemas:
www.facebook.com/arclightcinemas
www.twitter.com/arclightcinemas
www.youtube.com/arclightcinema
www.instagram.com/arclightcinemas

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for our Slamdance class of 2016!

Just seven months ago, a group of first-time filmmakers trekked to Park City, Utah to premiere their very first feature films at Slamdance Film Festival. In subsequent months, these films screened to sold out audiences at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood and ArcLight Cinemas Chicago, as part of our Slamdance Cinema Club series.

Now, we're proud to report the stellar online distribution and VOD success of these films. Their success is the fuel to our fire and serves to validate the power and possibility of indie filmmaking and doing it yourself.

BUDDYMOON
dir. by Alex Simmons

Synopsis: Jilted groom David is convinced by his excitable best man Flula to continue with his planned honeymoon, a backcountry trek in the mountains of Oregon, in a highly comedic ode to friendship and the great outdoors.

After this bromantic comedy took home the Slamdance Audience Award for Narrative Feature, it went on to sweep the festival circuit, winning the Audience Award at the Florida Film Festival, Las Vegas Film Festival, and Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. Buddymoon was released on iTunes on July 1st, 2016 with MGM (Orion Pictures) and Gravitas Ventures and managed to sweep the charts on that one, too!


6/24/2016
#4 on iTunes Pre-Order List (all genres)

6/30/2016
#1 on iTunes Pre-Orders (all genres)

7/3/2016
#1 on iTunes best seller list (independent)

7/5/2016
#7 on iTunes best sellers (comedy)

7/5/2016
#18 on iTunes best seller list (all genres)

www.buddymoonthemovie.com


LOS PUNKS; WE ARE ALL WE HAVE
dir. Angela Boatwright

Synopsis: A cobbled-together family of Hispanic youth comprise the thriving backyard punk scene of South Central and East L.A.: bands, fans, and production are interwoven into a sub-culture of thrash, noise and pits.

Angela's feature documentary was an instant hit at the Slamdance Film Festival, being among 1st films at the festival to sell out their premiere screening. Their VOD release was no different, being a strong contender amongst this year’s most successful independent films and music documentaries.

6/16/2016
#32 on iTunes best sellers (independent)

#4 on iTunes best sellers (music documentaries)

www.lospunksfilm.com


FURSONAS
dir. Dominic Rodriguez

Synopsis: Like any community, the Furry world is one with gossipers, dreamers, followers, whistleblowers and the one guy who wants to rule them all.

In Park City, the Fursonas crew took home the Spirit of Slamdance Award for their college thesis film, and a distribution deal with Gravitas Ventures. The film has been buzzing ever since, being featured in Esquire, The Examiner, and on NPR’s Press Play with Madeline Brand. On their VOD release date, Fursonas landed on the iTunes best seller lists.


5/10/2016
#4 on iTunes best sellers (all genres)

6/16/2016
#31 on iTunes best sellers (independent)

6/16/2016
#31 on iTunes best sellers (documentary)

www.fursonasdoc.com

HOW TO PLAN AN ORGY IN A SMALL TOWN
dir. Jeremy LaLonde

Synopsis: When a famous sex columnist attempts to host an orgy with old high school acquaintances in her conservative hometown, keeping secrets becomes the least of her problems.

This comedy featured in our Beyond Program has hit the top of the iTunes charts in their home country of Canada!

6/28/2016
#3 on iTunes Canada's best sellers (all genres)

www.facebook.com/SmallTownO


EMBERS
dir. Claire Carre

Synopsis: After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory.

Slamdance Presents released Claire's indie sci-fi at the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood for a week long screening with nightly panel discussions on various topics related to the film. Coinciding with our theatrical release was Embers’ VOD release with The Orchard. On their release day, they hit #3 on iTunes New and Noteworthy list for Sci-Fi! Two weeks later, Embers still stands strong on the independent and sci-fi best seller lists!

8/2/2016
#3 on iTunes New and Noteworthy (sci-fi and fantasy)

8/3/2016
Featured film on Hulu

8/16/2016
#25 on iTunes best sellers (sci-fi and fantasy)

#25 on iTunes best sellers (independent)

www.embersmovie.com

THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK
dir. Brian Golden Davis

Synopsis: Artists from different walks of life vie to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only art competition of its kind sponsored by the U.S. government.

Brian sold his car to complete this documentary feature. By the end of his week in Park City, Davis took home the Slamdance Audience Award for Doc Feature, Grand Jury Prize for Doc Feature, and a distribution deal with Lionsgate and Animal Planet. The film went live on iTunes and VOD this month and has unsurprisingly thrived!

8/16/2016
#28 on iTunes best sellers (independent)

8/16/2016
#14 on iTunes best sellers (documentary)

www.themilliondollarduckfilm.com

See THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK in theaters with Slamdance Cinema Club!
Monday, October 10th. 8PM at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood
Thursday, October 20th. 8PM at ArcLight Cinemas Chicago
Purchase tickets here

Slamdance is very excited to announce the 100 quarter-finalists for the 2016 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Congratulations to those who made it to the Quarter Finals! The semi-finalists will be announced on September 23rd.


Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our website!




2016 QUARTER-FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order)Feature: 24 Hour by Steven Wolf
Across the Blue by Peter Ferris Rosati
All For a Girl by Paul Barnaby
An Accident by Dennis Bush and Matt MacDonald
An American Son by Erik V. Wolter
At Last by A.W. Scott
China Girl by Gabriel Grossman
Claire by John Carlos Higgins
Diorama by Patrick O. McKenna
Disenchanted by Nathan Allen
Free As the Wind by Susan Zimmerman
Great White Shark by Andrew Kightlinger
Hellig House by Raolat Abiola
I'm a Hero by Mikhael Bassilli
Mercy After Midnight by Eamon Kilbane
Montana Quagmire by David Biscevic
Mr. Butterfly by J.R. Wicker
Oil and Water by Alfred Thomas Catalfo
Product Placement by Tatia Rosenthal
Rafa and the Bug Revolution by Paula Rosa
Really Weeley by Toby Roberts
The Essential Rhett & Luther by Desiree Proctor and Erica Harrell
We Came From the Sea by Ryan Bright
You Got Me On My Knees by Alexander Vargas
You Too by Ellie Ann Fenton
Horror: Coffenbury Lake by Christopher James Lang
Darken Ship by Dee Chilton
Darling Foods by Sarah Jenkins
Dead Pilgrims by Colin Campbell
Ear Worm by Robert Hamilton
Eight Rounds by Mike Breiburg
In Justice by Randy Zamcheck
Into the Beehive by Walter B. Campbell
Killer App by Joseph Ferrante
Last Thanksgiving a.k.a Kuebiko by Nick Scown
Late Shift by Taylor Sardoni
Locksmiths by James Kwon Lee
Prey by Jason Fong
Red Velvet by Tom Radovich
Sanctuary by Scott Pittock
Scout by Phil Smith
Silent Night by Christina Raia
The Goblin Child by Shoshana Rosenbaum
The Housesitter by Suju Vijayan
The Hum by Kyle Fleishman
The Road to Hell by Regis Duffy
The Secret of Harrington House by Mark V. Bedard
The Touch by Harry Greenberger
Welcome to the Hotel Chateau Cheveux by Michael B. Snow
Zombie Zoo by John Stancari
Short: 100 Seconds by Davide Pompeo
Alice’s Misfortunes in Underland by Nikki S. Colt
All Things Greater Than Fear by Matt Green
Andrew by Charles W. Miller
Armstrong’s Last Bell by CC Chainey
Brighter Later by Paul Sandell
Clicks by Nicholas Rizzuto
Cognita by Samuel Laskey
Conviction by Anju Andre-Bergmann
Entrenched by Joseph Chebatte
Family Portrait by Heidi Hathaway
Fetch by Sam Gill
Free Invisible Dinosaurs! by Mara Blazic
Love by Kendall Beaver
Masks On by Keren Hantman
Poacher’s Song by Nadeem Rajwani
Red Gulch by Peter Edward Forbes
Static Love by Joshua Taylor
The Bride by Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa
The Going Away by Joseph Clay
The Lighthouse by Jonathan Klemke
The Lightkeeper by Zach Bandler
The Lioness by Andrew Chrest
The Screenplay by Patrick Assouad
The Witching Hour by Gregory Veeser
Original Teleplay: Beneath by Karyn Langhorne Folan
Big Time Ad Boys, 100% by Nick Cron-DeVico
Brothers and Best Intentions by Dan Ritter
Death in Paradise by Kevin Karch
Dispensed by Kevin Karch
Drive-Thru by Dave Urlakis
Evolved by Danielle DiPaolo
Feral: Lone Wolf by Bryan Kett
From On High by Scott Boxenbaum
Hey Girl by Matt McConkey
Kung Fu: The Great Beginning: The Barbarian by Atul Rao
Lift by Quinn Spicker
Lovecraft by Doug Wolfe
Phase Me Up by Adrian Bishop and Charles Wefso
Rachel the Third by Danielle Evenson and Heather Huntington
Radicalized by Bandar Albuliwi
Rogues Gallery by Matthew Michaud and Rory Kulz
Starfall by Matthew Barnette
Sugartown by Amanda Toye
The Boy Next Door by Joe McClean
The Mother Ducks by Mike Carrier
The Reclamation by Rod McLachlan
The World Below by Robbie Bourland
Tongs of Chinatown by Nadia Madden
Wayward Son by Bill Balas

Slamdance is delighted to announce the 32 semi-finalists for the 2016 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Congratulations to those who made it to the Semi Finals! The Finalists will be announced on September 30th and the competition winners will be announced on October 6th at the WGA West.

Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our website!




2016 SEMI-FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order)Feature: Across the Blue by Peter Ferris Rosati
At Last by A.W. Scott
Disenchanted by Nathan Allen
Free As the Wind by Susan Zimmerman
Great White Shark by Andrew Kightlinger
Montana Quagmire by David Biscevic
Oil and Water by Alfred Thomas Catalfo and Morgan Webster Dudley
Rafa and the Bug Revolution by Paula Rosa
Horror: Coffenbury Lake by Christopher James Lang
Dead Pilgrims by Colin Campbell
The Late Shift by Taylor Sardoni
Sanctuary by Scott Pittock
Scout by Phil Smith
The Housesitter by Suju Vijayan
The Touch by Harry Greenberger
Welcome to the Hotel Chateau Cheveux by Michael Snow
Short: All Things Greater Than Fear by Matt Green
Clicks by Nicholas Rizzuto
Conviction by Anju Andre-Bergmann
Entrenched by Joseph Chebatte
Fetch by Sam Gill
Love by Kendall Beaver
Masks On by Keren Hantman
The Lightkeeper by Zach Bandler
Original Teleplay: Feral: Lone Wolf by Bryan Kett
From On High by Scott Boxenbaum
Hey Girl by Matt McConkey
Lovecraft by Doug Wolfe
Rachel the Third by Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington
Sugartown by Amanda Toye
The World Below by Robbie Bourland
Wayward Son by Bill Balas