by Cullen Gallagher
Originally published in Hammer To Nail

Writer/director Mark Jackson’s Without is a film of rare, strange, and unsettling beauty. From its opening shot of a ferry churning deeper into the margins of the Pacific Northwest—taking the film’s 19-year-old protagonist, Joslyn (Joslyn Jensen), further away from civilization, her troubles, and her past—there’s a disquieting stillness in the air.

At first, all we know is that Joslyn is taking a job as a caretaker for a semi-vegetative elderly man, Frank (Ron Carrier), in a secluded, rural town. Her iPhone gets no reception, and the house has no Internet service—not even dial-up works. Days are non-descript and mundane: detachedly spoon feeding the elderly man, doing yoga and exercising, driving into town for a chai with skim milk, and avoiding come-ons from a local guy. Nights, however, are more intimate and revealing, offering a rich but reticent counterpoint to her monotonous days, and a fleeting glimpse into her past. As she stares longingly into saved videos and pictures on her phone, we come to realize the true depth of Joslyn’s pain. However, like Henry Thoreau by way of Roman Polanski, this retreat into the wilderness is anything but restorative for Joslyn. Isolation can’t protect her from her feelings or from the world, and instead of assuaging her worries, it only intensifies her anxiety, paranoia, and emotional instability.

As the title suggests, Without is a film about loss—but Jackson doesn’t choose to express this in any obvious fashion. One of the most remarkable things about Without is its script, which manages to walk a difficult, and dangerous, line between being ambiguous enough to be open-ended, and yet precise enough to avoid being vague. The film is as nebulous as Joslyn’s own feelings: tangible, but always out of reach. It makes synopsizing the story seem like a futile and reductive task, because so much of the film’s power comes from what isn’t said, and instead from what the viewer infers. In fact, the inciting incident for Joslyn’s trip, and the full details of her mourning, are never made fully explicit. That Without can manage to be so loosely constructed, but at the same time so precise with its details, while still connecting on such a direct emotional level with its audience, is a stunning accomplishment.

It’s hard to believe that this is the first feature film performance by Joslyn Jensen, who won a Special Jury Award at Slamdance, the Debut Performance Award at the Florida Film Festival, and most recently the Silver Astor for Best Actress at the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival. For much of the movie, she is either alone on-screen or acting alongside Ron Carrier who, save for the occasional drool or boner, is mute, unmoving, and barely conscious. It’s an incredible challenge for an actor to not only perform under those circumstances, but also to communicate without the aide of dialog, voice-over, or other more obvious means of exposition. Jensen is left to convey so many of Without’s tonal shifts through gesture, facial expressions, and other subtle means, and she is emotionally spot-on every step of the way. The rest of the cast excels as well, with Carrier deserving a special commendation. He manages to add a hint of mystery to his mask—after a while, even Joslyn starts to wonder if he is more aware than he is letting on, which adds an increasingly important element of intrigue and paranoia as the narrative progresses.

One of the high points of Jensen’s performance is a popular hip-hop medley performed on a ukulele—surely one of cinema’s best, and most unique, musical performances in 2011. It is a scene that seemingly exists outside of the narrative, not furthering the plot in any obvious way, yet it provides piercing insight into who this person really is. As Joslyn sets up the iPhone to record the song, we wonder how many times she did this in the past as a way to communicate with another? A spontaneous late-night gift, a coy message, a melodic inside joke—we’ve all done the same thing with our own cell-phones. If there’s remembered joy in Jensen’s commanding performance, there’s an underlying sorrow that can’t be ignored. She plays the song, perhaps like she did in the past, but as much as she pretends that things haven’t changed, they really have. This time, there won’t be anyone receiving the video (even if she could get service bars).

The recent passing of Steve Jobs has been a reminder of how far-reaching his influence was, and how his deeply technological advances have altered the way we communicate and interact as humans. Without also asks similar questions about our own reliance on technology. Joslyn’s iPhone is more than just a way for her to connect with the outside world; it is also how she communicates with herself. In addition to her ukulele performance, she also takes nude pictures of herself in the mirror. Since she’s not sending them to anyone, it is almost as if she is adding the pictures to her picture album as a way of proving that she actually exists. A recurring video revisited by Joslyn not only gives audiences access to the past, but it enables her to view herself in the third person (much as we view her). In that video, Joslyn’s lover tells her, “Never stop looking at me.” The camera is not only Joslyn’s eyes, but also her lover’s. Filming herself is a way of prolonging the illusion of that long-lost gaze.

Like a shape-shifter, Without is always on the move, silently and subtly changing its atmosphere. At times it resembles a psychological thriller, at others an introspective drama, and at others a coming-of-age story. Yet tonally it always hits its mark. The cinematography balances serenity and menace, and the sound design is quiet enough to make even silence deafening. Even when she’s all alone, the world seems to be crowding in on Joslyn. She exists in a world of innumerable choices without being able to actualize any. The house she works in has 600 channels, but she’s only allowed to watch one: the fishing network. The pantry is stocked with Annie’s macaroni and cheese, but she’s not supposed to touch it. The Internet tantalizingly offers a world at her fingertips, only she can’t connect. The tools are there—iPhones, desktop monitors, cameras—but the best she can do is go through the motions. And, ultimately, Joslyn realizes that wherever she goes, her past goes with her. Even if her phone were to fail, her memories would still haunt her, and those videos would still play out in her mind, forming an endless loop of the past.

Without is a film that will mean different things to different people, and that is one of its core strengths. I could try and boil it down, and pin one or two interpretations on the story, but that would be a disservice to the film. Mark Jackson has created a startlingly impressive movie. It may be enigmatic, but it is also undeniably moving. That it is able to move viewers in mysterious—and individual—ways, makes it all the more special and singular an experience.

Without comes out on iTunes on October 20th

(LOS ANGELES, CA---October 13, 2017)
Day Shift written by Tyler Tice has won the 2017 Slamdance Writing Competition Grand Prize. Tice, an emerging writer from New Jersey, was awarded $10,000 in cash prizes—$8,000 for grand prize win and $2,000 for first place horror—for his feature script at the annual awards ceremony hosted this evening by the Writers Guild of America, West.

"Before this contest, I was all but ready to pack it in and go back to school." said Grand Prize Winner, Tyler Tice. "Becoming a finalist breathed new life into that dream I've had ever since I was a kid staring at video tapes in the horror section of Showbiz Video. Winning this Grand Prize is a tremendous honor and inspiration."

Tice’s screenplay Day Shift is a character-driven portrait of blue collar vampire hunting in the San Fernando Valley.



Slamdance recognizes four categories in its Writing Competition and congratulates the top three winning screenplays in each category. The top three Slamdance screenplays in each prize category are as follows:

Features:
1st - Escher by Jason Kessler
2nd - Lenore by Goldie Jones
3rd - 8-Bit Heroes by Michael J. Harwood

Horror:
Grand Prize/1st - Day Shift by Tyler Tice
2nd - PreZident by Raoul Dyssell & Allan Choi
3rd - Beast of Virginia by Matthew Corley

Teleplays:
1st - Jackrabbit by David Schlow
2nd - Provenance by Tiffany Shaw Ho
3rd - Fringe Benefit by Rose Schimm

Shorts:
1st - The Clown-Faced Plumber by Frederick Jones
2nd - The Forest Fenced Becomes Backyards, Like Songs Are Born From Sound by Ryan M. Moore
3rd - Geist by Julie Iannone

“There are many new writers from this years' competition that show great promise and talent—undeniable is Tyler Tice and his character-driven horror screenplay, Day Shift,” says Slamdance Executive Director, Peter Baxter. “Tyler’s story about a San Fernando pool cleaner making ends meet by executing vampires in the off hours is a script we’d all like to see on screen.”

Slamdance received over 3000 submissions for the 2017 Writing Competition, which strives to bring attention to and support emerging writing talent. The Competition has established a reputation for finding production-worthy screenplays written by emerging writers. Last year's Screenplay Competition Grand Prize winner, Andrew Kightlinger, received representation from Principato-Young Entertainment and is currently in development on a new narrative feature which focuses on sex trafficking.

Andrew shares, “It has been a trip ever since—getting representation and digging deep into a new project that I'm very excited about. The Slamdance Screenplay Competition is like an adrenalin boost to the cortex. It gave me the oomph necessary to climb faster and leap up to a higher rung. Slamdance is a celebration of not just offbeat storytelling, but above all, character. Character infects every vein of this festival and it's a beautiful thing."

Over the past 21 years, the success of the Slamdance Writing Competition and the writers it has discovered continues to attract the attention of industry professionals searching for the best new independent writing talent. Screenplays connected to the Slamdance Writing Competition that have gone 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. Slamdance alumni who have gone on to direct larger scale studio films include Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Infinity War), and Lynn Shelton (Outside In).

Cash and service prizes for the 2017 Writing Competition amounted to $21,000. Pierce Law Group, LLP, a long standing sponsor of Slamdance, provided a total of $5,000 in legal services to the grand prize and feature winners.

For more information, log onto www.slamdance.com


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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.

The 2018 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 19-25 in Park City, Utah.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, 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: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Outside, Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $13.3 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 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:
www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

Slamdance Presents is a distribution arm established to access broader distribution opportunities for independent films. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. Steve Yu’s The Resurrection of Jake the Snake was the first film to be released by the company. The documentary reached number one on iTunes in December, 2015. In August 2016, Slamdance Presents launched the week long release of Claire Carré’s sci-fi film, Embers, at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. In 2017, Slamdance Presents acquired four award winning and critically acclaimed films to be released on VOD: Driftwood by Paul Taylor, Dead Hands Dig Deep by Jai Love, The Ground We Won by Christopher Pryor and Without by Mark Jackson.

In November 2015, Slamdance announced DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming), a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. This December DIG will return to Big Pictures Los Angeles, from December 1-8, presenting select multi-media works that will form part of the of the 2018 Film Festival.

Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine, and Beehive Distilling. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers. Additional information about Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

by Ben Umstead
Originally published in Screen Anarchy

There comes a point in Mark Jackson's debut feature where the tempo of tension is so great that even the sound of a door closing promises to shatter the entire frame into a million little pieces.

Shot on Whidbey Island in Washington state with a small cast and crew, Without may seem a fairly typical independent, as anyone who briefly scans a synopsis might think:

Joslyn, (Joslyn Jensen) a young woman barely out of high school, takes an eldercare position on a rural island. Her task is to mind the house and see to the basic needs of the largely vegetative Frank (Ron Carrier) while his family is away. Routines rot away into boredom which begins to unravel Joslyn's fragile emotional state. With no internet, and no cell phone she wallows in isolation, see-sawing back and forth between bonding with Frank and fearing him.

Honestly, I really can't stand writing synopses, descriptions, loglines. Trying to come up with an informative, simple and clever way of packaging a story... making sure the bow is tied up nice and tight is painfully not my cup of tea. Additionally Without is one of those films where talking about it could almost be a disservice to one's overall experience of watching it. Because words are words and cinema is cinema. And yet Without is exactly the kind of film I love talking, and thus, writing about.

From Jensen's beautifully nuanced, often rigorous performance to Jessica Dimmock and Diego Garcia's intimate and gauzy cinematography, Without is a micro-budgeted minimalist stroke of genius.

To quote a partial passage from the Metamorphoses by Ovid, which chronicles Echo, the nymph from Greek Mythology: "So She was turned away/ to hide her face, her lips, her guilt among the trees."

And so it goes for Joslyn. She smiles with a false resilience as a local offers her a lift to the family's homestead. Her hesitancy, her vulnerability is apparent from frame one: she is not just some kid out in the big bad world for the first time, making it on her own, taking whatever job she can get; she knows the big bad world all too well. She's running from something, denying. Frank's family puts on a different kind of face; a phoniness that's kept them together, wound up tight by routine and rules. Their guide to the house is referred to as the bible. Joslyn is expected to be a part of this hollow perfection, to keep things in check, to keep Frank happy with pears for lunch and the fishing channel - channel 354 - and only the fishing channel... and she dutifully nods and replies and then silence... And it is just her and Frank in the big bad woods.

Jackson's film may end up being rich--and perhaps abrasively so--in thematic pathos, but his narrative structure is bare-bones, offering the observant viewer a deep and rewarding experience. The story of why Joslyn came to this island, what personal tragedy she is hiding from does not unravel by means of wistful monologues by the fire with Frank. Fragments, little slivers come naturally through as she desperately stalks the halls for a cell signal, chats with the coffee house employee about the locals, or as she lies in bed at night, cycling through a series of pictures on her phone of a girl; a girl that exudes bliss, happiness and love.

In this way the film behaves somewhat like a mystery. For despite the thin, whispery threads we get on the events prior to the film's start we are never lost nor left out of what Joslyn is going through. Jackson is the kind of filmmaker who understands we live in a world without easy answers. Or if there are easy answers, they may be hard to detect, even near by, for a swell of emotions blinds us to them. In this way we are lost with Joslyn. As she descends past logic and into nightmare the film's incoherence then gives us a cohesion thats sets us on a home course. Madness, loss, a stifled guilt shine a light in on themselves, the shadows of the picture.

Joslyn is an echo of a place, of a social scene, of a youth tied and bound and related by technology. In one fateful scene she comes across an old computer and a dial-up modem hidden away in the garage. She decides to go about setting it up.

Along with her phone, the computer becomes something of a shrine for her, a vessel she can pour herself into. For without it she is without voice, without expression. In one startlingly moment this all comes pouring out in some twisted echo; seen, heard, felt (to borrow from Ovid's take on Echo again) "in her still singing limbs". The scene is exceedingly painful to watch and yet utterly captivating. I can't help but applaud Jensen for her exacting, impactful and precise performance here. It is of a kind one rarely sees.

The existential, emotional and sexual crises of Without are thus exponential. And despite my literary references used in this review, as stated before, Jackson explores these by the purest of cinematic means. Means steeped in topsy-turvy ambiguity, an ethereal realism accented by Dimmock and Garcia's increasingly claustrophobic cinematography where ghosts, monsters, madmen must be real then, this must be a horror film... yes, they've been teasing, toying with us this whole time... only it is the horrors of one's own doing, one's own denial, one's own torment. Joslyn's vulnerability is resilient in someway; a misguided feeling a part of a misguided act, where nurturing and bullying, hate and love hold each other's hands tightly if only because they don't know what else to do against the great inertia which swells in that house...

...And the image of a deer in the yard, and the girl's face on the screen, of wet hips and closed eyes. Frank a living corpse on his bed, and the fishing channel, 354. The bible, the whiskey in the liquor cabinet, the knives in the dishwasher, the door closing, and perhaps, finally, release.

Without comes out on iTunes on October 20th.

by Ben Umstead
Originally published in Screen Anarchy

In the world of indie film, Mark Jackson's debut feature, Without, is that rare breed: it is a work that truly came out of nowhere, was made for no money, then gained great esteem from festivals and critics all over the globe, ultimately winning the Indie Spirit Award for Someone to Watch.

As my full review glowingly indicates, I was one of those loving critics, so you can bet I am extra excited today in getting the chance to present to the ScreenAnarchy audience an exclusive trailer for what I consider to be not only a harrowing portaryl of grief in the digital age, but one of the best feature debuts of the decade. Without will be available in North America via iTunes starting Friday, October 20th. Check out the trailer below!

Without comes out on iTunes on October 20th

"Driftwood was made as a reaction to the state of contemporary cinema. I wanted to create something that would stray from the many dialogue-driven films of my generation, something that would be made to see in a theater and not only streamed digitally. The bulk of modern filmmaking favors convenience, excessive exposition and style over substance, all of which leads to a passive audience. Driftwood eschews many of these aforementioned approaches and instead is constructed using only what is essential. As the film slowly unfurls, the camera moves only when necessary and the characters never speak, urging its audience to engage with it and ask questions"
-Paul Taylor (Writer/Director)

Preorder on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/driftwood/id1309424325

by Paul Taylor
Originally published in Moviemaker Magazine

Close your eyes and concentrate on the sounds around you: the humming of the refrigerator, footsteps from the floor above, water running through the pipes inside the walls, a distant ticking.

Doing this was one of the first and most crucial steps to designing the sound for my Slamdance Grand Jury Prize-winning debut feature, Driftwood.

Driftwood is about a young woman (Joslyn Jensen) who mysteriously washes ashore and is taken in and conditioned by an older man (Paul C. Kelly). The character she portrays is an empty vessel. She speaks no words, makes no sounds, has no rational thought. She’s learning from scratch, as any newborn would. In the world of Driftwood the characters do not speak, but move, gesture and act with their bodies.

Sound is one of the most criminally overlooked and underappreciated components to a film. But in actuality it is really one of the most pivotal aspects of the filmmaking process. A good chunk of contemporary cinema relies heavily on dialogue to move the story forward, so it’s only natural that a bulk of the sound mix would revolve around that.

But in the world of Driftwood, devoid of dialogue, it became crucial to focus on the minutiae of the audio. This meant that everything our ears normally funnel on an unconscious level had to be brought to the forefront and mixed in a way that would make it stand out. This also meant that we had to control each and every sound with, well, psychotic precision.

We went into the production of the film knowing that we would shoot the entire thing MOS (“motor only sync;” basically, without synchronous audio) because of the lack of dialogue, which also eliminated our need for a sound crew on set. Generally, ambient noises, footsteps and other similar audio elements are added in post anyway. We also made it a point to abandon any reference audio we may have picked up, because it would have tempted us to recreate every sound we heard in-camera, which would have led to a flat, predictable soundscape. The goal was to fabricate something otherworldly, an atmosphere that would work in tandem with the strange story we wanted to tell.

Once my editor-producer, Alex Megaro, picture-locked the film, I watched it in complete silence, jotting down every sound I thought would be in each scene. This resulted in a spreadsheet crammed with an interminable amount of sounds and instructions that would gently guide the sound team, while at the same time leaving room for them to explore and experiment. Besides the most obvious sounds needed in the frame, it was also important to keep in mind any offscreen noises. These could be anything from bird calling to cricket chirping to the far-flung rumbling of vehicles. Placing the various pieces of audio on- and off-screen helped to expand the universe that these characters lived in and give the soundscape a three-dimensional dynamic.

Before we moved any further with the sound design, it was incredibly important for us to find a studio that would be interested in taking on a project of such magnitude—not just for a paycheck but to really utilize their skills and create something of resonance. They were to be the ones to give the film a pulse and finish our half-painted canvas. We approached the crew over at Silver Sound Studios in New York, explained a bit about the project and watched as their jaws slowly dropped to the floor. They jumped at the opportunity.

Silver Sound went back to the shooting location, a small cabin in the Berkshires, and re-recorded a good chunk of the audio, leaving the rest to be Foleyed or re-recorded in an even more remote area. This gave the film an authenticity that it wouldn’t have had if the recording was carried out in a separate location or even in their studio. Each environment has its own distinct ambience, and the objects that make up that location create sounds that are unique only in that particular setting. Had the audio been recorded elsewhere it may have been too cold or too warm, or at the very least something would have felt subconsciously out of sync.

Months later, when all of the sounds were finally compiled, organized and placed on the timeline, we went in for the final mix. This was where the fun—and agony—really began. We worked for a week straight, several hours a day, polishing the audio and shaping the world the characters live in. Some scenes were finished quicker than others; some took a full day and only amounted to a couple minutes or less of screentime. (To answer your question: Yes, we pulled all of our hair out.)

It was an exhausting experience, to be sure, but watching the film come alive right before our eyes, shot by shot, day by day, made it all worth it. It was also remarkably enlightening because we were able to witness first-hand just how important sound is for a film. In one instance during the mix, the sound team was unsure as to what was happening narratively within a particular scene. Without the audio there was no context! Once it was added in, the scene functioned; sound moved the narrative forward.

Besides controlling narrative, sounds can also portray characters feelings or desires—at the most basic level, their personalities. It may seem obvious to some, but when you’re constructing the audio piece by piece, you can really hear how the basic shift of a sound makes such a dramatic alteration of the meaning of that sound. It can completely transform the way the audience interprets the scene or character. For example, in the film, the older man eats, well, normally. In the sound design process, though, we decided to make the chewing grotesque and loud and almost comical. Doing that completely shifted the scene in a way that said a lot about his character: This is no ordinary human being. Had we added some generic chewing noises, the scene would have played out on a much simpler level. This is exactly why we shot MOS and disregarded our reference audio.

A week later, with us sleep-deprived, bald and sporting some badass bloodshot capillaries, the mix was finally complete. We had gone through the film in its entirety, shot by shot, adding and subtracting audio and designing it in a way that would result in a unique cinema-going experience. It was long and it was tough, but I’m convinced the film could not have been made any other way.

Plus, how often do you get the chance to add the sounds of baby foxes screaming into your film? Terrifying.

Driftwood is now available on iTunes

3rd Edition of DIG Features Digital Artists from South Africa, Poland and beyond

The Slamdance showcase DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming) returns to Los Angeles in December at Big Pictures Los Angeles, and will feature new and unseen works by emerging visual artists and indie game developers from around the world. The works cover a range of topics, including: motherhood, vagrancy, at-risk social interactions, conspicuous consumption, psychic breakdowns, multiversal dominance, mediated oblivion, and hopes for human transcendence.


“DIG is resolved to be a human showcase. Existing between missed opportunities and digital delusion, it is exactly as troubling, hilarious, and NSFW as it needs to be,” says Slamdance Special Projects Manager Deron Williams, “DIG artists create brazenly human work despite their place in a post-ironic marketing doomscape where lateral connections are a liability, peripheral ideas are contraband, and galvanizing artists are treated like prisoners of war. As the body of analog communication is left to rot in the desert, DIG artists deconstruct the informational self-indulgence that has replaced it with ruthless and unabashed sincerity.”

DIG is dedicated to spotlighting new, independent artists working in hybrid, immersive, and emerging forms of digital media art. Projects emphasize touch, personal visual perspective, innovative connections between space and movement, and finding sense in uncertainty. The showcase is curated by: Slamdance Special Projects Manager Deron Williams; President and co-founder of Slamdance Peter Baxter; artist, curator, and operator of Big Pictures Los Angeles Doug Crocco; and film & game development team Seemingly Pointless (James Earl Cox III & Joe Cox).

“The Slamdance DIG showcase embraces the personal, honest, and DIY creations of artists crafting interactive and new media,” says curator James Earl Cox III. “Embodying works that reflect a tapestry of genres, portray a variety of meanings, and were created using disparate tools, they all push the boundaries of what one could expect of them. They embrace the rawness that comes from dissecting a medium or rejecting it fully. We’re excited to share these works with the LA public for free, and we hope they broaden audiences’ opinions about what games and interactivity could be.”

DIG, hosted by Big Pictures Los Angeles (Address: 2424 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018), opens December 1, 2017 and will close on December 8, 2017. Admission is free and open to the public.

This year’s program features:

Brief Excursion by Aaron Oldenburg
The player wanders a dynamically-generated environment where elements of nature are visually and behaviorally altered based on their brain’s gamma wave readings from a hacked MindSky neural headset. Gamma waves are thought to be responsible for the brain’s unity of conscious perception, or “binding,” the brain’s interpretation of individual parts as a coherent object. While attempting to guide the experience through their thoughts, the player explores an experience created through the often uncontrollable behavior of their brain.

BVOVB: Bruising Vengeance of the Vintage Boxer by Michal Rostocki
Your glory days as a boxer are long gone. Once a champ, now a bum. All you care about is beer and your dog - Max the Rottweiler. Unfortunately your faithful dog has been stolen and you must get him back and punish the ones responsible.
The game is inspired by classic arcade brawlers (Double Dragon, Final Fight) with many enemies, some boss fights and a simple storyline. All in the style of old silent movies with a ragtime themed soundtrack. Both characters and backgrounds are based on original black-and-white photos from the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Dujanah by Jack King-Spooner
Dujanah is a work about; communities, the danger of anonymity, cultural appropriation, intervention, aphorisms, pregnancy and parenthood, coping with mortality, erectile dysfunction, vegetarian gelatine, how my granddad would kick dogs, why your girlfriend hates you, the current rulers are our collective hallucinations, we are all cowards even though we like to think otherwise, the double harmonic scale, funny surprises, why we need to first consider the costume if we make a dance, women, oil, consciousness, shooting baddies BANG BANG, the form of writing, death of the author, mise en abyme.

Everything Is Going To Be OK by alienmelon (Nathalie Lawhead)
Everything Is Going To Be OK is a collection of life experiences. It is an interactive zine exploring alternative views of power from a survivor's standpoint, and is a commentary on struggle. The focus is largely on bringing humor into "dark times". It offers different perspectives on what it means to live with things like PTSD. The underlying theme is that you are normal for your imperfections, and the way you cope. You are the hero in the story of your life, and you have every right to be proud. Artist’s goal is to strip the shame out of talking about things like this.

F.L.O.W. (Future Ladies of Wrestling) by Jennifer Juniper Stratford of Telefantasy Studios
Future Ladies of Wrestling AKA F.L.O.W. is a no holds barred multimedia extravaganza in which the wildest interspecies wrestlers battle for the title of Ultimate Multiversal Warrior! Starring the multiverse's greatest wrestlers, CANDY PAIN, CHEMTRAILS, LISA 5000, DIVA COLADA, VALIBU TINA, HARDCORE TINA MACHINE, ERUPTIA, CYCLONA & FLESH EATING CORPULOUS

Laser Non Laser by Jeanette Bonds of GLAS Animation
Laser Non Laser is an illusory and encapsulating experience in which animated light is projected through fog simulating laser beams in the direction of a viewer to retro-space electronic music. The piece is to be seen from a specific vantage point in the space in which it occupies. At this spot the viewers are confronted by choreographed green light beams that encapsulate the entire body and close in on the head, giving the spectator the illusion that the light beams, as seemingly solid objects, will collide with the body.

Nour by Terrifying Jellyfish (aka TJ Hughes)
In a post-soylent world, we tend to forget how much of a luxury food is. Nour is an experimental food art game with no goals or objectives, just have fun while you play with your food as if you're a kid again. Mash buttons at will to interact with various foods in curious and unconventional ways.

Semblance by Nyamakop (Cukia Kimani and Ben Myres)
Semblance is a postmodern riff on the genre of ‘platformers’ popularised famously by the Mario games. The work takes the fundamental assumption of a ‘platform’ in the genre and turns it on its head. What if platforms were part of the gameplay, part of the way a player solved problems?
Can’t reach something? Just deform the ground up so you can jump from a higher point. Spikes in the way? Push the ground lower so you can pass by. Semblance presents a pastiche of classic platforming problems & puzzles that players must now overcome in lateral and fresh ways.

Sundays with Absalon by John Vanderhoef
Sundays with Absalon is a short narrative game about Adelaide, a mother who struggles with feelings of self-doubt and depression. The game takes place over the course of a Sunday, as the clock ticks away toward the time when Absalon's father, who has primary custody of Absalon, comes to pick him up. How do we find value in ourselves, not only in our role as parents, but as individuals? If our children provide us with new reasons to live, what happens when they don't live with us?

Super Void by Sam Weiss (Shnabubula) and John Donohue Bell (Lazy Brain Games)
You must navigate the tenuous reality of Super Void while solving puzzles and battling hallucinations in this game-as-musical-interpretation of the track of the same name by Shnabubula. Taking inspiration from William Burroughs' "Cut Up" technique and the surrealist art movement, stage sequences and music are "cut up" to create an abstract and non-linear gameplay experience. Delivered in a 16-color retro aesthetic, Super Void explores visual storytelling concepts layered on top of shifting "void liquid" environments to create a unique and ethereal interactive experience.

The Game: The Game by Angela Washko
The Game: The Game is a video game presenting the practices of several prominent seduction coaches (aka pick-up artists) through the format of a dating simulator. In the game these pick-up gurus attempt to seduce the player using their signature techniques taken verbatim from their instructional books and video materials. The game sets up the opportunity for players to explore the complexity of the construction of social behaviors around dating as well as the experience of being a femme-presenting individual navigating this complicated terrain. The video game features infamous seduction coaches Julian Blanc and Tyler Durden (Real Social Dynamics), Roosh V, Ross Jeffries, Neil Strauss and Mystery.
Washko hopes to add levels of complexity to public conversations around both pick-up and feminism which have both found themselves most often presented in highly polarized, dichotomous positions in mainstream media.
The Game: The Game is accompanied by a musical score thoughtfully composed by Xiu Xiu.

ULTRA ADHD (Amazing Death and Huge Destruction) by Alon “DancingEngie” Karmi.
Ultra ADHD (Amazing Death and Huge Destruction) is a video game taking place in a land without name. After an evil God brings forth the end of the world, it is up for a prophesized hero (that’s you, by the way) to save the day. However, nothing is what it seems…
Developed in about 2 months by a guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing, this short and unabashedly nonsensical game is chock-full of twists, colorful characters, explicit language, playstyles, parodies, obscure Israeli references, and conversations that drag on for too long.

For more information on DIG, please visit: http://showcase.slamdance.com/DIG.

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DIG EVENT LISTING:
Interactive/digital media programming presented by Slamdance, and hosted by Big Pictures Los Angeles. Experience hybrid, immersive, and emerging forms of digital media art. Admission is free and open to the public.

@ Big Pictures Los Angeles
Address: 2424 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018
Phone: (323) 800-7670

December 1-3 & 8, 2017
6pm - 9pm

Festival to Showcase 10 Narrative and 8 Documentary Features
9 World Premieres Among Feature Competition Titles
The Russo Brothers Grow Festival Support With Major Prize

November 28, 2017 (Los Angeles) - The Slamdance Film Festival announced today their Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs for its 24th Festival edition, taking place January 19-25, 2018 in Park City. Dedicated to fostering a community for independent emerging artists, Slamdance continues to be the premiere film festival by filmmakers, for filmmakers.

The feature competition lineup includes 16 premieres— 9 World, 6 North American, and 1 US premieres. Most titles were produced in the US, with additional features coming from: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany and Netherlands. All competition films are feature length directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million USD, and without US distribution.

"Born out of rejection, Slamdance’s artist-led group continues to discover cutting edge talent creating work outside of convention.” states Co-founder and President, Peter Baxter. “Our 2018 competition lineup is daring, varied, and vivid—it represents the spirit of our time and leads us into the future.”

All films were selected from blind submissions by a team of Slamdance alumni and are programmed democratically. Jury and Audience Awards are presented for the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature.

Additionally, a major new Festival award has been launched. Alumni Anthony and Joe Russo (Welcome To Collinwood, Captain America: Civil War) have partnered with Slamdance to further develop the mission of the artist led organization with their inaugural Russo Fellowship award. The award winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize and mentorship from Joe and Anthony in the development of the winner’s next project at the brother’s new Los Angeles based studio. Every participating filmmaker at the 2018 festival is eligible for this prize. The award will be presented annually to a new recipient at the Slamdance Film Festival.

“The Russo brothers exemplify our “by filmmakers for filmmakers” paradigm says Peter Baxter. They are joined by a great number of dedicated alumni who’ve shown when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, Slamdance’s independent and grassroots film community really can do it themselves.”

Established in 1995, Slamdance is dedicated to discovering and supporting new talents in independent filmmaking. In addition to the Russo Brothers, notable Slamdance alumni include: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer), Lena Dunham (Girls), Azazel Jacobs (The Lovers), and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild).

Previous Feature Competition winners include: Dim the Fluorescents (Best Narrative Feature, 2017) and Strad Style (Best Documentary Feature, 2017). Films in both categories are eligible for the Audience Award and Spirit of Slamdance Award, the latter of which is voted upon by this year’s presented filmmakers.

The list of competition features is below:

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Birds Without Feathers
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Wendy McColm
Screenwriter: Wendy McColm
Desperate for human interaction, six emotionally damaged individuals risk self respect, shedding their disillusionment in a last grasp for happiness. A cruel-world comedy populated by struggling Instagram stars, Russian cowboys, Self-help gurus and more, their lives collide and crash in astounding ways.
Cast: Wendy McColm, Lenae Day Cooper Oznowicz, William Gabriel Greer, Sara Estefanos, and Alexander Stasko

Charlie And Hannah's Grand Night Out
(Belgium) North American Premiere
Director: Bert Scholiers
Screenwriter: Bert Scholiers
Two Girls. One Night. Magical Candy Consumed. Twenty-somethings, Charlie and Hannah, find themselves strolling through the city as events take a wildly surreal turn. Transported to a trippy galaxy, filled with cosmic wisdom and contradictions, the pair learn to realize the search for love can take many forms.
Cast: Evelien Bosmans, Daphne Wellens, Patrick Vervueren

Fake Tattoos
(Canada) US Premiere
Director: Pascal Plante
Screenwriter: Pascal Plante
Shy Theo finds himself unexpectedly kicked in the heart by a punk-rock romance on his 18th birthday as Mag bursts into his life for a rollicking encounter. Set against a backdrop of music and mayhem, this coming-of-age tale, explores the thrashing fragility of summer love as life choices and separation loom with no true answers in sight.
Cast: Anthony Therrien, Rose-Marie Perreault

Fish Bones
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Joanne Mony Park
Screenwriter: Joanne Mony Park
Hana, a Korean immigrant on winter break, is caught between worlds. While struggling to find peace with her conservative mother and the expectations surrounding her future, Hana finds herself falling for Nico, a tender and affectionate Latina music producer.
Cast: Joony Kim, Cris Gris

Human Affairs
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Charlie Birns
Screenwriter: Charlie Birns
This richly earnest drama follows Geneviève, a surrogate who must reckon with her ambivalence about the pregnancy and her precarious feelings for the parents-to-be.
Cast: Dominic Fumusa, Kerry Condon, David Harbour, Julie Sokolowski

Lovers
(Denmark) North American Premiere
Director: Niels Holstein Kaa
Screenwriter: Magnus B. B. Lysbakken
In the streets, parks and cafes of Copenhagen, a triptych of love stories come to vivid life. Framed with a superb naturalism, these tales through the seasons tackle the ever rising tide of loneliness and self-doubt that can come in the face of new love.
Cast: Marie Mailand, Niklas Herskind, Nina Terese Rask

M/M
(Canada, Germany) World Premiere
Director: Drew Lint
Screenwriter: Drew Lint
Wayward Canadian, Matthew, crushed by the isolation of being new to Berlin, turns his sexual desires toward Matthias that spiral into a dark fixation of assumed identity. Soon, this obsessive power struggle between the two, careens toward brutal passion and violence in a bid for dominance.
Cast: Antoine Lahaie, Nicolas Maxim Endlicher

Rock Steady Row
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Trevor Stevens
Screenwriter: Bomani Story
Demented chaos rules this bizarro-world college campus where the reigning gang-frats target a freshman, who dare crosses their path. Trapped between a blaze of twisted ‘Mad Max’ style power games, he shrewdly plays both sides, fueling apocalyptic-sized battles that escalate to ensnare the school Dean who’s coming unglued.
Cast: Heston Horwin, Diamond White, Logan Huffman, Isaac Alisma, Allie Marie Evans, Larry Miller, Peter Gilroy

Songs in the Sun
(Denmark) North American Premiere
Director: Kristian Sejrbo Lidegaard
Screenwriter: Allan Hyde, Kristian Sejrbo Lidegaard
Off the coast of Denmark, young Anna discovers she is the only lifeline to ailing childhood friend Julie and Sonja, Julie’s apathetic mother. Over the course of one momentous afternoon, Anna will learn the healing power of belief and myth-making in everyday living
Cast: Emma Sehested Høeg, Charlotte Munck, Victoria Carmen Sonne

The Starry Sky Above Me
(France) North American Premiere
Director: Ilan Klipper
Screenwriter: Ilan Klipper, Raphaël Neal
Bruno is happy to live out his days luxuriating in the existential highs and lows only a brilliant literary mind can appreciate. But when his loved ones seek to intervene with the help of a psychiatrist, Bruno's bohemian lifestyle may in fact be the perfect anecdote to the colorless, PC lives they didn't know they hated.
Cast: Laurent Poitrenaux, Camille Chamoux, Marilyne Canto, Alma Jodorowsky, François Chattot, Michèle Moretti, Frank Williams

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Circus Ecuador
(Ecuador, USA) World Premiere
Directors: Ashley Bishop and Jim Brassard
James and Ashley travel to the jungles of Ecuador to make a documentary about a school being built for an indigenous community only to discover that the community may or may not be involved in aliens, gold smuggling, human trafficking, and murder.

Freedom for the Wolf
(Germany, USA)
Director: Rupert Russell
From Hong Kong to Tunisia to Bollywood, people are fighting against elected leaders dismantling freedom and democracy. These seemingly disparate international stories are cohesively tied into what is happening in the US to reach some very compelling conclusions.

Ingrid
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Morrisa Maltz
An intimate look at a woman who left her life as a successful fashion designer and mother in Texas to become a reclusive hermit, immersed in nature, focused solely on creating art.

Instant Dreams
(Netherlands) North American Premiere
Director: Willem Baptist
An essayistic quest for the secret of instant film, the magic appeal of Polaroid and what that tells us about the fascinating relationship we have with the photographic image.

Man on Fire
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Joel Fendelman
Grand Saline, Texas was a sleepy, unremarkable town--until a white preacher lit himself on fire to protest the town’s racism in 2014.

MexMan
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Josh Polon
Germán is a young artist and filmmaker striving to complete his first feature film, while plagued by the ghost of a long-lost love and a battle for creative control with his producers.

Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End
(USA)
Director: Pablo Bryant
This personal documentary follows a controversial political cartoonist as he struggles to provide for his family and stay true to his creativity in a world where biting satiric humor has an ever-diminishing commercial value.

Sunnyside
(Belgium, Netherlands) North American Premiere
Director: Frederik Carbon
On a seaside mountain in Northern California two old friends (one a visionary architect and the other an influential sound artist) dream, talk, live, and create.

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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.

Over 100 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.

The 2018 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 19-25 in Park City, Utah.

Earlier this Fall, critically acclaimed directors and Slamdance alumni Anthony and Joe Russo, The Russo Brothers, announced the presentation of the inaugural Russo Brothers Fellowship to be presented to a Slamdance filmmaker at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival. Anthony and Joe will select one filmmaker, who will receive a $25,000 prize consisting of filmmaker support, an office at their new Los Angeles based studio, mentoring from Anthony and Joe, and a cash stipend for one year. The Russos launched their career when their first film, Pieces, premiered at the 1997 Slamdance Festival. Steven Soderbergh, who was attending the festival, saw their film and offered to produce their next movie, Welcome To Collinwood, starring George Clooney, William H. Macy, and Sam Rockwell. The Brothers made their Marvel Studios directorial debut with the critically lauded blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Their follow-up, Captain America: Civil War, not only enjoyed the 5th-highest weekend gross in domestic box office history, but also had the highest worldwide gross of 2016, as well as widespread praise from both critics and fans.

Other notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Outside, Humpday), Sean Baker (The Florida Project), and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $13.3 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 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:
www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

Slamdance Presents is a distribution arm established to access broader distribution opportunities for independent films. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. Steve Yu’s The Resurrection of Jake the Snake was the first film to be released by the company. The documentary reached number one on iTunes in December, 2015. In August 2016, Slamdance Presents launched the week long release of Claire Carré’s sci-fi film, Embers, at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. In 2017, Slamdance Presents acquired four award winning and critically acclaimed films now available on VOD: Driftwood by Paul Taylor, Dead Hands Dig Deep by Jai Love, Without by Mark Jackson, and The Ground we Won by Christopher Pryor, coming to iTunes this December.

In November 2015, Slamdance announced DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming), a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. This December, DIG will return to Big Pictures Los Angeles, from December 1-8, presenting select multi-media works that will form part of the of the 2018 Film Festival.

Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, Salt Lake City's Slug Magazine, Salt Lake City Weekly, and Beehive Distilling. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers. Additional information about Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

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

Photos/Images:
Slamdance Logo: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9nekxn78u2vdyuf/AAC48cgUrZRZN2mgxowkj-WTa?dl=0
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PRESS CONTACT:
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eseel@afterbruce.com
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Beyond Program to Showcase 5 World Premieres
Oscar® Qualifying Shorts lineup Features International Titles From Over 20 Countries & 16 World Premieres
7 World Premieres, 2 US Premieres and 2 North American Premieres in Anarchy, Animation and Experimental Programs

December 6, 2017 (LOS ANGELES) – Slamdance today announced the Beyond and Shorts programs for their 24th edition.

This year, several Slamdance Alumni return with highly anticipated presentations in the Beyond lineup. All films in this highly-selective program are made by emerging filmmakers working just beyond their first features.

“The films in the Beyond Program exhibit singular directorial vision while sharing a common commitment to challenge audiences to step outside their comfort zones,” says Beyond programmer, Josh Mandel. “These bold and adventurous filmmakers represent the most current voices in American independent film, and will continue to push boundaries in the years ahead.”

This year’s short film lineup showcases productions from 26 countries, including: Canada, Iran, USA and beyond. Shorts in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and Experimental sections are all eligible for the 2018 Oscar® Qualifying Shorts competition.

Along with continued standout programming in every category, Anarchy Shorts promises another year of exuberantly subversive cinema. "The Department of Anarchy has curated a diverse program of sublime, dangerous, and deviant films that provide shock therapy to the soul.” says Anarchy Shorts programmer, Noel Lawrence. “We hope to provoke, challenge, and enlighten audiences by smashing the status quo on any and all levels.”

Narrative Shorts programmer Taylor Miller adds “In the spirit of Slamdance as an alternative film festival, this year's slate of narrative shorts contains many films that challenge our conceptions of what constitutes a narrative, what stories are capable of, and what stories are for. We also have embraced works displaying unique talents and voices working in a raw, unpolished filmmaking style. We believe that once again Slamdance will be a place to find vital and bold works valued over short attempts to replicate mainstream accessibility.”

The 2018 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 19-25 in Park City, Utah. All Slamdance films are programmed entirely by the Slamdance filmmaking community from blind submissions

BEYOND PROGRAM
Back at the Staircase
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Drew Britton
Five distinctive people, each with a flimsy coping strategy, find themselves stuck together after an accident.
Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Stephen Plunkett, Leonora Pitts, Mickey O'Hagan, Logan Lark, Heather LaVine

Funny Story
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Michael Gallagher
After years of being a neglectful father, a womanizing TV star decides to crash his estranged daughter’s same-sex destination wedding.
Cast: Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards, Jana Winternitz, Nikki Limo, Lily Holleman, Jessica Diggins, Pete Gardner, Reginald VelJohnson

My Name is Myeisha
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Gus Krieger
A beloved teenager crosses over into a hip-hop-musical dreamscape at the moment of her tragic death and contemplates her life; what it was and what it could have been.
Cast: Rhaechyl Walker, John Merchant, Dominique Toney, Dee Dee Stephens, Yvette Cason, Gregg Daniel

The Rainbow Experiment
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Christina Kallas
An investigation uncovers more than just blame at a Manhattan high school when a science experiment permanently injures a student.
Cast: Chris Beetem, Francis Benhamou, Christian Coulson, Kevin Kane, Nina Mehta, Laura Pruden, Connor Siemer, Lauren Sowa, Swann Gruen, Christine McLaughlin

Savage Youth
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Michael Curtis Johnson
The lives of six troubled teens in a racially-divided small town take a violent turn over drugs and broken hearts. Based on true events.
Cast: Grace Victoria Cox, Tequan Richmond, Will Brittain, Chloe Levine, Mitchell Edwards, J. Michael Trautmann, Sasha Feldman, Tomas Pais

NARRATIVE SHORTS
The 99 Steps Left from the Square
(Finland, Turkey)
Director: Sevgi Eker
The iron gate safeguarding an old man’s peace is opened.
Cast: Sirin Erensoy, Yasemin Erensoy, Salih Kalafatoglu, Hasan Kurun

Abbas Kiarostami; The Director
(Iran)
Director: Mohsen Khodabakhshi
A boy wants to take a photo with Abbas Kiarostami...
Cast: Mani Sherafat - Nazli Gorgani - Shahed Sherafat

Audition
(USA)
Director: Richard Van
Unable to find a sitter, an aspiring actress has no choice but to drag her 3-year old son to her audition.
Cast: Shaquita Lopez, Nezih Lopez, Ernest Walker Jr, Laura Price

Clean Blood
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jordan Michael Blake
A family drama about Christmas, The Apocalypse and an IMMACULATELY PREGNANT man.
Cast: Jordan Michael Blake, Stephanie Allynne

Falling
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Ewen Wright
A potentially psychosomatic white man, a woman stuck in a vortex of “man-splaining,” and a young black man caught in a racially charged standoff are set on a collision course as society falls apart around them in this absurdist dark comedy.
Cast: Sarah Hollis, Elijah Reed, Davey Johnson

Flatbush Misdemeanors
(USA)
Director: Dan Perlman, Kevin Iso
Longtime friends Dan and Kevin adjust to their evolving surroundings in the unforgiving environment of Flatbush, Brooklyn. A raw comedy of city life.
Cast: Drew Dowdey, Kareem Green, Kevin Iso, Dan Perlman

Goodbye, Brooklyn
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Daniel Jaffe
Struggling with New York living, Dana Schapiro decides to move, saying goodbye to a neighborhood that can barely remember who she is...
Cast: Michelle Uranowitz, Angela Pietropinto, Luke Marinkovich, Ione Saunders

Hail Mary Country
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Tannaz Hazemi
Macho grandmother Irene Dandy has to defend her family of football fanatics from a gang led by a cocky thief named Nora.
Cast: Vera Cherny, Catherine Taber, Lori Jean Wilson, Alison Yates

Iris
(Canada)
Director: Gabrielle Demers
As the storm rages outside a special lust for Laura grows inside Emanuelle.
Cast: Marie Babbini, Daphné Germain

Katalysis
(Sweden) World Premiere
Director: Ashley Michael Briggs
A doctor and an artist use Anna's body as an tool to further their own professional progress.
Cast: Moa Nilsson, Adam Stålhammar, Peter Hildén, Anna Ladegaard

The Knits
(Canada) US Premiere
Director: Lisa Birke
A sweater, lovingly and arduously knit by a mother, incrementally unravels as her daughter treks her way across Canada by foot.
Cast: Barbara Birke; Lisa Birke

Magic Bullet
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Amanda Lovejoy Street
A psychologist combats grief with self-soothing rituals; a shopping network host obliterates hers in a self-destructive haze. They collide in a televised confrontation.
Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Molly Parker

Night on Floating Island
(Australia) North American Premiere
Director: Jack Atherton
From a storm drain, a strange man watches a tourist rollerblading through an unfamiliar nightscape in search of his missing girlfriend or an anonymous sexual encounter in a park.
Cast: Gavin Drumm, Annie Schofield, André Shannon, Kate Coates

Ok, Call Me Back
(USA)
Director: Emily Ann Hoffman
Craving companionship, a woman leaves a voicemail late at night.
Cast: Emily Ann Hoffman

Onikuma
(Italy, USA)
Director: Alessia Cecchet
Surrounded by a foreign landscape, two women will understand that demons can come in different forms.
Cast: Sandy Siquier, Sarineh Garapetian

Parthenon
(USA)
Director: Frank Mosley
A naked body moves a stranger to empathy.
Cast: Lily Baldwin, Tallie Medel, Thiago Martins

Reunion 1
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Brock Neilson
The artist re-enters a space from their childhood as an adult and is struck both by the haunting tone of the setting and an indelible memory from the past.

Rupture
(Jordan, Canada) US Premiere
Director: Yassmina Karajah
Rupture follows the journey of four Arab kids whose repressed traumas surface during their quest to find a public pool in their new city.
Cast: Asaad Al Arid Salam Almarzouq Hussein Al Ahmad Wazira Al Ahmad

Slap Happy
(Canada) US Premiere
Director: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
A dysfunctional couple with a penchant for twisted sexual fantasies fight to stay together as their relationship crumbles over the course of a day.
Cast: Jesse LaVercombe, Madeleine Sims-Fewer

That Thing
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Dan Roe
Tabby is conflicted about Patrick's sexual quirk.
Cast: Claire Lucido, Sam Yarabek

The Things You Think I'm Thinking
(Canada) US Premiere
Director: Sherren Lee
A black male burn-survivor and amputee goes on a date with a regularly-abled man for the first time since his accident, ten years ago.
Cast: Prince Amponsah, Jesse LaVercombe

Transmission
(USA)
Director: Morgan McGlothan
Father, daughter, and her 1999 Toyota Camry.
Cast: Darrin McGlothan, Morgan McGlothan

The Troubled Troubadour
(South Korea) North American Premiere
Director: Forest Ian Etsler & Sébastien Simon
An embittered old musician embarks on a journey which becomes the outward manifestation of his inner landscape.
Cast: Kasuga "Hachi" Hirofumi, Tetsu Kono, Lee Hwajin, Kang Saneh

Welcome To Bushwick
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Henry Jinings
On the heels of a successful first date, Evan and Marceline end up back at her place.
Cast: Tim Platt, Liba Vaynberg

Whales
(Iran) North American Premiere
Director: Behnam Abedi
A police officer and a soldier are assigned to investigate a case wherein seven dead bodies are found on a beach.
Cast: Majid Norouzi, Khosrow Shahraz, Majid Aghakarimi 


DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM
Big Surf
(USA)
Director: Brian Smee
San Francisquito Cyn, March 12th, 1928: The sound a horse makes as it's drowning.

Do I Have Boobs Now?
(Canada)
Director: Milena Salazar, Joella Cabalu
A trans activist’s journey to challenge Facebook and Instagram's censorship policies.

Ex Nihilo
(Finland) World Premiere
Director: Timo Wright
Ex Nihilo is an experimental short documentary about a doomsday seed vault, an advanced robot and a cryonics facility.

Homeland
(Belgium)
Director: Sam Peeters
Homeland is a creative documentary about right-wing populism and narrow-mindedness in the Belgian suburbs.

House
(Iceland, USA)
Director: Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson
A meditation on emigration and immigration, house and home.

Icon
(Poland) US Premiere
Director: Wojciech Kasperski
An old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside - The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital.

The Last Man You Meet
(USA)
Director: Chris Bone
Take an exclusive look inside the gritty business of death as a third-generation funeral director reflects on his life.

Lorem Ipsum (pain itself)
(USA)
Director: Gabrielle Kash
A handmade look at why artists hate making, and keep making art.

Nueva Vida
(USA)
Director: Jonathan Seligson
A ball, some brains, and a lot of fluids. A cautionary true tale on the dangers of playing soccer from my dear brother, Kenny.

Phototaxis
(USA)
Director: Melissa Ferrari
Rooted in nonfiction, “Phototaxis” connects Mothman, a prophetic demon in West Virginia folklore, and Narcotics Anonymous, the primary treatment program in West Virginia’s addiction epidemic.

Pocket Sized Feminism
(USA)
Director: Valerie Schenkman
“This house is for wallpaper women. What good is wallpaper that speaks?" Women speak out about women's rights, or human rights.

Quiet Hours
(USA)
Director: Paul Szynol
Donald Hall, America's Poet Laureate and winner of the National Medal of Arts, lives in the fragile space between loneliness and solitude.

Taobao
(USA)
Director: Noah Sheldon
Modelling for China's largest online shopping site, Taobao.

True Love in Pueblo Textil
(Cuba, USA) US Premiere
Director: Horatio Baltz
Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest infliction: love.

Where Are You From
(USA, China)
Director: Xizi "Cecilia" Hua
In a world where western values dominate, coming to America as a “Parachute Kid” makes the filmmaker feel ashamed of her “Chinese” and “foreign” identity.


ANIMATION SHORTS PROGRAM
Airport
(Switzerland, Croatia)
Director: Michaela Müller
An exploration of the place in modern society where the limits of borders, security, and tolerance are constantly tested.

Ascribed Achievements
(Iran)
Director: Samaneh Shojaei
A man's suicide attempt leads to the idea that fate is breakable.

Black Dog
(USA)
Director: Joshua Dean Tuthill
A dark family drama set during the space race of the 1960's, utilizing stop-motion animation and archival footage to elucidate a time of heated social and political tension.

Gusla ou les Malins
(France) US Premiere
Director: Adrienne Nowak
Adrienne goes back to Poland to see her grandmother and ask her family about communism. In their cozy kitchen she will learn about the spirits that haunt the Polish imagination and the unexpected superstitions used to face them.

Icebergs
(USA, Greece) North American Premiere
Director: Eirini Vianelli
An existential, dark comedy of 14 stop-motion vignettes both mundane and absurd.

Interstitial
(Japan) North American Premiere
Director: Shunsaku Hayashi
A hybrid project of a painting and additive animation exploring a spacelessness of humanity in the defined space of a canvas of a continuous horizon.

Mak
(USA)
Director: Natalya Serebrennikova
Searching for opium, Big Macs, and cultural identity, a teenager visits her hometown in Russia and finds that her best friend has already grown up.

Mountain Castle Mountain Flower Plastic
(USA)
Director: Annapurna Kumar
The most efficient containers can store multiple pieces of information in the same location, intersecting from different angles.

Railment
(Japan)
Director: Shunsaku Hayashi
In the anonymous crowds of commuter rail lines, it's possible to move at high speeds while remaining perfectly still.

The Realm of Deepest Knowing
(South Korea)
Director: Kim Seung-hee
A playful exploration of how knowing someone on the deepest level becomes a love that spans across objects.

Red Fat Cat
(Germany)
Director: Klaus Hoefs
A singer-songwriter animation confronting the dichotomy of drowned refugees washing up on a public beach while residents go about their settled, everyday lives filled with antique cars, dogs, and cats.

Satellite Strangers
(USA) World Premiere
Director: James Bascara
A zoom into a microscopic world reveals a strange cacophony.


EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM
38 River Road
(USA, Switzerland)
Director: Josh Weissbach
Fear resides in the gesture of a telling.

Are you tired of forever?
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Caitlin Craggs
A surreal meditation on the experience of self.

Cloud Of Petals
(USA)
Director: Sarah Meyohas
At the former Bell Labs, sixteen workers photograph 100,000 individual rose petals to map out an artificial intelligence algorithm that learns to generate new petals forever.

I'm Not Sure
(Germany) World Premiere
Director: Gabriel Hensche
By confronting an app with Surrealist paintings I’m Not Sure explores the psychology of artificial intelligence.

No Stories Now
(USA)
Director: CT Bishop
Hopefully, in moving toward weakness, there can be recognition of false relief.

Silica
(Australia, UK)
Director: Pia Borg
An unseen location scout explores an opal mining town in South Australia in this sci-fi-laced essay film, which finds in this semi-deserted region both the traces of indigenous culture and remnants of cinema history.

ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM
AniMal
(Iran)
Director: Bahram Ark, Bahman Ark
A man disguises himself as a ram to cross a border into another land.
Cast: Davoud Nourpour

Breaker
(Japan)
Director: Philippe McKie
In tomorrow's Tokyo, the technologically-enhanced body of a young mercenary hacker is overrun by a sentient data weapon.
Cast: Yuka Tomatsu / Arisa Hanzawa / Kazuya Shimizu

Clipping. - "Back Up"
(USA) US Premiere
Director: Anna Zlokovic
An unnamed filmmaker stumbles upon a horrifying discovery—an underground cult-like society where adults have baby faces and milk is the drug of choice.
Cast: Daveed Diggs, Antwon, Signor Benedick The Moor

Information Superhighway
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Mathew Nelson
A man participates in an experiment to test artificial intelligence in driverless cars.
Cast: Luke Banham, Elias Harger, Anna Faye Hunter , Michael Lee

Little Wonder
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jojo Carlman
This refreshing tale of puppet sexuality follows Username: Stray_Cat as he trolls internet dating sites and vaguely meditates on the loneliness of death.
Cast: Christine Moore, Daegan Palmero, Brisco Diggs, and David Breen III

Love After TIme
(Taiwan)
Director: Tsai Tsung-han
After a nuclear explosion, two mutant humans fall in love.
Cast: Lee Hong chi, Nana Lee

Manila Death Squad
(Phillipines, USA)
Director: Dean Colin Marcial
An ambitious journalist challenges the leader of a violent vigilante group to a high-stakes drinking game. Its outcome may score her a scoop... or a bullet to the head.
Cast: Sid Lucero, Annicka Dolonius

The Order of the Orchid
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Alex Italics
A lonely spinster's failed attempt at arranging flowers summons an ominous shadowy figure that sends her into a psychedelic netherworld to confront her own mediocrity.
Cast: Juliette James, Sean T. Randolph

Santa Ana
(Spain, USA) North American Premiere
Director: César Pesquera
Part art-film, part documentary, Santa Ana aims to elucidate the link between evil and the famed Santa Ana winds, extremely dry down-slope winds in Southern California supposedly responsible for a tense, uneasy, wrathful mood among the people of Los Angeles.

Steve's Kinkoes
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Emma Debany
A man copies posters for his missing (and dead) cat at an otherworldly 24/7 photocopy shop. What will happen to him if he stays forever?
Cast: Timmy Gibson, Chance Bartels, John Archer Lundgren


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PRESS CONTACT:
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A vérité documentary study of manhood as observed through the rites and ritual of a rural New Zealand rugby club.

Winner of the 2017 New Zealand Film Awards' top honors for Best Documentary and Best Documentary Cinematography, Slamdance Presents The Ground We Won by Christopher Pryor and Miriam Smith.

"The Ground We Won is a startling, ferociously intelligent, disturbing, heart-warming and hauntingly beautiful piece of filmmaking" - The Dominion Post

Download, rent and rate on iTunes

Pick Of The Litter Slated As Slamdance Opening Night Film
The Russo Brothers To Be Honored with Slamdance Founder's Award
Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Lab (De)escalation Room Project to Headline Education & DIG Program
Festival to be Presented by DGA as Partnership Celebrates 20 Year Anniversary

December 19, 2017 (Los Angeles, CA) Slamdance announced today the Special Screenings program for their 24th Festival edition. The lineup features provocative work from remarkable talent that celebrates the DIY spirit of Slamdance. In January, the festival will present four features in the Special Screenings Program: Bernard and Huey, directed by Dan Mirvish; Roll With Me, directed by Lisa France; Quest, directed by Santiago Rizzo; and the world premiere of Pick Of The Litter, directed by Don Hardy and Slamdance alumni Dana Nachman. Pick Of The Litter will screen as the festival’s Opening Night Film presentation.

“This year’s special screenings at Slamdance are not about movie stars, big name filmmakers or hot trending topics. They share the common theme of humanity—highlighting issues of disability, mental health, the resonance of friendship, and the extraordinary resilience of human beings,” shares Paul Rachman, Slamdance Co-Conspirator and Special Screenings programmer. “From the extraordinary power of one man’s determination to prove himself in Lisa France’s Roll With Me to the reliance and trust we put in the animals and pets we share the earth with, in Dana Nachman’s The Pick of the Litter, where dogs learn to lead the blind into a more fulfilling life. The message is clear—we are all here to help each other.”

Nachman’s previous film, Batkid Begins, premiered at Slamdance in 2015 and quickly became one of the most successful documentaries of the year. Following the film’s world premiere, Warners Bros. Pictures picked up worldwide distribution rights to the title, as well as the rights to adapt the documentary into a narrative film with Julia Roberts attached to produce and star.

Slamdance will host a filmmaker discussion with Slamdance Alumni, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo. The conversation, moderated by Slamdance Co-Founder and President Peter Baxter, will highlight the filmmaking duo’s history with the fest and impart career insight for the this year’s class of Slamdance filmmakers. During the discussion, Slamdance will also honor the Russo Brothers with the Founders Award, which is presented to a Slamdance alumni who has continued to support the indie spirit of the festival well into their careers. The award was first presented in 2015 to director Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dunkirk).

“Slamdance was born out of a determination to show the direct, unfiltered voice of independent artists to audiences.” said Peter Baxter, Slamdance Co-Founder and President. “Our line-up, and the massive support shown from our alumni and partners, embody who we are; an artist-led and artist-driven organization that influences media culture and discovers commercial trends before others do."

The Special Screenings program will also feature the festival’s closing night film, Bernard and Huey, a narrative feature directed by Slamdance co-founder Dan Mirvish and written by Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning cartoonist, playwright, and screenwriter, Jules Feiffer.

Slamdance returns to Park City with the next evolution of Polytechnic, presented by G-Tech. The year-round program offers a series of cutting-edge discussions designed to provide an inclusive learning environment for new ideas and creative methods in filmmaking with an emphasis on technology, development in craft, industry trends, and DIY solutions. In collaboration with University of Utah, Columbia University, Seed & Spark, alumni and industry partners, these daily Polytechnic programs focus on empowering emerging artists working with limited budgets in order to create future success and build long term careers.

The Slamdance showcase DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming) returns to Park City and will feature new and unseen works by emerging visual artists and indie game developers from around the world. This year the showcase will feature 3 unique works: BVOVB: Bruising Vengeance of the Vintage Boxer; The Game: The Game, and The (De)escalation Room.

The (De)escalation Room is a unique presentation that will headline both the DIG and Polytechnic program. It is a workshop-style experience will transform audience members into participants, working together to collaboratively explore de-escalation. The project is from Columbia University’s School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab (Columbia DSL) and School of Social Work’s SAFElab, and is led by storyteller and Slamdance alumnus Lance Weiler and interactive narrative designer Nick Fortugno.

"The (De)escalation Room represents an exciting step in furthering Digital Storytelling Lab's mission, exploring future forms and functions of storytelling.” said Weiler. “Stories have the power to do so much more than simply entertain us. They can be used as tools of inspiration, motivation, mobilization, healing and education. This particular project allows us to mine stories from our own lives, and use them to explore real-life opportunities to de-escalate real-life situations – woefully needed in today's heavily polarized landscape."

BVOVB: Bruising Vengeance of the Vintage Boxer by Michal Rostock is inspired by classic arcade brawlers (Double Dragon, Final Fight) with many enemies, some boss fights and a simple storyline. All in the style of old silent movies with a ragtime themed soundtrack. Both characters and backgrounds are based on original black-and-white photos from the ‘20s and ‘30s. The Game: The Game by Angela Washko presents the persistent practices of several prominent seduction coaches (aka pick-up artists) through the format of a dating simulator.

Today, the festival also announced the Directors Guild of America (DGA) as Presenting Sponsor. This milestone celebrates the 20 years of collaboration between Slamdance and the DGA. The careers of several prominent DGA members can be traced back to Slamdance: Joon-ho Bong (Barking Dogs Never Bite), Lena Dunham (Dealing), and Rian Johnson (Evil Demon Golf Ball from Hell!!!), The Russo Brothers (Pieces) and Lynn Shelton (We Go Way Back).

“We stand by Slamdance, the creative community it’s developed among directors with its mantra, ‘By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers’ and eagerly await their next group of filmmakers who will join our ranks.” said Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton, Co-Chairs, DGA Independent Directors Committee

The 2018 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 19-25. Both DIG and Polytechnic are free programs, open to the public. All presentations will be held at Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah.

SPECIAL SCREENING LINEUP
Bernard and Huey
(USA) - Narrative Feature
Director: Dan Mirvish
Screenwriter: Jules Feiffer
Synopsis: From a script by Oscar/Pulitzer-winner Jules Feiffer (Carnal Knowledge), this is the story of two men behaving badly, and the strong women who rein them in.
Cast: Jim Rash, David Koechner, Mae Whitman, Sasha Alexander, Eka Darville, Richard Kind, Nancy Travis, Bellamy Young

Pick Of The Litter
(USA) World Premiere - Documentary Feature
Directors: Dana Nachman, Don Hardy
Screenwriter: Dana Nachman
Synopsis: Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from birth through the day they make it to become a Guide Dog and into the hands of a blind person, or… get cut from the program. The audience comes along on the two-year odyssey as the five dogs train to become guide dogs. Only the best dog will make the cut.

Quest
(USA) Narrative Feature
Director: Santiago Rizzo
Synopsis: Quest is a non-romantic story of love, about a friendship between a 12-year-old graffiti addict who faces constant abuse from his step-father, and a teacher named Tim Moellering who believes there is no such thing as a bad kid — only a bad situation. Based on the stories of their lives, the first draft of Quest was written by director Santiago Rizzo and his teacher Tim Moellering. This is their story.
Screenwriters: Santiago Rizzo, Darren Anderson
Cast: Dash Mihok, Lou Diamond Phillips, Lakeith Stanfield, Betsy Brandt, Greg Kasyan, Marlyne Barrett, Sepideh Moafi, Tobit Raphael

Roll With Me
(USA) Documentary Feature
Director: Lisa France
Screenwriter: Jeff Buccellato, Lisa France
Documentary Subjects: Gabriel Cordell, Christopher Kawas
Synopsis: After hitting rock-bottom, a newly sober paraplegic attempts to save his gang-banger nephew’s life by bringing him along on a 3,100-mile wheelchair trek across the United States. What starts out as a challenge to push an unmodified wheelchair from California to New York, morphs into a transcendent journey.

POLYTECHNIC PROGRAM
● The State of Film / Crowdfunding for Career Independence
With Emily Best & Gerry Maravilla
Friday, January 19 - Noon - 1:30pm

Emily Best and Gerry Maravilla from Seed&Spark are here to share how crowdfunding can be an important tool for raising funds, widening your audience, and communicating with current and future fans in order to ensure that this isn't the only project you make - it's one of many in your lengthy filmmaking career. You'll also find out why data, inclusion, and distro all factor into your success on Seed&Spark, the only platform with a 75% success rate for filmmakers. Learn why crowd-building has to occur before crowd-funding, how to set a realistic campaign goal, how to craft an effective pitch video, what the unique Seed&Spark feedback process is like, and how to continue your connection with your community after your campaign ends.

● Two Brothers, Twenty Years: The Russo Brothers' Past and Future
With Joe and Anthony Russo
Saturday, January 20 - Noon - 1:30pm

From their 1997 Slamdance premiere to their establishment of The Russo Brothers Fellowship at Slamdance 2018, Anthony and Joe Russo have seen the film industry change more (and more quickly) than it ever has before.

While working on myriad projects over two decades, the Russos have seen old-fashioned theater-going give way to pocket computers, streaming services, and endless OnDemand options. Amidst these changes, the brothers rose to studio heights while retaining the authenticity and artist-driven focus of independent filmmakers.

As mentors and partners, Anthony and Joe spend lunchtime with us, deconstructing the mythology of their own “indie success story,” and openly sharing the challenges they’ve faced and wisdom they’ve gained.

● (De)escalation Room by Columbia DSL
With Lance Weiler and Nick Fortugno
Sunday, January 21 - Noon - 2pm

What if we built an environment inspired by negative conversations and behaviors found on social media platforms and in the real world? Inside of this environment, situations quickly escalate. But this time, we would be able to do something about it.

The goal of the (De)escalation Room project is to design a creative framework that allows people to take the lead in creating their own immersive, collaborative experiences. Within these experiences, they’ll be able to teach each other how to identify escalating situations and safely de-escalate them; change norms around escalation; and leave room for self and group reflection on the process.

At Slamdance this January, Columbia DSL will present the next iteration of the (De)escalation Room. This workshop-style experience will transform audience members into participants, working together to collaboratively explore de-escalation.

● When I Was You I Wish I Knew: The Ins and Outs of Distribution
With John Charles Meyer & Cullen Hoback
Monday, January 22 - Noon - 1:30pm

Slamdance alums John Charles Meyer (Dave Made a Maze) and Cullen Hoback (What Lies Upstream) remember how exhausting, overwhelming, and scary a time like this can be, no matter what sort of distribution possibilities you’re considering.

● Social Media Charm School
With Julie Keck and guest "influencer"
Tuesday, January 23 - Noon - 1:30pm

In this time of BRB and OMG, charm and relationship building can seem like a lost art. However, a little charm can go a long way, especially if you're trying to gather a following for your amazing cinematic endeavors. In this session, find out how to put your best face forward on social media to make real connections with your audience, potential collaborators, influencers, ambassadors, and friends.

Based on years for filmmaking, film marketing, and social media experience, Julie Keck from Seed&Spark will walk you through the platforms you should be on, how much time you should spend on them, how to strike the right tone, how to use social media during a crowdfunding or other campaign, and how to do all of this and still have time left over to, you know, make movies.

Bonus: Everyone who attends will get a free digital copy of Julie's book Social Media Charm School. Happy early birthday.

● Art Of The Pitch
With Julie Keck & Emily Best
Wednesday, January 24 - Noon - 1:30pm

Your dream project is often rattling around in your head (and then on your laptop) for years before you share it with anyone else. And when it's time to share it with potential collaborators, investors, or audience members, it can be hard to sum up all of your hard work into a quick 5-minute pitch. Don't worry - you'll get there. It just takes practice.

This workshop-style program is for filmmakers ready to start putting their work into the world, as effectively as possible. Emily Best and Julie Keck of Seed&Spark will share tips about how to present your idea to different audience, how to prepare for meetings, and why practice is your friend. Be prepared to practice your 5-minute pitch in a safe and secure space, with others in your shoes. And if we're lucky, we might ask you to pitch to the whole group. No time like the present to build your audience, right?

You do not have to have a practices, readied pitch to attend this session, only an idea for your next project and a willingness to both share your idea and listen to others. Ready? Let's do this.

● Life As a Truly Independent Filmmaker: A Survival Guide
With Noel Lawrence, Robert Koehler, Titanic Sinclair, Jennifer Goodridge, and Alissa Torvinen
Thursday, January 25 - Noon - 1:30pm

While the fine arts emphasize the aesthetic and imaginative freedom of creators, the ‘entertainment’ industry is based upon commercial success. However, a small but vocal minority of auteurs practice cinema as an art form. Some of them work in avant-garde film. Others spend years constructing a couple minutes of animation. A precious few become renowned ‘cult’ directors. All of them feel compelled to pursue personal visions. But in order to produce work that goes against the grain, these filmmakers must take roads less traveled in their career path. How is that possible?

This discussion explores how career artists survive in a system that does not favor the bold. If you are wondering how to pay your rent without selling out to the man, this panel may be for you.

●Daily Legal Clinics
With Pierce Law Group
Friday, January 19 - Monday, January 22 - 10am-11am

Pierce Law Group will be providing an all-encompassing look at the process of funding, producing, and distributing films, television, and new media. Our team will offer in-depth looks at the many factors in getting an independent project off the ground, from script clearance and E & O insurance, to actor and writer agreements, to on-set safety, to finding distribution, as well as a look at the litigation side of the entertainment industry. We examine current legal trends from the perspective of the independent filmmaker, and create an open forum during which filmmakers can engage in a discussion about the perpetually changing legal landscape.

DIG LINEUP
● (De)escalation Room Columbia University’s School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab and School of Social Work’s SAFElab, and is led by storyteller, entrepreneur and Slamdance Alumnus Lance Weiler and Nick Fortugno.

The goal of the (De)escalation Room project is to design a creative framework that will allow people to take the lead in creating their own experience. Within these experiences, they’ll be able to teach each other how to identify escalating situations and safely de-escalate them; change norms around escalation; and leave room for self and group reflection on the process

● BVOVB: Bruising Vengeance of the Vintage Boxer by Michal Rostocki
Your glory days as a boxer are long gone. Once a champ, now a bum. All you care about is beer and your dog - Max the Rottweiler. Unfortunately your faithful dog has been stolen and you must get him back and punish the ones responsible.

The game is inspired by classic arcade brawlers (Double Dragon, Final Fight) with many enemies, some boss fights and a simple storyline. All in the style of old silent movies with a ragtime themed soundtrack. Both characters and backgrounds are based on original black-and-white photos from the ‘20s and ‘30s.

● The Game: The Game by Angela Washko
The Game: The Game is a video game presenting the practices of several prominent seduction coaches (aka pick-up artists) through the format of a dating simulator. In the game these pick-up gurus attempt to seduce the player using their signature techniques taken verbatim from their instructional books and video materials. The game sets up the opportunity for players to explore the complexity of the construction of social behaviors around dating as well as the experience of being a femme-presenting individual navigating this complicated terrain.
Washko hopes to add levels of complexity to public conversations around both pick-up and feminism which have both found themselves most often presented in highly polarized, dichotomous positions in mainstream media.

###

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PRESS CONTACT:
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eseel@afterbruce.com
562-881-6725
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Rock Steady Row Wins Best Narrative Feature and Audience Award
Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End Wins Best Documentary Feature
Yassmina Karajah To Receive The Inaugural Russo Brothers Fellowship
Railment Wins CreativeFuture Innovation Award
Actress Rhaechyl Walker Wins Inaugural Acting Award
Director Wendy McColm Wins George Starks Spirit Of Slamdance Award

(PARK CITY, UT – January 25, 2018) – The 24th Slamdance Film Festival presented by DGA announced the feature and short film recipients of this year’s Sparky Awards in the Audience, Jury, and Sponsored Categories. The festival also announced the recipients of three new awards: The Russo Brothers Fellowship, the CreativeFuture Innovation Award, and a curated Acting Award. The award winners were announced this evening at the festival’s annual Awards Ceremony at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, UT.

The Awards Ceremony celebrates a week of emerging talent and the continued success of Slamdance Alumni, which includes: Jana Winternitz (Ur Friendz, 2010) and Dana Nachman (BatKid Begins, 2015). Pick Of The Litter, directed by Don Hardy and Nachman, made its world premiere at the fest and was acquired by Sundance Selects. The film was sold within 24 hours of its Opening Night screening, making it the first documentary feature to sell in Park City this year.

“We congratulate the winners and everyone at Slamdance who represented the unfiltered voice of independent artists. Thousands came to appreciate our diverse international program, including our neighbors Sundance. As the major acquisition of Pick of the Litter demonstrates, we can expect millions more to follow as our filmmakers and their work continue to attract global recognition out of our showcase.”

During the Awards Ceremony, Baxter announced the recipient of the highly anticipated The Russo Brothers Fellowship. The $25,000 prize, presented by AGBO Films in partnership with the festival, is designed to enable a deserving filmmaker the opportunity to continue their journey with mentorship from Joe and Anthony as well as development support from their studio. The 2018 recipient of the inaugural Russo Brothers Fellowship is Yassmina Karajah, director of the narrative short, Rupture.

“Ever since their first film premiered at Slamdance, Anthony and Joe Russo have cared deeply about supporting our community. They have continually given back to a festival that helped them—first as programmers and increasingly now as mentors. The Russo brothers embody our ‘by filmmakers, for filmmakers’ paradigm and by awarding Yassmina Karajah with the inaugural Fellowship Award, demonstrate the power of our artist led community to help launch careers.”

Peter Baxter presented the award, and shared these remarks from Anthony and Joe Russo: “There were many special films at Slamdance this year, but Yassmina Karajah brought exceptional direction and an elegant cinematic style to a very difficult and worthy story, portraying the heartbreaking experience of immigrant children. We’re inspired to help her continue her journey as a filmmaker, and greatly look forward to working with her.”

The Festival also presented the inaugural CreativeFeature Innovation Award. Slamdance and CreativeFuture have partnered for years to support new talent in the world of film and educate creatives on the importance of protecting their work. This inaugural Award is given to an emerging filmmaker who exhibits the innovative spirit of filmmaking. The CreativeFuture Innovation Award went to Shunsaku Hayashi for his animated short film, Railment.

Peter Baxter presented the award on behalf of CreativeFuture, and shared remarks from Ruth Vitale, CreativeFuture CEO: “Congratulations to Shunsaku Hayashi for winning Slamdance’s CreativeFuture Innovation Award. His film, Railment, exemplifies the innovative spirit of filmmaking by masterfully telling a story through the expert use of visuals and striking colors. The award is well-deserved and we look forward to seeing more from Shunsaku.”

This year’s feature competition lineup included 16 premieres—9 World, 6 North American, and 1 US premiere. Most titles were produced in the US, with additional features hailing from: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany and Netherlands. All competition films are feature length directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million USD, and without US distribution.

A jury of esteemed filmmakers and industry professionals determined the Slamdance Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. Audience Awards, as well as the newly named George Starks Spirit Of Slamdance Award—an award given by the filmmakers of Slamdance 2018 to the filmmaker who best embodies the spirit of the Festival—were also presented during the ceremony.

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Jury Prizes were selected by: Charles Olivier (Director, Snow & Ashes), Lucy Mukerjee (Director of Programming, Outfest), Thomas Mahoney (Producer, The Girl In The Photographs). The Sparky Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Rock Steady Row, directed by Trevor Stevens and written by Bomani Story

“Rock Steady Row is a shining star in genre, young adult themes, and ‘save the day’ filmmaking. Done creatively in a comic book meets George Miller meets John Carpenter universe. Sharply directed by Trevor Stevens and written by Bomani Story. With strong ingenuity not commonly seen at this budget and experience level, Rock Steady Row stands tall,” said jurors.

This year’s Slamdance Documentary Jury Prizes were selected by: Charlotte Cook (Co-Founder and Executive Producer, Field Of Vision), and Cullen Hoback (Director, What Lies Upstream). The Sparky Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End, directed by Pablo Bryant

The jury shared, “Crafted with the same rugged earnestness and political incorrectness as its subject, this fast paced, exceptionally told portrait creates a complex, funny and layered depiction of a cartoonist who embodies the principles of free speech while revealing the trappings of such an existence. Just like Fish’s cartoons, Mr, Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End is a gateway to hard political discourse, challenging social norms and forcing us to look more closely at what tolerance means. For showing us what is lost when political art is sacrificed to subscription fees, and capturing its subject with the same raw idealism that keeps Fish drawing, we give the Feature Documentary Award to Mr. Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End.”

The Sparky Award for Best Documentary Short went to Nueva Vida, directed by Jonathan Seligson.

From the jurors: “Humble, heartbreaking, and hilarious; this short, personal documentary employs animation to great effect; reminding us of the impermanence and seeming randomness of the universe, and the life altering calamity that can ensue from nothing more than a soccer ball hit to the head. For transforming a captivating 7 minute interview into a highly illustrative and unforgettable story, we give the Best Short Documentary Award to: Nueva Vida.”

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Shorts Prize was selected by: Kevin Hanson (Head of the Film & Media Arts Department, University of Utah), Scott Renshaw (Arts & Entertainment Editor, The Salt Lake Tribune) and Olivia Mascheroni (Executive Producer, Blumhouse Productions). The Sparky award for Best Narrative Short went to Rupture, directed by Yassmina Karajah.

“As a filmmaker and a teacher, I am always encouraging blurring the line between narrative and documentary,” said Kevin Hanson. “This film does that to enormous effect. Not only is the film as a whole a beautiful and uniquely framed journey, but we also have a truly organic experience of these children who are pushed by the director and then allowed to live their own lives within the story. It was a privilege to experience this film.”

This year’s Slamdance Experimental and Animation Shorts jury prizes were selected by: Angela H. Brown (Executive Editor, SLUG Magazine), Beckie Stocchetti (Executive Director, Hawaii International Film Festival) and Andres Olsen-Rodriguez (Projectionist, Slamdance). The Sparky Prize for Best Experimental Short went to Are You Tired Of Forever?, directed by Caitlin Craggs.

“Are You Tired Of Forever? embodies the artistic, DIY soul of Slamdance ... in melting teacup." said the jurors.

The Sparky Prize for Best Animation Short went to Interstitial, directed by Shunsaku Hayashi.

"Interstitial is a visual poem that evokes a universal human experience. Hayashi's hand-drawn artwork and self-composed audio are testaments to the labor and love injected into this emotive piece," said the jury.

Each jury also recognized additional films with Honorable Mentions:
Narrative Feature Honorable Mention - Lovers (Dir.: Niels Holstein Kaa)
Narrative Feature Honorable Mention - Fake Tattoos (Dir.: Pascal Plante)
Documentary Feature Honorable Mention - MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon)
Documentary Shorts Honorable Mention - The Last Man You Meet (Chris Bone)
Narrative Shorts Honorable Mention - Goodbye Brooklyn (Dir.: Daniel Jaffe)
Experimental Shorts Honorable Mention - Silica (Dir.: Pia Borg)
Animation Shorts Honorable Mention - Satellite Strangers (Dir. James Bascara)

Additionally, a curated Acting Award was presented to Rhaechyl Walker for her breakout performance in, My Name Is Myeisha.

“My Name Is Myeisha is one of the best feature narratives to have played at Slamdance and central to its a success is the performance of Rhaechyl Walker, one of the best I have ever seen,” said Baxter.

“When we started this project seven years ago on a stage at an open mic night, the thought of our story being amplified on a silver screen never entered my mind.” said Walker. “I am so proud, and beyond honored to be a part of such a powerful force of artistic expression that has found its way into many hearts, planted a seed, and nourished souls. Thank you Slamdance for providing this amazing platform, and for this phenomenal award.”

The George Starks Spirit Of Slamdance Award went to Wendy McColm, director of Birds Without Feathers. Formerly known as the Spirit of Slamdance Award, the prize was renamed in the honor of George Starks. Starks, who passed away last summer, was a longtime friend of Slamdance and served as the festival’s Utah Producer.

“I like to think that George was made for Slamdance, and Slamdance was made for him,” shared Baxter. “He always saw the best in our filmmakers and encouraged their potential while never seeking attention for himself. George’s spirit and constant belief in our community shaped Slamdance’s success and consequently many artists. We’ve lost a upon light upon us that we never wanted to go out. George will forever embody the spirit of Slamdance.”

Awards were also given to festival favorites, voted on by Slamdance audiences. The Narrative Feature Audience Award was presented to Rock Steady Row, directed by Trevor Stevens. Freedom For The Wolf, directed by Rupert Russell, received the Documentary Feature Audience Award, The Beyond Feature Audience Award was awarded to My Name Is Myeisha, directed by Gus Krieger.

The festival also recognized the Audience Award runners-up in their respective feature categories: Charlie And Hannah's Grand Night Out (Dir: Bert Scholiers), MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon) and Funny Story (Dir.: Michael Gallagher).


A full list of winners is below:

Jury Awards | Narrative Features
Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize - Rock Steady Row (Dir.: Trevor Stevens)
Honorable Mentions: Fake Tattoos (Dir.: Pascal Plante) and Lovers (Dir.: Niels Holstein Kaa)

Jury Awards | Documentary Features, Documentary Shorts
Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize - Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End (Dir.: Pablo Bryant)
Honorable Mention - MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon)

Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize - Nueva Vida (Dir.: Jonathan Seligson)
Honorable Mention: The Last Man You Meet (Dir.: Chris Bone)

Jury Awards - Narrative Shorts
Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Rupture (Dir.: Yassmina Karajah)
Honorable Mention: Goodbye, Brooklyn (Dir.: Daniel Jaffe)

Jury Awards - Experimental Shorts/ Animated Shorts
Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Are You Tired Of Forever? (Dir.: Caitlin Craggs)
Honorable Mention: Silica (Dir.: Pia Borg)

Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Interstitial (Dir.: Shunsaku Hayashi)
Honorable Mention: Satellite Strangers (Dir.: James Bascara)

Slamdance Acting Award:
Rhaechyl Walker (My Name is Myeisha)

Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner:
Wendy McColm (Dir. of Birds Without Feathers)

CreativeFuture Innovation Award:
Railment (Dir.: Shunsaku Hayashi)

The Russo Brothers Fellowship Award Winner:
Rupture (Dir.: Yassmina Karajah)

Audience Awards:
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: Rock Steady Row (Dir.: Trevor Stevens)
Runner up: Charlie And Hannah's Grand Night Out (Dir.: Bert Scholiers)

Audience Award for Documentary Feature: Freedom For The Wolf (Dir.: Rupert Russell)
Runner up: MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon)

Audience Award for Beyond Feature: My Name Is Myeisha (Dir.: Gus Krieger)
Runner up: Funny Story (Dir.: Michael Gallagher)

Photos/Images:
Slamdance Logo: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9nekxn78u2vdyuf/AAC48cgUrZRZN2mgxowkj-WTa?dl=0
Awards Images (Film Stills only): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1n_TwAskdDPZpEb4nOJZf3rIFEuMy4COa?usp=sharing
Event photos from Awards Ceremony: forthcoming (Photo Credit: Lauren Desberg/SLAMDANCE) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gm47rvn3fhmb5x0/AABbMUunhLJGBXX1dHptlJzpa?dl=0


PRESS CONTACT:
After Bruce PR
Eseel Borlasa
eseel@afterbruce.com
562-881-6725
Tracy Nguyen-Chung
tracy@afterbruce.com
503-701-2115

(PARK CITY, UT – January 26, 2017)– The 23rd 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.


Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves. Previous Slamdance alumni include: Christopher Nolan (THE DARK KNIGHT; MEMENTO), and Claire Carre (EMBERS).

“Independent film is made beautiful not by those individual artists that form celebrity culture but by creative collaboration” said Slamdance Co-Founder and President, Peter Baxter. “At Slamdance this year we've experienced an entire program of beautiful independent film and the promise of great emerging artists continuing the legacy of what we set out to do. With our awards we honor several filmmakers yet we know and must acknowledge Slamdance has just been made stronger by everyone of them who has taken part.”

A jury of esteemed filmmakers and industry professionals 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 2017 to the filmmaker who best embodies the spirit of the Festival, were also bestowed. Additional sponsored awards were provided by NAB Show, Final Draft, and Pierce Law Group LLP. 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.

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Jury Prizes were selected by: film critic Jason Coleman, Ania Trzebiatowska (Visit Films), and filmmaker Jerzy Rose (CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY). The Sparky Prize for Best Narrative Feature went to DIM THE FLUORESCENTS; directed by Daniel Warth, and written by Warth and Miles Barstead.

“It’s empathetic, weird and insanely funny.” said Slamdance jurors. “This film delivers its crazy script with guts & panache. It's a delight--beautifully executed and smart as a whip.”

This year’s Slamdance Documentary Jury Prizes were selected by: filmmaker Adrian Belic (GENGHIS BLUES; BEYOND THE CALL), filmmaker Mario DeAngelis, filmmaker/journalist Silvia Bizio. The Sparky Prize for Best Documentary Feature went to STRAD STYLE; directed by Stefan Avalos.

Jurors shared that they honor the film, “for capturing a journey of passion and commitment, honesty and the triumph of one vision against all odds.”

The same Jury also gave the Sparky Prize for Best Documentary Short to MORIOM, directed by Francesca Scalisi and Mark Olexa, highlighting “its arresting portrayal dramatically shot of human trauma and its consequence.”

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Shorts and Animated Shorts jury prizes were selected by: filmmaker Sonia Albert Sobrino, Jeffrey Bowers (VIMEO, Sr, Curator), and filmmaker Malik Vitthal (IMPERIAL DREAMS). The Sparky Prize for Best Narrative Short went to NO OTHER WAY TO SAY IT, directed by Tim Mason

Jurors celebrated the film and shared, “we recognize this brave new voice that found the magical combination to create this work.”

The Sparky Prize for Best Animated Short went to Hold Me (Ca Caw Ca Caw), directed by Renee Zhan. “This film is brilliant, and nuanced portrait of power and control and the pain that this artists creates,” said Jurors. “Its honest voice found a way to share a very private moment with a flawless combination of oppressed levity”

This year’s Experimental Shorts/Anarchy Shorts Prizes were selected by: filmmaker Miriam Albert Sobrino, filmmaker Mike Olenick (RED LUCK; THE CURE), and film programmer Bryan Wendorf (Chicago Underground Film Festival)

The Sparky Prize for Best Experimental Short went to UpCycles, directed by Ariana Gerstein. “We are impressed by the unusual and meticulous process involved in making UpCycles,” said Jurors. “We are even more affected that the process never overshadowed the pure visual delight of experiencing this experimental film.”

The Sparky Prize for Best Anarchy Short was given to APE SODOM, directed by Maxwell McCabe-Lokos. “While we were impressed by the strange and fully realized world of this film,” Jurors said, “We were more impressed by seeing how many objects someone could shove up their ass at one time. Ape Sodom not only lived up to its name--it embodies the spirit of anarchy.”

The Spirit Of Slamdance Award went to the film team of NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD DRIVE, directed by Jerzy Rose, and written by Rose, Halle Butler, and Mike Lopez

Awards were also given to festival favorites, voted on by the Slamdance audiences. The Narrative Feature Audience Award was given to DAVE MADE A MAZE, Bill Watterson, and written by Watterson and Steven Sears. The Documentary Feature Audience Award was given to STRAD STYLE. The Beyond Feature Audience Award was given to FUTURE ‘38, directed by Jamie Greenberg.

Immediately following closing night, Slamdance will present a special encore screening in Los Angeles of their opening night film, WHAT LIES UPSTREAM. The documentary feature, directed by Cullen Hoback will launch the ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club 2017 season on Tuesday, January 31st at the ArcLight Hollywood. Tickets

Full List of Winners
Jury Awards | Narrative Features
Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize:
DIM THE FLUORESCENTS
(Canada) World Premiere
Director: Daniel Warth; Screenwriter(s): Miles Barstead, Daniel Warth
Jury statement: “Empathetic, weird and insanely funny, this film delivers its crazy script with guts & panache. It's a delight--beautifully executed and smart as a whip. The jury is thrilled to present the grand jury prize for best narrative feature to DIM THE FLUORESCENTS.”

Narrative Features Honorable Mention:
KATE CAN'T SWIM
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Josh Helman; Screenwriter(s): Jennifer Allcott, Josh Helman
Jury statement: “Flawless in its execution of portraying real relationships with believably nuanced characters, authentic on-screen chemistry and an engaging story that thrives on what isn’t said.”

Jury Awards | Documentary Features, Documentary Shorts
Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize:
STRAD STYLE
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Stefan Avalos
Jury statement: “For capturing a journey of passion and commitment, honesty and the triumph of one vision against all odds.’

Documentary Feature Honorable Mention:
THE MODERN JUNGLE
(Mexico/USA)
Director(s) & Screenwriter(s): Charles Fairbanks, Saul Kak
Jury statement: “For its beautiful cinematography, for a compassionate journey into a dangerous and uncharted world.”

Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize:
MORIOM
(Switzerland)
Director(s): Francesca Scalisi, Mark Olexa
Jury statement: “For an arresting portrayal dramatically shot of human trauma and its consequence.”

Documentary Short Honorable Mention:
IRREGULARS
(Italy)
Director: Fabio Palmieri
Jury statement: “For its visionary take on the dehumanized face of immigration.”

Jury Awards - Narrative Shorts/Animated Shorts
Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize:
NO OTHER WAY TO SAY IT
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Mason
Jury statement: “Brave new voice, that found the magical combination to create the complete short film. "It's Good There's no other way to say it."

Narrative Shorts Honorable Mention:
OH WHAT A WONDERFUL FEELING
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: François Jaros
Jury statement: “Powerful storytelling that found a way to lean away from the stereotypes and consider the humans within the context, with a technical savvy and social responsibility this film reminds us to witness everyone and to see their power.”

Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize:
HOLD ME (CA CAW CA CAW)
(USA)
Renee Zhan
Jury statement: “For its brilliant, and nuanced portrait of power and control and the pain that this artists creates. This honest voice found a way to share a very private moment with a flawless combination of oppressed levity”

Animated Shorts Honorable Mention:
MY FATHER'S ROOM
(South Korea) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Nari Jang
Jury statement: “This heartbreaking portrait of a girl's broken relationship and the lifelong effects of growing up with an abusive father found a way to sear into its audience to look at the root of pain, asking us to reflect if we could ever escape its cloud. A complete and touching film.”

Jury Awards - Experimental Shorts/Anarchy Shorts
Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize:
UPCYCLES
(USA)
Director: Ariana Gerstein
Jury statement: “We are impressed by the unusual and meticulous process involved in making UpCycles. We are even more affected that the process never overshadowed the pure visual delight of experiencing this experimental film.”

Experimental Shorts Honorable Mention:
BLUA
(Colombia)
Director and Screenwriter: Carolina Charry Quintero
Jury statement: “We were surprised by the unexpected shifts between the documentary, narrative, and experimental moments in Blua, and we look forward to seeing the path the filmmaker takes with her future work.”

Anarchy Shorts Grand Jury Prize:
APE SODOM
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Jury statement: “While we were impressed by the strange and fully realized world of this film, we were more impressed by seeing how many objects someone could shove up their ass at one time. Ape Sodom not only lived up to its name -- it embodies the spirit of anarchy.”

Anarchy Shorts Honorable Mention:
HORSESHOE THEORY
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jonathan Daniel Brown
Jury statement: “At a time when America is more divided than ever, this film gives us the hope that two opposing sides can set aside their differences, come together, work together, fall in love... and cum together.”

Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner:
NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD DRIVE
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jerzy Rose; Screenwriter(s): Halle Butler, Mike Lopez, Jerzy Rose

Audience Awards
Audience Award for Narrative Feature:
DAVE MADE A MAZE
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Bill Watterson; Screenwriter(s): Steven Sears, Bill Watterson

Audience Award for Documentary Feature:
STRAD STYLE
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Stefan Avalos

Audience Award for Beyond Feature:
FUTURE '38
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Greenberg

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.

The 2017 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 20-26 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:
www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. In August 2016, Slamdance Presents launched the week long release of Claire Carré’s feature sci-fi film, Embers, at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. Steve Yu’s The Resurrection of Jake The Snake was 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 (Digital, Interactive & Gaming), 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. DIG opened in Los Angeles December 2-10, 2016 and will form part of the 2017 Film Festival.

2017 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Fusion, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, 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 Slamdance is available at www.slamdance.com

Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

PRESS CONTACT:
After Bruce PR
Eseel Borlasa
eseel@afterbruce.com
562-881-6725
Tracy Nguyen-Chung
tracy@afterbruce.com
503-701-2115

Driven, co-presented by Slamdance, is a scripted series by Stephen Elliott (The Adderall Diaries, After Adderall) that delves into the world of on-demand car services and the lives behind those who ride and those who drive. It's also a commentary on how people live in post-Trump America.

Click here to view more episodes.



Paul Mitchell is 45 years old and lives in New York. He's the author of several books but hasn't written much in a long time. The day Donald Trump is elected Paul realizes he's tired of trying to write. He gives up and becomes a driver for Panda Car, a car-sharing platform rival to Uber.

Ep. 1 Cast: Jennifer Missoni, Paul Glover, Michael Cunningham, Will Dagger, Ariana Chevalier, Nina Binder, Stephen Elliott

Pics from Slamdance 2017 by Ian Stroud

The 4th annual Slamdance DIG showcase will take place at St. Vincent Court in Downtown Los Angeles from
September 13-16, 2018

DIG (Digital, Interactive and Gaming) is a community-driven showcase of interactive art that challenges us to rethink what we know about storytelling. DIG provides a platform to both emerging artists and established creators whose work goes beyond traditional art. Can you dig it?

Learn more and submit here.

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Slamdance is very excited to announce the quarter-finalists for the 2018 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Congratulations to our Top 106!

We received so many amazing screenplays this year, and each year the final decisions get tougher to make. To those who did not make the quarter-finals, we wish to assure you that Screenplay Competitions are not the final say on writing, cinema and certainly not on artistic achievement. Many screenplays we have not selected in the past have gone on to great success at other contests and have been produced.

The semi-finalists will be announced on September 24th.
Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our website and social media!


2018 QUARTER-FINALISTS - Top 106
(in alphabetical order)
Feature:
A Hunt For The Devil by Michael Machin
A Native Land by Caitlin McCarthy
A Texas Story by David Martin-Porras
The Anklebiter by Andy Jones
Baron of Havana by Alex Simon
Bullfrog by David O'Neill
Bury Me at Naper High by Michael Lackos
Calle De Los Negros by Daniel Holland
Cancuncito by Carlos Alejandro Marulanda
Cataumet by Matthew Percival
Coastline by Ned Farr
The Divide by Christopher San Diego
Doodle by Jonathan Medici
Drag by J Nava
Experience by Taj Jenkins Musco
Fast Fashion by David Mandell
Firelight by Matt Harry
Flightless by Kristine Stephenson
Forget-Me-Nots by John Dummer
Girls In Trouble by Brenna Perez
Glitter Pony by Kai Collins
Grit N' Glitter by Seth Donsky
I Am The Wolf by Joel Gregoire
In Burton's Shadow by Michael Selditch
Inang's Land by Arvin Bautista
The Innocent and the Vicious by Dominique Genest & Nick Kreiss
Labour The Dogs of London by Mike L. Goforth
The Last Party Girl by Thomas Vickers and Jacob Hatley
Mail THief by Charlie Tarabour
May December by Sebastian Davis
Men by Rebecca Dreyfus
Midnight at the Movies by Jennifer Gutierrez
Mirsada by Patrick Holden
Orwell’s War by Larry Bogad
Penthouse B by Casey Schroen
Please Let Everything Be All Right by Paul Chang
Polly Freed by Brooke Berman
Rare Medium by Greg Wayne
The Rescuer by Lina Roessler
The Reset Button by Jennifer Rapaport
Roll The Bones by Donn Kennedy
Sacagawea by Peggy Bruen
Saving America by Michael Lederer
Scout by Samuel Goodwin
Shared Vision by Manuel Brandozzi
Shells by Justin Horowitz
Shrimp by Nicole Jones
Stall Boy by Luke Toye
The Terrible Child by Rebecca Pecaut
Toxic by Bennet De Brabandere
Trigger Spell by Kyle Ferchen
Tussle by Aaron Yarber
Twenty-Five Dangerous Crimes by Ward McMasters
Versus by Ariel Schmiedhauser
Water Boy by Annique Arredondo
When The SIidewalk Ends by T Sahara Meer
Young Monsters by Christine Vartoughian

Horror
Bar Mitzvah '94 by Michael Reich & Michael Pinkey
Blood in The Water by Laura Gillis
Candle by Jonathan Redding
Causeway by Stanley Wong & Patrick Dorsey
Night Wind Howls by Connor Savage
The Retreat by Alyson Richards
So Lonely I Could Die by Andrew Todd & Johnny Hall
The Undertaker's Children by Natasha Le Petit
Video Nasties by Jake Yuzna
Wendigo by Mike Langer

TV Pilot
All Together Now by Jules Horowitz
Dark Horizons by Erin Carere, Carlo Carere
Darkened Room by Tamara Maloney, Maeve McQuillan
Durango by Robert Brickman
Fufu by William Horace
Hag by Dan Hass
Hater by John A. Griffin
Head by Annabel Seymour
Holy Ghosts by Mimi Jeffries
Hooked by Rachel Hroncich
Indians in America by Shane Sakhrani
The Nation by Jon Kauffman
Over The Rainbow by Jessica Sinyard
The Peak by Jessica Sinyard
Phantom by Dan Williams
Politics as Usual by Nora Jobling
Prince of Vice by Christopher Beaton and Justin Talley
R.P.M. by Jeffrey Jackson
The Red by John Whitcher
The Resurrectionist: Pilot by Josh Katz and Josh Thorud
Salute by Kadija Moulton
Sasquatch by Rebecca Bohanan
Satanic Panic by JB Herndon & Celina Paiz
Scarlet by Keaton McGruder
Simple Lies, Hard Truths by Myles Reid
V-A-N-N-A by Laura Pollak
The Weather Underground by Brian Burstein

Short
Ami by Matt O'Connor
Blight by Brittany Clemons
Heartland by Monica West
Icon by Joshua Branstetter
P.O.V. by Justin Ching
The Proposition by Neha Aziz
The Settlement by Nikolas Benn
Standoff by Thomas Patrick
Sundown County by Victor Ridaura
That's the Password in This Town by Marfisia Bel
To Sonny by Maggie Briggs
Violet by Rafael Gamboa

We are delighted to announce and congratulate the semi-finalist screenwriters of the 2018 Slamdance Screenplay Competition! Finalists will be announced on October 1st and the competition winners will be announced at our celebration on October 11th at the WGA West.


Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our website!


2018 SEMI-FINALISTS - Top 32
(in alphabetical order)
Feature:
Calle De Los Negros by Daniel Holland
Cancuncito by Carlos Alejandro Marulanda
Experience by Taj Jenkins Musco
Girls In Trouble by Brenna Perez
I Am The Wolf by Joel Gregoire
The Innocent and the Vicious by Dominique Genest & Nick Kreiss
The Last Party Girl by Thomas Vickers and Jacob Hatley
Orwell’s War by Larry Bogad
Penthouse B by Casey Schroen
Please Let Everything Be All Right by Paul Chang
Roll The Bones by Donn Kennedy
The Terrible Child by Rebecca Pecaut

Horror
Candle by Jonathan Redding
Causeway by Stanley Wong & Patrick Dorsey
The Retreat by Alyson Richards
So Lonely I Could Die by Andrew Todd & Johnny Hall
The Undertaker's Children by Natasha Le Petit
Wendigo by Mike Langer

TV Pilot
Darkened Room by Tamara Maloney & Maeve McQuillan
Durango by Robert Brickman
Fufu by William Horace
Head by Annabel Seymour
Over The Rainbow by Jessica Sinyard
The Peak by Jessica Sinyard
Phantom by Dan Williams
The Red by John Whitcher

Short
Ami by Matt O'Connor
Icon by Joshua Branstetter
The Proposition by Neha Aziz
The Settlement by Nikolas Benn
Sundown County by Victor Ridaura
That's the Password in This Town by Marfisia Bel