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Tag: sundance film festival

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Anastasia Blackwell Attends "Horsewhisper" Buck Brannaman's Clinic

Note: "The House on Black Lake" has been adapted to screenplay. To view provocative cinematic trailer filmed by Sundance winning cinematographer Frazer Bradshaw, go to Home Page.

I recently attended a horsemanship clinic led by Buck Brannaman. Buck is well known as the figure the novel  The Horsewhisper was based on. He also worked as stunt double for Robert Redford  in the movie of the same name. In addition he is the star of indie movie audience favorite "Buck", a documentary about his extraordinary life.

When I attended the Sundance Film Festival this year I met a woman on a shuttle bus who informed me that scenes in "Buck" had been filmed on her ranch. She advised me I must see the film, then take one of his clinics. Years ago, after a dangerous ride nearly took me over a cliff I developed panic attacks whenever I rode. I considered myself a fairly expert rider but the attacks led me away from riding, although it had always been a passion of mine. So, I took her advice and viewed the film (which I loved), then signed up for a clinic when I returned home. I believed that if there was anyone who could cure my affliction it was Buck.

The clinic was help on gorgeous Stonybrook Ranch, in Stonybrook, North of Sacramento, California. The owners and other partipants were wonderful, and I found Buck to be very kind, charismatic, strong, focused, and clearly a master of horsemanship. I felt completely confident and competent under his tutelege, and look forward to riding some wild horses. And if I should fall off, then I'll just get back on a wilder one!

The following are pictures with me in clinic with Buck. To learn more about Buck Brannaman, or to schedule a clinic, go to his website at http://www.brannaman.com/.

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"You Can't Be What You Can't See" - Miss Representation

Miss Representation is a documentary film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, first screened at the 2011 Sundance Festival that explores women's under-representation in positions of power and influence in America and challenges the limited portrayal of women in mainstream media.

Women are:

3% of clout positions in the mainstream media

3% of 'Fortune 500 CEOs

7% of mainstream film directors

16% of film protagonists

17% of Congress

While women make up 51% of the population

Next time you see a movie, ask yourself . .

How many women to men are in the cast?

How often do the women talk to each other?

How many women appear in non-traditional roles?

How many women writers, directors or producers were involved in making the film?

Information provided from misssrepresentation.org Miss Representation features Barbara Berg, Caroline Heldman, Catherine Hardwicke, Condoleeezza Rice, Cory Booker, Daphne Zuniga, Dianne Feinstein, Dolores Huerta, Gavin Newsom, Geen Davis, Gloria Steinem, Jackson Katz, Jane Fonda, Jean Kilbourne, Jim Steyer, Katie Couric, Lisa Ling, Margaret Cho, Nancg Pelosi, Pat Mitchell, aul Haggis, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson

Other data to consider is that women bear the weight of creating 100% of the human life on this planet. So, shouldn't their voices be heard?

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Sundance Film Festival - New Frontier Exhibits - 2011

Sundance Film Festival – New Frontier Exhibits- 2011

I attended the opening week-end of the Sundance film festival and found it to be an exhilarating creative experience. More information about the festival may be found at www.sundancefilmfestival.com.

Highlights of Visit to New Frontier, including being in attendence with Robert Redford onsite:

The New Frontier at the Miners Hospital on Park Avenue in Park City opens new doors of creativity. Artists in the venues explored narrative structure, three-dimensionality of the cinematic image, and innovations in transmedia storytelling.

Pandemic 1.0

Lance Weiler

“A mysterious virus begins to affect the adults in a small rural town, and the youth soon find themselves cut off from civilization, fighting for their lives. How fast is the virus spreading? It is confirmed – the virus has hit Park City. Pandemic unites film, mobile and online technologies, props, social gaming, and data visualization, enabling audiences to step into the shoes of the pandemic protagonists anytime during the day. Mission Control is the only way to learn where you stand in the face of the spreading pandemic.”

We were informed that 20 festival goers were given cell phones and told to transmit photographs and data, props were hidden in town that would diminish spread of pandemic, and twitter data was analyzed, all in the hope of curtailing the epidemic. We did not find a prop and were not handed phone during our stay, but enjoyed the experience and returned unharmed nevertheless.

RAW/WAR

Lynn Hershman Leeson

“Lynn Hershman Leeson employs transmedia storytelling to create a seminal history of the American Feminist Art Movement. Expanding the scope of her documentary !Women Art Revolution RAW/WAR is a live, user-generated, community-curated video archive that documents the achievements of women artists. RAW/WAR reconceives history as an ongoing project of collaborative authorship where participants enter an interactive environment to upload new material and use Wii powered virtual flashlights to illuminate invisible histories. RAW/WAR is created by Lynn Hershmanm Leeson in collaboration with Alexandra Chowaniec, Brian Chirls, and Gian Pablo Villamil.”

I downloaded my cinematic trailer and music videos to site to be archived in their library.

SPIN

Daniel Canogar, Spain

By transforming electronic detritus into stunning sculptural installations, Dabnikel Canogar’s work externalizes the hidden structures of media technologies and explores the short lifespan of the hardware that encrusts and defines our modern lifestyles. Spin projects the copied contents of discarded DVDs back onto their surface to reveal the moving images trapped within the discs. Hippocampus 2 is constructed from tangles of electric cable refuse. Light is projected on the sculpture in such a way that it seems to free the energy stored in the electronic waste, awakening in it memories of the past.

Both Multimedia sculptures were both beautiful and fascinating.  On each DVD were remnants of their story. Most chilling was a murderous clown.

MOONY

Takehisa Mashimo, Akio Kamiksato, and Satoshi Shibata, Japan

“The sublime and elegant work liberates the pixel entirely from its usual proscenium format and reshapes our encounter with the moving image by using steam as a screen and an interactive interface.”

If you plunge your hands into the steam quickly a virtual butterfly will fly away and disappear. If you hold your hand in the steam for a while, butterflies will flock around and play with you.

AFTER CHOSTCATCHING

Bill T. Jones, U.S.A. 3 D Video Installation

Bill T. Jones dances a series of original and haunting choreographic sequences accompanied by his own vocalizations as Open-Ended Group captures and portrays the movement using a customized technique. “After Ghost dancing” expands to in corporate 3-D technology.

GLOWING PATHFINDER BUGS

Squidsoup, UK

“Pixels become independent creatures that move through time and space. It uses projection to visualize virtual bugs that participants can interact with in a real sandpit. The bugs are aware of their surroundings and respond to the shapes in the world around them. Viewers can pick bugs up, dig holes, and create mounds that the bugs must react to. If the bugs are squashed, they die, but if they live, they evolve to become butterflies.”

I helped a few mate, squashed a few accidently, and helped a few turn into butterflies.

THE JOHNNY CASH PROJECT

“The project invites participants to create individual drawings that ware woven into a collective, animated music-video tribute to Johnny Cash, set to his song “Ain’t No Grave.”

ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR

“All That Is Solid Melts into Air powerfully juxtaposes two documentary videos, which are projected on opposite sides of the room – one depicting a Nigerian guerrilla group battling the colonization of petroleum recourses on their land, and the other showing Chicago stock traders speculating on energy futures. The view, caught between the two videos, negotiates these two scenarios. As the films play, the stakes rise, and the intensity crescendos to an uproar.

This was an absolutely astonishing project. Extremely powerful! It was only shown eight times during festival but is a must see for everyone in the world.

THREE’S COMPANY – THE DRAMA

“Our prolonged and increasing exposure to dramatic entertainment shapes our imaginations, our aspirations, and the way we reference our memories and structure the time in our day. How does a television show have such an impact on our lives” In Three’s Company: The Drama, James Franco examines the classic TV show. Breaking out individual elements of narrative character, composition, and set design to reconstitute them and create an immersive experience of the story world through which we may consider how this definitive 1970s sitcom connects and organizes our memories.”

It would be my guess that James was included here due to his celebrity status. I sat in the parlor and watched an old episode of “Three’s Company” projected onto wall. James did voice over to portray all characters. Two guys sitting next to me thought it was quite funny, but I didn’t get it, and was not moved or transformed by experience in the way I was with other installations.

THEATER III + EDGAR

Avish Khebrehzadeh

“Avish Khebrehzadeh’s works integrate painting and video to evoke fairy tales and dreamscapes, which are often inspired by her own dreams and memories. In Theater III and Edgar”, three loosely linked vignettes unfold on a massive painting of a grand theater with a proscenium screen. The film tells the story of three men carrying a pregnant woman past a village into the desert, where they leave her. She then disappears down a hole with the man who has been digging it. In the last act, the drama transgresses many boundaries, including the very screen where it is being presented.

It was very intriguing to see video installed into a painting of a theater. I would have liked video to be more sophisticated. It may be the way of the future with film installed in paintings covering museum walls.

WE LIKE AMERICA AND AMERICA LIKES US (THE CORPSE)

The ambulance/hearse is a vehicle designed for emergency response and ceremonial lament. In this work, the vehicle’s chassis lies astride a fresh piece of asphalt – a corpse on clean sheets. Possessed with satirical humor and dark patriotism, “We like America and America Likes Us (The Corpse) becomes an allegory of American consciousness that embodies a great contradiction: a national character with a gift for survival despite its movement toward implosion.

Powerful!

A MACHINE TO SEE WITH

Blast Theory, UK

“To start your adventure, you arrive on a deserted street corner with your cell phone. Keep your eyes peeled for traps. Other people seem to be in on what’s going on. The phone rings, and your journey through the underbelly of the city begins. A Machine to See With mixes documentary storytelling, stolen thriller clichés, and the films of Jean-Luc Godard to create a 75 minute experience that invites you to play a part, take risks, engage in games, and make the ethical decisions we all, in the end confront.”

I did not choose to engage in this project. However, I was told that the decision you make tell you a lot about yourself. And in the end you will be required to commit a crime – will you follow your instructions? Well, that depends on your integrity, bravery and ability to decipher right or wrong within the context of a unique circumstance.

I did not see the following three screenings, but heard positive reviews.

DREAMING OF LUCID LIVING

Mkiwa Matreyek

MYTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Miwa Matreyek

ELEPHANT

Deke Weaver

HERE (THE STORY SLEEPS)

Braden King

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RAW/WAR - Women Art Revolution

 

I had the great pleasure of being present at the opening of RAW/WAR on January 20, 2010 at the Sundance Film Festival.  My videos and images have been downloaded to the site and I can be assured that my work is stored in their archives and will not be lost.  Women and their histories must be acknowledged and heard if we are to gain the collective strength we need to prosper as a vibrant and whole society.
 
About RAW/WAR from their site:

The RAW/WAR project is generated from the idea that history is about access and authorship and that we, as a global digital community, can now all participate in its creation and change the way history itself is constructed. Using new technologies, current and future generations can create their own histories, breaking the cycle of omission and erasure.

RAW/WAR takes the form of an interactive, community-curated archive and an accompanying installation that provide a forum in which users can come together, share their stories and collaboratively contribute to the history of women�s art.

The project emerges from the documentary !Women Art Revolution. While the film provides a personal perspective of feminist activism in a national context, RAW/WAR opens up this dialogue to a global audience, connecting women and their histories worldwide.

An ongoing partnership with Stanford University Libraries (SULAIR) houses the !Women Art Revolution Collection in a publicly accessible online archive for study and research. The collection, acquired in 2008, holds the interview footage and transcripts from the film. Because of the retrievability of this information, there are no outtakes, subverting traditional notions of filmmaking. RAW/WAR is about continuing this ongoing lineage into the future and allowing users to add, and ultimately, remix, their own stories.

RAW/WAR is self-curated. This is achieved by rating and meta-rating and is intricately linked to the whole thesis of !WAR: shedding light on who is left out and why.

The RAW/WAR installation is a live participatory environment that allows users to �bring light� to the lost or invisible histories of women in art with virtual flashlight controllers accessing the interactive, community-curated archive.

The RAW/WAR project is a project by Lynn Hershman Leeson, in collaboration with Alexandra Chowaniec, Brian Chirls, Gian Pablo Villamil and Paradiso Projects.

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Movies Featured At Sundance Film Festival 2011

Following are the 200 indie movies chosen by The Sundance Festival to be shown January 20-30. Most are sold out for the entirety of the run, but tickets can be found if you show up at box office before 8:00 on the day of the show, or get a wait list number of an individual film two hours before showing. Except for the most popular movies, or ones in smaller venues, it is usually possible to get into movies. There are also very interesting discussion panels, and some of the most memorable experiences I have had have been in restaurants, bars and on the street. Robert Redford usually shows up at his restaurant, Zoom, in Park city and is very open to discussing his passions with patrons.  Hope to see you there!!

http://sundance.slated.com/2011/buzz

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Sundance Film Festival 2011

I plan to attend The Sundance Film festival this year to support indie film makers and meet with industry professionals. The festival is held every year in Park City Utah. This year the festival is scheduled for January 20-31. Last year  two film maker friends had their movies shown and were recipients of awards that furthered international exposure. Not only are there great films, informative seminars, and an abundance of actors, producers, directors on hand, but there is also incredible scenery and great skiing.

More about the festival at www.sundancefilmfestival.org.

From Sundance Website:

HISTORY

In 1981, Robert Redford gathered a group of his friends and colleagues in the mountains of Utah to create an environment designed to foster independence, discovery, and new voices in American film. That spring, ten emerging filmmakers were invited to the first Sundance Institute Filmmakers/Directors Lab where they worked with leading writers and directors to develop their original independent film projects. In the remote natural setting and removed from the pressures of the marketplace, each emerging artist was encouraged to take creative risks and to craft a film true to their own, unique vision. In 1984, the Institute's activities expanded to include development programs for theatre when the Utah Playwrights Conference became the Sundance Playwrights Lab.

Since those first Labs, the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent film, theatre, and music artists. The programs of Sundance Institute include the annual Sundance Film Festival, held in and around Park City, Utah, each January. Widely considered the premier platform for American and international independent film, the Festival has introduced audiences to some of the most original stories of the last three decades including Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Splendor, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Cove.

Through year-round support and a series of Labs and Fellowships for screenwriters, directors, and producers, the Institute's Feature Film Program has supported more than 300 feature films, including Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's HOWL, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Joji Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know, and Walter Salles's Central Station. Documentaries ranging from Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Trouble the Water to Laura Poitras' The Oath to Ross Kaufman and Zana Briski's Born into Brothels are among the 500 films that have been supported by the Documentary Film Program, which offers grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund along with a series of Labs in editing and storytelling.

With a series of Labs and retreats that provide a creative environment in which to develop new work with dramaturgs and full casts, the Theatre Program has supported the development of more than 200 plays, including Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge, Tracey Scott Wilson's The Good Negro, Stew and Heidi Rodewald's Passing Strange, and Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's Spring Awakening. The Native American and Indigenous Program hosts screenings, panels, events, and workshops throughout the year designed to foster community and the exchange of ideas among Native American and Indigenous filmmakers. Connecting filmmakers with musicians, the Film Music Program's Composers Lab allows accomplished musicians to explore composing for film while introducing filmmakers to the importance of music in film. The Creative Producing Initiative encompasses a year-round series of Labs, Fellowships, and events focusing on nurturing the next generation of independent producers. Our work in the arena of Short Films recognizes the importance of this groundbreaking form in the world of cinema and has long been established as a place to discover talented directors.

Sundance Institute also continues to support film and theatre artists beyond their participation in our Artist Programs through a commitment to building audiences for their work. In order to create a record of cultural history, the Sundance Institute Archives preserves the organization's history and documents the creative processes of the artists we support. The Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA provides a ground-breaking educational archive devoted to the collection and preservation of independent cinema. The Alumni Initiative cultivates connections with our alumni to foster a continued relationship between the Institute and the artists who have developed or shown work through the Institute's programs. The Art House Project is a collaboration with art house cinemas in cities around the country to create specialized screening programs of Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival-supported films for local audiences and our Community Programs are a series of Utah-based activities that offer many free and open to the public events for more than 25,000 Utah residents each year.