Sundance unveils 2010 lineup

Festival 'put marketability of films off to the side'

By Jay A. Fernandez

Dec 2, 2009, 04:07 PM ET

Updated: Dec 2, 2009, 06:03 PM ET

"Blue Valentine"

Complete list 2010 Sundance competition lineup

Although the Sundance Film Festival might have tried to wring some extra sunshine from its selections last year, the 2010 lineup looks to be back to its typical mirthless self. One could say it has gone from "You gotta give 'em hope" to "You gotta give 'em mope."

"That's our filmmakers," festival director John Cooper said with an amused mix of pride and resignation. "There's some lightness in here somewhere."

Yes, it's wedged back behind the assassinations, political corruption, war carnage, crumbling educational system and Khmer Rouge revelations. The fest, which runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah, might start to feel like 11 Days of Glummer.

But perhaps that's to be expected. The implosion of the independent distribution system amid the ever-present threats of a maimed economy and two wars has provided festival organizers and filmmakers an opportunity to cut loose and follow their probing passions, however dark.

"In general, we wanted to put industry off to the side, put marketability of films off to the side, and really keep our focus on artistic excellence and originality," said Cooper, overseeing his first Sundance in his new role as festival director. "That's where we're going to best serve the filmmaking community."

With the industry in upheaval, "You don't even know what to do for them anyway right now," he added. "They're going to fall in behind."

Among the festival's 58 competition films (six fewer than last year) in the four U.S. and world narrative and documentary categories are several about the news-dominating war in Afghanistan and its outward ripples.

In the nonfiction realm, Duane Baughman and Johnny O'Hara's "Bhutto" looks into the life and work of the assassinated former Pakistani prime minister; Laura Poitras' Yemen-filmed "The Oath" revolves around the journey of two men from Afghanistan to Guantanamo and the U.S. Supreme Court; and Amir Bar-Lev's "I'm Pat _______ Tillman" delves into the story of the professional football star's death in Afghanistan and his family's ensuing battle with the U.S. government.

"Perfect Storm" author Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington embedded with the Second Platoon in a crucial Afghanistan valley to deliver a ground-level look at the soldier's life in "Restrepo."

Cooper has no regrets about not shying away from current events. "(Audiences) might not want to go there originally, but once one group of people have seen the film, I think they will," he said, noting the Junger film in particular. "He's there with them, you feel it," Cooper added. "I could taste the dirt in that movie."

The four docs are among the competition lineup's 44 world premieres. The festival, including the five out-of-competition categories, features 112 films from 38 countries, including 80 world premieres and 43 first-time filmmakers, 24 of whom have films in competition. Most of these figures are comparable with, if a tad lower than, recent years, and the international reach has grown substantially: Last year's fest repped only 21 countries.

The selections were drawn from 3,724 feature submissions (1,920 from the U.S.; 1,804 international), an increase of 63 films from 2009.

The U.S. dramatic entries continue the nonfiction trend toward explorations of war. Ryan Piers Williams' "The Dry Land" centers on a soldier trying to re-engage his life in Texas, with America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama and Melissa Leo. Leo, who starred in the Grand Jury Prize-winning 2008 Sundance film "Frozen River," also appears in Jake Scott's "Welcome to the Rileys," with James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, next month.

Actor Mark Ruffalo makes his directing debut with "Sympathy for Delicious," which stars Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis and Laura Linney in a story of a paralyzed DJ exploring the world of faith healing.

Although the out-of-competition Premieres section fields most of the more well-known acting and directing talent, higher-profile actors show up in a handful of U.S. dramatic competition features. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in Derek Cianfrance's portrait of an American marriage, "Blue Valentine"; Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman star in Spencer Susser's drama "Hesher"; James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels populate Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's look at the Allen Ginsberg obscenity trial in "Howl"; and Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington star in Tanya Hamilton's period drama "Night Catches Us."

Several nonfiction directors will return to the festival this year. Davis Guggenheim, whose guitar doc "It Might Get Loud" screened in January in the Spectrum section, has his public education film "Waiting for Superman" in competition this year. And Alex Gibney, whose Hunter S. Thompson biodoc "Gonzo" screened at the fest in 2008, returns with the Jack Abramoff expose "Casino Jack & the United States of Money."

"He finds out everything when he takes on a subject," said Cooper, who suspects the Gibney doc will stir up controversy. "It's all there."

(If you're looking for Cooper's "lighter" material, you'll have to check out the newly created Next section, which features "Bass Ackwards," "The Freebie" and "New Low" among its eight noncompetition offerings -- more on that Friday.)

The world documentary competition category includes work from Cambodia ("Enemies of the People"), the Palestinian Territories ("Fix ME"), Ireland ("His & Hers"), Denmark ("The Red Chapel"), Brazil ("Secrets of the Tribe") and Switzerland ("Space Tourists"). A German documentary, Fatima Geza Abdollahyan's "Kick in Iran," revolves around the struggles of Iran's first female Taekwondo Olympic athlete.

The international smorgasbord spreads throughout the world cinema narrative competition, with films from Iraq ("Son of Babylon"), Bolivia ("Southern District"), Estonia ("The Temptation of St. Tony"), South Korea ("Vegetarian"), New Zealand ("Boy") and Poland ("All That I Love"). Javier Fuentes-Leon pulled together Colombian, French, German and Peruvian backing for his gay-themed ghost story, "Undertow," and Chris Morris directed the British entry "Four Lions," a rare comedy about British jahadis.

The festival's longtime programming director, Cooper took over the director slot from 19-year vet Geoffrey Gilmore after the 2009 edition closed and Gilmore took the job of chief creative officer at Tribeca Enterprises. The new sheriff's main mission was to make the most of his deputies.

"This festival's run by a staff," Cooper said of pushing for a new sense of collaboration. "The programming staff in particular is very well-seasoned. People have been here for a long time, and I really wanted to bring them up in to the process more. I didn't want it to be a one-person festival. The more voices you have in the room at programming, the better the festival you're going to have.

"This is a festival that a lot of people own -- the press own it, the filmmakers own it -- and I wanted to change the attitude of the festival a little bit," he added.

It helped that the festival programming staff hadn't lost anyone. Trevor Groth moved into Cooper's director of programming position, and shorts programmer Kim Yutani has been added to the feature programming staff.

One of the notable changes to January's rollout is the ditching of a traditional opening-night film in concept and event. The program will simply just begin Thursday night, with one dramatic film scheduled for 6:15 p.m., one documentary scheduled for 9:30 p.m. and a contemporaneous shorts program at the Egyptian Theatre.

"You basically start your engines at the get-go," said Cooper, who determined that Sundance doesn't have the same practical reasons for centering on a single kick-off film -- such as government shout-outs or sponsorship attached to that night. "If anybody wants to start a real subsidy of Sundance, I will let them bring the opening-night back," he added with a laugh.

"Twelve," a drama from director Joel Schumacher and writer Jordan Melamed, will screen as the festival's closing-night film.

"I just wanted something that was young and raucous and a little bizarre," Cooper said of choosing the film, which stars 50 Cent, Chace Crawford and Emma Roberts in a story about sex, drugs and murder among privileged kids on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Organizers continue to tweak aspects of the festival's layout. The Redstone Theatre at Kimball Junction, north of Park City, won't be used this year, and the music cafe, which was outside last year, has been moved back into an indoor gallery space at the bottom of Main Street.

Apple is working with the festival to design an iPhone app that will have all the festival's information on it, and the fest is upgrading its online film guide to be more interactive and functional.

Although sponsorship and attendance have taken a hit in recent years as a result of individual and corporate financial hardship, Cooper maintains that interest has never waned and pass and packet sales have held this year, as has the volunteer force. "We worked hard, we started early," Cooper said. "It's all coming in very healthy."

On the plus side, the blizzard of ambush marketing that grew over the years continues to recede. "That's dying on its own," Cooper said with a scoff. "The first thing to go in a financial crisis is marketing money."

The complete Sundance competition lineup is on the next page.