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Best DirectorDarren Aronofsky'Black Swan'In many ways, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is similar to his previous film, "The Wrestler." Both lead characters are dedicated artists struggling with inner demons. To express themselves, they have only their bodies. Their age, injuries, and mental stability threaten to undermine their art.However, in "Black Swan," Aronofsky masterfully adds another layer. He parallels the journey of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) with the tale of "Swan Lake," the tragic ballet in which she performs. The astute viewer will notice his use of black and white in the set pieces of almost every scene, alluding to the contrast between the white and black swans. He adds elements of horror, drama, and paranoia, all of which exist in "Swan Lake." He directs the actors in such a way that you aren't ever sure what is fantasy and what is reality. All of these elements add...

[Editor's note: Esan premiered at Sundance]

Year: 2009

Release date: Unknown

Directors: Frazer Bradshaw

Writers: Frazer Bradshaw

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: cyberhal

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Now that I am finally unemployed like everybody else, this is the kind of movie I suppose I should like. Experimental, thoughtful and downbeat, this is a portrait of Wayne (Jerry McDaniel), an unhappy carpenter in the middle of the kind of existentialist crisis that French philosopher Jean Paul Satre would have had wet dreams about. But with this topic, I honestly found the movie way too slow and even the visual originality wasn’t enough to make up for the fact almost nothing happens in the story. I am naturally drawn to the idea that consumerism is meaningless, and more than that, I reckon that the Government, corporations and society try to make us sign up for houses, marriage and consumerism just so that we shut up and stop dreaming for better things.

by indieWIRE (January 4, 2009) Editors Note: This is part of a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling dramatic and documentary competition and American Spectrum directors who have films screening at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Wayne has a job, a wife, two kids, and a house. He's living the American Dream. There's a fine line, however, between a dream and nightmare, and Wayne finds himself at odds with the life he has and preoccupied by the life he thinks he wants. He floats passively in a swirling sea inhabited by his emotionally unpredictable wife, his out-of-control young children, and his embattled friends, who have demons of their own. As things change for others, Wayne's life takes emotional turns, which are sometimes subtle and sometimes violent but never enough to shake him off the track he doesn't remember choosing.

Everything Strange and New

Director: Frazer Bradshaw

Screenwriter: Frazer Bradshaw

Executive Producers: Stephen Bannatyne,...

Premieres

To showcase the diversity of contemporary independent cinema, this section offers the latest work from American and international directors and world premieres of highly anticipated films.

Adventureland / U.S. (Director-screenwriter: Greg Mottola)

In 1987, a recent college graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers the job is perfect preparation for the real world. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader. World premiere

Brooklyn's Finest / U.S. (Director: Antoine Fuqua; screenwriter: Michael C. Martin)

After enduring vastly different career paths, three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location. Cast: Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, Ellen Barkin. World premiere

Earth Days / U.S. (Director: Robert Stone)

The history of our environmental undoing through the eyes of nine Americans whose work and actions launched the modern environmental movement. World premiere, closing-night film

Endgame / U.K. (Director: Pete Travis; screenwriter: Paula Milne)

A...

• Because the Dramatic Main Competition category can only hold so many titles, the Spectrum becomes a second option for Sundance staff to include so more dramatic fair. 12 of the 16 selected are world premieres (I caught Johnny Mad Dog at Cannes and missed out on Lymelife at Tiff) from returnee directors such as Sterlin Harjo, Jeff Lipsky and Bobcat Goldthwait. Dramatic films screening in Spectrum are: Against the Current / USA (Director and Screenwriter: Peter Callahan)—Facing the anniversary of his pregnant wife's tragic death, thirty-five-year old Paul Thompson enlists the help of two friends to help him swim the length of the Hudson River. Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Tyler Moore, Michelle Trachtenberg. World Premiere The Anarchist's Wife (La Mujer del Anarquista) / Germany/Spain (Directors: Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr; Screenwriters: Marie Noelle and Ray Loriga)—During the Spanish Civil War an idealistic young lawyer combating Franco's

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