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This year is the 20th anniversary of the Slamdance Film Festival. For those who don’t know about Slamdance, it runs during the same time as the Sundance Film Festival, and all of the films are true indies. Sundance has its fair share, but you won’t see any famous actors in a Slamdance movie. However, you could see the debut work from an up-and-coming director. Slamdance alums include Christopher Nolan (Following), Marc Forster (Loungers), Jared Hess (Peluca), Lena Dunham (Dealing), Benh Zeitlin (Egg), and Lynn Shelton (We Go Way Back). If I had time to swing by Slamdance, I would because while it’s definitely a crapshoot, you could end up seeing something entirely unexpected and worth championing. Hit the jump for a list of films playing in competition at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, which runs from January 17th – 23rd in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn.

This past week's Camerimage Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland honored Director of Photography Roberto Schaefer with a special Cinematographer / Director Duo Award celebrating his collaborations with Marc Forster. Their projects together include Loungers (1995), Everything Put Together (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008) and, most recently, Machine Gun Preacher (2011). ComingSoon.net sat down with Schaefer as part of our ongoing series of interviews from the festival. In the below conversation, he discusses his history with Forster, his work with other directors and explains why he wasn't able to re-team with his longtime...

Filed under: Documentaries, Cinematical, Festivals

Later this week Cinematical will be landing in Park City, Utah, primarily to cover the Sundance Film Festival. But while there, we hope to check out some of the films screening at Slamdance, as well. Let's not forget that the smaller fest has hosted the debut features of Christopher Nolan ('Following') and Marc Forster ('Loungers') and the popular documentaries 'The King of Kong' and 'Mad Hot Ballroom.' So we're curious to see what or who will be the next big Slamdance discovery.

We've already previewed 'Atrocious,' the Mexican found-footage-style horror flick that sounds like this year's 'Paranormal Activity' (which was shown at Slamdance three years ago). Now we've got ten more Slamdance titles to spotlight, all of which we think sound and look pretty interesting. Where available, we've included trailers.

Continue Reading...

Filed under: Documentaries, Cinematical, Festivals

Later this week Cinematical will be landing in Park City, Utah, primarily to cover the Sundance Film Festival. But while there, we hope to check out some of the films screening at Slamdance, as well. Let's not forget that the smaller fest has hosted the debut features of Christopher Nolan ('Following') and Marc Forster ('Loungers') and the popular documentaries 'The King of Kong' and 'Mad Hot Ballroom.' So we're curious to see what or who will be the next big Slamdance discovery.

We've already previewed 'Atrocious,' the Mexican found-footage-style horror flick that sounds like this year's 'Paranormal Activity' (which was shown at Slamdance three years ago). Now we've got ten more Slamdance titles to spotlight, all of which we think sound and look pretty interesting. Where available, we've included trailers.

Continue Reading...

It’s end of the year, which means it’s time for indie filmmakers to pack their parkas and buy a ticket for Park City. And while most of the A-listers and dealmakers will be there for Sundance, the town will also be hosting the 17th Annual Slamdance Film Festival — a showcase for the independent films that didn’t make it past the Sundance gatekeepers. Today, the fest announced its 2011 Feature Competition slate, including ten narrative films and eight docs, most of which will be getting their world premieres.

The lineup doesn’t boast much in the way of star-wattage,...