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The 27 Club, for those blissfully unaware of this legendary coincidence in rock and roll, is the name given to a collection of musicians who tragically met their end at the tender age of 27.

Popularized after the death of Jim Morrison in 1971 – who was the fourth famous 27-year-old musician to die over the course of two short years, after Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin – The 27 Club has taken more than 50 promising musicians since blues legend Robert Johnson famously kicked off in 1938.

Some believe the trend to be a legitimate curse, citing vague supernatural reasons, while other conspiracy theorists cite more sinister explanations for why so many talented figures in the music industry meet their untimely demise at this specific age. It remains one of the most unfortunate coincidences in the history of music, and with each subsequent musician who joins the club,...

It’s a club that the famous are dying to get into, literally. The 27 Club (The Forever 27 Club) is the name for an iconic group of influential musicians who all died at the age of 27. Their untimely deaths have often been connected with uneasy lives and psychological issues, with a lot of physical neglect in between, usually due to drink or drug abuse, or both. An independently published book named, “The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll” meticulously details the phenomenon. The author states, “More rock stars have died at 27 than at any other age.”

Bluesman Robert Johnson, who died on August 16, 1938, was an immense musician. His talent was unquestionable; he has been cited – by Eric Clapton, no less – as “the most important blues singer that ever lived”. Johnson’s untimely death wasn’t self-inflicted, and there are a number of conflicting opinions, but the general consensus is...

The Sundance Institute has 13 independent films available through a variety of platforms to rent, download or stream via the Institute’s Artist Services program. Titles include 2012 Sundance Film Festival films Detropia, I Am Not a Hipster, The Atomic States of America, and We’re Not Broke. For full details on where to access these films, please visit sundance.org/nowplaying. (The complete list of new titles available follows below.)

“With the proliferation of new digital outlets these days, Sundance Institute saw a real need to help filmmakers and producers easily access these platforms and to provide information on how best to navigate and take advantage of independent distribution,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute. “ It's exciting to see these filmmakers charting their own path towards finding audiences.”

In addition, to making it easier for audiences to find Sundance Institute and Film Festival films all year long, this year’s online film guide and mobile app for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival includes a new feature from GoWatchIt.com which creates a universal ‘queue’ so fans can be notified as soon as films they are interested in become available in the marketplace. Sundance Institute has also installed GoWatchIt on the Now Playing page (www.sundance.org/nowplaying) for the titles accessing distribution through its Artist Services.

Look for the Artist Services films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Microsoft Xbox, Netflix, SnagFilms, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. Special bonus video content from the Institute’s archives is available for select titles. The Artist Services program provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. New Video, a Cinedigm company, is the exclusive aggregation partner for distribution across all portals in the program. The Artist Services initiative is made possible by The Bertha Foundation. These deals were brokered via pro bono legal services generously provided by law firm O’Melveny & Myers, which has built the legal framework for the Artist Services program and participating filmmakers since its inception.

Titles That Are Available:

The American Astronaut (Director and Screenwriter: Cory McAbee) — Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s Lab Fellow Cory McAbee stars in his sci-fi feature film as an interplanetary trader. The film also stars 2012 Independent Spirit Award nominee James Ransone (Starlet, HBO’s Treme and The Wire) as Bodysuit. (2001 Sundance Film Festival)

The Atomic States of America (Directors: Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce) — Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s provocative documentary takes viewers on a journey to nuclear reactor communities across the country. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Budrus (Director: Julia Bachas) — Documentary filmmaker Julia Bacha’s award-winning 2009 documentary follows a Palestinian community organizer who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save the village of Budrus from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Budrus was produced by Just Vision, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the power and legitimacy of Palestinians and Israelis working nonviolently to end the occupation and resolve the conflict. (2009 Sundance Documentary Film Grant)

Detropia (Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady) — Winner of the Best Documentary Editing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and nominated for Gotham and Cinema Eye awards, Detropiachronicles the lives of several Detroiters trying to survive and make sense of what is happening to their city – once an industrial utopia, now on the brink of bankruptcy. (2012 Sundance Documentary Film Grant, 2012 Sundance Film Festival)

High School Record (Director and Screenwriter: Ben Wolfinsohn) — In Ben Wolfinsohn’s semi-improvised 2005 “mock doc,” four exceptionally awkward 17-year-olds struggle through their senior year as moments of humiliation and triumph are caught on tape in a documentary shot by fellow classmates at a performing arts high school. (2005 Sundance Film Festival)

I Am Not A Hipster (Director and Screenwriter: Destin Daniel Cretton) — Featuring music by indie electronic band, Canines, and a break-out performance by Dominic Bogart (Flash Forward), Cretton’s music-focused drama premiered at sold-out screenings at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (2011 and 2012 Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute Grant, 2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Primer (Director and Screenwriter: Shane Carruth) — Shane Carruth’s cult classic won the Grand Jury Prize and Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Timed to the premiere of the director’s much-anticipated follow-up film, Upstream Color, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. (2004 Sundance Film Festival)

Pursuit of Loneliness (Director and Screenwriter: Laurence Thrush) — Award-winning director Laurence Thrush’s (Left Handed) 2012 Sundance Film Festival premiere stars a cast of non-professional actors depicted in their own workplace roles. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

The Slaughter Rule (Directors: Alex Smith and Andrew Smith) — David Morse (Treme) and Ryan Gosling (Drive) star in Alex and Andrew Smith’s feature writing-directorial debut about a fatherless high-school quarterback. Nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards’ John Cassavetes Award.. (2002 Sundance Film Festival)

Stingray Sam (Director and screenwriter: Cory McAbee) — Cory McAbee’s 2009 follow up to The American Astronaut features writer-director McAbee as Stingray Sam and “Crugie” as The Quasar Kid, two space convicts in a series of episodic adventures narrated by David Hyde Pierce (Frasier). (2009 Sundance Film Festival)

to.get.her (Director and screenwriter: Erica Dunton) — Five teenage girls with a shared secret get together for a weekend of “no consequences” in this 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiere that won the Best of Next <=> Audience Award. Actress-model Jazzy De Lisser stars in a “mystery” written and directed by Erica Dunton (The 27 Club). (2011 Sundance Film Festival)

Wave Twisters (Directors: Eric Henry and Syd Garon) — Animators Syd Garon (Superheroes, Last Call at the Oasis) and Eric Henry’s “turntablism-based musical” won the 2001 Midnight Films Audience Award at the 2001 SXSW Film Festival. Scripted to a recording by “scratch” artist DJ Qbert, Wave Twisters follows a group of heroes traveling through inner-space on a quest to save the lost art of Hip Hop. (2001 Sundance Film Festival)

We're Not Broke (Directors: Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce) — A timely exposé on how the government has allowed U.S. corporations to avoid paying taxes, and the growing wave of discontent that is has fostered. A 2012 Sundance Film Festival premiere from the filmmakers of The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Lee Daniels is in talks to direct Get It While You Can, a Janis Joplin biopic that has Amy Adams attached to star as the queen of rock 'n' roll. Robert Katz and Andrew Sugerman are producing along with Ron Terry, who wrote the screenplay with his wife, Theresa Kounin-Terry. Jay Tobin is exec producing. Photos: The 27 Club: 6 Artists Who Were Gone Too Soon Joplin was the hard-living singer behind such rock classics as "Piece of My Heart" and "Me and Bobby McGee." She crested on the wave of the 1960s counterculture as one of

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The RuPaul’s Drag Race family has lost a member. Antoine Ashley, who appeared the Logo series under the moniker Sahara Davenport, has died at the age of 27. The drag entertainer died of heart failure on Oct. 1 at John Hopkins Hospital in Balitmore, Maryland, though few other details surrounding his condition were available at the time of publication. Photos: The 27 Club: 6 Artists Who Were Gone Too Soon In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Ashley’s boyfriend of six years and fellow Drag Race contestant Karl Westerberg (also known as Manila Luzon) said: “Antoine lived to entertain

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Fans of the late Amy Winehouse were treated to a newly released collaboration with rapper Nas on Wednesday, but according to Mitch Winehouse, there is more music to come. In an interview with BBC 6 Music, the late singer’s father revealed plans to release additional posthumous albums. Winehouse’s first posthumous release, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, debuted at No. 1 on the music charts last December selling 194,000 copies in its first week. Photos: The 27 Club: 6 Artists Who Were Gone Too Soon “I’m not sure that there is much more but I’m sure that we will get at least

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Amy Winehouse may have passed away in 2011, but her contributions to the music industry live on – and thankfully keep coming. Following the release of her posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a new Winehouse recording debuted Wednesday on the website Okayplayer.com, where she collaborates with rapper Nas. Photos: The 27 Club: 6 Artists Who Were Gone Too Soon “Cherry Wine” is the third single from Nas’ upcoming album Life is Good, and the rapper’s second track in which he works with Winehouse; he contributed a verse to her cover of “Like Smoke” on Lioness. Produced by longtime Winehouse

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When Amy Winehouse died this summer, one niggling rumor swirled under the outpouring of grief and condemnation -- that the disturbed singer purposely killed herself to join the group of famous musicians known collectively as "the 27 club" -- Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Robert Johnson and Jim Morrison. They all died at 27, just as Amy Winehouse did this year. Beyond padding water-cooler talk, the legend they spurred introduced the fatal idea of a "right" age for sealing one's immortality.

But a group of scientists writing in the British Medical Journal says the "27 club phenomenon" isn't exactly what you'd call "real." According to results from a comparison of survival rates between the general U.K. population and popular musicians, about as many musicians died between 1956 and 2007 at the age of 27 as they did at 25 and 26, and even the ripe old age of 32 :

We identified three deaths at age 27 amongst 522 musicians at risk,...

When Kurt Cobain died at age 27, his mother, Wendy, said, "He’s gone and joined that stupid club."

The 27 Club. Members include Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin. The deaths of these stars shocked many. But few were surprised at the latest 27 Club inductee: Amy Winehouse.

In the 2009 documentary Saving Amy, the singer’s mother, Janis, said, "I realize my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly." Her father, Mitch, admitted that she’d been "close to death twice." Amy herself seemed indifferent or oblivious. "I don't think I'm going to survive that long," she’d told her mother.

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By Adam Frazier

Hollywoodnews.com: With the untimely passing of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, you may have heard mention of The 27 Club. The term is used to refer to the remarkably high statistical spike of musicians who have died at the age of 27. The term was first coined in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s with the death of four influential musicians.

Guitarist and founding member of The Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, drowned in a swimming pool on July 3, 1969 at the age of 27. On September 18, 1970, legendary electric guitarist Jimi Hendrix died. The autopsy showed he asphyxiated on vomit after a deadly cocktail of sleeping pills and wine. His age was 27 years and 295 days.

Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose a month later on October 4, 1970. She was 27. Jim Morrison (lead singer/songwriter for The Doors) died on July 3, 1971 (the exact same day, three years later, as Brian Jones) from an apparent heart failure,...

Amy Winehouse the talented singer of "Rehab" died Saturday in her London flat. Police were called to her flat at around 1500 GMT and her body was removed 5 hours later. Speculation is abound that the singer had succumbed to her famous drug addiction and has joined the infamous "27 Club". The 27 Club is a name given to a group of influential rock music artists who died at the age of 27. Others who belong to this club include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. Although nothing has yet been determined on the cause of death, many believe the autopsy will reveal that Winehouse's death involved drugs. Winehouse has battled addiction on and off for many years and her family believed it would one day be her downfall.

Today was a momentous day for The 27 Club. It welcomed a new member. A member many had wished would never join, but somehow knew would – Amy Winehouse.

The 27-year-old R&B singer was found dead early this morning in her London apartment. The cause of death is pending until autopsy results are confirmed. It appeared as if Amy was getting her life back on track, for the most part. But as fate would have it …

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Bono must have taught his daughter Eve Hewson a thing or two about making an entrance. The actress made her red-carpet debut at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday wearing a daring black and pink gown to the screening of her new film, This Must Be the Place. Hewson is in good company starring alongside Sean Penn in her first big movie role. The film follows an aging rock star on his quest to find his father's persecutor, an ex-Nazi war criminal. The 19-year-old previously made her acting debut in the indie film The 27 Club.

London, Sep 3- Bono’s daughter’s acting career has got a boost after landing a starring role in Irish pop stars The Strips’ latest music video.ve Hewson, 18, is launching an acting career and has already featured in one of her dad’s promos.

She also starred in 2008 movie ‘The 27 Club’ and will appear opposite Sean Penn in upcoming film ‘This Must Be the Place’.

“It was the director’s idea to approach Eve. We’d seen her showreel and she’s a fellow Irish person, so we thought, ‘Yeah’,” the Daily Star quoted lead singer Danny O’Donoghue as saying.

The teenager would be playing a homesick Irish.

Bono’s daughter, Eve (19) has signed up to star in a movie with Sean Penn. The new starlet on the Hollywood scene, will play a gothic-punk music fan in the new film “This Must be the Place”. According to Variety, Eve will star alongside Frances McDormand in the Paolo Sorrentino indie drama. In the film Penn plays an indie rock star who is friend with Eve’s character. Eve becomes fixated with chasing a Nazi criminal who tormented her father in a concentration camp. The screenplay was written by Paolo and Umberto Contarello. Filming will begin this month and will take place in Ireland and the United States. Though Eve is a newcomer to the world of acting she also has a starring role in the 2008 drama “The 27 Club.” ...

Newcomer Eve Hewson ("The 27 Club") will star opposite Sean Penn in the indie "This Must Be the Place" for Indigo Film, Lucky Red, Element Film and Arp Selection reports Variety.

Penn plays an ageing rock star who is in pursuit of the Nazi criminal who tormented his father in a concentration camp.

Hewson will play a gothic-punk music fan who is a close friend of Penn's character. Frances McDormand also stars.

Paolo Sorrentino directs from a script he co-wrote with Umberto Contarello. Nicola Giuliano and Andrea Occhipinti are producing

Shooting begins in Ireland and the U.S. later this month.

This Must Be The Right Place, the first English-language film from Italian writer/director Paolo Sorrentino (Napoli 24, The Consequences Of Love), was last reported on over a year ago when we revealed that Sean Penn (The Tree Of Life, Milk) would be starring in the lead role of the indie drama as a retired rocker. And now, joining him will be relative newcomer Eve Hewson (The 27 Club) who will play a "gothic-punk music fan" who is good friends with Penn's rockstar character....

Relative newcomer Eve Hewson has scored one of the lead roles alongside Sean Penn in the indie drama This Must Be The Place. How indie? Try this plot line on for size: Penn plays an aging rock star who makes it his mission to track down the Nazi criminal who tortured his father in a concentration camp. Yup, it’ll be a laugh riot, with Paolo Sorrentino behind the camera.Hewson, whose career to date has included another indie piece, 2008’s The 27 Club, has a bit of experience with rock types, since she’s Bono’s daughter. She’s signed on to play a Goth-punk fan who is friends with Penn.Frances McDormand is also in the cast for the film, which Sorrentino will start shooting in Ireland this month before moving to film in the Us. But who are they going to get to provide songs for the soundtrack?...

Actress Eve Hewson will star alongside Sean Penn and Oscar winner Frances McDormand in the upcoming indie drama This Must Be the Place by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (Il divo).

According to Variety, the movie centres on a veteran rock star (Sean Penn) who pursues a Nazi criminal after they abused his father.

Or if you prefer, here’s a short This Must Be the Place synopsis: “Story centers on an aging rock star (Penn) who becomes fixated on pursuing the Nazi criminal who tormented his father in a concentration camp.

Hewson will play a gothic-punk music fan who is close friends with Penn’s character.”

A $28 million English-language film, This Must Be the Place, is co-written by director Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello.

Filming is set to begin this month and will last 10-weeks in Dublin, Ireland and U.S. locales Michigan, New Mexico and New York.

Eve Hewson, recently...

Newcomer Eve Hewson is set to co-star with Sean Penn and Frances McDormand in Paolo Sorrentino’s indie drama This Must Be the Place. According to Variety, Place “centers on an aging rock star (Penn) who becomes fixated on pursuing the Nazi criminal who tormented his father in a concentration camp. Hewson will play a gothic-punk music fan who is close friends with Penn’s character.” Some rock stars fade away, some become sad reality stars, and some become Nazi hunters. It’s always one of those three.

Filming is set to begin this month in Ireland and the U.S. Hewson, who is also Bono’s daughter, recently starred in Erica Dunton’s indie drama The 27 Club.

Whether you're tired of people texting during the movie, want to relax on your couch or have a fear of catching swine flu, there's plenty of entertainment options that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home this summer, whether it's On Demand, Online, or On DVD. A helpful guide is below, and don't forget our look at the indie films that are hitting theaters this summer.

On Demand

Our sister company IFC Films will have quite the busy summer, providing at least one film a week to watch on demand and nowhere else. The company's Festival Direct summer schedule recently kicked off with the Robert Pattinson teen drama "How to Be," and will be followed on May 6th by the premieres of Pablo Proenza's haunted house thriller "Dark Mirror" and the Patrick Wilson-Amy Smart romantic dramedy "Life In Flight," which premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival.

As the San Francisco Independent Film Festival drew to a close yesterday, it bowed out with a final night time showing of Deadgirl, a controversial picture that challenges the audience's idea of sex and the coming-of-age. It's a nice bookmark to its opening night film, Somers Town, which is also about two teenage boys and a girl, but is at the opposite end of the spectrum. In between, we have films that are either full of life or apologetically cynical, completing a journey from the sweet to the depraved.

Here's a recap of the interesting independent films we had the chance to see.

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The Best

Deadgirl

"It uses otherworldly elements to perform a horrific probe of the human experience, which is what the best horror films always do." (Read more)

Somers Town

"After confronting xenophobia so thoroughly and intensely in This is England, Somers Town is the perfect show of progression,...

Alexie Gilmore, who starred in the Fox series "New Amsterdam" and last year's romantic comedy "Definitely Maybe" with Ryan Reynolds, is the recipient of the Rising Star Achievement Award at this year's Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. Gilmore also had not one but two films premiering at the festival, the comedy "I Do, I Don't" and the drama "The 27 Club."

"Yes, I'm rising, I guess," Gilmore said laughing. 'It's really great. It's such a nice honor. I got a Rising Star like 4 years ago so I guess I'm still rising," she joked. "I'm still on my way!"

"I Do, I Don't", premiering this weekend at the festival, pairs her with comedic star Jane Lynch in a story about a young couple (Gilmore, Bryan Callen) who must endure pre-marital couples counseling from a completely dysfunctional couple played by Lynch and Matt Servitto.

"I am the straightest one in this cast of funny guys,...

The 27 Club ( *** )

85 Minutes

Official Selection, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain, before him, Tom of the fictional rock band Finn joins the ranks of "The 27 Club", a new drama written and directed by Erica Dunton. "The 27 Club" is a phrase used for the group of influential rock musicians who all died at the same age of 27.