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The Next Nordic Generation competition strand of the Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund is where some of the most gifted talents from the Nordics such as Gustav Møller (“The Guilty”) or Katrine Brocks (“The Great Silence”) pitched their graduation films in recent years, before making their international breakthroughs.

This year’s curated program of 10 graduation films from Nordic film schools will be showcased Aug. 21 in Haugesund, Norway.

The 10 short films were selected by a jury consisting of producer Elisa Fernanda Pirir of Stær Film, filmmakers Gunnbjörg Gunnarsdóttir (“Victoria Must Go”) and Fredrik S. Hana (“Code Name: Nagasaki”), in association with program coordinator Christian Høkaas.

“Fear, confusion, dark humor, power, anxiety and love. Anger, love, power. This year’s slate offers a lot of strong emotions, in-keeping with the Scandinavian tradition of dark humour and relationship drama,” said Pirir who’s enjoyed the “playful and daring selection.”

Norway is out in force with five fiction films,...

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Anne Sewitsky is an executive producer and director of the hit Apple TV show, Presumed Innocent. Sewitsky spoke with MovieWeb's Greg Archer about the series, its shocking finale, how the cast was kept in the dark about the killer's identity, and how Jake Gyllenhaal made her cry.

Anne Sewitsky is a Norwegian American filmmaker, currently living in Norway. Sewitskys debut film "Happy, Happy" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2011, and was Norways Academy Award entry the same year. Her two next films "Homesick" and "Sonja: The White Swan" also premiered in main competition in Sundance in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

Sewitsky was co-creator and showrunning director of NRKs most ambitious and expensive show to date, psychological thriller Monster." Sewitsky directed the critically acclaimed season 2018 finale of"Black Mirror," starring Miley Cyrus, as well as the pilot of Mary Laws Monsterland," starring Kaitlyn Dever.

Exclusive: Bob Hearts Abishola star Fọlákẹ́ Olówófôyekù has signed with Anonymous Content for representation in all areas.

Olówófôyekù had 95 episodes of Bob Hearts Abishola under her belt when the CBS comedy ended in May with Season 5. Her leading role as Abishola garnered her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won the 2019 Breakout Actress in TV Award on behalf of the Sync Con Honors Awards.

Next she’ll be voicing a character in Disney’s animated prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, which stars Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Seth Rogen and others. The Barry Jenkins-directed feature hits theaters in December.

Olówófôyekù grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. She then attended City College of New York, earning her B.A. with honors in theater. She also had a collegiate basketball career, playing for Ccny’s Beavers.

Her other film and television credits include a recurring role on...

April on Prime Video is stacked with returning favorites, the launch of one of Amazon’s biggest shows ever and a bevy of great movies to watch. The fifth and final season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” launches on April 14, while Amazon will premiere the globe-trotting action-thriller series “Citadel” – starring Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Richard Madden – on April 28. The show hails from “Avengers: Endgame” filmmaker Joe and Anthony Russo.

Noteworthy movies arriving on April 1 include the “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” movies, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Looper,” “Vanilla Sky” and “Top Gun.”

You can also stream the Billy Eichner rom-com “Bros” starting April 4 and the George Clooney/Julia Roberts rom-com “Ticket to Paradise” on April 11.

Check out the full list of what’s new on Amazon Prime Video in April 2023 below.

Also Read:

The 41 Best Movies on Amazon Prime (April 2023)

April 1

American Gigolo

At the Gate...

As befitting its status as one of the world’s biggest companies, every now and then Amazon likes to take a big swing with its Prime Video originals. With its list of new releases for April 2023, the streamer is taking one of its biggest swings yet.

Though it’s not quite as vast or expensive as fellow Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Citadel (premiering April 28) is a massive, massive undertaking. Starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, this spy series is described as “an expansive and groundbreaking global event comprising a mothership series and several local language satellite series.” This means that the Russo Brothers-produced project will eventually feature several spinoffs in multiple countries and languages around the world. Neat-o!

The only other major TV original of note this month is Dead Ringers, based on the 1988 David Cronenberg film of the same name,...

Prime Video is hoping to launch its own extended franchise universe in April with the premiere of international spy series “Citadel” from the minds of the Russo Brothers. The show stars Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra, and Stanley Tucci, and is intended to be the first block of an interconnected story with different spinoffs in countries and regions around the world. The first version will begin streaming on April 28. In the show, the world is in the grips of Manticore, a criminal organization, and several former spies are recruited to restore order despite having their memories erased.

Watch the trailer for “Citadel”:

Beloved young adult author Judy Blume opened the door to discussion about difficult subjects for generations of kids. Now, the writer is the subject of a new documentary, “Judy Blume Forever,” coming to Prime Video on April 21. The doc looks at her trajectory — from a scared kid to...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play notorious cult leader Jim Jones in the thriller, which will be directed by Anne Sewitsky.

Chloë Grace Moretz and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will star for FilmNation and Archer Gray in the cult thriller and hot EFM sales title White Night.

Anne Sewitsky, whose credits include Sundance 2011 grand jury prize-winner Happy, Happy and BBC/Amazon Studios mini-series A Very British Scandal, will direct the story from William Wheeler’s adapted screenplay based on Deborah Layton’s memoir Seductive Poison.

Moretz will play Layton, who joins the People’s Temple, the notorious cult led by minister Jim Jones (Gordon...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play cult leader Jim Jones and Chloë Grace Moretz will play a member of the Peoples Temple founder’s inner circle in “White Night,” a new film about one of the largest murder-suicides in history.

The Jonestown Massacre, as it is more commonly known, resulted in the deaths of more than 900 people, most of them Jones’ followers. They followed the Christian Socialist preacher and faith healer to Guyana, where he worked to establish a remote jungle commune, only to find their dreams of creating a religious paradise devolve into an abusive nightmare.

FilmNation Entertainment will finance the movie and produce it with Archer Gray. “White Night” is directed by Anne Sewitsky (“A Very British Scandal”) and based on Deborah Layton’s best-selling memoir “Seductive Poison.” William Wheeler (“The Ghost in the Shell”) wrote the script. FilmNation will launch worldwide sales at EFM.

“White Night” is a psychological...

Chloë Grace Moretz and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are set to star together in “White Night,” a psychological thriller inspired by the true story of the mass murder-suicide in the Jonestown cult in 1978.

Anne Sewitsky (“A Very British Scandal”) is directing the film that will star Gordon-Levitt as Jim Jones, the Christian socialist preacher, self-proclaimed God and cult leader, and Moretz as Deborah Layton, a woman who rose through the ranks of the cult and tried to expose Jones before it was too late.

“White Night” is based on Layton’s memoir “Seductive Poison,” and it details how on November 18, 1978, more than 900 people died in a mass murder-suicide, one of the largest on record. The massacre occurred at the Jonestown settlement that Jones established in Guyana in 1974, an extension of his San Francisco-based cult.

William Wheeler wrote the script based on Layton’s memoir.

The film is being financed by FilmNation Entertainment...

Munich-based sales agency Global Screen has picked up global distribution rights to Thale Persen’s “Clue — The Maltese Mystery,” a detective tale for children.

The film, which will be released in Norway by Nordisk on Aug. 27, will be the opening pic of the Cinemagi family program at the Norwegian Intl. Film Festival in Haugesund on Aug. 21.

“Clue — The Maltese Mystery” is based on the first four books of author Jørn Lier Horst’s bestselling youth book series, “Clue,” which has sold 500,000 books in Norway alone since its first publication and has also been published in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden. The Sunday Times in London described the author as “one of the most brilliantly understated crime novelists writing today.”

Persen is best-known for having directed the Yuletide series “The Christmas King” and vampire series “Heirs of the Night.”

Persen...

Maipo Film, the leading Norwegian production banner behind “The Crossing” and “State of Happiness,” has acquired Oslo-based Friland Production, whose credits include the Nikolaj Coster-Waldau starrer “Headhunters.”

Following Maipo’s acquisition, Christian Fredrik Martin, Friland’s owner and producer, is joining Maipo as a producer.

Besides “Headhunters,” Friland’s track record also comprises Netflix’s romantic drama “Battle,” about a dance competition, and “Congo Murder,” the true story of the two Norwegians who were imprisoned in Eastern Congo in 2009.

“Friland is a good fit for Maipo; we are complementary,” said producer Synnøve Hørsdal, the CEO of Maipo Film. “And thanks to this acquisition we are enlisting Christian Fredrik Martin, a seasoned producer with a vast network and a track record of internationally-driven movies.”

The deal with Friland marks Maipo’s first company acquisition since launching 20 years ago. Hørsdal said the acquisition will allow the company to increase its production volume...

Rosemary Blight.

Distributor All3Media International, New Zealand’s South Pacific Pictures and Norway’s Maipo Film have boarded Dark Victory, Goalpost Pictures’ political drama to be directed by Matthew Saville.

Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight and Saville pitched the project at Co-Pro Series 2020 at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Adapted by Saville from the book Dark Victory: How a Government Lied its Way to Political Triumph by David Marr and Marian Wilkinson, the five-hour drama will chronicle the story of the Howard government’s refusal in 2001 to allow Norwegian freighter Tampa to enter Christmas Island.

It will follow Captain Arne Rinnan, the master of the ship that rescued 438 Afghan refugees from their sinking boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The government’s refusal to give them safe passage sparked a political crisis.

All3Media International signed a first-look deal with Goalpost in 2018. The screen adaptation has been in development...

Highly pedigreed Sundance alum Anne Sewitsky returns to the festival with a Hollywood bombshell story you haven’t heard.

“Sonja – The White Swan” tells the true story of acclaimed athlete and architect of modern figure skating Sonja Henie. The Norwegian celebrity traveled to Los Angeles in 1936 to embark on a film career, armed with sharp wit and ambition to spare. She would land a studio contract after only a year of knocking on show business doors, and wound up in a feature that sold the most tickets at the domestic box office in 1937. Watch the film’s trailer, exclusive to Variety, above.

Ine Marie Wilmann stars in the titular role. Sewitsky’s 2011 debut feature “Happy, Happy” won the festival’s grand jury prize in the world cinema drama category. She would return to Park City in 2015 with “Homesick,” also starring Wilmann.

The director has several projects lined up, including an...

Happy Happy (or, Sykt Lykkelig, to give it its proper name), is an often hilarious snapshot of family life amongst the snowy plains of Norway. Bored with the everyday routine of marriage and lack of appreciation from husband, Erik (Joachim Rafaelsen), Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen) welcomes the change of pace and possibility of forming a friendship with the shiny, similar aged couple that move in next door. But though Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen) and Elisabeth (Maibritt Saerens) may have a perfect exterior, they are not necessarily as happy as they would have Kaja and Erik believe.

Sweet, full of sentiment and utterly delightful, Happy Happy shows just a fraction of the lives of a very interesting and diverse set of characters. As her husband goes hunting for days at a time, Kaja is left feeling unfulfilled and unloved, relishing in time spent with her new neighbours, while her young son Theodor (Oskar...

Maja is happy. She lives a simple life with her husband Eirik and son Theodore in snowy, rural Norway, and is content with the way things are. All that changes when the new neighbors move in. Sigve and Elisabeth arrive one day with their adopted Ethiopian son, Noa, and move into the house right next door. Maja is ecstatic to have new people to interact with. But she could never have imagined how intense the relationship between the two families would become. Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig) is the story of a woman’s struggle to find herself, and a tale of two couples trying to regain their love.

Read more...

While I normally approve not of "people's choice" awards -- that's what box office is for -- I do find the European Film Awards a curious beast worth noting each year. They have variety by way of scattershot film culture, there being no unifying "Hollywood" to control them. This year their People's Choice Awards -- which you can vote on and enter for a chance to win a trip to the awards in Berlin -- offers up an odd collection of Camp Comedy (France's star-laden Potiche), Royalty Porn (The UK's Oscar winner The King's Speech), Meta History (Spain's Even The Rain), Message Movie (Denmark's Oscar Winner In a Better World), Neeson-y Thriller (the international Unknown), Fish Out of Water Comedy (Italy's Welcome to the South), Ensemble Drama (France's star-laden Little White Lies), and even Animated Family Film (Germany's Animals United).

And the Nominees Are...

Go and vote...

...as long as...

Two more countries, neither of which have ever won the Foreign Film Prize in Hollywood, have announced their finalists lists.

We'll take Norway first since it's less popular with Oscar (5 nominations) and because I stand humbly before you to say I was wrong. My conjecture about what might be submitted -- other than the new Joachim Trier -- was quite wobbly. The three finalists are not the biggies from the Amanda awards but Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st (Oslo, 31. august) which we briefly discussed, Anne Sewitsky’s Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig) and Jens Lien’s Sons of Norway (Sønner av Norge). While Trier has the highest international profile, that doesn't always equate with submission choice. Happy Happy is a very frisky marital comedy (I ♥ the trailer) and Sons of Norway is a punk rock coming of age film that even features a cameo from Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten. Neither...

Have you picked up your tickets yet?

It’s that time of the year, when the early film festivals debut/premiere some of the films that we’ll be talking about later on in the year.

Sundance, Berlin, Pan African, Fespaco, and South By Southwest Film Festivals are done! And this week, the 40th installment of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival here in New York City, begins!

Press screenings for the festival end today, and I saw around 10 films. I’ve already reviewed 4 or so of them, with another 5 or 6 reviews coming, today and tomorrow. I’ll also include a brief write-up of what to expect at the festival, films you should see, those that you could skip, etc… so stay tuned for that.

The lineup of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival follows below, and those of you who live in New York, or who are...

Celebrating its 40th year of spotlighting the world’s best up-and-coming feature filmmakers, the Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious New Directors/New Films series has chosen Portland-based experimental filmmaker Matt McCormick‘s Some Days Are Better Than Others to screen.

McCormick is hardly a “new” director. He’s been making short films and music videos since 1999. However, Some Days Are Better Than Others is his first feature-length project. The movie follows the lives of several quirky Portland residents who all experience the good times of their lives slipping quickly into memory, while their more painful moments are so difficult to let go of.

Starring in the film is Carrie Brownstein, the former guitarist and singer for the band Sleater-Kinney and current star of the hit IFC cable TV series Portlandia. Brownstein previously appeared in Miranda July’s short film Getting Stronger Every Day...

The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Announce Feature Film Lineup for the 40th Annual New Directors/New Films March 23 . April 3

J.C. Chandor.s .Margin Call. is the Opening Night presentation with Maryam Keshavarz.s Award-winning .Circumstance. the Closing Night selection

The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the full lineup today for the 40th edition of New Directors/New Films (March 23 . April 3). Dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent, the film festival will screen 28 feature films (24 narrative, 4 documentary) representing 22 countries.

The opening night feature is J.C. Chandor.s Margin Call. Screening on Wednesday, March 23, at 7:00Pm at MoMA, Chandor’s feature film directing debut is a timely and terrifying dramatic expose that tackles twenty-four hours on an investment bank trading floor; a day that brings layer upon layer of human and...

Ahhh yes, it’s that time of the year, when the early film festivals debut/premiere some of the films that we’ll be talking about later on in the year.

Sundance is done; the Berlin and Pan African Film Festivals are currently underway; the South By Southwest Film Festival takes over Austin, TX in less than a month! And a few days after it ends, the 40th installment of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival here in New York City, begins!

Can’t you just feel the excitement in the air? I can!

And I feel even better knowing that I was granted press credentials by the festival organizers, meaning I’ll be seeing as many of these films for Free, with reviews to follow on this site, afterward, as usual.

The lineup of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival was just unveiled, and those of you who live in New York,...

Position Among the Stars directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich from Netherlands won the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary Films while Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, directed by Constance Marks was declared the Winner of the Special Jury Prize, U.S. Documentary Competition. Sundance Film Festival 2011 announced its awards on Monday.

India’s co-production venture with UK and USA, The Bengali Detective, directed by Philip Cox, was presented in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.

List of Awards:

Winner of the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary Film:

Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren), directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich (Netherlands)

Winner of the World Cinema Cinematography Award for Documentary Filmmaking:

Hell and Back Again, cinematography by Danfung Dennis (U.S.A./U.K.)

Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, edited by Goran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist, and directed by Goran Hugo Olsson.

The Jury, Audience, Next! and other special award-winners of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at the Festival's Awards Ceremony hosted by Tim Blake Nelson (star of Flypaper which premiered in this year's Premieres section) in Park City, Utah. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website.

Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from four categories: U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition and World Cinema Documentary Competition. All films in competition were also eligible for Sundance Film Festival Audience Awards as selected by Festival audiences. The U.S. Audience Awards presented by Acura were announced by Ray Liotta, and the World Cinema Audience Awards were announced by Joshua Leonard. Vera Farmiga announced the Best of Next! Audience Award.

Jury Prizes in Shorts Filmmaking were awarded to American and international short-form films on Tuesday, January 25. Other awards recognized at the...

The Sundance Film Festival Juries have selected the winners of the 2011 awards. Since they give out so many awards, the list is extremely long. We shound be playing catch up on the festival now that it is over and things are a little less chaotic. In the meantime here are the winners.

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival Juries consisted of:

U.S. Documentary Competition: Jeffrey Blitz, Matt Groening, Laura Poitras, Jess Search, Sloane Klevin U.S. Dramatic Competition: America Ferrera, Todd McCarthy, Tim Orr, Kimberly Peirce, Jason Reitman World Cinema Documentary Competition: José Padilha, Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Lucy Walker World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Susanne Bier, Bong Joon-Ho, Rajendra Roy Shorts Competition: Barry Jenkins, Kim Morgan, Sara Bernstein Alfred P. Sloan Award: Jon Amiel, Paula Apsell, Sean Carroll, Clark Gregg -

2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:

The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D.

The Sundance Institute announced the award winners for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Like Crazy ended up winning the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and Circumstance won the dramatic audience award. I thought Like Crazy was a good film, but it definitely was not one of my favorites or one of the best movie there. I didn't end up getting to see Circumstance.

Check out the full list of winners below:

2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:

The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity.

The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Like Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones. A young American guy and...

Festivalgoers came out of screenings of Alrick Brown’s “Kinyarwanda” feeling it had changed their lives. The film, the first to come out of Rwanda since the war, won the World Cinema Audience award

By Christy Karras

(from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival)

It’s time to wrap up the Sundance blog. I’ll miss you … until next year. In the meantime, here are the award winners (presented Saturday night by Tim Blake Nelson, who appeared wearing a snowflake costume, apparently in honor of the sheer cold of much of this year’s festival), along with some thoughts from me on notable films. In short, here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Sundance 2011:

The Good

The world cinema categories have long been among my favorite at the festival, for several reasons. The quality is uniformly higher than that of the U.S. entries. The films tend to...

Festivalgoers came out of screenings of Alrick Brown’s “Kinyarwanda” feeling it had changed their lives. The film, the first to come out of Rwanda since the war, won the World Cinema Audience award

By Christy Karras

(from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival)

It’s time to wrap up the Sundance blog. I’ll miss you … until next year. In the meantime, here are the award winners (presented Saturday night by Tim Blake Nelson, who appeared wearing a snowflake costume, apparently in honor of the sheer cold of much of this year’s festival), along with some thoughts from me on notable films. In short, here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Sundance 2011:

The Good

The world cinema categories have long been among my favorite at the festival, for several reasons. The quality is uniformly higher than that of the U.S. entries. The films tend to...

Tonight the Sundance Institute announced the award winners for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Like Crazy won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and Circumstance won the dramatic audience award. You can find the full list of winners in the press release after the jump. 2011 Sundance Film Festival Announces Awards Happy, Happy, Hell and Back Again, How to Die in Oregon and Like Crazy Earn Grand Jury Prizes Audience Favorites Include Buck, Circumstance, Kinyawaranda and Senna to.get.her Awarded Best of Next! Audience Award Park City, Ut–The Jury, Audience, Next! and other special award-winners of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony hosted by Tim Blake Nelson (star of Flypaper which premiered in this year’s Premieres section) in Park City, Utah. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website, www.sundance.org/festival. Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from four categories: U.

2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners

The Grand Jury Prize:Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity.

The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Like Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones. A young American guy and a young British girl meet in college and fall in love. Their love is tested when she is required to leave the country and they must face the challenges of a long-distance relationship.

The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to Hell and Back Again, directed by Danfung Dennis. Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Afghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.

It has been another great year of film. I still have but seven movies left to watch before I complete my “Best of the Year List” but we are already looking towards 2011.

The 57 feature films selected for the four competition programs of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced today, and the titles include some exciting works from returning filmmakers. While the lineup isn’t has loaded with big names it does feature the return of James Marsh whose documentary Man on Wire won the Grand Jury Prize at the fest in 2008. Some interesting movies we should mention that appear on the list are Mike Cahill’s Another Earth, Carlos Moreno’s All Our Dead One (Todos Tus Muertos), Anne Sewitsky’s sexual drama Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) Rashaad Ernesto Green‘s Gun Hill Road, Sean Durkin‘s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean‘s On the Ice, Dee Rees...

Among this year’s 13 selected (from 1073 - that's about one film for every 100 submitted) international narrative feature submissions, we find one title that is high up on our must see list in Paddy Considine's directing debut entitled Tyrannosaur. Last year we had Animal Kingdom ranked in the same spot. Here are the other 12 from pretty much all over the world. Abraxas /Japan (Director: Dai Sako; Screenwriters: Dai Sako and Naoki Kato) After botching a speech on career guidance at a local high school, a depressed Zen monk with a heavy metal past realizes that only music can revive his spirit. Cast: Suneohair, Rie Tomosaka, Manami Honjou, Ryouta Murai, Kaoru Kobayashi. International Premiere All Your Dead Ones (Todos Tus Muertos)/Colombia (Director Carlos Moreno; Screenwriters: Alonso Torres and Carlos Moreno) One morning, a peasant wakes to find a pile of bodies in the middle of his crops. When he goes to the authorities,...

It's the first day in December, and whether you want to recognize it or not, January isn't too far away. Today the awesome folks at the Sundance Film Festival unveiled their first list of films, international and domestic, which will be presented at the festival. Check it out, and yes there are more to come. Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.For the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, 115 feature-length films were selected, representing 28 countries by 40 first-time filmmakers, including 25 in competition. These films were selected from 3,812 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,943 U.S. and 1,869 international feature-length films.

As we’re getting ready to wrap up another great year of film, some are already looking to 2011 and what it will have to offer and what better way to look a head than with the first round of titles for the year’s first big festival: Sundance.

The list of festival titles isn’t as loaded with as many big name titles as have made the cut in previous years but there’s are definitely some interesting film in the competition line-up including Mike Cahill’s Another Earth which takes place on the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth (wicked!), Carlos Moreno’s All Our Dead One (Todos Tus Muertos) about a guy who finds a pile of dead bodies in the middle of his crops, Anne Sewitsky’s sexual drama Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) along with the Canadian/Japanese co-production Vampire.

Loads of great stuff on the line-up.

The announcement of the movies playing the 2011 Sundance Film Festival is like looking into our film futures. It's December and most movie fans are looking back at the last 12 months, picking out award winners, writing top ten lists, and chances are we haven't even heard of the Sundance films. They're just titles, people, words on a computer screen. Then in January they unspool on screens across Park City, Utah and become something more. Finally, months later, these are the movies we discuss with our friends and choose on ballots at awards parties. Yet we get to read about them now, a year in advance. Last year at this time, who had heard of Four Lions, Catfish, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Blue Valentine, The Kids Are All Right, Winter's Bone, Restrepo or Animal Kingdom? Sundance, that's who. All those films screened at the 2010 festival and now many have become not only personal favorites,...

The Sundance Film Festival has announced the films in competition for the awesome and cold film festival running January 20th through January 30th 2011 in Park City, Utah.

This will be my third year attending the festival, and I'm really excited for it! There's a great line-up of films this year! Check out the list below!

From the press release:

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening night film and instead screen one narrative film and one documentary from both the U.

Park City, Ut . Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at http://www.sundance.org/.

On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening night film and instead screen one narrative film and one documentary from both the U.S. and World Cinema competitions, as well as one shorts program.

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival said, .The Festival is a challenge to narrowly define. It is all at once exciting, fun, crazy, engaging, visceral, and sometimes even painful. We can explain storylines,...

Here's the first Sundance line-up announcement, of the fiction and nonfiction feature competitions, both U.S. and world. A few things of interest, on first scan: Vera Farmiga's directorial debut "Higher Ground," in which she also stars; "The Ledge," which sounds like this year's try for "Buried"; Iñupiaq Arctic thriller "On the Ice"; "Terri," the new film from "Momma's Man" director; Michael Rapaport's doc on A Tribe Called Quest "Beats, Rhymes and Life"; doc about the beloved Muppet "Being Elmo"; "If A Tree Falls," a new film from "Street Fight"'s Marshall Curry; Paddy Considine's feature directorial debut "Tyrannosaur"; and "Vampire," the new film from Japan's Shunji Iwai, a favorite of mine.

Descriptions courtesy of the festival:

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Another Earth (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) - On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy...

The films playing in-competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival have been announced. Some of this year’s competitors include Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut Higher Ground, Paddy Considine’s feature directorial debut Tyrannosaur, Matthew Chapman’s thriller The Ledge, Michael Rapaport’s documentary Beats, Rhymes and Life (which is about the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest), and a documentary about lovable Sesame Street resident Elmo (or rather, his puppeteer).

However, the movies playing in-competition at Sundance are only a fraction of the total number of films that play at the festival. This will be my first year attending the festival and I’m super-excited about going. Hit the jump for a full list of the in-competition films. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30th.

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U.S. Dramatic Competition

Another Earth (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) – On the...

HollywoodNews.com: The 2011 Sundance Film Festival has just announced its lineup for January. John Cooper, director of Sundance Film Festival, said, “With more than 10,000 films submitted this year, we have had to make some very tough choices. Yet in the end, I’m excited about the way the program has come together. It’s an incredible honor to introduce these films and filmmaker…these are the stories that will define not only our Festival, but also the cultural year ahead.”

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

On Day One, the Festival will...

The Film Stage is headed to Sundance this year and the festival has just announced its line-up. With over 10,00 entries here is what they narrowed it down to. Most initially notable is Vera Farmiga‘s directorial debut, Higher Ground (pictured above). There is a clear lack of stars as NYTimes notes, so the excitement of discovery is back in full swing. The fest will also announce 6 more out-of-competition categories tomorrow. Check out the full list below via the official site.

Us Dramatic

Another Earth (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) – On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy irrevocably alters the lives of two strangers, who begin an unlikely love affair. Cast: William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, Flint Beverage.

Benavides Born (Director: Amy Wendel; Screenwriters: Daniel Meisel and Amy Wendel) – A high school senior in a forgotten town...

Well, here they are – the Sundance Film Festival class of 2011, split up into 4 categories as indicated by the headers below. In future posts, I’ll be going over the complete list, highlighting titles that need to be, taking into consideration this blog’s specific interests.

Of note, some titles that I listed on my list of 2011 black films on our radar… Gun Hill Road, Rashaad Ernesto Green’s debut feature (which I actually saw a cut of over the weekend, and gave a thumbs up to; but I’ll talk more about it in detail when the time comes), Dee Rees’ Pariah, and Alrick Brown’s Kinyarwanda. Further, titles we’ve previously covered here… Beats, Rhymes and Life, Michael Rapaport’s documentary on hip-hop legends, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Redemption of General Butt Naked, a documentary on the Liberian warlord turned evangelist.

One film I’m surprised isn...

The Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Tomorrow will see the announcement of the six out-of-competition sections, which will all screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival which runs from January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

For the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, 115 feature-length films were selected, representing 28 countries by 40 first-time filmmakers, including 25 in competition. These films were selected from 3,812 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,943 U.S. and 1,869 international feature-length films. 92 films at the Festival will be world premieres.

The films featured in the U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary Competition are listed directly below and I've gone through and highlighted a few of the bigger known names to check out. However, Sundance has been introducing us to a...