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click to enlarge Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jack Mitchell This year the 2021 Sundance Film Festival was virtual, and its offerings trimmed down from previous years. It included 73 feature films, 50 short films, four Indie Series, 23 talks and events, and 14 New Frontier multimedia projects. We watched 38 of the 73 films, including most of the award winners. Here are some sneak peaks of our favorites to look for in the year to come. A iley Some things are excruciatingly difficult to articulate in words, and can only be expressed in an abstract manner such as dance. Things such as the lonely success of Alvin Ailey, a gay man born in the depression in 1931 who, against all odds, was able to realize his dream. Choreographer, former Ailey company member, and friend George Faison reflects on thei ....
Users Every year, at the end of January, it seems like Austin s film scene packs its collective bags and heads to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. This year, as the pandemic rolls on, Sundance is coming to Austin with a special series of screenings and panels presented by the festival and Austin Film Society. It all started last summer, said Holly Herrick, AFS head of film & creative media, when they reached out to us and said, Look, we re trying to reimagine the festival. There s a lot of history between AFS and Sundance, far beyond the annual trip many of the staff take to the mountains for a first glimpse of the new crop of American and global indie cinema. The two organizations have been collaborating for years, whether it be showing the festival s short film selections in the AFS Cinema, or helping connect Texas filmmakers with Sundance. A lot of AFS Fellows have also gone through Sundance Institute Labs, said Herrick. This year, that collaboration has on ....
Movie Screenings at Pioneer Farms Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms, 10621 Pioneer Farms Dr. Tickets $25 per car, $15 per additional passenger, available in advance at www.austinfilm.org/2021-sundance-film-festival. Thursday, Jan. 28 7pm: Son of Monarchs (D: Alexis Gambis, Narrative Feature) The cross-border migrations of the monarch butterfly flutter over this story of a family reunited and divided by a funeral. Friday, Jan. 29 7pm: The Pink Cloud (D: Iuli Gerbase, Narrative Feature) Timely sci-fi drama about two strangers in unexpected close quarters when a global event forces them into quarantine. Saturday, Jan. 30 6pm: How It Ends (D: Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, Narrative Feature) An all-star cast (Holly Hunt, Olivia Wilde, Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll, and Lamorne Morris) get in the way of a woman heading to the party to literally end all parties in this fusion of ....
At the Ready If you walked into a school and there were kids with fake guns running police-style room clearance operations, what would your first response be? For journalist and filmmaker Maisie Crow, it was very simple: What? What s happening? . I d never seen a visual like that, these high schoolers holding guns in SWAT gear. She d been invited by a video production teacher in Laredo to talk to his class. When she saw those kids, she quickly realized that no one seemed surprised by their presence. It turned out it was the Criminal Justice Club. At its simplest level, it s ROTC for cops, a high school club where kids are taught the basics of law enforcement, with an eye to joining the police or the United States Border Patrol when they graduate. Some are attracted by the idea of helping their community; others by the promise of a well-paying job after high school; and others by the idea of having somewhere to belong. Immediately, Crow was fascinated by the potential for ....