Seattle at Sundance
Once a year, filmmakers, film lovers and celebrity gawkers flock to Park City, Utah, for two weeks. The Sundance Film Festival, which focuses on independent films and their creators, brings together unknowns and the established, the struggling and the investors, great ideas and great developers. Originally founded by the very rustic Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute and its festival continue to exude that homegrown, bucolic essence, allowing for experimentation, originality and groundbreaking art. The fest is beginning this week, running January 20-30.
The Sundance Film Festival screens films from around the world, and reppin’ Seattle are four new flicks: The Off Hours, The Catechism Cataclysm, The Details and The Oregonian. Let’s explore them in a bit more detail, shall we?
The Off Hours (directed and written by Megan Griffiths). The film, which was partially shot in Ballard and other Seattle locations, illustrates the life of the late night shift at a highway diner. The character-driven script features local cast and crew, including Lynn Shelton, Lacey Leavitt and Alycia Delmore. The Off Hours was also the first film to be awarded the SSF Tag, the Sustainable Style Foundation’s stamp of approval, for their efforts at green filmmaking. The film will screen as part of the “Next ” series, which highlights visionary, innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking.
The Catechism Cataclysm (directed by Todd Rohal). This locally made film is screening as part of the festival’s “Park City at Midnight” series, which is home to horror films and extreme comedies. This should tell you a lot about the movie’s overall attitude. As Sundance’s film guide explains, “This shish kebab of wild characters melts together stories within stories until the lines between the Bible, Mark Twain, and campfire tales are wiped out, and the viewer is carried down the river into a divinely bizarre and funny tale.” The film also employed The Off Hours’ Megan Griffiths and Lacey Leavitt.
The Details (directed by Jacob Aaron Estes). The Details has about a bazillion famous actors in it, so we’re predicting it will be quite popular at Sundance. The cast includes Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert and Kerry Washington, and the story follows an unraveling marriage, an idealized lawn and all the horrors involved in the expectations of a perfect suburban life. The film was shot in Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle.
The Oregonian (directed by Calvin Lee Reeder). All of the pictures from this film feature a bloody young woman in flannel. She’s lost in the woods, encountering truckers and old magical women. The protagonist has survived a brutal car crash only to be tossed into this nightmarish woodland world. While it promises some humorous moments, this local film also looks to be quite terrifying. The Oregonian, like Catechism Cataclysm, is screening in the “Park City at Midnight” series.
We wish we were attending the festival in order to provide you with the VIP scoop, but, alas, we must observe from afar. For those lucky folks who are attending, check out this survival guide, and be sure to support these local films. We should all be very proud to have such amazing movies representing our city.
