The goal of motion pictures is not to recreate reality, it’s not even to show reality. I want to create a little psychic link between you and my pictures. I want to suck you into the world of the story, suspend your disbelief and make you forget about yourself and your life and just be in the moment of the film.
By not showing enough visual information, we force the brain into filling in the gaps… it draws you in even more. It’s part of how you let go to the point where you can laugh or cry or feel tense or afraid or elated.
Naim Sutherland
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Best Narrative Film
28 Hotel Rooms
Young & Wild
Keep the Lights On
Best Documentary
West of Memphis
Indie Game
Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry
Best Director
Marialy Rivas, Young & Wild
Ian Sachs, Keep the Lights On
So Yong Kim, For Ellen
Best Lead Actor
Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On
Kim Kold, Teddy Bear
John Hawkes, The Surrogate
Mark Duplass, Safety Not Guaranteed
Best Lead Actress
Marin Ireland, 28 Hotel Rooms
Alicia Rodriguez, Young and Wild
Felicity Price, Wish You Were Here
Best Supporting Actor
Mark Webber, Save the Date
Felipe Pinto, Young & Wild
Marek Sacha, Four Suns
Best Supporting Actress
Shaylena Manigo, For Ellen
Lizzie Kaplan, Bachelorette
Amy Schumer, Price Check
Best Cinematography
David Raedeker, My Brother the Devil
Doug Emmet, 28 Hotel Rooms
Keiichi Kobayashi, About the Pink Sky
Best Score
Jonathan Snipes, Room 237
Johann Johannson, For Ellen
Best Editing - Dramatic
Andrea Chignoli & Sebastian Sepulveda, Young & Wild
Joseph Krings, 28 Hotel Rooms
Best Editing - Documentary
Lisanne Pajot & James Swirskey, Indie Game
Hannele Halm, China Heavyweight
—
Best Grossout of the Festival
The Demonbitch in V/H/S
The Octopussy from Grabbers
Most Endings in One Film
Red Lights
Most See Through Sentimental Garbage
Robot & Frank
Freakiest Film that Knows Its Freaky
Room 237
Queen of Sundance
Parker Posey
Best Tweeter of Sundance
Mike Birbiglia, @birbigs
Most Slamming Body - Male
Felipe Pinto, Young & Wild
Thure Lindhardt - Keep the Lights On
Mark Webber - Save the Date
Most Slamming Body - Female
Helen Hunt, The Surrogate
Best Dream Sequences
Sleepwalk With Me
Honorable Mention
Michael Rainey Jr - Holding his own opposite Common
Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Great performance but you should have had more material
Paul Dano - Greatest lip sync of a whitesnake song *EVER*
28 Hotel Rooms
Keep the Lights On
Young and Wild
West of Memphis
About a Pink Sky
China Heavyweight
For Ellen
Gypsy Davy
Teddy Bear
Sleepwalk With Me
Bachelorette
Wish You Were Here
Hello I Must Be Going
Indie Movie
Four Suns
Price Check
The Queen of Versailles
Father’s Chair
Safety Not Guaranteed
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Smashed
The Surrogate
Save the Date
Shorts IV
LUV
Room 237
Love Free or Die
Shorts I
Shorts II
V/H/S
My Brother the Devil
The House I Live In
The First Time
Abacus
Robot and Frank
Grabbers
Red Lights
The Arm
Quirky and quick, hinting to an underlying significance
Henley
The punch is a bit predictable but the kid is funny
Ok Breathe Auralee
Could have done without the heavy handed “lyrical” transitions that were way too literal
97 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card
Walks the line between oh-my-side-hurt funny and cheesily sentimental but still just a really cool movie.
Girl
Its closest relative is pervy uncle In the Company of Men. Not for me but I’m sure Neil Labute is jacking off I. A theatre somewhere to this one.
The Return
Would have packed a heavier punch for me with a tighter more controlled edit
The Black Balloon
Beautiful and poetic with a great score. These guys really see things in a different way!
About the Pink Sky
dir by Keiichi Kobayashi
This film takes place entirely inside the memory of the lead character, Izumi. In the memory Izumi is in high school and finds a wallet with $300,000 yen belonging to a wealthy college boy…the drama and self discovery spring from her initial decision not to return the wallet and ultimately what happens when her friends discover she has it.
There were several things I loved about this film—the sound design for one, the cinematography, and the easy humor and repartee between the three lead girls. The cast, especially Izumi (played by Ai Ikedea), really captured that disinterested quality so many teens have that is simply masking for a secret hunger for self discovery. There was one casting choice in particular that I questioned, and some subject matter that I felt was sloppily handled, but all in all a solid offering from an exciting and gentle new voice in Japenese cinema!
West of Memphis
Dir by Amy Berg
I think the most startling thing about Amy Bergs talent as a documentarian is her passionate and fearless search for the truth. This conviction takes her into some pretty murky terrain and that is no more the truth than with this film. West of Memphis hung heavy in the air long after the credits rolled, bringing up strong emotions in most audience members at this mornings screening. It’s humbling to know there are people out there who will stop at nothing to expose the truth, and gives me hope that there will one day be justice for the three little boys who were so gruesomely discarded.
The Arm
Quirky and quick, hinting to an underlying significance
Henley
The punch is a bit predictable but the kid is funny
Ok Breathe Auralee
Could have done without the heavy handed “lyrical” transitions that were way too literal
97 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card
Walks the line between oh-my-side-hurt funny and cheesily sentimental but still just a really cool movie.
Girl
Its closest relative is pervy uncle In the Company of Men. Not for me but I’m sure Neil Labute is jacking off In a theatre somewhere to this one.
The Return
Would have packed a heavier punch for me with a tighter more controlled edit
The Black Balloon
Beautiful and poetic with a great score. These guys really see things in a different way!