SUNDANCE 2010 FILM FESTIVAL
OBSELIDIA
Dramatic Competition
Written and Directed by Diane Bell
Cast: Michael Piccirilli, Gaynor Howe, Frank Hoyt Taylor
Producers: Chris Bryne. Sheri Davani, Matthew Medlin, Ken Morris
Cinematographer: Zac Mulligan Editor: John-Michael Powell Composer: Liam Howe
Format: Shot on Red Camera – Screening format: HDCam – Running time: 96 minutes
Ever feel like the whole world is disappearing? Species by species, technology by technology – everything you know and love is becoming obsolete.
That’s how George, a lonely librarian feels and why he’s writing The Obselidia, an Encyclopedia of Obsolete Things. He wants to record it all, to catalogue the world before it’s gone.
OBSELIDIA, beautifully written and directed by Diane Bell will captivate critics and audiences. This cinematic little gem will
OBSELIDIA tells the story of George Ruben (Michael Piccirilli), a man out of step with the 21st century who is pathologically nostalgic for things that used to be and never will again. George’s obsession with chronicling all things obsolete even believes that love is obsolete.
On his quest to catalogue critically endangered occupations, George meets the beautiful Sophie (Gaynor Howe), a cinema projectionist who works at a local art house movie theater. Sophie’s a vivacious free spirit, who lives life in the moment and rarely stops to look back. She romantically believes that nothing is obsolete so long as someone loves it.
New to LA and a little lonely after breaking up with her long time boyfriend, Sophie pursues a friendship with George. She allows him to interview her about her own work for The Obselidia – and she becomes fascinated by this guy who’s quite unlike anyone she’s ever met. He doesn’t use a computer, he doesn’t own a car, and he seems so earnest and sincere.
When Sophie learns that George is planning a trip out to Death Valley, via public transport, in order to interview a maverick scientist, Lewis Fordham (Frank Hoyt Taylor) who is predicting the eminent end of the world, she steps in and insists that she drive him.
With a soundtrack composed using an orchestra of obsolete instruments and sounds, adding to the quirky romantic feeling of the film, OBSELIDIA is a sweet, romantic journey in which two people meet, go on a journey together and are forever changed.
Stunning cinematography driven by beautiful storytelling, OBSELIDIA is sure to be one of this year’s little break-out festival gems! Don’t miss it!!! It will change your life as well.
Public Screenings:
Friday, January 22nd – 2:15 p.m. – Racquet Club – 1200 Little Kate Rd., Park City
Saturday, January 23rd – 12 noon – Broadway Centre Cinemas VI – 111 E. Broadway, SLC
Tuesday, January 26th – 12:15 p.m. – Eccles Theatre – 1750 Kerns Blvd., Park City
Wednesday, January 27th – 5:30 p.m. – Prospector Square Theatre – 2200 Sidewinder Drive, Park City
Friday, January 29th – 12 noon – Egyptian Theatre – 328 Main Street, Park City
http://www.obselidiathemovie.com/
RUSSIAN LESSONS
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Directors: Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov
Executive Producer: Giorgi Arveladze Producer: Torstein Grude
Format: Shot on 35mm + HDV. Presented in Sundance on HDCAM SR ntsc.
Running time: 90 minutes
An investigation into Russian preparation and execution of the war in Georgia, autumn 2008, with the forgotten ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia in 1993 as a backdrop.
Renowned Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov returns to Sundance with his controversial film RUSSIAN LESSONS which tells the story of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war in the context of the two countries’ post-Soviet history. His journey to Sundance this time will be bittersweet. His co-director, partner and wife, Olga Konskaya, a prominent film producer and human rights campaigner, sadly, passed away in May 2009 while finishing the film, at the age of 44.
RUSSIAN LESSONS starts as a journey by two directors-protagonists, Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov, one on each side of the frontline during the last year’s Russian-Georgia war. A personal take of the two Russians on war, politics, political culture and history focuses first of all on human drama before coming up with assessments. They gradually emerge, however, as the intercut double journey progresses, the two meet on the frontline and return to their native St. Petersburg with the footage they shot during the war. In their cutting room the filmmakers analyze and edit their material, and this process becomes part of the actual film. Using this devise the film strives to integrate hard fact analysis into the narrative of the two filmmakers’ journey through space and time, but also through the minefield of propaganda and emotional manipulation that have surrounded the Russo-Georgian confrontation.
Importantly RUSSIAN LESSONS puts the recent war in the context of the post-Soviet history which has managed to keep its darkest pages away from international public’s attention despite dozens of relevant UN resolutions and OSCE conventions. At the same time as Milosevic and his henchmen were earning the reputation of the biggest evil of the post-communist world, a perfectly comparable, but perhaps even more cruel, campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing was happening in Georgia considered by some as Russia’s sphere of “privileged strategic interestsâ€.
Public Screenings:
Tuesday, January 26th, 9:00 p.m. – Holiday Village Cinema IV – 1776 Park Ave, Park City
Wednesday, January 27th, 9:00 a.m. – Yarrow Hotel Theatre 1 – 1800 Park Avenue, Park City
Thursday, January 28th, 10:30 p.m. – Broadway Centre Cinemas IV – 111 E. Broadway, SLC
Friday, January 29th, 3:00 p.m. – Holiday Village Cinema IV – 1776 Park Ave, Park City
TUB
Shorts Category
Written/directed by Bobby Miller Produced by Kim Jackson
Cinematography by Matthew Sanchez
Starring Eric Levy & Megan Raye Manzi
Running Time: 13 minutes
Paul can’t commit. Paul jerks off in the shower. Paul just impregnated his bath tub.
Filmmaker Bobby Miller’s short film TUB is about a guy who can’t commit to his girlfriend…who then jerks off in the shower…and accidentally impregnates his tub.
Bobby Miller’s previous work includes directing a stop motion commercial for VH1, writing for The Onion, and his claim to fame was his epic campaign to beat Jimmy Fallon for a Webby award. Miller created the Webby-Award winning variety show The Best Short Films In The World for Next New Networks. His feature film scripts have placed at Slamdance, Scriptapalooza, and the BlueCat Screenplay competition. Bobby currently writes & hosts The Reel Good Show for Next New Networks.
Public Screenings
Friday, January 22nd, 11:30 a.m. Prospector Square Theatre – 2200 Sidewinder Dr. , Park City
Saturday, January 23rd, 5:30 p.m. Library Center Theatre – 1225 Park Ave., Park City
Sunday, Jan 24th, 3:45 p.m. Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC – 111 Broadway , SLC
Wednesday, Jan 27th, 9:00 a.m. Holiday Village Cinema IV – 1776 Park Ave., Park City
Saturday, Jan 30th, 6:00 p.m. Egyptian Theatre – 328 Main Street, Park City