Telefilm Canada Announces Five Canadian Films Selected for Sundance 2010
Montréal, December 3, 2009 – Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that five Canadian feature-length films have been selected to screen at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 21-31. Recognized as the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film, Sundance continues to attract a vibrant community of the most original storytellers, artists and audiences from around the world. This year,
feature-length submissions from the U.S. totalled 1,920 while foreign submissions climbed to 1,804. The Festival has selected 113 features, with among them 42 international productions.
“Telefilm Canada has been partnering with the Sundance Film Festival for over 15 years,” stated Sheila de La Varende, Director, International & National Business Development at Telefilm. “Year after year, our Canadian producers, directors and distributors benefit from the festival’s dynamic platform to introduce their talent to the U.S. and the world, to attract buyer interest, and to garner awards.”
For the 2010 edition, Telefilm will hold the annual Canadian “Meet & Greet” event for filmmakers, distributors, media and other industry professionals, in partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Trade Routes Program and British Columbia Film and with the assistance of the Canadian Consulate in Denver, Colorado.
“This is an amazing payoff to taking risks and developing talent,” said Paul Pope, producer of Grown Up Movie Star, screening in this year’s World Cinema Narrative Competition. “We are thrilled that Telefilm Canada recognized our project’s potential and worked with us. We are extremely excited about the invitation to premiere the film at Sundance and the incredible opportunity to reach out to a wider audience and the U.S. industry.”
“Getting accepted into Sundance is like winning an award in itself,” said Mila Aung-Thwin, producer of Last Train Home, screening in this year’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. “The festival has a tremendous mystique and a reputation highlighting the world’s best theatrical documentaries. From an industry point of view, it’s exactly where you want to be in order to get a release in the US. This was exactly the case with our previous film, Up the Yangtze, which landed us a great deal with Zeitgeist, and went on to be one of the top documentary releases of 2007."
"Again this year, E1 has a strong Sundance line-up with films from the UK, Brazil, and Australia; but we are particularly proud of the Sundance Canadian selection of 7 Days in the Midnight Section, an audacious and profound story,” said Charlotte Mickie, Executive Vice-President, E1 Entertainment International. "Having films selected for Sundance always brings us amazing visibility and recognition.”
“The Park City at Midnight Program is the perfect way to unveil Splice in North America,” said producer Steve Hoban. “The Sundance audience appreciates sophisticated, audacious, entertaining movies — they are going to love our film,” he concluded.
The Canadian feature-film selection at Sundance 2010 includes:
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World Cinema Documentary Competition |
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Title |
Producer |
Director |
Description |
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Last Train Home |
Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross (EyeSteelFilm, Montréal) |
Lixin Fan |
A family embarks on an annual tormenting journey along with 200 other million peasant workers to reunite with their distant family, and to revive their love and dignity as China soars as the world’s next super power. |
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World Cinema Narrative Competition |
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Title |
Producer |
Director |
Description |
|
Grown Up Movie Star (International premiere) |
Jill Knox Gosse, Paul Pope, Shawn Doyle, Adriana Maggs (Pope Productions, St. John’s) |
Adriana Maggs |
The story of Ruby, 13, determined to grow up fast after her mother runs away to become a movie star, leaving Ruby with her hopelessly rural father. (Received support from the Canada Feature Film Fund.) |
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Midnight Section |
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Title |
Producer |
Director |
Description |
|
7 Days (Les 7 jours du Talion) |
Nicole Robert (GO Films, Montréal) |
Podz (Daniel Grou) |
Bruno Hamel lives happily until one afternoon his daughter is raped and murdered. In a flash, everything changes for the Hamel family. When the police capture the suspected murderer, a terrible plan is hatched in Bruno’s troubled mind: he will capture the monster and make him pay for what he has done to his daughter. (Received support from the Canada Feature Film Fund.) |
|
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil |
Rosanne Milliken (Gynormous Pictures, Vancouver); Thomas Augsberger Los Angeles,CA); Albert Klychak (Urban Island,Edmonton) and Morgan Jurgenson (State College, PA) |
Eli Craig |
U.K./Canada co-venture. Tucker and Dale are two redneck pals who are mistaken for killers by a group of archetypal college kids who are vacationing in the woods. How they’re “mistaken” for killers is part of the fun. |
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Splice |
Steven Hoban (Copperheart Productions, Toronto) |
Vincenzo Natali |
Canada/France co-production. Clive and Elsa are bold, young genetic engineers whose radical DNA splicing techniques create startling new animal hybrids. The result of a secret experiment with human DNA is Dren, who exceeds Clive and Elsa’s wildest dreams… until she becomes their worst nightmare. (Received support from the Canada Feature Film Fund.) |
Canadian short films selected for screening at Sundance as well as the films selected for Slamdance will be released on or after December 7.
Telefilm Canada: Developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry. Telefilm provides financial support to the private sector to create distinctively Canadian productions that appeal to domestic and international audiences. The Corporation also administers the funding programs of the Canadian Feature Film Fund, the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.ca.
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Media inquiries:
Eva Hartling
Senior Advisor, External Communications
Telefilm Canada
514-283-0838, ext. 2090 or 1-800-567-0890
hartlie@telefilm.ca