Wednesday, January 23

Pretty Bird (Dramatic Competition)

Director/Screenwriter: Paul Schneider

Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Kristen Wiig, Denis O'Hare

(USA, 2008, 120 min., color, 35mm)

The spirit of invention is alive and well in Curtis Prentiss, a driven man intent on creating a rocket-powered belt, who finds unexpected success when he teams with an out of work aerospace engineer and a friend with the funds to underwrite the project. At least one of the film's characters will come out of the closet by the film's end as well.

Eccles Theatre, Park City

Be Like Others

Director/Screenwriter: Tanaz Eshaghian

(Canada, 2008, 74 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

In a country where homosexuality remains an offense punishable by death, this documentary asserts that many young gay men and women in Iran are opting to undergo gender reassignment surgery, which is their only legal option under their country's interpretation of Islamic law. This film explores a culture in which shame and fear have led many to take extreme measures in an attempt to find acceptance.

Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Dramatic Competition)

Director/Screenwriter: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Cast: Jon Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller, Mena Suvari, Nick Nolte

(USA, 2007, 95 min., color, 35 mm)

This adaptation of Michael Chabon's celebrated novel follows aimless mobster's son Art Bechstein in the summer that he meets Jane and Cleveland, a couple with whom he soon finds himself in a bisexual love triangle and increasingly risky situations.

Racquet Club, Park City

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Director: Christopher Bell

Screenwriters: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady

(USA, 2007, 105 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

After his two brothers found themselves caught up in the dangerous subculture of performance-enhancing drugs and steroids, director Christopher Bell decided to turn his camera on the social pressures that lead some to take drastic steps in pursuit of physical perfection. Among those interviewed is an HIV-positive man and proponent of steroid therapy.

Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

Xanadu

Director: Robert Boyd

(USA, 2007, Installation)

As part of the free exhibitions at the New Frontier space on Main Street, Robert Boyd's installation Xanadu will be shown every day in a single channel presentation. In rapid fire, music style montages, Boyd throws a disco track over images of doomsday cults, political figures, and fundamentalist rage against feminism and gay rights.

Screening with The Linguists

New Frontier, Park City

An American Soldier

Director/Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg

Cast: Teresa Palmer, Joel Mackenzie, Frank Sweet

(USA, 2007, 86 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

Sergeant First Class Clay Usie is one of the most successful army recruiters in the country; he also acts as a mentor to high-school students training to become soldiers, many of whom will eventually be deployed to Iraq. One of the soldiers he recruits, and whom this film follows closely over a period of nine months, is revealed to be a lesbian.

Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

A Raisin in the Sun (Premieres)

Director: Kenny Leon

Screenwriter: Paris Qualles

Cast: Sanaa Lathan, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Sean Combs, John Stamos

(USA, 2007, 131 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

From the powerhouse gay producing team of Neil Meron and Craig Zadan comes this latest take on the classic play by Lorraine Hansberry, featuring several Tony Award-winning performers from its acclaimed Broadway revival. Set in 1950s Chicago, the story focuses on the Younger family as they wait to receive an insurance check that may change all their lives.

Eccles Theatre, Park City

Bend It

Director: Jules Nurrish

(United Kingdom, 2007, 3 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

Toying with the visual signifiers of gender, two androgynous individuals with chests bound by black tape dance on gallery podiums, in director Jules Nurrish's homage to the living sculptures of cheeky art-world icons Gilbert and George.

Shown as part of Shorts Program I

Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

The Guitar

Director: Amy Redford

Screenwriter: Amos Poe

Cast: Saffron Burrows, Paz De La Huerta, Isaach De Bankole

(USA, 2007, 95 min., color, 35 mm)

After discovering she has terminal cancer, Mel (Saffron Burrows) decides to cram as much living as she can into her remaining time, which includes learning to play the guitar and flings with both a UPS guy and a pizza girl.

Screening Room, Sundance Resort

Diva

Director: Josephine Mackerras

(France, 8 min.)

Having been rejected by the town he grew up in, a drag queen moves to Paris in the hopes of living a better life, only to find new difficulties.

Screening with Shorts Block 4

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Heiko

Director: David Bonneville

(Portugal, 13 min.)

A fetishistic relationship between a young man named Heiko and his seventy-year-old lover is suddenly taken to extremes in a sci-fi twist.

Screening Times

Screening with Shorts Block 4

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Goodbye Baby

Director/Screenwriter: Daniel Schechter

Cast: Christine Evangelista, Kevin Corrigan, Ivan Sandomire, Kane Manera

(USA, 2001, 87 min., color)

Fresh off the boat in New York City, Melissa moves into a small one-bedroom apartment shared by her brother Robbie and his boyfriend, and takes a waitress job while pursuing her dream of becoming a stand-up comic.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Woman in Burka

Director: Jonathan Lisecki

(USA, 20 min.)

An actress named Sarita hopes to land a role as the ghost of an Iraqi rape victim, but no one seems to know anything about the film. Director Lisecki also shows up as Sarita's "uber-gay" agent.

Screening with Shorts Block 6

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

24 Frames Per Day

Director: Sonali Gulati

(USA, 2007, 7 min.)

Director Sonali Gulati creates an intriguing filmic investigation of identity by combining audio pulled from news stories and Gulati's awkward interrogation by a cab-driver, with a time-lapse montage built with 9 month's worth of daily photographs of her home's doorway.

Screening with Shorts Block 6

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Broken English (Screening with The Project)

Director: Oscar Alvarez

(USA, 10 min.)

A Latino high school student fights for a spot in an advanced placement biology class, which he qualified for, but was denied entry.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

I Think We're Alone Now

Director/Screenwriter: Sean Donnelly

(USA, 2008, 70 min., color)

Called stalkers by the media, the two individuals profiled in this film would probably describe their shared obsession with 80's pop star Tiffany in far more benign terms. One of the film's subjects, Denver native Kelly McCormick, is intersex.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Sync or Swim

Director/Screenwriter: Cheryl Furjanic

(USA, 2008, 100 min., color)

Synchronized swimming doesn't spring to many people's minds when they think of the toughest Olympic competitions, but this documentary seeks to show just how much grueling training actually goes on behind the scenes.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City