The first major film festival to be organized in the opening calendar for the first time each year. It is a festival for American and international independent films. Sundance Film Festival which has been held continuously since 1984
The 2023 annual festival takes place between January 19-29, with parallel screenings in Salt Lake, Utah, USA, and online screenings for US audiences. and media from different parts of the world
As part of this year’s competition the winners were announced on Friday night, January 27, in Mountain Time. It appears that in the two main categories in the United States DRAMATIC and DOCUMENTARY, the film about the lives of black Americans takes the two home. Celebrating the contemporary achievements of Black Cinema’s once marginalized films. If currently becomes an important group of mainstream work, especially in the independent film line. The level of quality is not inferior to all commercial films in Hollywood.
But before talking about the films that won the two main American film lines. Let’s look at the award-winning work in the international independent film line first. Starting from the film grabGrand Jury Prize for International Documentary which includes The Eternal Memory Female director Maite Alberdi from Chile
The film tells the story of Augusto Góngora, the late life of Alzheimer’s, a former reporter who closely followed the work of the dictator Pinochet, and his ex-wife, the actress Paulina Urrutia. His girlfriend was married for more than 25 years, and since Augusto was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about 10 years ago, Paulina has never considered leaving her husband. He stood by Augusto’s side, however distressing his forgetfulness was.
The film seems to tell a similar story to Michael Haneke’s Amour (2012), but everything seen is a real event. Reflects true pure love that will ask to be by your side even if the situation is darker than a nightmare. This is an impressive little documentary. It suggests an inner strength that cannot be shaken by any fate of those who have been through life.
jump to the movieSenior Jury Award DRAMATIC line This time is the time for an English indie film about Scratcher The female director Charlotte Regan is reminiscent of the films of Ken Loach or Andrea Arnold as they tell similar stories about working class Britons.
Scrapper tells the touching story of Georgie, a troubled 12-year-old white girl who lives alone in a leafy London suburb with her mother. But when her parents died of a serious illness, Georgie didn’t want child welfare workers to take her in. Lied to everyone that she was living with her uncle. He earns a living by stealing parked bikes and selling them to his best friend of the same age, Ali.
The situation seemed to be going well when no one suspected it. Until one day, a young white man with silver hair named Jason returned to this house. A man who claims to be Georgie’s biological father and her mother’s deceased husband. who has returned to the same place again after moving to work abroad for a long time Jason’s relationship with Georgie is rekindled when Georgie cannot trust the man who left her mother and herself. He also has a suspected history of not being a professional like others.
The film has good performances, Lola Campbell plays the role of Georgie and Harris Dickinson, who we could be familiar with from the leading role in the film Triangle of Sadness (2022) directed by Ruben Östlund, with Lola Campbell able to create characters. It’s Georgie who seems so incredibly worried that there’s no sign of the endearing effort we’re used to seeing from America’s young stars.
More importantly, Georgie always carried a lot of trauma, no matter how hard she tried to be. He is more sympathetic than indifferent to his flexibility. Harris Dickinson paints Jason so well that the audience cannot see what kind of person he is. And this form will have good intentions as claimed or not. Or what secret agenda does he have under such a kind face?
The film portrays the love between father and daughter who have to wait to see if they can create a landslide like Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun (2022).
Moving back to the American film contest on the coast side.documentary work issue receivedGrand Jury Prize go is Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project Directed by Joe Brewster and Michelle Stephenson, the film may sound like a space science documentary, but it is actually a documentary that portrays the life, thoughts and fantasies of the black American poet Nikki Giovanni. He wrote the poem Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We’re about Going to Mars), which is the origin of the title of the documentary.
This documentary tells the life story of Nikki Giovanni. It can be said that it combines the life stories of marginalized people to answer the different aspects of people in society which are big issues today. because this case is an elderly person She is a woman, of color, and, most importantly, an LGBTQ+ lesbian woman with a longstanding relationship.
Where the film opens with an arrogant quote with the message that “Only through the thoughts and imaginations of black people can humanity understand their journey to Mars,” linking to Nikki Giovanni’s poem Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea ( We’re Going to Mars), declaring, We don’t need any futuristic spaceship to travel to another planet.
Alone with the great imagination and talent of human beings regardless of skin color. can fly through the air through poetry I have to admit that this documentary came at just the right time and Nikki Giovannai is probably the one who has made the bold statement that a poet will not a woman like her is no longer second class or an underdog until she can win the hearts and minds of readers whose skin color has been overwhelming throughout her career.
American film group DRAMATIC which won the Grand Jury Prize was black female director AV Rockwell, A thousand and one It tells the story of a single black mother called Inez and her beloved son Terry. As Inez is released from prison and chases her six-year-old son from the shelter in order to live. Together in the 1990s, until now, Terry has grown to be a big man and Inez has remarried. Before solving the shocking mystery of an adult character that made his son Terry unable to accept the truth at all.
This film is completely Black Cinema because the main character and the neighborhood where the character lives are all black people in New York City. But the interesting part of A Thousand and One is that it reflects black life in the United States through a very fragile and fragile situation, unlike most black cinema films that tend to portray the strength of black people
All characters, especially Inez, have chronic wounds that are difficult to move on, with obstacles that tempt her to sigh. Until no matter where you turn to look We don’t see characters who are heroes at all.
It’s a new tone for the Black Cinema industry that comes to describe the vulnerability of black characters that we don’t often see. If it is the possibility of human beings who have to face hardship and heartache regardless of skin color as long as the various passions cannot be shaken off And must swim in the samsara that cannot be released!
However, the film that can be called the most dramatic in the festival is not any DRAMATIC competition film.Midnight excitement name Infinity Pool Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, David Cronenberg’s son from Canada, because the content of the film was so violent that it was rated NC-17, or prohibited from viewing by children under 17 during the festival screening. And the director had to cut sensitive parts to get the R or Restricted rating in the US commercial release on January 27.
Infinity Pool tells the story of James, a young writer block on holiday to a remote island seeking inspiration to write a new book with his rich, beautiful wife Em. There, James meets Gabby, his first book fan who immediately recognizes James, who is holidaying on the island with her boyfriend Al.
When Gabby invites James and Em to dinner. This led to an incident that caused James to crash a car who was in a drunken state. As a result, he is caught and punished by the authorities in a secret prison which exposes the underworld and secret societies involved in orgy and strange forms of torture.
Although the Infinity Pool content looks spectacular and exciting. But story-wise, Brandon Cronenberg uses slowness, not rush, and a very classy production that makes the scenes look like they’ve been sterilized. The scary parts are so harmless that they don’t any sense. The values so artificial and sterile.
But the most problematic scenes which were likely to earn the film an NC-17 in its first release were the orgy scene, which only came up short, and the scene where James had his pants rolled down to masturbate until to cum pouring from behind that captures close-ups so badly it makes you feel like you’re secretly using actors instead
which the director solved in the R-rated version by inserting scenes from other episodes to maintain the original length and a well-composed music score He also said that he was happy with both films. Because in the end, it didn’t take many adjustments to get the movie rated R!
