The Sundance Channel is still about Sundance ... for now, anyway. Here's the on-air rundown of film festival coverage.
SUNDANCE CHANNEL BRINGS SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL HOME TO VIEWERS
BEGINNING THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 9PM ET
Whitney Cummings Hosts Daily Reports From 2006 Festival Air January 20th – 29th
Alongside Television Premieres, Award-Winning Titles And Shorts From Past Festivals
New York, NY, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sundance Channel salutes the Sundance Film Festival in January by presenting exclusive coverage of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s “Festival Dailies” will be produced by Park City Television for Sundance Channel and will air alongside a wide-ranging lineup of features, documentaries and short films from past Sundance Film Festivals. Airing concurrently with the Festival, Sundance Channel’s programming captures the unfolding excitement of the world’s premier independent film festival while emphasizing the basis of the festival itself: the films and the filmmakers. Festival coverage airs from January 20th – 29th, with programming beginning at 9pm EST.
Each night of the festival programming leads off with “Festival Dailies,” a half-hour look at the Festival in progress. Comedian Whitney Cummings (“Best Week Ever” “Punk’d) returns for a second year, this time as the host of “Festival Dailies. Reporting from the Festival’s most talked-about premieres and events, the program offers a sneak peek at the films that will go on to achieve national recognition. “Festival Dailies” also delivers an inside and decidedly local perspective on what happens outside the movie auditoriums, with behind-the-scenes segments that take viewers inside the late-night parties and onto Park City’s celebrated ski slopes. A rebroadcast of “Festival Dailies” will conclude the evening’s programming, airing immediately after each night’s short film presentation.
At 9:30 Sundance Channel replicates a festival screening as it pairs standout features and documentaries with short films from past Festivals.
The nightly lineup for January 20 – 29th is as follows:
JANUARY 20:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Three Seasons (Sundance Channel Premiere) – Directed by Tony Bui. The first American film to be shot in Vietnam since the end of the U.S. embargo, Bui’s award-winning debut is a ravishing ode to his native country (Bui was two when he left the country with his parents). Set in Saigon, the film reveals a culture in transition as it follows the interwoven paths of several characters, including a young woman (Nguyen Ngoc Hiep) who sells lotus flowers; a cyclo driver (Don Duong) and the prostitute (Zoe Bui) he sometimes chauffeurs; a young boy (Nguyen Huu Duoc) who ekes out a living as a street peddler; and an ex-G.I. (Harvey Keitel) hoping to find the daughter he fathered during the war. Winner of three awards at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, including Grand Jury Prize, Cinematography Award and Audience Award/Dramatic.
11:15pm ET/PT
Victoria Para Chino (Television Premiere) – Directed by Cary Fukanaga. A journey inside utter terror, this dramatic short is based on the true story of over 80 undocumented immigrants smuggled across the Mexican border inside an unventilated truck trailer. Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
JANUARY 21:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
The Singing Detective – Directed by Keith Gordon. Robert Downey Jr. stars in this new version of the late Dennis Potter’s classic Freudian musical mystery. Potter wrote the screenplay shortly before his death, choosing America as the new setting for his tale of a pulp novelist (Downey) wrestling with a debilitating illness and a troubled past. Screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
11:20pm ET/PT
The Act – Directed by Susan Kraker, Pi Ware. Debra Jo Rupp (“That 70s Show”) stars as Rosy Marconi, a comedian whose standup act conceals a surprising secret. Screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
JANUARY 22:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
The Talent Given Us (U.S. Television Premiere) – Directed by Andrew Wagner. Truth and fiction blur in unexpected ways in this sharp comedy/drama which stars the filmmaker’s parents, Judy and Alan Wagner, as an aging New York couple named Judy and Alan Wagner. Family history comes in for an airing as the Wagners drive across country with their two adult daughters, who play themselves. Their destination: the home of their filmmaker son, Andrew. Screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
11:15pm ET/PT
The Youth in Us – Directed by Joshua Leonard. Lukas Haas (Last Days) and Kelli Garner (Thumbsucker) star as young lovers who confront the future by looking to the past. Screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
JANUARY 23:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Super Size Me – Directed by Morgan Spurlock. By turns hilarious and hair-raising, Spurlock’s hit documentary chronicles the thirty days he spent eating three meals a day (or more) at McDonalds. While tracking the filmmaker’s progress – or decline, as the case may be – the film offers loads of intriguing information about our fast food nation. Winner of the Director’s Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival; 2005 Academy® Award nominee for Best Documentary.
11:15pm ET/PT
2 + 2 – Directed by Clayton Hemmert, Benita Raphan. A fascinating portrait of Nobel Prize winner John F. Nash, Jr., who was the subject of A Beautiful Mind. Screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Airs at 11:15pm.
JANUARY 24:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Manito (Sundance Channel Premiere) – Directed by Eric Eason. Filmed on location in the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan and starring a largely nonprofessional cast, this heartfelt slice-of-life drama follows two brothers and their extended family during a pivotal 48 hour period. Junior Moreno (Franky G.) is a charming but volatile ex-con determined to stay on the straight-and-narrow. Like all the Morenos, Junior highest hopes are pinned on his younger brother Manny (Leo Minaya), an honors student soon to become the first in the family to attend college. Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
10:50pm ET/PT
D.E.B.S. – Directed by Angela Robinson. Four cute prep school girls make up a clique ... of kick-ass crime-fighters! Screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Airs at 10:50pm.
JANUARY 25:
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Police Beat (U.S. Television Premiere) – Directed by Robinson Devor. Devor creates a dreamlike world around Z (charismatic newcomer Pape Sidy Niang), a West African immigrant who is a bicycle cop in Seattle. As Z patrols the city’s green and urban spaces, his thoughts turn often to his girlfriend, who is on a camping trip with another man. The screenplay’s co-writer is Zimbabwe-born journalist Charles Mudede, whose “Police Beat” column for a Seattle weekly inspired many of the incidents depicted in the film. Screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
11:00pm ET/PT
Sangam – Directed by Prashant Bhargava. A newly arrived Indian émigré crosses paths with a disillusioned Indian-American on a New York subway train. Screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
JANUARY 26
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Face (U.S. Television Premiere) – Directed by Bertha Bay-Sa Pan. Moving between late 1970s Queens and contemporary New York, this exceptionally well-acted drama follows the conflicts that play out among three generations of Chinese/American mothers and daughters. Ling Bai (The Beautiful Country) stars as Kim, whose hopes for a career are dashed when she becomes pregnant and is forced to marry. But Kim cannot abide life in a terrible marriage and flees, leaving her infant daughter with her ultra-traditional mother (Kieu Chinh, The Joy Luck Club). Years later, Kim’s desire for personal fulfillment will be mirrored by the daughter (Kristy Wu, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) she left behind. Screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
11:00pm ET/PT
Slo-Mo – Directed by John Krokidas. A man wakes up to discover that all of New York City is moving at hyper-speed … except for him. Screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
JANUARY 27
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Pieces of April – Directed by Peter Hedges. Screenwriter Hedges (About a Boy, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) makes his directorial debut with this moving comedy about a family misfit (Katie Holmes) who invites her estranged clan to her cramped New York apartment for Thanksgiving. Holmes’ April has no clue about cooking a turkey (or anything else), but the holiday may be her last chance to make peace with her formidable, cancer-stricken mother (Patricia Clarkson, in an Academy Award®-nominated performance). The supporting cast includes Derek Luke (Friday Night Lights), Oliver Platt (Kinsey) and Sean Hayes (“Will and Grace”). Screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
10:50pm ET/PT
Parking – Directed by Bill Plympton. A parking lot attendant battles a tenacious blade of grass in this typically twisted tale from animator Plympton.
JANUARY 28
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
Pi – Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Aronfsky’s award-winning debut is a study of genius, obsession, and madness. A reclusive mathematician (Sean Gullette) begins a downward spiral when his work on chaos theory attracts the competing attentions of Wall Street brokers and Kabbalist scholars. Winner of the Director’s Award, Dramatic at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.
11:00pm ET/PT
Ryan – Directed by Chris Landreth. With imagination and empathy, Landreth animates a conversation between himself and Ryan Larkin, a brilliant Canadian animator brought low by emotional demons and substance abuse. Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival; 2005 Academy® Award winner for Best Animated Short.
JANUARY 29
9:00pm ET/PT
“Festival Dailies” (Original Program) – A half-hour report from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, produced onsite in Park City, Utah.
9:30pm ET/PT
It’s All About Love – Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Vinterberg, co-creator of the austere Dogme protocols, embraces lush artifice with his first English-language feature, a romantic thriller set in a dystopian future. Claire Danes is a celebrity figure skater and Joaquin Phoenix is her estranged husband; a meeting to finalize their divorce turns into a wild chase as the couple realizes that Danes’ inner circle is plotting against her. With Sean Penn as Phoenix’s philosophical brother. Screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
11:30pm ET/PT
Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody? – Directed by Miguel Arteta. Festival veteran Arteta (The Good Girl, Chuck and Buck) collaborated with writer/director/actress Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) on this droll short, which also features John C. Reilly (The Good Girl) and Chuck and Buck writer/star Mike White. Screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
Since assuming leadership of the US Film Festival in 1985, the Sundance Film Festival has emerged as a major forum for new and innovative cinema. Dedicated to supporting artists of independent vision, the Festival selects and programs films from across the artistic spectrum, with sections devoted to features, documentaries, shorts, international, and experimental cinema. Some of contemporary film’s leading talents received their first public exposure at the Festival; and more than one Festival selection has gone on to change the face of modern cinema, mainstream as well as independent.
Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all uncut and commercial free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture of NBC Universal, Showtime Networks, Inc. and Robert Redford. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. Sundance Channel’s website address is www.sundancechannel.com.
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