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  • Matt Damon Addresses Clean Water Issue–Including Flint, Michigan–at Sundance Film Festival

    Matt Damon utilized the stage at the Sundance Film Festival–not solely to tout his acting–but instead to address the issue of clean water.

    Along with Gary White, Matt Damon founded Water.org, a nonprofit that aims to provide clean water in impoverished nations all over the globe. He is incensed about the water issue in Flint, Michigan.

    “Imagine this outrage we feel about Flint–this justified outrage, I should say, because that should never happen in the United States of America, ever,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But there are people for whom life is such a desperate struggle, that they’re faced every day with the choice of giving their children dirty water or no water at all.”

    Gary White and Matt Damon introduced their partnership with beer maker Stella Artois to announce the “Buy A Lady A Drink” campaign. The company is introducing a limited-edition collection of decorated glass chalices. Each one represents water-poor countries such as Ethiopia, Haiti, India and Honduras. The cost of each $13 goblet will provide a woman in one of these countries with five years worth of clean water.

    Matt Damon and Co. discussing the world water crisis. #sundance

    A photo posted by Marlow Stern (@marlownyc) on

    Matt Damon went on to say the issue in Flint shows how awful life without clean water is. He recalled a trip to Ethiopia a few years back where he saw children filling water bottles, and that water was the color of chocolate milk.

    “I have four daughters,” Damon said. “When you start having kids, it’s hard not to see other kids as your own … It’s incumbent upon me to do whatever I can within my sphere of influence to help.”

    Kudos to Matt Damon and Gary White for their work with Water.org. Hopefully their influence can affect lives in Flint, Michigan, where the need for safe, clean drinking water is hitting so much closer to home.

  • Tangerine, a Sundance Hit Shot with an iPhone 5s, Gets a Trailer

    The red-band trailer has dropped for one of Sundance’s most talked-about features.

    It’s called Tangerine, and it’s about two transgender women in Hollywood. It was also shot with an iPhone 5s.

    Of course, it wasn’t just an iPhone. The iPhone was the only device filming, but filmmakers needed a handful of extras. According to The Verge, those included an app called Filmic Pro, a set of anamorphic adapter lenses, and a steadicam.

    You’ve seen YouTube videos. You know why the steadicam was necessary.

    Without further ado, here’s the trailer:

    Here’s the film’s official description:

    It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee (newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend (James Ransone, STARLET, “Generation Kill”) hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra (newcomer Mya Taylor), embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity. Director Sean Baker’s prior films (STARLET, PRINCE OF BROADWAY) brought rich texture and intimate detail to worlds seldom seen on film. TANGERINE follows suit, bursting off the screen with energy and style. A decidedly modern Christmas tale told on the streets of L.A., TANGERINE defies expectation at every turn.

    The film generated a lot of buzz and has since received some pretty good reviews. Vulture calls it “the trans revenge movie you’ve been waiting for” and the New York Times called it a “perfectly cast, beautifully directed movie.”

    It’s due out on July 10.

    Image via Magnolia Pictures, YouTube

  • Molly Shannon Almost Quit Acting

    Molly Shannon, America’s favorite cheerleader, wasn’t always super confident in her humor and wit.

    The funny girl, just like most other actors, had to endure some very trying times while scraping her way to the top.

    Molly Shannon told a story recently about what seemed like her worst audition ever.

    Molly Shannon was already understandably stressed when she ran into a woman in the hallway that clearly needed to be slapped.

    “I bumped into a girl before the audition, and she was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s so nice to see you! Have you gained, like, 100 pounds?’ ” Shannon said.

    She added, “And I was like, OK, that is so mean.”

    Who would say that to Molly Shannon?! I mean, come on!

    Molly Shannon did not reveal whether or not she stuck her fingers into her pits and sniffed them. You know, for when she gets nervous sometimes.

    Well, those days were over long ago for Molly Shannon.

    She has gone from Superstar to superstar since her early days on SNL.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trcXlTiy3Xw

    In fact, Molly Shannon just got one of her movies picked up at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

    In the movie, called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Molly Shannon plays the dying girl’s mother.

    A boozy, stumbling, rambling, mother of a girl that is dying.

    The movie follows Greg, a high schooler who starts his senior year with lots of promise but no substantial friendships.

    That is, until he meets Earl and then is forced into a pity date with a girl, Rachel, who is suffering from Leukemia.

    Molly Shannon really seems to be the icing on the awesome cake as Rachel’s over-sharing mother, according to Sundance reviews.

    I can picture Molly Shannon nailing that role. Can’t you?

  • Mindy Kaling Joins Lena Dunham, Kristen Wiig And Jenji Kohan At Sundance Panel

    On Saturday, the Sundance Film Festival organized a panel called “Power of Story: Serious Ladies”. The panel is comprised of four of the top female creators in the industry today: Mindy Kaling of The Mindy Project, Girls’ Lena Dunham, Orange is the New Black mastermind Jenji Kohan, and Bridesmaids writer Kristen Wiig. The four talked about mastering their craft in an industry dominated mostly by men. The panel was enlightening, and considering their pedigree, also quite entertaining.

    At one point, Mindy Kaling even delivered the perfect response about working in a predominantly male industry. Kaling said, “I have a personality defect where I sort of refuse to see myself as an underdog. It has gotten me into a lot of trouble, but is also the reason for my success.”

    “I often am reminded of it when people ask me why I’m confident… why wouldn’t I be? It’s because my parents raised me with the entitlement of a tall, blonde, white man. That’s the way to do it, picture yourself as Armie Hammer on the outside,” Mindy Kaling quipped, referring to the blond actor known for his roles in The Social Network and The Lone Ranger.

    And it seems, Mindy Kaling has a few more skills up her sleeve aside from writing and being funny. During the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Reese Witherspoon talked to Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson about Kaling’s crafting skills. “Mindy has started this thing, Wreath Witherspoon. It’s hard to say, but she was so sweet,” Witherspoon said. “She sent me one for the Oscars nomination and [it’s] just very creative. It showed her floral abilities. She also writes, directs, acts and she arranges flowers beautifully.”

    Reese Witherspoon posted a photo on her Instagram that shows the wreath hanging on the front door of her home. It looks like Mindy Kaling has another thing to add on her resume.

  • Nina Simone Netflix Documentary Gets Standing Ovation at Sundance

    Nina Simone Netflix Documentary Gets Standing Ovation at Sundance

    Netflix’s new documentary about the life of singer Nina Simone is off to a strong start, receiving high praise from the audience at the Sundance Film Festival.

    The film, What Happened, Miss Simone?, received a standing ovation and the praise has continued on Twitter.

    The documentary, announced in December, will hit Netflix this year.

    Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist, Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy. In this epic documentary, director Liz Garbus interweaves never-before-heard recordings and rare archival footage together with Nina’s most memorable songs, to create an unforgettable portrait of one of the least understood, yet most beloved, artists of our time.

    The film uses never-before-heard audio tapes, recorded over the course of three decades, of Nina telling her life story to various interviewers and would-be biographers. From over 100 hours of these recordings, What Happened, Miss Simone? weaves together Nina’s narrative, told largely in her own words. Rare concert footage and archival interviews, along with diaries, letters, interviews with Nina’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, friends and collaborators, along with other exclusive materials, make this the most authentic, personal, and unflinching telling of the extraordinary life of one of the 20th Century’s greatest recording artists.

    After the premiere of the film, John Legend took to the stage to play a touching tribute to Simone, who died in 2003.

    “Her life was a reflection of the legacy of racism in America but also of the extraordinary power that a righteous voice can have against even the most wicked historical legacy,” said Garbus.

    Image via Netflix, YouTube

  • ‘Dear White People,’ Black Face in A White Place

    Dear White People opens in select theaters on October 17th and nationwide on October 24th. The film was born of its writer and director’s experience as a ‘black face in a white place.’ Partly provocative and partly hilarious, the film sounds like one that will have everyone who sees it talking–about some serious topics.

    “The movie began out of my experiences in college, and just feeling like telling a story from the point of view of a black face in a white place. It’s an interesting point of view that hadn’t really been dealt with in popular culture at the time,” Justin Simien said in a recent interview. “College is a time when the stakes just feel so high to figure out who you are. You’ve got to figure it out, who you are and what you stand for. We all spend a lifetime doing that. I thought it was an interesting world to set an identity story in.”

    So far the reaction to Dear White People has been phenomenal. Simien won a special jury prize for his film at Sundance for ‘breakthrough talent.’ It won the audience award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. And Variety has named Justin Simien one of its ’10 Directors to Watch.’

    The film follows its characters through several racially charged scenarios on the fictional Winchester University campus. The female lead, Samantha White, is played by Tessa Thompson. Sam is a radio DJ known for stirring the proverbial pot. She hosts a show called Dear White People. In addition to Thompson, the film stars Tyler James Williams, Teyonah Parris, Kyle Gallner, and Dennis Haysbert.

    Justin Simien challenges people of all races to be mindful of others and even more mindful when it comes to issues of race. One of his wishes for Dear White People is that it might start conversations.

    Is Dear White People on your list of must-see films? Do you expect it to be 2014’s most socially thought-provoking movie?

  • Katie Couric Will Marry John Molner This Summer

    Katie Couric is finally talking about when she’ll marry her fiancé John Molner.

    Couric attended Howard Stern’s 60th birthday bash at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday night. When the outspoken, often controversial shock jock asked when she and Molner would tie the knot, Couric answered “Summer!”

    Couric and Molner were introduced by a mutual friend and went public with their romance in April 2012. Molner proposed over Labor Day weekend 2013 while the couple were watching the sun set on a beach in East Hampton, NY.

    Following their engagement, Molner surprised Couric by making an appearance on her daytime talk show just moments after Couric had told Barbara Walters that Molner would never want to be on the show.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep2iMdUtpfU

    Walters – also a surprise guest on the show that day – asked Couric to tell viewers about Molner.

    “First of all, the quality I look for in a person is integrity and someone who’s honorable and loyal and has … just really terrific core values … and I think he’s all those things,” Couric said. “And you know what, he’s really funny. He makes me laugh all the time.”

    Molner is head of mergers and acquisitions at Brown Brothers Harriman, a Chicago-based investment bank and securities firm. Originally from Chicago, he currently resides in New York City.

    Of Molner’s Windy City origins, Couric has said, “He’s from Chicago. I love Midwesterners!”

    Couric has had a few serious relationships in the years since her husband, attorney and NBC legal analyst Jay Monahan died of colon cancer in 1998, including one with TV producer and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.

    “It’s actually surprising to me that it has been almost 15 years and I haven’t remarried. I think life is more fun when you have someone in your life. And I always wanted to find a father figure for my daughters, but it hasn’t worked out that way. I’ve had long-term relationships, but they haven’t turned into lifelong partners,” Couric told More magazine in January 2013.

    Couric told Stern that the wedding would be family only, but assured him that he would be invited to the party afterward.

    Last week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT Couric told reporters that Molner is actually in charge of planning the wedding, which will “just be a small dinner in New York.”

    “It’s not like I’m 22 and I’m going to plan a big thing with a big fluffy fancy dress,” she said soon after the engagement. “I want to do something that feels right for us and our situation … We both have kids and I think I want to do what’s tasteful and right.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Lindsay Lohan To Attempt Comeback With Thriller

    Lindsay Lohan announced on Monday at the Sundance Film Festival that she will be producing and starring in a thriller called “Inconceivable” and says she wants a fresh start.

    The troubled actress has been trying for months to make a comeback in the world of movies after several tumultuous years of battling drug abuse and legal issues; her last film, “The Canyons”, didn’t do so well at the box office and was critically panned. But the actress seemed to be in good spirits on Monday and said she was happy to be at Sundance, and to have a chance to contribute something of her own.

    “I’ve never had the honor of coming here before … to bring something to the table, which is starting fresh for me,” said Lohan. “It’s a nice change to be back among people that are in the industry that I’ve been in since I was a kid.”

    Lohan is currently filming a reality series for Oprah’s network OWN, but says she hopes to start filming “Inconceivable” in March. Describing the movie as a psychological thriller about a woman who loses something and works to get it back, Lohan says she can relate to the character. And though she reportedly had several issues with “The Canyons” director Paul Schrader during filming, having more responsibilities might work out well for her.

    “It’s therapeutic for me to throw myself into something that really excites me and something that I love to do so much,” she said. “There’s nothing better than having seen all of your ideas and thoughts that you’ve been thinking about to come to fruition and to share that with people. I think that’s why I’ve always loved making movies so much. So it’s nice to be able to have another position in the film rather than just showing up and being on the set.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Romney Shows Up At Sundance Premiere For Netflix’s ‘Mitt’

    Mitt, the Netflix documentary following former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, premiered at Sundance over the weekend, and Romney himself made a surprise appearance.

    “The ending I probably won’t like, but nonetheless, I think it will be a good experience and probably give my family and others a chance to see what it’s like to run for president, which by the way is one of life’s most extraordinary experiences,” Romney told reporters ahead of the premiere.

    Of documentarian Greg Whitely, Romney said, “He said, you know, even if we never make a movie of this, it will be a wonderful journey to keep for your family of what your presidential campaign was like.”

    For MItt, Whitely followed Romney around for six years with exclusive access, and the results are what appear in the film. Whitely maintains that there is no political agenda, but rather that Mitt is meant to be an honest look at a presidential campaign.

    The film premieres on Netflix on Friday.

  • Jennifer Lawrence “Deserves It All” Says Nicholas Holt

    Jennifer Lawrence “Deserves It All” Says Nicholas Holt

    Once again, it’s been a busy award season for America’s Sweetheart, Jennifer Lawrence. The Academy Award winner was nominated again this year for her role in American Hustle, which already won her the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

    The Globes was also the first we saw of Jennifer publicly kissing Nicholas Holt, her rumored off-again, on-again boyfriend. The couple, who first met filming X-Men: First Class, have stayed relatively quiet about their relationship. It’s rumored that the pair rekindled their romance while shooting the X-Men sequel, Days of Future Past.

    Holt, who is currently at Sundance promoting his movie Young Ones, spoke out about all of Jennifer’s recent success. “She deserves it all,” Holt said of his multi-nominated girlfriend. “It’s been fun to watch.”

    While at Sundance, Holt also checked out Kristen Stewart’s film Camp X-Ray ; the two are soon-to-be-costars in Equals, which Holt calls “epic in proportion.” Holt says that Lawrence read the Equals script with him, and he knew it was right because “we both loved it.”

    This is the first time that either Jennifer or Nicholas have spoken publicly about their relationship. There had been spottings and speculation of the couple secretly getting back together since August, but it seems that now, after the public Globe kiss, the two are more willing to talk.

    Which pretty much everyone on the Internet is OK with.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sundance Film Festival Shorts Now Available on YouTube

    With the Sundance Film Festival underway in Park City, Utah, YouTube is giving us an admittedly small, but welcome glimpse at some of the action.

    Starting today, you can watch 12 Sundance shorts on YouTube.

    The short films were hand-selected out of the pool of 64 shorts showing this year at the festival. A staggering 8,100 short films were submitted for consideration, meaning that less than 1% of submissions were chosen worthy to debut at Sundance.

    The shorts are hosted at Sundance’s The Screening Room channel, which YouTube says will continue to upload short films from Sundance filmmakers.

    “Sundance is known for its diverse range of films, and with everything from trippy cats and zombies to a rooster king and an ambitious rodeo cowboy, The Screening Room shorts are no exception. When the festival ends, Sundance Institute will continue to curate The Screening Room, highlighting cutting edge short films from past Sundance filmmakers and the film festival circuit each week,” says YouTube in a blog post.

    Sundance kicked off on January 17th and will run until Jan 27th. We know that the closing night of the film festival will feature the Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs biopic jOBS.

  • V/H/S Gets An Incredibly Creepy Red Band Trailer

    There is one indie horror film this summer that is getting some serious attention from fans of the genre. That film is V/H/S, which debuted this year at the Sundance Film Festival, becoming an official selection.

    According to the official synopsis, the movie follows “a group of misfits hired to burglarize a house to find a rare VHS tape, only to find more found footage than they wanted to see.” The movie is divided into five segments, for each of five different horrifying tapes the protagonists have to watch. Each is directed by one of horror’s up-and-comers, including David Bruckner(The Signal), Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Joe Swanberg (Autoerotic, Cabin Fever 2), Adam Wingard (You’re Next, Pop Skull), and the masterful Ti West (House of the Devil, The Innkeepers).

    The movie has accrued a score of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a huge hype score of 99% of people wanting to see it. Compare that to a fairly low metacritic score of 6.5 on IMDB. But keep in mind that it hasn’t seen widespread release, having only been screened at a few film festivals. Critics often make poor judges of horror. If the fans say its good, then it definitely tops my must-watch list.

    The film will be released in theaters across the country on October 5th.

    Synopsis via GeekTyrant:

    When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn’t going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last.

    Bringing together some of the top filmmakers in the game today, this wickedly conceived horror anthology sends the viewer through a gauntlet of suspense, terror, shock, and downright brutality—instantly distinguishing itself from a sea of lackluster found-footage horror flicks. The diverse and deviously creative minds behind V/H/Sshatter any preconceived notions about the genre, making it feel inventive and captivating once again.

  • Sundance Expands Online Video Offerings With Brightcove

    Online video platform Brightcove said today it is teaming with the Sundance Institute to support its new live and on-demand video initiatives for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 20 – 30 in Park City, Utah.

    With Brightcove, Sundance has expanded its online video offerings this year to include live  coverage of major events and screenings at the Festival, as well as a number of new on-demand content featuring interviews with artists and filmmakers, daily video highlights, and roundtable discussions. Brightcove has been the official online video provider for the Festival since 2008.

     

    Sundance-Brightcove

     

    “The mission of Sundance Institute is to discover and foster independent artists and to connect those artists with audiences, and online video continues to play an important role in helping drive awareness and interest in the Festival each year,” said Joseph Beyer, Director, Digital Initiatives at the Institute.

    “Working with Brightcove has enabled us to continually introduce innovative new video offerings that fans can access throughout the world. We are looking forward to taking advantage of Brightcove’s live streaming capabilities this year as well as expanding the reach of our video content to new platforms and devices.”

     

  • YouTube Renting Sundance Film Festival Movies

    According to the YouTube blog, YouTube has partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to make five films from the 2010 and 2009 festivals available for rent for U.S. users on YouTube starting this Friday and running through Sunday, January 31.
     

    These are early days and in the coming weeks we’ll also invite a small group of partners across other industries, in addition to independent film, to participate in this new option. Anything that brings more content to the YouTube community is a good thing. And making content available for rent will give our partners unprecedented control over the distribution of their work — they can decide the price of their videos and the rental duration; they can decide when and where their content is available; and they can keep 100% of their rights.

    The videos will cost around $5 but the exact price will be set by individual filmmakers. Coverage from USA Today mentions that YouTube will split revenues, but will give the lion’s share to the filmmaker.

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