from Darroch Greer

I‘ve been speaking with several prominent documentary filmmakers over the past several days (see earlier blogs on Jessica Yu and Lynn Hershman Leeson, with more to come) and the interesting thing about them is they all have elements of fictional narrative in their films. Protagonist and Strange Culture both employ actors. They use sets and props and animation. They are a far cry from the Maysles Brothers‘ Grey Gardens, Ken and Ric Burns‘ The Civil War, or Steve James‘ Hoop Dreams. They are about as far from a Michael Moore film as Gone with the Wind. more

Listen in on an exclusive interview with Protagonist Director Jessica Yu as she talks about the creation of her Sundance film. Millimeter contributor Darroch Greer asks the questions.

To listen to the podcast interview click here.

(To download: Right Click, Save As)

Check out our entire Sundance Podcast Archive.

Alfredo de Villa‘s new film, Adrift in Manhattan, will have its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, January 21. A poignant drama starring Heather Graham (Bobby), William Baldwin (The Squid and the Whale), Dominic Chianese (“The Sopranos”), Victor Rasuk (Lords of Dogtown) and Erika Michels (Yellow), Adrift in Manhattan is the third feature directed by de Villa, one of the fast-rising young directors raised in Mexico and working in the U.S.

“The spine of the story,” says de Villa, “is to seek connections, to reach out in the most unlikely of places. Geography affects the main action; the setting is a metropolis of the present. We contrast the idea of modernity, reflected through professional settings, public transit and the practical negotiation of any big city, with the protagonists‘ lack of spiritual fulfillment.” more

This is a key panel for anyone on a budget. At New Frontier on Main 10a today and tomorrow, experts from the very top companies in Los Angeles tell you how to negotiate camera rental, film processing, and post production services. Learn these invaluable skills from those who should know–representatives from Panavision, Kodak, Laser Pacific, FotoKem, efilm, and Deluxe.

At New Frontier on Main:

10am Dreamweaver

1pm After Effects

3pm Photoshop

The classes are taught in a professional working environment with HP xw4400 workstations, flatscreen monitors and the latest versions of the software.

Sunday noon at New Frontier on Main: The Business of Web 2.0 Media and the Net Now. Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal moderates a panel that decodes YouTube, MySpace, Revver, Technorati, and the like.

Noon today at New Frontier on Main: Indpendent Video Gaming: A New Medium for Filmmakers. Moderated by Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution. Panelists: Suzanne Seggerman, Eddo Stern, Asi Burak, Eric Zimmerman, and Connie Yowell.

Sitting with Richard Winkler and Lewis Kofsky of Curious Pictures, the NY animation company that gave Chicago 10 its distinctive look. About 10 months ago director Brett Morgen brought a rough cut to Curious, initially expecting to fill in the narrative spine of the documentary with traditional animation. As a story device it was a way to control a throughline in a way that couldn‘t be done with archival footage. “We could create exactly the nuanced moves and performances we needed for the story,” Kofsky recalls. And so weaving through the remarkable collection of stock footage, are the courtroom scenes and other vignettes from the characters‘ lives, all executed in a varying palette of animation styles. more

Sundance short filmmaker Be‘ Garrett (A Nick in Time) does all right. His day job as a producer at Ogilvy Mather put him on commercials for IBM and Ford, and on set with Martin Scorsese for the diNiro Amex ad. It also, he says, provided him with the post-filmschool training to start his second career as a writer/director.

His ten-minute narrative drama screens in front of Weapons and is one of 71 shorts chosen from 4440 submissions. more

Independent Spirit Award-winning producer Effie Brown returns to the 2007 Sundance Film Festival with Rocket Science, the first film produced by her Los Angeles based company Duly Noted Inc. Directed by Oscar-nominated director Jeffrey Blitz, Rocket Science makes its World Premiere in the Dramatic Narrative Competition. This highly anticipated film, to be distributed by Picturehouse, was announced at last year‘s festival as part of an exciting line-up of projects selected specifically for their independent sensibility and unique personal visions. Shot on location in Baltimore, Rocket Science centers on an average young man, Hal Hefner, who despite his persistent stutter, joins the high school debate team when invited to by his crush Virginia Reyerson. Blitz‘s tale is a humorous and poignant story of adolescent love and finding one‘s own voice. more