The word “cherries” may be an American Army slang term that refers to unused or untried military equipment and weaponry, but it is also the title of a digitally-shot short film from our neighbors across the pond. Funded by Film London and the U.K. Film Council, Cherries tackles a controversial statistic in Great Britain.

The country has the lowest deployment and recruitment age for soldiers in Europe and has been condemned by Amnesty International as the only European country that has routinely sent under-18s into armed conflict. And, according to the film’s press release, for the first time in its history, the Territorial Army has seen members compulsorily drafted into regular army units in combat zones.

Director Tom Harper and first-time Screenwriter Fiona Kissane set Cherries, shot in HDCAM SR, in the near future. A group of teenaged schoolboys mess around in the schoolyard, checking egos and measuring each other up. Their teacher has an unexpected announcement waiting for them inside that will change their lives forever. The story takes aim not just at the government for allowing this kind of thing to happen, but also at he youngsters, who carry on with their lives oblivious to the fact that the world they ignore may directly affect them someday. Read On at Scene-Stealers.com

Kicking It Director Susan Koch

Nerakhoon (The Betrayal) Director Ellen Kuras

Mike Seymour of I Love Sarah Jane

Choke Director Clark Gregg

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? Editors Julie Lombardi and Gavin Coleman

Captain Abu Raed DP Reinhart Peschke

Anywhere USA Director Chusy Haney-Jardine

Be Kind, Rewind Director Michel Gondry

FLOW: For Love of Water Editor Caitlin Dixon

By Claiborne Smith

International Documentary magazine wrote that Alex Rivera “may represent the best hope of the contemporary cinema”; he was named one of “20 to Watch” by Filmmaker magazine; and he was profiled in a book about the future of Latino media. He was also the subject of a memorable caption from a 2003 article in The New York Times about an Iraq War protest: “Alex Rivera, camera in hand, was tackled by police officers yesterday near Rockefeller Center and taken away.” Read on at Sundance

We’ve seen shorts from the U.S., Canada, Iceland, and Australia so far at the Sundance Film Festival. The entries this year are truly an international affair. In that spirit, it is time to move on to an entirely different continent.

Writer/Director Xuan Jiang grew up in a Beijing that is in a constant state of influx. From an ever-growing economy to the modern barrage of global influences, China is a very different place than it once was. After doing television production work at the News Corporation China, Jiang enrolled in the Film Directing program at the California Institute of the Arts. August 15th, her thesis film, grew out of a desire to tell stories about the waves of cultural change that are rippling through her home country.

This 20-minute short is a powerful drama that was inspired by a true story. A bus travels through the Chinese mountains during East Asia’s Mid-Autumn Festival, a yearly celebration of togetherness and abundance. A young woman and her boyfriend are on their way to spend some time with his family. Set against this idyllic time of year, the bus is hijacked, and each passenger must decide how far they are willing to go to preserve their own safety versus the safety of others.

Shot on super 16mm film by Cinematographer Haifeng Duan, August 15th has a very naturalistic tone. There are no distracting or overriding stylistic touches, and Jiang is patient enough to give the story the time it deserves, building the mounting tension slowly. She takes essential moments to scan the faces of the all the passengers on the bus, surveying their different reactions in a time of crisis. As the pressure becomes worse, the faces become shrouded in shadow. August 15th asks some serious questions about moral responsibility and choices that can change lives irreparably. Read On at Scene-Stealers.com

Check out reels from Sundance vets on Reel-Exchange:

Dick Fisher, cinematographer and editor on 1995 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner The Brothers McMullen

Jonathan Bekemeier, cinematographer on 1997 Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee Black & White & Red All Over

Michael King, 2nd unit on 2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee A Lion In the House, DP on 2003 Sundance short Gravel

Jim Mann, colorist on 1993 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family

Want more? Go to Reel-Exchange.com. Want to see your reel up there? Use promo code REX016 to register.

By Darroch Greer

Listen in on an exclusive interview with Kicking It Director Susan Koch as she talks about the creation of her Sundance film. Digital Content Producer 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.

Cinematographer Kris Kachikis has a few minutes before the Pats game. He’s here in Dramatic Competition with American Son which he shot for Neil Abramson during 20 days in bleakest Bakersfield.

This is Kachikis first feature (he’s a veteran commercial DP) and he laughs recalling that his whole “overspoiled, commercial crew” came along for the ride at $100 a day. Between a veteran camera crew and an experienced director, it sounds like a sane shoot—only one 12-hour day.

Kachikis shot 35mm Kodak Vision 2 5229, chosen in part by talking to Emmanuel Lubezki about the long 360 in Children of Men. “That stock carries a lot of detail into the highlights and we had a lot of daytime car interiors and no time or money to light,” Kachikis says. “I had to have detail outside the car windows while still exposing African American skin.” more

Day Two at the Avid booth and the Perfect Pitch contest provided festival goers the opportunity once again to pitch their best story lines for big prizes from Avid Technology (to see the list of prizes, click here). The following video is a pitch from Jack Truman given live at the Avid booth in the New Frontier (333 Main). Give your pitch in New Frontier between noon and 4pm before Jan. 22!

Click here to download the Pitch (it’s about 30MB, so depending on your connection…).

(DivX Required–download it for free)

By Claiborne Smith

Everyone interviewed in the documentary Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma agrees that Dr. Orbinski has witnessed more mass suffering than anyone else they know, but it is more difficult to pinpoint why Orbinski, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, returns to the places and events where he has witnessed that suffering: genocide in Rwanda, famine in Somalia, and the refugee crisis in Zaire. Orbinski, the former international president of Doctors Without Borders, is the subject of director Patrick Reed’s engaged and provocative portrait of Orbinski’s work treating victims of war and his efforts to attempt to describe the horror and pleasures of that work in a book he’s about to publish. Orbinski talked to the Insider from the offices of his Canadian publisher just before the Festival began. Read on at Sundance

By Darroch Greer

What do a junkie from Dublin, a bank robber from Spain, and war refugee from Afghanistan all have in common? They all competed in the Homeless World Cup, and documentary filmmaker Susan Koch was there to capture the action in Cape Town, South Africa, for her film Kicking It (which, reportedly, has been picked up by ESPN–click here for more info).

“I was reading a blog from the World Economic Forum almost two years ago, and I came across this item that mentioned the Homeless World Cup,” Koch says. “It was just wild and sounded so offbeat that I was intrigued, and so I started doing a little bit of research, because I like to do stories that are important, that mean something, but I also like to have an entertaining aspect to them. I thought this was great. It combines the most popular sport in the world with a very important issue of homelessness.”

Started in 2001 from an idea by a Scot and an Austrian, the Homeless World Cup is now an internationally recognized street soccer tournament. In 2006, 48 countries competed, bringing 500 homeless footballers to Cape Town for the big event. Though homeless, these players all wore their country’s colors proudly. This article will not tell you who won. more