Press Release

Paper Heart, a playfully imagined journey of one young woman’s quest for love, is one of the 16 narrative features selected to screen in the Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Shot with Panasonic AJ-HDC27H VariCam HD Cinema cameras, Paper Heart stars Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad), Charlyne Yi (Semi-Pro, Knocked Up) and Jake Johnson (Curb Your Enthusiasm). The movie was directed by Nicholas Jasenovec, who shares the screenwriting credit with Yi; Jay Hunter was the Director of Photography. Read on in The Briefing Room

More Sundance 2009 news from The Briefing Room

Park City’s been overcast and gray since Day 1, but this morning a brilliant platinum light tore a hole in the endless cloud cover and ignited the overlooking Wasatch peaks, back-lighting a sparkly veil of glassy no-see-ums, tiny ice crystals too delicate to form flakes, that danced on wafts of air until they melted in my face.

Yes, I admit the night before I’d seen Academy-award nominee (Taxi to the Dark Side) Alex Gibney’s latest masterwork, Gonzo, the Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, but I deny any pharmaceutical inspiration, at least this early in the morning, as I stop before the Yarrow Hotel to marvel at this floaty, twinkly, sun-lit scrim. Inside the Yarrow a press screening of Morgan Spurlock’s latest saga-in-cheek, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, is almost underway, and I race into the theater to find a seat just as the lights fall.

Both docus, I’m happy to report, are polished to high theatrical sheen with eye-catching graphics, animated illustrations (the great Ralph Steadman in Gonzo), and well-crafted high-definition cinematography (D.P. Maryse Alberti in Gonzo). Both acquaint audiences with past and present avatars of U.S. politics: the tragic George McGovern, smarmy Richard Nixon, idealistic Jimmy Carter (Gonzo); the hubristic tag team of W. and Osama (Where in the World…). Both deserve and will likely obtain limited theatrical runs (though Sundance 2008 has been notably short of acquisitions so far). more

Click here for a handy, continually updated chart of distribution deals from Sundance 2008 so far.