So long Sundance 2012. It’s been good to know you. What a ride! Phenomenal films, great music, highly creative and fascinating filmmakers, and, of course, the coolest batch of volunteers ever! Plus, on a personal note, I never got shut out of any films no matter how high my waiting-list number. Obviously, I snuck into someone else’s karma cooler.
When all was said and done, having bagged nine documentary and four dramatic films, a ratio well within my recent festival wheelhouse, I came away totally enraptured with the entire process. Not to mention wrapping myself in three days of winterlude up the North Fork at the Sundance Resort itself. Over the years, the Screening Room and the Owl Bar have, collectively, become a comfort zone.
As it turned out, I caught at least one film each day of the festival. That’s counting, however, one non-Sundance film, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” out at Redstone on opening day. I just had to check out filmdom’s most recent attempt to adapt a John le Carré novel to the silver screen. Dark, gloomy, whispered dialogue, subtle and not so subtle betrayals in other words, perfect!
Speaking of which, “A Fierce Green Fire,” a not-too-comforting but brilliant documentary dealing with both the history and current state of affairs within environmental activism, should be assigned viewing for all of us, especially those political leaders currently manning the helm of spaceship earth.
The following day up at the Sundance Screening Room, I took in “How to Survive a Plague,” another riveting documentary about the fruits of street activism in the face of inaction by the powers that be.
This time, the film-in-question turned on the total absence of progress in the search for a cure for the HIV virus and the action taken by those most threatened to reverse the trend. A quite-gripping film that, well, you’ve just got to see to believe. I think social-action docs are quickly becoming my new favorite genre.
“5 Broken Cameras,” another engaging human-rights documentary dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts over settlements on the West Bank (I wrote about “The Law in These Parts” last week) ended up winning this year’s World Cinema Documentary Directing Award.”
Talk about raising the bar for this award: director Emad Burnat continually placed himself in harm’s way while acquiring bullet wounds and hundreds of stitches, not to mention camera fatalities, on the way to documenting Israeli encroachment on his Palastinian village. “The Law in These Parts” walked away with the prestigious World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in Documentary at this year’s festival.
My final pre-award ceremony competition screening and one I waited until the final Saturday to see was “Violeta Went to Heaven.” A true world project, having been made through the combined production efforts of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, the film traces the life of Chilean folksinger and artist Violeta Parra utilizing mood and ambiance to wondrous effect.
As proof their effort was not lost on those who judge artistic merit in such endeavors, “Violeta” garnered the much-sought-after World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic at Saturday night’s award ceremony.
And that brings us to my 13th and final film of Sundance 2012, “Searching for Sugarman,” which I caught Sunday at a screening of the World Cinema Audience Award,
Documentary winner. Did I mention that it also won a Special Jury Prize for its celebration of the artistic spirit?
The manner in which we meet the saintly music man and manual laborer “Rodriguez” and, through interview-driven footage, learn the hard-to-fathom story of his iconic musical status in South Africa (and nowhere else), are nothing short of awe inspiring. This is certainly the most compelling film I’ve seen in years, and maybe ever.
The singular negative I will most likely take away from what played out to be my favorite Sundance Film Festival ever just has to be leaving the Music Café early on the day Rodriguez performed at the venue. Had I taken in the film beforehand, I very much doubt I would have walked out the door when I did.
Another piece of good news from the fest was the announcement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that the fine Canadian film “Monsieur Lazhar” is an Oscar finalist in the “Best Foreign Language Film” category.
Thanks, Sundance! It’s a wrap!
Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and an observer, participant, and chronicler of the Park City and Wasatch County social scenes for the past 40 years.