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Slamdance Announces 2009 Programming

By IDA Editorial Staff


The Sundance Film Festival recently announced its slate of movies for this year. And that means Slamdance isn't far behind. This year the fest is celebrating 15 years of keeping it indie in Park City, Utah from January 15 to 23 with about 100 films in total in all genres.

But you're reading about this on the IDA site, and you know we have a one-track mind. So the Slamdance Documentary Feature Comepetition films are:

Graphic Sexual Horror
Barbara Bell & Anna Lorentzon (Directors/Writers)
World Premiere, 2009, USA, 85 minutes
A look behind the terrifying façade of insex.com, the most notorious of the ‘violent porn' websites, while exploring the dark mind of its artistic creator and asking hard questions about personal responsibility.

Hard To Be An Indian
Beth Toni Kruvant (Director), Jonah Kruvant (Writer)
World Premiere, 2007, USA, 84 minutes
The trials and tribulations of an inner city school and the principal, Jewish alumni and gang members who return it to safety and restore its former glory.

Lost Sparrow
Chris Billing (Director/Writer)
World Premiere, 2009, USA, 78 minutes
Filmmaker Chris Billing probes at his family history while investigating the tragic 1978 deaths of his adopted Crow Indian brothers.

Oh My God! It's Harrod Blank!
David Silberberg (Director/Writer)
World Premiere, 2008, USA, 75 minutes
A portrait of the eccentric art-car artist Harrod Blank, following him from his youth in the woods to his current multi-faceted career as creator and head of a nationwide art-car movement. With appearances by his father, filmmaker Les Blank.

The Road to Fallujah
Mark Manning (Director/Writer)
World Premiere, 2009, USA, 85 minutes
Exploring Mark Manning's unique access as the only westerner to live with the people of Fallujah immediately following the November 2004 battle that destroyed their ancient and holy city, offering an in-depth and humanizing look at current issues in Iraq.

Second Sight
Alison McAlpine (Director/Writer)
US Premiere, 2008, SCOTLAND/CANADA, 51 minutes
A cinematic, non-fiction ghost story featuring the last generation of Gaelic storytellers on Scotland's Isle of Skye.

Smile Til It Hurts
Lee Storey (Director/Writer)
North American Premiere, 2009, USA, 81 minutes
The amazing true story of Up With People, the singing group that represented an establishment-friendly alternative to the counter-culture.

Strongman
Zachary Levy (Director/Writer)
World Premiere, 2008, USA, 113 minutes
A man strong enough to bend a penny with just his fingers, Stanless Steel reaches middle age, career disappointments and difficult personal relationships that begin to test his strengths and force him to struggle with the weaknesses around him-including his own

Unwanted Witness
Juan Jose Lozano (Director/Writer)
US Premiere, 2008, SWITZERLAND/FRANCE, 87 minutes
In the middle of Colombia's humanitarian tragedy, a journalist fights to report and disclose the barbarity of the conflict.

Zombie Girl
Justin Johnson, Aaron Marshall, Erik Mauck (Directors/Writers)
Utah Premiere, 2008, USA, 91 minutes
An inside look at the two years that it took 12-year-old Emily Hagins to write and direct her feature-length zombie movie, Pathogen.

For full festival information check out the Slamdance website.