Slamdance: Celebs Rumors

There was a fleeting moment in the early and mid-00s when being selected for the Slamdance Film Festival could mean something for a filmmaker’s career. Sure, it wasn’t the same as being part of the more prestigious and larger Park City, Utah film festival, but the edgier offshoot event gave a voice to independent films that didn’t have an industry connection or agency influence to make the Sundance cut.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired rights to the narrative-doc hybrid Starring Jerry As Himself, which won both the Audience and Jury Award at Slamdance 2023, from Visit Films, slating it for release in select theaters and on home entertainment platforms beginning in late summer.

EXCLUSIVE: Nearly two decades after producing The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a video game documentary that’s emerged as a cult classic since its unveiling at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, Ed Cunningham has wrapped production on Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad Of Walter Day, a follow-up film picking up with his documentary subject, known as the father of Esports.

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of its Audience Award win at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival, dramedy African Giants, written, directed and produced by Omar Kamara, has been picked up for worldwide distribution by Juno Films. Juno plans an extensive festival release followed by a state-side theatrical release this summer, with a multi-platform digital release to follow in the fall.

Jaden Thompson The 30th Slamdance Film Festival has announced its complete 2024 lineup, including 32 features, 75 shorts and five episodic titles. Slamdance will take place in-person at Yarrow Hotel in Park City and in Salt Lake City, Utah from Jan. 19-25, and online screenings will be offered on the Slamdance Channel from Jan.

Caroline Brew editor Oscar-winning filmmaker Carol Dysinger’s “One Bullet” will kick off the 30th edition of Slamdance, which will run from Jan. 19-25 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. The festival will also take place virtually from Jan.

Jaden Thompson Slamdance has announced the winners of its annual screenplay competition, with Mike Ackerman’s feature-length script “This End Up” winning the grand prize. Slamdance announced the awards — recognizing writers across the categories of feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot, short film and a special mentorship award — during a ceremony held at Los Angeles’s Westwood Landmark Theater on Wednesday night.

Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has set theatrical and digital release dates for Linh Tran’s debut film Waiting For The Light To Change.

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American VOD rights to the dramatic feature film Waiting For The Light To Change — the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival ‘Grand Jury Prize’ winner for ‘Best Narrative Feature.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter AGBO, an entertainment company founded by directors Anthony and Joe Russo, is partnering with Slamdance to establish a showcase for aspiring filmmakers. The summer showcase, held in downtown Los Angeles this August, will include programs dedicated to digital, interactive and gaming work, stand-up comedy, screenplay workshops and short films. “Slamdance has been a wonderful partner and we are happy to be expanding our relationship to our Downtown LA campus. Our mission to offer our campus to help showcase emerging talent is a perfect opportunity,” said Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Creative Office at AGBO.  

EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Miller has been appointed as Festival Director for the Slamdance Film Festival, Deadline has learned.

GRAND JURY AWARDS – FEATURESNarrative Feature Grand Jury Prize: Waiting for the Light to Change (Dir. Linh Tran)Honorable Mention: Where the Road Leads (Dir. Nina Ognjanović)Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize: Starring Jerry as Himself (Dir.

The year is 1995, and you’ve submitted your film to the Sundance Film Festival, and they’ve said no. What do you do? Are you disappointed? Yes.

For many, the idea of traveling to another country is fun and exciting. You just break out your camera, eat lots of good food, and interact with the locals, if you’re feeling adventurous.

The Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 29th edition — taking place both in-person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah from January 20-26, and online on the Slamdance Channel from the 23rd to the 29th.

Wilson Chapman editorThe 2022 Slamdance Film Festival has announced the winners of their annual Sparky Awards.The film festival focused on the works of emerging artists began its 28th edition on Jan. 27, hosting 23 premieres of films chosen from over 8,000 submissions.

Honorable Mentions: Ultrainocencia (Dir: Manuel Arija)Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize: Forget Me Not (Dir: Olivier Bernier)Honorable Mention: Fury (Dir: Krzysztof Kasior)Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize: Killing the Eunuch KHAN (Dir: Abed Abest)Honorable Mentions: Retrograde (Dir: Adrian Murray)Unstoppable Feature Grand Jury Prize: Straighten Up And Fly Right (Dir: Kristen Abate and StevenTanenbaum)Honorable Mentions: Selahy (My Weapon) (Dir: Alaa Zabara)Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Ratking (Dir: Eric Colonna)Honorable Mention: See You, Garbage! (Dir: Romain Dumont)Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize: The Ritual to Beauty (Dir: Shenny de Los Angeles and MariaMarrone)Honorable Mention: Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying (Dir: Jonathan Haff Mehring)Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Chameleon (Dir: Ima Iduozee and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko)Honorable Mention: Compositions for Understanding Relationships (Dir: David De La Fuente)Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: I’m Here (Dir: Julia Orlik)Honorable Mention: Oldboy’s Apples (Dir: Brad Hock)The AGBO Fellowship, presented by Joe and Anthony Russo, Award Winner: Ethan Eng, director ofTherapy DogsSlamdance Acting Award: Hannah Lee Thompson of Hannah Ha HaHonorable Mention: Batel Moseri of BrachaGeorge Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner: Sasha Levinson, director of Sylvie of the SunshineStateCreativeFuture Innovation Award: My Parent, Neal (Dir: Hannah Saidiner)Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: The Civil Dead (Dir. Clay Tatum)Audience Award for Documentary Feature: Iron Family (Dir.

The 28th Slamdance Film Festival today announced its winners, with the Audience Awards going to The Civil Dead, directed by Clay Tatum, for Narrative Feature; Iron Family, directed by Patrick Longstreth winning the Audience Award for Documentary Feature and The Ember Knight Show: “Getting Mad” directed by Bobby McCoy taking home the Audience Award in the Episodes subcategory.

Nick Clement Like its Park City counterpart, the Slamdance Film Festival has pivoted to an all-virtual affair this year, but it will now get underway Jan. 27, one week after Sundance, its proudly DIY spirit intact.

Filmhub, which bills itself as a Substack-like solution for independent filmmakers looking to profit from streaming without forfeiting rights to their work, has raised a $6.8 million seed funding round.

EXCLUSIVE: Slamdance will debut a new streaming platform for independent films, The Slamdance Channel, which will launch in conjunction with with annual indie-focused Slamdance Film Festival on January 27 and feature new programming on February 7, the day after the fest wraps.

The Slamdance Film Festival has pushed back its 2022 start date by a week and eliminated in-person plans for its annual indie-focused fest, becoming the latest industry event to pull back in the face of the rising omicron variant of Covid.

Angelique Jackson Slamdance has announced the full film lineup lineup for its 2022 edition, with a feature film competition that boasts 23 premieres, including 13 world premieres, six North American premieres, and four U.S. debuts.The independent film festival, known for its “by filmmakers, for filmmakers” mentality, will showcase a total of 28 features, 79 shorts, and seven episodes during its 28th edition.

Shalini Dore Features News EditorNeil Ferron’s horror script for “Fishmonger” took the Slamdance 2021 screenplay grand prize. “Fishmonger” is described as a supernatural dark comedy in which the titular vendor has to survive a sex pact with an ancient sea creature to save his mother’s soul from hell.Other winners in the feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot and shorts film categories were saluted during a livestreamed ceremony today co-presented by Writers Guild of America, West, and hosted by Slamdance alums Daniel Casey and Jessica Sinyard.

Jennifer Yuma editorSlamdance, the nonprofit organization dedicated to discovering filmmakers, announced a new film festival: Slamdance Miami, starting Oct. 23-30.The festival will recognize emerging filmmakers from Central and South America, Florida and the Caribbean via an open-air, COVID-sensitve festival at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami, as well as on Slamdance’s virtual platform.Slamdance Miami is a collaboration between Slamdance, its alumni and Miami’s arts leaders.

The Slamdance Film Festival unveiled winners for its 27th edition Thursday, with the compact drama Teipei Suicide Hotel directed by KEFF taking both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for narrative features and the best actor prize during a virtual awards ceremony.

Also Read: Ava DuVernay's Array Acquires Slamdance Winner 'Residue'This year’s Slamdance was the 27th edition of the festival, which ran virtually earlier this year, and the festival’s prizes were presented in a virtual ceremony on Thursday.“We congratulate the winners of Slamdance 2021 and everyone of our filmmakers who together attracted a record breaking festival audience for their brilliant independent work,” president and co-founder Peter Baxter said in a statement. “Many people experienced Slamdance for the first time including over 17,000 passholders from 55 countries.

Andrew Barker Senior Features WriterMore than just about any existing film festival, Slamdance was started with an eye toward inclusion. In the case of the Park City festival, which was founded as a more freewheeling alternative to Sundance back in 1995, that sense of inclusion largely pertained to the filmmakers themselves: first-timers, experimentalists and enterprising directors without much in the way of resources to have their films shown in a proper theatrical environment.

EXCLUSIVE: Cinema Guild has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to the Lynne Sachs-directed documentary Film About a Father Who, which made its world premiere in January as the opening night film at the Slamdance Film Festival. The film is set to open at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image on January 15, 2021, alongside a retrospective of Sachs’ work. It will also be available in virtual cinemas across the country.

Also Read: Ava DuVernay's Array Acquires Slamdance Winner 'Residue'Slamdance’s newest program is called “Unstoppable,” and it will feature 22 short films from up-and-coming disabled filmmakers, or ones that feature actors with disabilities or highlight the conversation of disabilities in today’s world. “Unstoppable” is entirely programmed by disabled artists, and the program’s mission is to amplify the contributions of the disabled community and advocate for their rightful inclusion in the industry.“I’m honored to be part of the wonderful Unstoppable team and embrace the idea of creating a safe space for filmmakers with disabilities and take our creativity as seriously as everyone else in this industry.

Like all festivals, the Slamdance Film Festival is set to shift to a hybrid fest for its 27th edition — but it isn’t holding back on its programming as it will feature 20 feature film premieres while highlighting diverse voices and accessibility. With the theme “Greenlight Yourself,” the indie-driven fest will also launch a new program titled Unstoppable, a showcase for creators with disabilities.

Dave McNary Film ReporterThe Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of 25 features along with 107 shorts and episodics for the mostly virtual 27th edition of the festival — a number that equals previous editions of the festival.The opening night film, which will screen at a drive-in in Joshua Tree on Feb. 13, is the world premiere of “No Trace” (Nulle Trace) from Canadian director and screenwriter Simon Lavoie.

Dave McNary Film ReporterSlamdance has awarded its grand prize for screenwriting to writer Joyce Sherrí for her first feature screenplay for coming-of-age drama “Sweet Sixteen.”The festival announced 13 prizes Thursday during a live-stream ceremony co-presented by Writers Guild of America West and hosted by Slamdance alum Todd Berger across feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot and short film categories.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsEXCLUSIVE: The annual Slamdance film festival has revealed the dates for its 2021 iteration. Running February 12-25, 2021, it will tout not only a physical screening experience, but also an online one free of charge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.“Slamdance ‘21 isn’t about compromise because of the pandemic.

Also Read: Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Hires Former Netflix Exec Sarah Bremner as Filmworks President“Residue” chronicles aspiring filmmaker Jay (Nwachukwu), who returns to his native Washington, DC to find his old neighborhood is gentrified beyond recognition. Dealing with alienation from his friends, troubled by the disappearance of a loved one and unsure of his place in this new community, Jay confronts issues of identity, isolation and loss on a tumultuous personal journey.“Merawi Gerima’s impressive directorial debut is a powerful and poetic reflection on topics that are both deeply personal and undeniably universal,” Array president Tilane Jones said.

Sometimes a film will play at a festival and almost immediately get a theatrical or digital release. However, what often happens is that an indie film plays a variety of festivals and it takes a little while for it to land distribution.