Sundance. Lineup.

"Citing what he defines as 'a new maturity' in the indie movement, a more complex way of looking at the world and a bracing fusion of the personal and the political in much of the work, Sundance Film Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said that selecting the 64 entries in four competition categories for the 2007 fest was more difficult than ever," writes Todd McCarthy in Variety, which follows his report with the 2007 lineup.

At indieWIRE, Anthony Kaufman welcomes "an enormously diverse collection of American independent films. The seen-that coming-of-age New York stories and dysfunctional family comedies are scarce, say festival organizers, replaced with complicated storylines and unexpected settings." His Gilmore quote: "I feel like we're on the cusp of a new era, where the old ideas of independent film - that insularity, that narrowness of subject matter - are no longer the case. We're beginning to witness work that is really expanding the horizons of what American film is and can be, work that is both enormously innovative and strikingly different than what we've seen in the past."

Updated through 12/1.

Updates: "Sexual oddities and sexual abuse, the ravages of war, the challenges of immigration, human disabilities and the writer's life: all will be recurring themes at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Jan 18 to 28," writes David M Halbfinger at the New York Times, and he's lined up titles for each of those themes.

More first impressions from Anthony Kaufman, who's glad to see the renewed interest in the truly new and independent in both the Indie Spirit Awards nominations and this lineup - but he remains cautious all the same.

At the Reeler, ST VanAirsdale picks out the titles with NYC connections, including "Andrew Wagner's follow-up to his Sundance '05 alum The Talent Given Us (Wagner... wrote about Evening on The Reeler last August)."

Updates, 11/30: The BBC: "The war in Iraq is a strong theme at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US for the second year running."

Shawn Levy has a note of local interest: on the list is Hear and Now, a documentary by Portland director Irene Taylor Brodsky, which tells the story of her deaf parents, who chose to receive cochlear implants in their 60s and then heard the sounds of the world for the first time."

"Forget Mr Ed, forget Equus. Seattle director Robinson Devor's upcoming documentary concerns what has become known locally as the Enumclaw Horse Case. Scheduled for release by THINKfilm sometime in 2007, Zoo (formerly In the Forest There is Every Kind of Bird) draws inspiration from the poor unfortunate - part of a tight-knit ring - who died in 2005 from injuries sustained after engaging in carnal relations with said creature." And now, it'll be screening at Sundance. Kathy Fennessy: "The Cinema of Robinson Devor: From Girl Watchers to Horse Fanciers."

Today sees more lineups announced and, once again, at indieWIRE, Anthony Kaufman has an overview of "the event's other feature sections, from the glitzy Premieres and catchall Spectrum to the cult-ish Midnight and avant-garde New Frontier section." And commentary.

Updates, 12/1: More on the Premieres from Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter.

Michael Tully: "I'm fortunate enough to have already seen two of the Spectrum films, both of which I consider to be absolute must-sees: Craig Zobel's Great World of Sound and Zack Godshall's Low and Behold. You heard it here first."

Scott Kirsner has some advice for you if you're planning to attend.

Brendon Connelly has ten recommendations.

The Reeler notes that "Adrienne Shelly's film Waitress... will indeed premiere in Park City. Not so coincidentally, her NYC-gone-Berlin auteur mentor Hal Hartley will share the program with his latest, Fay Grim, which will have its US premiere at the festival."

Posted by dwhudson at November 29, 2006 1:19 PM