January
03
Slamdance Film Festival 2023 Slate of Incredible Feature Films
“Silent Love”
Slamdance Competition Documentary Feature Film
About the Film: “Silent Love” is an incredibly intimate documentary looking at the lives of two women in love and raising a pubescent teenager in a small Polish village. Aga plays the role of both mother and father to her teenage brother, Milosz, but there is something vital she isn’t telling him about. It’s her relationship with Maja. The film follows the three of them as they navigate trying to build a new model of a family in the midst of a traditionally conservative and closed community. Together, these three alternately struggle and then succeed as they form this new family – but ultimately, “Silent Love” is a coming of age and a coming-out story about taking on new roles, and redefining the old ones. It’s a tender story about the courage to love despite all the obstacles.
Logline: After their mother’s death, 35-year-old Aga has to take care of her teenage brother, Milosz. There is one thing she isn’t telling him about: her ongoing relationship with Maja. An unconventional family is being born in a small, conservative Polish village.
Filmmaking Team: Director, Writer & Cinematographer Marek Kozakiewicz(“Pozegnanie,” “The Captive”), Editors Anna Garncarczyk (“Monument,” “Tower. A Bright Day”), Monument and Agata Cierniak (“Infinite Storm,” “Corprus Christi”), Music by Bartosz Bludau (“Life is Strange: True Colors,” “The Year I Lost My Mind”), Producer Agnieszka Skalska(Whatever Happens Next,” Triple Trouble”), and Agnieszka Dziedzic (“Dangerous Men,” “Whatever Happens Next”), Co-produced by Alex Tondowski (“Black Death,” “Born in Evin”), and Ira Tondowski (“Sonntags,” “Ava”).
Running Time: 72 Minutes *In Polish with subtitles*
Slamdance Screening Times:
Location: Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Premiere: Saturday, January 21st at 3pm**Full reviews embargoed until after premiere**
Second Screening: Wednesday, January 25th at 11:15am
“Starring Jerry As Himself”
Slamdance Competition Documentary Feature Film
About the Film: “Starring Jerry As Himself” is a docu-fiction hybrid that blurs the lines of reality while staying true to Jerry Hsu, the title subject and his unique story. Jerry is the father everyone wants to have as their own, and his journey is one that rivals that of Alice following the white rabbit into another world. Employing a variety of creative filmmaking techniques to capture the world from Jerry’s perspective, the film is a genre bending meta experience as Jerry deals with a wild tale of international intrigue in which he inexplicably finds himself a lynchpin with his family none the wiser…or has he?
Logline: A family documents how their immigrant father Jerry, a recently divorced and retired Florida man, was recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent, only to discover a darker truth.
Filmmaking Team: Director & Editor Lawrence Chen (“We Humans,” “I Don’t Make The Rules”), Co-Writers Jerry C. Hsu (the star of the film) & Lawrence Chen, producers: Jonathan Hsu(“Leftovers,” “The Lion of Chinatown”) & Lawrence Chen, composer Eric Hölljes(“Criminal Minds,” “Just Go With It”) with Cinematography by Tinx Chen (“Dark Waters,” “Empty Skies”), and Lawrence Chen.
Running Time: 75 Minutes
“Starring Jerry As Himself” Slamdance Screening Times:
Location: Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Premiere: Saturday, January 21st at 7:30pm **Full reviews embargoed until after premiere**
Second Screening: Monday, January 23rd at 2:45pm
“The Underbug”
Slamdance Breakout Selection Feature Film
About the Film: While nations came to a standstill during the pandemic, another more familiar kind of virus – xenophobia and sectarian violence – raged in India. Against that backdrop, “The Underbug” is a psychological horror that explores the psyche of people who live on the fringe of society. The film focuses on two men, who have stumbled on a deserted house where deadly trauma has clearly taken place, but what happened, who or what was responsible and are they next, are now the questions they need to solve in order to survive. A cinematic sibling to the style of Romero, filmmaker Shujaat Saudagar explores radical allegories reflecting relevant cultural and sociopolitical trends in the paranoid, fearful world of his characters. “The Underbug” delivers what great horror cinema does best: sparking conversation and debate, and offering insight on socio-politics in our current world, while keeping us on the edge of our seats with impending dread.
Logline: As India is ravaged by sectarian violence on the eve of its Independence Day, two rioters take refuge in an abandoned house. An eerie presence in the house, however, haunts the men to the edge of sanity.
Filmmaking Team & Stars: Starring Ali Fazal (“Victoria & Abdul,” “Death On The Nile”), and Hussain Dalal (“Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, ” “2 States”), Directed by Shujaat Saudagar (“Jaadugar,” “Gulmohar”), Written by Shujaat Saudagar, Abbas Dalal (“Jalsa, ” “Baaghi 2”), and Hussain Dalal, Produced by Vikesh Bhutani (“Gehraiyaan,” “Gully Boy”), Shujaat Saudagar, and Aman Mann (Oscar 2023 Shortlist “All That Breathes,” “Airborne ”), Executive Producers Shaunak Sen (Oscar 2023 Shortlist “All That Breathes,” “Cities of Sleep”), Richa Chadha (“Gangs of Wasseypur,” Masaan”), Ali Faz al, Hussain Dalal & Abbas Dalal.
Running Time: 68 Minutes *In Hindi with subtitles*
Slamdance Screening Times:
Location: Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Premiere: Saturday, January 21st at 10pm**Full reviews embargoed until after premiere**
Second Screening: Monday, January 23rd at 3:15pm
“With Peter Bradley”
Slamdance Competition Documentary Feature Film
About the Film: “With Peter Bradley” is a documentary celebrating artmaking, resilience, and the creative contributions of Black artists to American life. A stylistic cousin to “The Kid Stays In The Picture”, utilizing the interweaving of stills, interviews, and additional striking visual imagery, to tell a rags-to-riches to rags-and-back-again story of a truly iconic and innovative artist. Forging a career and reputation in the face of systemic racism in society and the art world in particular, Peter Bradley built an incredible resumé before the age of 35: the first Black art dealer on Madison Avenue (at the prestigious Perls Galleries); and curator of what is considered the first racially integrated modern art show in America (The DeLuxe Show in Houston). “With Peter Bradley” delivers amazing insight into a truly unique creative mind as the film explores Bradley’s innovative methods of applying paint to canvas, inspired by nature and the colorful flowers he tends daily in his garden and greenhouse.
*The film features an original score by the iconic Javon Jackson Quartet.*
Logline: 79 years old and overlooked since the 1970s, abstract artist Peter Bradley reflects on life and shares his artistic process on the cusp of his rediscovery.
Filmmaking Team: Director, Cinematographer, Editor & Producer Alex Rappoport (“Larry Kramer in Love And Anger,” “In The Shadow of The Towers: Stuyvesant Hugh on 9/11”), Composer Javon Jackson (“Malcolm X,” “The Last Time I Committed Suicide”), Executive Producers Adger Cowans (“The legacy Project”), and Robina Riccitiello (“Later Bloomers,” “Soft and Quiet”), Consulting Producers Diane Kolyer (“A Letter to Elia,” “We Are the Dream: the Kids of the Oaklan MLK Oratorical Fest”), and Beth Levison(“Lemon,” “ Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present”), and Music Supervisor Ed Gerard.
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Slamdance Screening Times:
Location: Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Premiere: Sunday, January 22nd at 12:45pm **Full reviews embargoed until after premiere**
Second Screening: Tuesday, January 24th at 5:30pm
We would like to thank Annie Jeeves, Publicist, Cinematic Red PR for the press release and artist profile.
BKonthescene 