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The Slamdance Film Festival is adding some intriguing titles to its "Special Screenings" line-up — including a film by one of the festival's founders, and the first film produced by the festival as part of its Slam Collective program.
The Slam Collective's film, called "I Want to Be an American," is a series of seven short documentaries, with each short based on imagery forwarded by the previous filmmaker in the chain. The filmmakers are" Dale Yudelman, Maya Newell, Dylan Verrechia, the enigmatically named Q, Monteith McCollum, Peter Baxer, and Daniel J. Harris. The film premieres at Slamdance Jan. 21.
Also on the "Special Screenings" slate:
"Between Us" • Slamdance co-founder Dan Mirvish directs, and with Joe Hortua wrote, this darkly comic drama (based on a hit off-Broadway play) in which two couoples reunite over two volatile evenings. The cast consists of Taye Diggs, Melissa George, David Harbour and Julia Stiles.
"Jug Face" • Writer-director Chad Crawford Kinkle tells this horror story of a backwoods teen (Lauren Ashley Carter), pregnant by her brother, who tries to escape her community only to learn she must sacrifice herself to a creature in a pit. Sean Young and Larry Fessenden also star in this movie, which won Slamdance's screenwriting competition in 2011.
"Vipaka" • A life coach (Anthony Mackie) is abducted by a deranged client (Forest Whitaker) in this horror thriller. Directed by Philippe Caland, written by Shintaro Shmosawa, and co-starring Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Nicole Ari Parker and Ariana Neal.
Slamdance runs Jan. 18-24 at the Treasure Mountain Inn at the top of Park City's Old Main Street.
- Sean P. Means